Finish With Favor

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.560 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.840 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:22.560 Glory to God in the Highest and on earth, Peace 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:27.480 and goodwill toward men and women on whom his favor rest. 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.479 Somebody put in the chat he's talking about me. That's me, 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.440 that's me. His favorite rests on me. I used to 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:37.879 let you touch your neighbor, but I'm scared they'll lock 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:39.360 us up in jail if I have you touch your 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.199 neighbor right now. So just look at somebody, wink at 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.320 him and say I got the favor of God. Say 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.680 it like that, say it kind of yeah, like that 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.080 with a little bit of swag. I got the favor 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.800 of God. Anybody who knows that, just put it in 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:59.279 the chat. I have the favor of God. I have 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:04.160 the faith of God. No, no, no, no no, no, not 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.640 a fancy favor. Oh Lord, I thank you for my 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.960 parking space. Thou hast given me a parking space. So 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:16.360 very convenience. I'm not clapping for convenience. No, no, no no, no, 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:22.039 that's fancy favor. I'm clapping cook. I could have been bed, 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.919 I could have lost my mind. I could have gone crazy. Buddy, 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:31.880 got me? I shot faith or got it now? I'm 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:42.640 not thank you, Lauren. How many are excited about the 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:48.600 favor of God? I love y'all. It's a delayed reaction. 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.880 You're like, I gotta think about that. And that's exactly 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.600 what we're gonna do today. We are going to consider 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:56.960 as this year ends. I wonder how many of you 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:58.840 are new to our ministry. By that, I mean you've 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:00.760 been a part of this ministry for less than a year. 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.920 Put it in the chat say I'm a nube, now 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:11.720 use it right. So sorry, my kids just cringe every 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:16.360 time I try to say something that's remotely relevant. You 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:21.440 can't say that, so it's weird. But this message is 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.000 for those of you, whether you're brand new to the ministry, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.560 have been here a long time, because we end each 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.280 year kind of wrapping a word from God around the year, 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:32.959 and you are not going to believe what God told 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:34.959 me to call this year in Because I had to 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.520 get this one from the spirit. I could not do 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.239 this with my mind because I would have tried to 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.880 figure out what to call twenty twenty. If you are 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:44.959 on planet Earth and watching this in a future year 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.400 and everything looks weird, I can just imagine if you 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.360 watch Elevation in twenty nineteen and then turned it on 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.120 in twenty twenty, you could be like what happened to 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.919 the people if you didn't know, if it was much 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.400 later and you didn't have the historical context, that'd be 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.360 kind of crazy. But I want to give you some 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.680 context that every year we finish the year with one 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.800 word from God, and this year the Lord told me 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:12.480 that we were going to you're ready, Finish with favor. 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:18.240 That's my message today. Finish with favor. Go ahead and 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.960 put it in the chat. I mean as big as 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.079 you can. I wish you could do a size twenty 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:28.320 four o'clock for every hour of the day. Finish with favor. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:32.519 Put it right there. Finish with favor, and you may 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:37.200 be seated. Let's get this sermons started. Finish with favor, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.640 I said Lord. I can't say favor is the word 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.600 for twenty twenty in good conscience. They'll think I'm crazy. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.280 And it was as if the Lord said to me, 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:54.080 not out loud. They already know that. The people that 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.200 are still there figured that out a long time ago, 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:02.320 and they like it. The right kind of crazy. I'm 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.360 the right kind of crazy. I'm the I'm the right 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.080 kind of crazy. I'm the right kind of crazy, at 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.920 least I want to be. I've been all kinds of crazy, 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:15.320 I really am. It isn't it weird to call this 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:21.720 the year a favor? I've heard a lot of people 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.960 use a lot of words to describe twenty twenty, and 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.640 some of them even started with the letter F. But 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:37.200 they they didn't. They didn't, they didn't say it was 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.480 the year of favor. I went through a lot of options. 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.440 I was thinking, well, Lord, you know, we should call 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.919 it the year. We should call it what people have experienced. 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.240 And the first thing that came to my mind, and 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:50.719 I don't know where your mind went when I said 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:52.880 the letter F but I thought the year of fear 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:58.279 would be an appropriate thing to call it. So show 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.960 them on the wide shot, on the white shot. Yeah, 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.520 the year of fear. But it didn't look right. When 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.320 I saw it in print, I was like, well, that's 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:13.360 not really too terribly inspiring. We're giving an offering next week, 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.279 and how many of you are excited to give to God? 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:17.720 How many of you have been excited to keep giving 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:21.479 to God? And then we go above and beyond. I 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.400 made my check out this week. I'll tell you I 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.360 fought God like never before writing my check this year, 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:30.240 because there's more fear. There's more fear, and I thought 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.400 it was hard to give in previous years because we 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.280 always try to stretch. But this year, I was like 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.680 and I had to practice writing the number down a 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.360 few times before I put it on the check because 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:41.680 I knew what he was speaking. But there was so 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:47.000 much fear, And I think the Year of Fear would 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.400 be a good thing to call twenty twenty. If we're 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.800 gonna if we're gonna keep it one hundred, as the 0:05:52.880 --> 0:06:01.320 kids say, oh yeah, we have found things to be 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:02.920 afraid of that we didn't even know we were supposed 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:08.039 to be afraid of. I was never afraid of a 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.839 handshake until this year. Put it back on the screen, 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.360 the Year of Fear. I thought we could call it 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:19.200 the Fear Offering. That didn't sound right then, sundvery biblical, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.080 So I thought about that, and then I thought no, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:26.200 we should call it. If you really want to be 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.400 accurate about it, we should label it the Year of frustration, 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:32.760 because that starts with an F, and you can say 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:40.960 it in church. The year of frustration, the frustration of 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:46.800 trying to figure out what in God's name you are 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:51.359 going to do not next month. Now I have to 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:55.599 check my phone every five minutes to see if it's 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.080 safe for me to go outside of my door. I 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:02.440 feel like so it's frustrating me because I'm a rule follower. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.479 And that surprises you because some people say that this 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:06.600 church breaks all the rules. But I really like people 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:08.200 to tell me what I'm supposed to do. And what 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.120 I can't figure out is I live in North Carolina, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.360 but sometimes I go to South Carolina, and even between 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.840 two states, I can't figure out what the freaking rules are. 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:19.480 You see what I'm saying. The frustrating you feel it, 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.680 You feel my frustration. I am terrified to go on 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.680 a plane, not because it might crash, but because I 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:31.560 don't want to have to deal with the deal. It 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:36.360 was already bad enough before the year A frustration set in, 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.880 telling me I have to pull up my mask in 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.240 between SIPs. I just don't think I can do it yet, 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.120 I'm not ready for it yet, and I don't want 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.400 to end up on the news, so I'm standing away 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:51.240 from planes until further notice. I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated right 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.720 now because the truck is supposed to be full and 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.440 there's like three hundred people and they're all spaced out 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.480 and there's empty rolls, and it stresses me because it's 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.920 bad out dynamics and I don't like it. But I 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:10.560 got the write three hundred in a row favor. But 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:17.160 I'm frustrated. It has certainly been If we just want 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:21.960 to label this year according to the facts, everybody say facts, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:30.080 as the kids say facts. Oh, Graham's gonna kill me 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.079 after this one. He's gonna hate this. If you want 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:35.600 to label it by the facts, I think we could 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:40.720 call it the Year of fighting all things that start 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:45.960 with the letter F. We have found places and spaces 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.800 to fight. We fight over syllables, we fight over punctuation 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.360 marks on Facebook. In this year the Year of fighting. 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.920 You can get canceled when you use a comma instead 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.520 of a semicolon. In the year twenty twenty, somebody will 0:08:57.559 --> 0:08:59.960 pick you apart. I'm telling you for everything you say. 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.160 It's different from people who have a microphone or a 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.600 platform or something, but I think everybody's experienced it at 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:08.120 some level. Everything is controversial, everything you do. It's some 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.840 big epic message and we're all supposed to figure it out. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:12.600 I thought of calling it the year of Fuci, but 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.640 that felt a little bit limiting what we could say. 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:17.520 And the Lord said, you can call it any of that, 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.880 or you can call it what Luke four nineteen says, 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.840 and tell my people, proclaim this over my people. It's 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:31.000 the year of favor. Somebody shall favor the year. Put 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.080 it on the screen. It's supposed to come up. The year. Yeah, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.240 that's the one. The year. We had to wait for 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.360 it for a minute. We had to get to the 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:42.760 end to figure it out. But it's the year of favor. 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.600 The spirit of the the Lord is on me. That's what 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:53.920 Jesus said. Favor. Put that word in the chat. Favor favor. 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:59.040 Put it in the chat. Say it with your mouth, favor, favor, favor. 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.720 Are you famil with that word? The kids don't say 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:07.560 favor much anymore. This is a word. See my kids 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:11.400 introduce me to new words that I'm unfamiliar with. But 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:15.679 I want to introduce some people who are spiritually just 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.959 growing into your faith to a word that you may 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.640 not have heard, and the word is favor. Now I 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:24.240 can't figure out. This is why I've been trying to 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.080 figure out. Going over to Luke Iour in your Bible, 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.079 because we're going to study this today. We're going to 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.280 talk about the year of the Lord's Favor and how 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.800 to finish with favor. What's going to require you to 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.240 do is maybe forget how the first eleven months went. 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.960 Paul said, this one thing I do forgetting what's ahead 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.199 behind and straining toward what's ahead, I press toward the mark. 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.160 And I'm like, that's two things, forgetting and straining. He's like, no, 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.280 you got to do them both. In order to move forward. 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.559 You got to forget. So let's just make a deal 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:55.920 right now. I won't bring it up if you don't 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.439 all the little temper tantrums, pity parties that you had 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.760 this year, all that other stuff that is not appropriate 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:05.320 for us to talk about in a big group like this. 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.120 Uh huh did you hear it? Did you hear the 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.920 whole crowd go south? The stuff this year that the 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:19.040 other stuff that was fear based frustration, based fighting against 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.600 people that you're supposed to be fighting for. I won't 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:30.600 mention it if you don't. Today we'll talk about favor specifically. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:33.280 The Lord said, we are going to and I want 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:42.400 a personally says you are going to finish with favor. Now, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.480 nothing in me wanted to tell you that, because I 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:49.960 cannot prove it by the percentages of COVID cases. And 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.960 I certainly cannot tell you that a flip of the 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:54.640 calendar is going to wave a magic wand and all 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:56.360 of a sudden make all of the conflict disappear. And 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.880 now I can't say any of that. But I think 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.520 the word favor, although it's unfamiliar to some, it's overly 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:04.960 familiar to others. And I can't figure out which One's 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.920 harder to get somebody who is overly familiar with the 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:17.520 concept to unfamiliarize themselves. Sometimes I think I'd rather teach 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.200 somebody who had never heard of Moses, or, as the 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.160 country preacher said, somebody who doesn't know the Book of 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:30.480 Ruth from a baby Ruth. Amen. I'm telling you, I 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.280 think it's harder sometimes to get someone who has heard 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:39.640 the word favor. I went to the store and I 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.720 got some shoes and they were twenty percent off. It 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:46.079 was favor. No, it was Black Friday, that's all it was. 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:50.520 It wasn't favor. It was marketing because we cheapen it. 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.400 Or we will think favor is like is like fame. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.760 It's a false equivalent. So we'll say, oh, look at 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.800 how I heard somebody say about a person one time 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.360 that was getting very popular. They said, they're blowing up. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.880 And see, I knew the person personally, and I knew 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.640 they are blowing up. They're blowing up their marriage, they're 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.800 blowing up their physical health, they're blowing up their emotions. 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.520 So while one person saw the climb of their fame, 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:22.440 I didn't really think it was favor. But see, we 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.520 have a hard time knowing what the word means. Did 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.400 I use that right? Did I say that right? And 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.320 I'll be honest. The last time I preached on favor 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:39.840 at elevation was twenty eleven. I thought maybe the word 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:45.800 needed to be retired, but then I realized it just 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:51.480 needs to be reclaimed. So today you came on the 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.080 right day, you clicked at the right time. We are 0:13:55.120 --> 0:14:00.920 reclaiming the favor of God in our life. I am 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:10.520 reclaiming God's favor for my family, for my perspective, for 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:15.800 my business, for my church, for my ministry, for my emotions. 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:21.600 I am reclaiming the favor of God. So what is 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.400 the favor of God? Is kind of hard to give 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.600 you a definition because I don't know that we have 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.600 like a worldly equivalent. You know, if I'm trying to 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:34.080 explain to you the favor of God, it's easier for 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.640 me to show you than to tell you. Remember when 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.240 we used to say that all the time, I can 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.120 show you better than I can tell you. She said 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:43.600 that a lot, and it was never a good thing. 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.040 But in this case, it's a good thing. I could 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.000 show you. I could give you a picture better than 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.000 I could show you a definition. Now, what some of 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:52.320 you need to do, and you don't know this yet, 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.760 is you need to take a selfie and look at 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.760 it and the fact that you're still here with light 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.280 in your eyes and a smile on your face. It is. 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.640 It is a picture of the faith. I wish I 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.720 could see. I wish I could see a selfie right 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:10.280 now on Instagram and tag me and say and say 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:12.800 and say in the in the tag, this is my 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.000 definition now now what you're doing. When you do that, 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.800 you are defining to the devil that the proof of 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:19.720 the favor of God on your life is not the 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.160 absence of attack or ambiguity in your life. This year, 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:31.480 it's a picture of God's favor. It's a picture of 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:35.360 God's favor. And sometimes a picture is better than a definition. 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:37.640 So we're going to see a picture of God's favor 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.760 from Jesus, and he gave it to us in Luke 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:46.480 for thirteen all the way through verse thirty. This is 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:51.800 so good, This is so good. Are you familiar with 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.560 the favor of God? Have you heard about it? Have you? 0:15:55.640 --> 0:16:00.600 Have you? Yeah? Well, I mean even if not familiar, 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.400 it's probably better because again I can't really explain. It's 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:09.680 not like luck. It's different than luck. It's something different 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:14.760 than that because luck is validated and proven externally. So 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.200 it's different. And I knew when I said it's the 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.160 year of the Lord's favor that it would make some 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.920 people just think, what are you in an alternate reality? No, 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:29.280 but I am in an alternate kingdom, and I do 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.200 have a different spirit than the spirit of the world. 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:39.560 I have the favor of God. So when I heard 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.160 Elijah's friends the other day and they were calling one 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:43.960 of the kids a simp. I didn't know what a 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.800 simp was, and I said, I'm not familiar with this 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:55.360 term simp. What meaneth this? They said, Uh, it's kind 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:59.000 of hard to describe. And they said it's have you 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.440 heard this term simp? Your kid's not old enough. When 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.880 when Joel gets a little older, he'll start saying, crap, 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:05.520 you won't have a clue what it means. So what 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.480 you'll do, you'll try to correlate the word to things 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.240 we used to say when we were growing up, and 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.159 sometimes there is no equivalent. So he said, it's a 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.120 it's a guy that'll do anything for a girl. Uh, 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.879 and just doesn't care how it looks. And he said, 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.480 and they named somebody and they said he's he's a simp. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:24.639 And I was like, okay, I got it now. I 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:26.880 got it now. And I thought, wow, it was easier 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:28.560 for you to give me a picture of it than 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:30.720 a definition of it, because we don't I don't I 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:32.720 don't know what what did we call it? A guy 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:34.040 that was? I mean, some of the things I'm thinking 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.640 of you can't say like that. But but I don't 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:39.560 think we had an exact word, and I don't think 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.920 we have, Like y'all stay with me. It's been it's 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.240 been a it's been a weird year. So it requires 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.360 some some different kind of preaching. So I was saying, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.040 I don't think I could put it in a word 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.720 for you. Let me give you a picture. And I 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.919 thought about Moses, how he found favor with God. I 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.679 thought about Noah, how he found favor with God in 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:02.000 a flood. I thought about Ruth how she found favor 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.880 with bo Ass. God can give you favor with the person. Yeah, 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.360 bo Ass. A lot of single people like that bo Ass. 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.040 I don't want broke Ass or Boas or any of those. 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.080 What I want bow Ass. So you could you could 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:20.800 get a picture from We can edit this and we 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.760 gotta take the life. But you're good. I can't tell 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:29.720 if you're smiling behind the mask. It's all right now. 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.800 So I thought we would skip right to the one 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:40.040 who not only spoke of the favor of God, but 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:45.160 showed the favor of God, Who was the favor of God, 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:50.399 Who is the favor of God. Now get ready, this 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:51.680 is why I can tell you it's the year of 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:53.720 the Lord's favor, and I hadn't looked at your bank balance. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:55.119 This is why I tell you the your Lord's favor, 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.320 and I hadn't looked at your medical report. This is 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.320 how I can tell you your Lord's favor. And you 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:00.960 don't even like the go home right now because you 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:02.840 can't stand who you're living with. This is how I 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.120 can tell you it's the year of the Lord's favor. 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:13.840 Luke for thirteen. When the devil had finished all this tempting, 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.800 he left him. How many of you want to get 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:21.240 to that part? Let me read that again. Doesn't that 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.720 sound good? When the devil had finished all this tempting 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:31.160 he left Jesus. I thought about calling this sermon, are 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:36.800 you done yet? Devil? Because Jesus has been out there 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:42.560 fasting forty days and forty nights, and he's doing this 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.800 not only for preparation for his own ministry, which is 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.679 about to really really take center stage. In the passage 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:51.840 I'm going to read you and I can't wait to 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:53.960 show you. But I had to put verse thirteen, and 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:59.399 it seemed important because if you don't realize that the 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.600 announce of God's favor came after a season of testing 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:09.440 for Jesus, you might not recognize God's favor in your life. 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:11.480 Now I want to read it again so we don't 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:15.360 misunderstand it. When the devil had finished all this tempting, 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:22.959 he left him until an opportune time. So it doesn't 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.720 mean it's over. It just means that, see this one 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:28.960 thing you can know about every battle in your life. 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.159 It won't last forever. This is what you can know 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.040 about every blessing in your life. It won't last forever. 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.520 So if you're in a blessing right now, enjoy it 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:41.359 because there will be another battle. If you're in a 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.320 battle right now, endure it because there will be another blessing. 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:46.360 Now I need you to put it in the chat. 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.760 By faith, there will be another one. There will be 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.119 another one. And every time I say put it in 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:54.040 the chat, y'all say it with your mouth in the 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:56.840 room so we can join our faith. Right, whether by 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:58.800 thumbs or by tongues, we're going to confess the word 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.879 of God. Got it, Say it out loud. There will 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:07.600 be another one, another one. So there was a temptation. 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.800 It was forty days and forty there will be another one. 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.480 And I kept reading that over and over again. How 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:19.000 the enemy tempted Jesus in the wilderness. And then the 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.080 part I'm about to read you shows Jesus in the synagogue, 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:23.960 which was kind of like church. So he's in the 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.960 wilderness all alone, and he's in the church with people 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:29.480 that he knew and that knew him. And God showed 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:32.600 me that it was the same favor in both places. 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:37.080 So I saw that the same favor that we're about 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:41.199 to encounter working through Jesus in the worship service was 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.679 with him in the wilderness. And that's what let me 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.320 know that the favor of God is not contingent on 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:55.200 a place. You can find favor anywhere, And that's why 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:57.960 I don't know what to compare it to, because I 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.880 can't say that about anything else in life. You can 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.120 find great pizza anywhere. No, there are some places where 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.080 the pizza is better than others. You know, you can 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:10.200 find a good man anywhere. You can find mate anywhere. 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:12.360 How many want to put it on the petition, Tiffany 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:15.959 should make mat change his name his last name to Hammer, 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:18.960 and her name can change to Hudson. She just got married. 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:20.919 But I think they need to do a reverse because 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.240 Hammer is way cooler than Hudson, so you'll put it 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:25.800 in the petition, put it in the chatts. But see, 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.240 I can't just say you can find a good man anywhere. 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:30.879 I can't just say that there are some places. But 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:35.280 the favor of God can be found anywhere you want 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:41.719 to look for it. It was the same favor that 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:46.639 enabled him to endure the isolation and testing of the wilderness, 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:51.680 that enabled him to proclaim the truth in the synagogue. 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:59.640 You can find favor anywhere, or maybe a better way 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:09.760 to say it is favor can find you anywhere. Because 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:13.720 can I be honest, there were sometimes I wasn't looking 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:17.520 for God's favor at all. I was looking for other stuff. 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:25.200 And just about the time I thought I couldn't make it, 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:30.280 the angels of God came to minister to my spirit. 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:33.880 When my flesh was weak, when my tears were falling, 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:38.120 when my hope was kind of foggy and faded and fuzzy. 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:42.120 Here came favor. Here came favor. Here came favor. Here 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:46.080 came favor, Here came favor. Here came grace, Here came love, 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.800 Here came mercy, Here came favor. Wasn't looking for it, 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:52.320 but it came wasn't praying about it, but it came. 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:57.840 Didn't even think it was possible at this point. But here, Hey, 0:23:58.080 --> 0:24:03.200 how many have that testimony that favor found me. Oh 0:24:03.280 --> 0:24:08.320 that's a good one. Favor found me. Thank you, Lord. 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.000 I'm sorry, y'all give me twenty seconds, because all this year, 0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:16.280 all this year, the goodness and the mercy of the 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:19.800 Lord were following me. I saw a table, and I 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:22.919 saw enemies. And I sat at the table in the 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.560 presence of my enemies. And I was said, by the 0:24:26.600 --> 0:24:29.639 favor of God, and I was said by the mouth 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:32.760 of ravens, and I was said by every word that 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:41.159 proceeds favor. Favor found me in the comments. Favor found me. 0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:45.400 To your neighbor, Favor found me. Favor found me here. 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:48.679 I am God. Here, I am God. I need you 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:52.280 in this wilderness. I wanted you to know that the 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:56.119 favor of God that was with Jesus at the resurrection 0:24:56.560 --> 0:25:00.320 was with him in the wilderness. The same faith of 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:03.439 God that came to marry, that was with Jesus in 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:06.720 his mother's womb, that was with you before the beginning 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:11.719 of your life, that same favor is with you, same favor, 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:21.080 different place. Say that same favor, different place, Favor with 0:25:21.160 --> 0:25:28.280 a mask on, favor with the church on YouTube, and 0:25:28.359 --> 0:25:31.920 your home because you can't go out to church because 0:25:31.920 --> 0:25:33.919 you live with your aging parent. You're scared to get 0:25:33.960 --> 0:25:38.720 them sick. Favor where you are, same favor, different place. 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:46.480 Y'all please pray for me. That's just verse thirteen. I'm 0:25:46.520 --> 0:25:52.680 so scared to go any further though, because it felt 0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:56.240 familiar to me. Forty days, forty nights in the wilderness, 0:25:58.240 --> 0:26:04.879 forty in the wilderness, forty in the wilderness, forty days 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:12.439 to make up for forty years when Moses was in 0:26:12.480 --> 0:26:20.959 the wilderness he failed. So before Jesus began his ministry, 0:26:21.600 --> 0:26:30.320 he set up a rematch with the devil. See Moses's 0:26:30.400 --> 0:26:34.520 story in the Old Testament. He struck the rock twice 0:26:35.280 --> 0:26:37.960 instead of speaking to it. He became so afraid that 0:26:38.000 --> 0:26:41.439 he became frustrated. He became so frustrated that he started fighting. 0:26:41.480 --> 0:26:43.320 You remember that from the beginning of the sermon. And 0:26:43.920 --> 0:26:47.000 so Moses's story ended in failure. He didn't get to 0:26:47.040 --> 0:26:49.040 go into the land that he led the people to. 0:26:50.440 --> 0:26:55.680 But Jesus came so that what Moses ended in failure 0:26:57.040 --> 0:27:06.040 he could finish with, say Danish with finish with. And 0:27:06.119 --> 0:27:09.000 I can't explain this to you because it's like a neube, 0:27:09.080 --> 0:27:11.399 or it's like a simp, or it's like something that 0:27:11.520 --> 0:27:13.719 I don't really know how to describe this to you 0:27:13.880 --> 0:27:16.040 because we don't have a context for it. See, you 0:27:16.080 --> 0:27:19.320 are so familiar with earning, so you're reflecting on the year, 0:27:19.520 --> 0:27:21.560 and you're thinking of all the failures that you had. 0:27:21.960 --> 0:27:24.719 But Jesus said, I want to set up a rematch. 0:27:25.359 --> 0:27:28.200 I want to redeem the year. I want to redeem 0:27:28.240 --> 0:27:32.720 me elet January February. He said, I'm stepping in to 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:36.960 the last month of the year so you can finish 0:27:37.400 --> 0:27:48.359 with Thank you, Jesus, I received your favorite and I 0:27:48.440 --> 0:27:53.000 receive your grace, and I am your righteousness. And I 0:27:53.080 --> 0:27:55.520 thank you that you beat that devil that was beating me, 0:27:56.720 --> 0:27:59.359 and you took away that sin that was suffocating me, 0:28:00.400 --> 0:28:05.000 and you you stripped that shame that was sabotaging my life. 0:28:05.320 --> 0:28:07.960 I thank you that you that you broke the back 0:28:08.000 --> 0:28:10.560 of fear. I thank you that you broke the yoke 0:28:10.600 --> 0:28:13.879 of frustration. I thank you that that I no longer 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:16.840 have to fight from a place of defeat. I don't 0:28:16.840 --> 0:28:19.960 have to fight in my flesh. I don't wrestle against 0:28:20.040 --> 0:28:23.639 flesh and blood. I have the spirit. The spirit of 0:28:23.680 --> 0:28:27.320 the Lord is on me. He has annoyed in me. 0:28:27.400 --> 0:28:33.280 He broke that failure, he broke it off your life. 0:28:33.400 --> 0:28:38.000 That's why you're gonna finish with failure favor. Sorry, See 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:40.000 how easy it was to slip back into the whole one, 0:28:40.080 --> 0:28:45.520 because that's what I'm familiar with. You slip back into 0:28:45.600 --> 0:28:52.120 what you're familiar with when you're afraid fear, when you're frustrated, 0:28:53.760 --> 0:28:58.320 and when you're in it, when you're fighting, you just 0:28:58.320 --> 0:29:02.360 do familiar stuff. That's why you call people names that 0:29:02.400 --> 0:29:05.600 you love. That's why you yell at people that are 0:29:05.600 --> 0:29:10.160 trying to help you. Because when you're in fear, phil, 0:29:10.360 --> 0:29:13.360 that's why you strike the rock twice. That's why you 0:29:13.400 --> 0:29:17.760 do it. Now, let me show you this, because because 0:29:17.760 --> 0:29:21.920 this is so powerful. When Jesus finished in the wilderness, 0:29:21.920 --> 0:29:28.640 it said the devil was done, but Jesus wasn't. So 0:29:29.120 --> 0:29:32.680 the enemy got tired before the Savior did. All right, 0:29:33.080 --> 0:29:35.560 so you're gonna overcome. You're gonna you're gonna du this. 0:29:35.600 --> 0:29:39.640 You're gonna finish with favor. You started with some other stuff. 0:29:39.640 --> 0:29:42.360 I know you did, But you're gonna finish with favor. 0:29:43.280 --> 0:29:45.760 Lord told me to tell you that you're gonna finish 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:49.720 with favor. And this is how we know, uh luke 0:29:49.800 --> 0:29:53.160 for fourteen? Did we really only do one verse so far? 0:29:53.920 --> 0:29:56.360 Y'all need a bathroom break or intermission or something like that. 0:29:56.440 --> 0:29:57.520 Just get up and do what you need to do. 0:29:57.520 --> 0:30:01.280 I'll be right here when you get back, all right, Okay, Well, 0:30:01.720 --> 0:30:05.560 so the Bible says he left the wilderness. That's the 0:30:05.560 --> 0:30:07.400 first place. And you want to study this later. There's 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:09.840 several places that we're talking about talking about the wilderness 0:30:10.760 --> 0:30:13.800 where the devil was finished. But Jesus wasn't. He outlasted him, 0:30:14.080 --> 0:30:16.200 and he lives in you. So you have that spirit 0:30:16.600 --> 0:30:19.720 of perseverance in you after the point that you've give 0:30:19.800 --> 0:30:22.520 up when you're tired and hungry and lonely and all 0:30:22.520 --> 0:30:24.760 those things, and the devil's trying to get you to 0:30:24.760 --> 0:30:27.080 do crazy stuff. People are doing crazy stuff this year. 0:30:27.680 --> 0:30:30.959 That's all right, because it said that Jesus did what 0:30:31.000 --> 0:30:35.280 Moses couldn't do. And then in verse fourteen, it says 0:30:35.280 --> 0:30:39.480 that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the 0:30:39.560 --> 0:30:44.120 spirit that in itself is amazing because he didn't return 0:30:44.800 --> 0:30:49.560 of the in the pessimism or in the pain, or 0:30:49.800 --> 0:30:53.920 he returned into power after forty days of being tested 0:30:53.960 --> 0:30:57.200 by the devil. And so it let me know that 0:30:57.920 --> 0:31:01.760 the favor of God doesn't mean that he stops the test. 0:31:02.640 --> 0:31:10.000 It means that he continues the transformation so that he 0:31:10.080 --> 0:31:13.840 keeps working in my life, so that he has unlimited 0:31:13.840 --> 0:31:17.120 patience and grace. Thank you Lord. This is this a powerful, powerful, 0:31:17.120 --> 0:31:20.760 annoying that that's on this word today. Finish with favor. 0:31:20.880 --> 0:31:25.760 So he outlasted the devil. I'm just laughing because Graham, 0:31:25.840 --> 0:31:30.160 my cockiest child, was telling me the other day. He 0:31:30.240 --> 0:31:32.040 told me the other day that he thinks he could 0:31:32.040 --> 0:31:34.200 beat Mike Tyson in a fight because Mike is sixty. 0:31:34.560 --> 0:31:37.680 He was serious, he said, I think I could outlast him. 0:31:37.680 --> 0:31:42.320 He's old anyway. That's what made me laugh. I was 0:31:42.320 --> 0:31:44.000 thinking about Jess I last and the devil. I thought, 0:31:44.040 --> 0:31:47.520 that's that's crazy. But I guess that's some kind of 0:31:47.640 --> 0:31:50.480 self confidence delusion. You'll pray for Graham, is what I'm saying. 0:31:51.400 --> 0:31:54.080 Jess returned to Gottie in the power of the spirit. Wow, 0:31:55.720 --> 0:31:57.440 in the power of the Spirit and news about him 0:31:57.480 --> 0:32:01.120 spread through the whole countryside. This is the real breaking news. 0:32:02.400 --> 0:32:06.000 This is the real breaking news. He broke the chain, 0:32:06.360 --> 0:32:09.280 he broke the shame. That's that's the breaking news. That 0:32:09.280 --> 0:32:11.840 that's what I mean. Is the year of the Lord's favor. 0:32:12.920 --> 0:32:16.280 That's what I mean. That's what the Lord said. So 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:19.040 it spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in 0:32:19.120 --> 0:32:21.560 their synagogues. Remember he was in the wilderness. Now he's 0:32:21.560 --> 0:32:24.640 in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He didn't pay 0:32:24.680 --> 0:32:28.000 any attention to that. He knew that man's empty praise 0:32:28.040 --> 0:32:31.880 and treasures that fade are never enough. That's Jesus' favorite 0:32:31.880 --> 0:32:35.600 worship song, grays out the garths. He loves that one. 0:32:37.000 --> 0:32:39.680 He look at this verse sixteen because it's important. He 0:32:39.720 --> 0:32:43.840 went to Nazareth. Just please put that right there on 0:32:43.880 --> 0:32:46.080 the on the side, so I can I can tell 0:32:46.080 --> 0:32:48.320 you about that in a minute. Where he had been 0:32:48.360 --> 0:32:52.120 brought up. And on the Sabbath day he went into 0:32:52.120 --> 0:32:56.280 the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 0:32:56.800 --> 0:33:01.480 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. 0:33:01.560 --> 0:33:06.040 Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written. 0:33:06.080 --> 0:33:09.080 He found the place where it is written. Somebody say, 0:33:09.080 --> 0:33:10.840 find the place, Find the place, Find the place, Find 0:33:10.880 --> 0:33:13.600 the place. The spirit of the Lord is on me 0:33:14.960 --> 0:33:20.040 because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to 0:33:20.120 --> 0:33:25.240 the poor, breaking news, good news. But wait a minute, 0:33:25.280 --> 0:33:28.520 they're poor. No, no, no, I'm not talking about situation. 0:33:29.600 --> 0:33:33.960 I'm not talking about circumstance. I'm not talking about fame. 0:33:34.040 --> 0:33:38.080 I'm not talking about I'm talking about favor. Good news 0:33:38.160 --> 0:33:44.560 to the poor, a report that contradicts the reality. Let 0:33:44.560 --> 0:33:50.760 the week say, I am strong, good news to the poor. 0:33:50.800 --> 0:33:54.360 I love all this stuff. He sent me to a 0:33:54.440 --> 0:33:58.680 proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:02.360 the blind, to set the oppressed free. Read verse nineteen 0:34:02.360 --> 0:34:05.720 with me out loud, ready read to proclaim the year 0:34:06.080 --> 0:34:10.279 of the Lord's favor again, to proclaim the year of 0:34:10.320 --> 0:34:13.880 the Lord's favor one more time. To proclaim the year 0:34:14.280 --> 0:34:17.279 of the Lord's favor. And I put twenty twenty by 0:34:17.360 --> 0:34:21.520 it in my Bible because I don't see that necessarily 0:34:21.600 --> 0:34:26.960 right now, but I believe it because faith is the 0:34:27.000 --> 0:34:30.520 substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things 0:34:30.680 --> 0:34:34.640 that I can't even see. So I want to ask 0:34:34.680 --> 0:34:39.080 you something. Will you proclaim something that you can't currently perceive. 0:34:40.680 --> 0:34:43.960 He said, proclaim to the poor. That's not easy to 0:34:44.040 --> 0:34:46.759 the blind, that's not easy to the prisoners. And let 0:34:46.800 --> 0:34:48.879 me tell you something. When Jesus was on Earth, there 0:34:48.920 --> 0:34:51.600 is no widespread record of people getting out of prison 0:34:51.640 --> 0:34:55.640 in mass but he still said it was the year 0:34:55.680 --> 0:35:04.319 of freedom and favor, year of the Lord's favor. And 0:35:04.400 --> 0:35:06.440 watch what he did. You'll know how. I hadn't had 0:35:06.480 --> 0:35:08.600 the stool out here in a while. I brought it 0:35:08.640 --> 0:35:10.959 today just for this moment in the sermon. It's a prop. 0:35:11.520 --> 0:35:13.560 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to 0:35:13.600 --> 0:35:21.239 the attendant, and sat out. So that's why I wanted 0:35:21.239 --> 0:35:25.680 to bring this out, to show you what Jesus did 0:35:25.719 --> 0:35:35.759 while you're stressing out, to show you what he's doing 0:35:35.760 --> 0:35:40.160 in heaven right now. I was surprised to see that 0:35:40.239 --> 0:35:45.080 in Revelation chapter five he was seated on the throne. 0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:47.880 I thought that was weird. I'm like, well, that's the 0:35:47.880 --> 0:35:50.120 whole problem. God, if you'd get up and do something 0:35:50.160 --> 0:35:54.799 about this crazy mess. How are you gonna sit down 0:35:54.840 --> 0:35:57.280 at a time like this. Mary helped me in the kitchen. 0:35:57.280 --> 0:35:59.719 You know, Martha, remember that story. I'm thinking, how could 0:35:59.760 --> 0:36:04.520 you be seated right now. Especially what really got me 0:36:06.920 --> 0:36:10.560 was that Jesus is quoting Isaiah sixty one. Let me 0:36:10.600 --> 0:36:12.960 show you this real quick. You can just flip there 0:36:12.960 --> 0:36:14.480 in your Bible right on your phone, So do that 0:36:14.520 --> 0:36:18.560 real quick. Now. Jesus didn't have you version Craig Groschell 0:36:18.719 --> 0:36:22.640 Bible at none of that verse of the day. For Jesus, 0:36:22.880 --> 0:36:25.880 they handed him the whole scroll. It was probably the 0:36:27.040 --> 0:36:30.880 attendants and the synagogue leader there in Nazareth. It was 0:36:30.880 --> 0:36:33.520 probably his decision which scroll handed him, and Isaiah the 0:36:33.520 --> 0:36:35.680 whole thing was probably on the scroll. And you now 0:36:35.760 --> 0:36:38.640 you have the verse markers in your Bible. I say, 0:36:38.640 --> 0:36:41.080 turned to Isaiah sixty one, verse one and two, and 0:36:41.120 --> 0:36:43.920 you're like, okay, it's sixty sixty two, the one between 0:36:43.920 --> 0:36:45.719 the sixty one. That's how we do it. There were 0:36:45.719 --> 0:36:47.840 none of those in the scroll that Jesus read. He 0:36:47.880 --> 0:36:55.840 didn't need them. He found the place. He found the 0:36:55.880 --> 0:37:00.640 place he knew the word that good was the word. 0:37:02.200 --> 0:37:04.319 So it's kind of easy to find the place when 0:37:04.360 --> 0:37:07.120 you are what you're reading. All that to say, when 0:37:07.160 --> 0:37:09.839 you know who you are, When you know who you are, 0:37:10.600 --> 0:37:12.640 you know where you below. You can always find a 0:37:12.680 --> 0:37:15.400 place you can always when you know that, when you 0:37:15.440 --> 0:37:18.000 know that the favor of God is on your life, 0:37:18.239 --> 0:37:22.560 you can find your place anywhere. Is't that good? Isn't 0:37:22.560 --> 0:37:24.520 that good? Don't you want to live like that? I'm 0:37:24.520 --> 0:37:28.960 not there yet. You're not either what Jesus was. So 0:37:29.000 --> 0:37:32.520 he's like, okay, we're reading Isaiah. Okay, all right, this 0:37:32.600 --> 0:37:36.040 is the park. This is this uh, this is something 0:37:36.080 --> 0:37:42.160 I wrote about me. How cool is Jesus? Somebody shall favor. 0:37:43.080 --> 0:37:48.040 He wasn't talking about circumstances. He wasn't talking. He wasn't 0:37:48.040 --> 0:37:52.680 talking about lemons and lemonade, and he wasn't talking about vaccines, 0:37:52.760 --> 0:37:55.440 and he wasn't talking about candidates or any of that. 0:37:57.840 --> 0:38:00.640 He so knew his purpose that he found on this place, 0:38:02.960 --> 0:38:10.000 same favor, different place. So he unrolls the scroll, make 0:38:10.040 --> 0:38:14.319 the sound effect. He goes, yeah, this one, this one, 0:38:14.320 --> 0:38:16.880 this one right here. This is what I want to say. 0:38:17.800 --> 0:38:25.560 You listening, Rodney, you're listening, Carol, you're listening. David, you're listening. 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:28.520 Because he knew these people, because it's the place where 0:38:28.520 --> 0:38:33.439 he grew up, and they knew him. They thought they did. 0:38:35.560 --> 0:38:39.040 They thought they did, they thought they did. We think 0:38:39.080 --> 0:38:46.480 we do, see We're so familiar, aren't we. I wonder 0:38:46.520 --> 0:38:56.880 if familiarity is sometimes the enemy of favor. I wonder, 0:38:59.080 --> 0:39:03.240 I wonder if familiarity is the enemy of God's favor. 0:39:04.160 --> 0:39:07.719 And the reason I wonder that Isaiah sixty one, I 0:39:07.760 --> 0:39:10.120 hadn't even found it yet. I'm telling you all how 0:39:10.239 --> 0:39:12.600 he found it, and I hadn't even turned there yet. Okay, 0:39:12.600 --> 0:39:15.200 here it is. He said, This is Isaiah, hundreds of 0:39:15.239 --> 0:39:19.279 years before Jesus. That amazing. He said, the spirit of 0:39:19.320 --> 0:39:20.799 the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has 0:39:20.840 --> 0:39:22.719 annoying to me to proclaim good news to the poor. 0:39:22.920 --> 0:39:24.560 Sent me to bind up the broken heart. It proclaim 0:39:24.600 --> 0:39:27.920 freedom for the captives, and to release from darkness for 0:39:27.960 --> 0:39:31.120 the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor 0:39:31.520 --> 0:39:35.960 and the day of vengeance of our God. Does that 0:39:36.000 --> 0:39:41.160 sound familiar? Some of it does? Give me looke for again. 0:39:41.440 --> 0:39:45.320 Let me show you this. It said that he stood 0:39:45.360 --> 0:39:47.680 up and unrolled it, found the place. Give me verse eighteen. 0:39:47.719 --> 0:39:49.160 The spirit of the Lord is on me because he 0:39:49.200 --> 0:39:51.040 has annoyed me to proclaim good news to the poor. 0:39:51.120 --> 0:39:52.920 He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and 0:39:52.960 --> 0:39:55.440 recovery of sight. For the blind, to set the oppress free, 0:39:55.560 --> 0:39:57.960 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he 0:39:58.080 --> 0:39:59.839 rolled up the scroll, gave it back, and sat down. 0:40:00.120 --> 0:40:02.120 Go back to Isaiah sixty one one more time. Verse 0:40:02.160 --> 0:40:05.320 two he said, to proclaim the year of the Lord's 0:40:05.320 --> 0:40:07.480 favor and the day of vengeance of our God. Go 0:40:07.480 --> 0:40:09.200 back to Luke for the same verse that I just 0:40:09.239 --> 0:40:12.400 read to you verse nineteen. One more time he said, 0:40:12.600 --> 0:40:14.600 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor one more time. 0:40:14.640 --> 0:40:17.080 I want you to see this, this powerful. In Isaiah 0:40:17.160 --> 0:40:19.319 sixty one two, the prophet said, hundreds of years before 0:40:19.400 --> 0:40:21.480 Jesus to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and 0:40:21.520 --> 0:40:24.399 the day of vengeance of our God. Go back to Luke, 0:40:24.440 --> 0:40:28.000 for Jesus said to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, 0:40:29.000 --> 0:40:38.879 and he sat down. Why do you stop there? See 0:40:38.920 --> 0:40:42.320 this was the problem. It wasn't that the people listening 0:40:42.480 --> 0:40:46.759 didn't know the scriptures. They were very familiar with the scriptures. 0:40:48.000 --> 0:40:49.839 So we think that's the problem a lot. If people 0:40:49.920 --> 0:40:51.759 knew the Bible more, if people knew the word of 0:40:51.760 --> 0:40:54.880 God moral, I'll tell you, then this nation with America 0:40:54.920 --> 0:40:56.719 would turn back to God in all of that. No, 0:40:56.719 --> 0:41:01.160 no, no no, no. They knew the Bible. They knew the 0:41:01.200 --> 0:41:04.640 rest of the verse, the year of the Lord's favor 0:41:04.960 --> 0:41:08.480 and the day of angeance of our God. That was 0:41:08.480 --> 0:41:13.840 in their Bible. So when Jesus said the year a 0:41:14.040 --> 0:41:18.720 favor of the Lord and then rolled up the scroll 0:41:19.840 --> 0:41:24.560 and sat down, they were confused because they were waiting 0:41:24.600 --> 0:41:29.279 for the vengeance part. When are you gonna finish this 0:41:29.440 --> 0:41:32.560 member of mortal combat? Finish him? That's what they wanted 0:41:32.640 --> 0:41:35.400 for the Roman oppression. That's what they wanted him to 0:41:35.440 --> 0:41:37.600 come and do. That's what we want the Lord to do. 0:41:37.840 --> 0:41:40.759 Get rid of this. I want this to stop. I 0:41:40.800 --> 0:41:43.960 want this to be done. I want the bad people punished. 0:41:44.160 --> 0:41:46.160 I want the right. I want the wrong to be 0:41:46.239 --> 0:41:48.759 made right. I want the favor of what we say 0:41:48.800 --> 0:41:50.480 when we say the favor of God is we want 0:41:50.520 --> 0:41:59.480 all the enemies eliminated. Jesus came to save the people 0:41:59.840 --> 0:42:07.000 that they wanted him to wipe out. Oh yeah, he 0:42:07.960 --> 0:42:11.600 came to fulfill the law, not abolishit. He did it. 0:42:13.000 --> 0:42:15.960 He came to fulfill the vengeance of God because sin 0:42:16.080 --> 0:42:18.759 has to be punished and shame has to be dealt with. 0:42:19.719 --> 0:42:22.719 But he did not put it on you, and he 0:42:22.760 --> 0:42:25.839 did not put it on me. And see, this is 0:42:25.880 --> 0:42:29.280 the breaking news. This is the good news of the gospel. 0:42:29.680 --> 0:42:33.000 This is what will set the captive free. He didn't 0:42:33.040 --> 0:42:35.680 come to put it on you. He came to take 0:42:35.719 --> 0:42:40.520 it on himself, that he became sin who knew no sin, 0:42:41.040 --> 0:42:45.200 that you might become the righteousness of God. This is 0:42:45.280 --> 0:42:49.080 the gospel. It's good in twenty twenty. It was good 0:42:49.160 --> 0:42:52.080 in twenty It was good when he said it, and 0:42:52.360 --> 0:42:55.960 is good to the last. Draw. Now take this gospel 0:42:56.280 --> 0:43:04.120 and drink this blood and receive this word. It is finished. 0:43:05.239 --> 0:43:08.480 Come on, Praise him like his finished. Praise him like 0:43:08.600 --> 0:43:18.560 he won it. Praise him lucky he did it. So 0:43:18.640 --> 0:43:21.399 I need you to know what he did. I need 0:43:21.440 --> 0:43:23.360 you to know that, he said, it's the year of 0:43:23.400 --> 0:43:29.000 the Lord's favor. Period you're looking at it. Don't look 0:43:29.040 --> 0:43:31.839 for the new car. That might be favor. It might 0:43:31.880 --> 0:43:37.919 be payments. Don't look for that for favor. Don't look 0:43:37.920 --> 0:43:42.600 for bow ass hmm. Don't look for any of that. 0:43:44.080 --> 0:43:47.120 He sat down. He said, I don't know how to 0:43:47.120 --> 0:43:50.879 tell you what favor is. You showed a picture. List, 0:43:50.920 --> 0:43:52.520 let me show a picture of this. Let's shaw a 0:43:52.560 --> 0:43:59.279 picture this man. It'd be so cool to endiscernment here, 0:44:00.320 --> 0:44:06.480 but I can't because I didn't write the Bible. I 0:44:06.520 --> 0:44:09.360 wish at that moment that they would have put finished 0:44:09.360 --> 0:44:11.640 with favor on the chat subscribed on YouTube, turned on 0:44:11.680 --> 0:44:13.960 the bell and gave the tie to the year end offriend. 0:44:13.960 --> 0:44:20.080 We cando they didn't do that. Remember, we read the Bible. 0:44:20.760 --> 0:44:25.000 It's what is said, and it's where it said. So 0:44:25.160 --> 0:44:27.719 saying that he defeated the devil in the wilderness where 0:44:27.719 --> 0:44:30.520 it happened tells us that he was doing for us 0:44:30.520 --> 0:44:33.160 what we could never do for ourselves. That's the grace 0:44:33.200 --> 0:44:37.720 of God. If it starts with grace, it ends in favor. 0:44:38.280 --> 0:44:44.480 If it starts with effort, it ends in frustration. Finished 0:44:44.520 --> 0:44:48.920 with favor, Start with grace. He stood up and he read, 0:44:49.280 --> 0:44:51.960 and he stopped at the part that he came to fulfill. 0:44:53.400 --> 0:44:56.160 He came to do that for you. You can't do 0:44:56.200 --> 0:44:59.360 it for yourself. That's the whole point. Rolled it up, 0:45:00.000 --> 0:45:04.839 gave it back to Timmy, the synagogue assistant. He put 0:45:04.840 --> 0:45:06.400 it back in the art and Jesus said, I'm the 0:45:06.520 --> 0:45:11.600 arc you can put that up. I am, I am 0:45:11.640 --> 0:45:17.160 the word of God. Isn't that amazing? He opened the scroll, 0:45:18.760 --> 0:45:22.239 read the passage. He's going to set the prisoners free, 0:45:22.440 --> 0:45:24.480 good news to the poor. What you don't have, God's 0:45:24.480 --> 0:45:27.040 going to make up the difference in all these things 0:45:27.040 --> 0:45:29.360 that we can take symbolically. They don't even have to 0:45:29.360 --> 0:45:32.520 be literal. That's what he's doing in your life this year. 0:45:34.320 --> 0:45:37.920 It's not This is not Andy Dufraan's style. Do you 0:45:37.920 --> 0:45:40.319 remember when he got out of prison. This is a 0:45:40.360 --> 0:45:46.400 spiritual prison. This is spiritual blindness. And what really ministered 0:45:46.440 --> 0:45:47.880 to me in the text is to know that he 0:45:47.920 --> 0:45:49.760 said he came to open the eyes of the blind, 0:45:50.560 --> 0:45:55.600 and he said in verse twenty one, today this scripture 0:45:55.680 --> 0:45:58.120 is fulfilled in your hearing. Look at the whole verse. 0:45:58.440 --> 0:46:03.240 He began by saying to them, he finished with favor. 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:07.720 He began to speak, he sat down. When God sits, 0:46:07.760 --> 0:46:15.480 he's not tired. He's finished. The work is finished. It's accomplished. Okay. 0:46:15.280 --> 0:46:18.840 So he began by saying, today, if I say today 0:46:19.320 --> 0:46:22.280 not January first, twenty twenty one, when absolutely nothing changes 0:46:22.320 --> 0:46:24.040 and we all promise to go on diets and to 0:46:24.080 --> 0:46:27.200 do better, and we think something that's known, and today 0:46:27.880 --> 0:46:32.640 this is the year of the Lord's favor. This scripture 0:46:33.160 --> 0:46:37.560 is fulfilled in your hearing. And they were amazed. Give 0:46:37.600 --> 0:46:39.600 me twenty one and you'll just keep up with me, 0:46:39.600 --> 0:46:41.800 because I'm going to go off the screen. All spoke 0:46:41.840 --> 0:46:44.840 well of him, and we're amazed at the gracious words 0:46:44.840 --> 0:46:48.080 that came from his lips. But watch what they said next. 0:46:49.080 --> 0:46:54.400 Isn't this Joseph's son, they asked, And that messed the 0:46:54.400 --> 0:47:01.640 whole thing up. And tell you this, but when we 0:47:01.680 --> 0:47:04.080 went to see Jody and Emiley a while back. This 0:47:04.120 --> 0:47:06.160 is my brother in law. He works at North Greenville 0:47:06.160 --> 0:47:08.879 College where I went to school, North Greenville University. Now 0:47:10.360 --> 0:47:15.919 they've really really moved up, and we were talking about 0:47:16.000 --> 0:47:20.399 how beautiful the campus was, not necessarily the buildings, but 0:47:20.440 --> 0:47:23.000 the buildings are fine, but it was the Blue Ridge 0:47:23.040 --> 0:47:26.799 Mountains in the background. He said something to me. I 0:47:26.800 --> 0:47:29.879 can't get this out of my head. He said, can 0:47:29.920 --> 0:47:31.960 you believe we had this the whole time we were 0:47:31.960 --> 0:47:39.359 here as students. I said, what do you mean? He said, bo, 0:47:39.680 --> 0:47:42.759 that's what he calls me. We call each other that bow. 0:47:43.560 --> 0:47:46.080 He goes, he points to the mountain range. It's a 0:47:46.080 --> 0:47:49.160 real pretty day too, He goes. This was in our backyard. 0:47:50.239 --> 0:47:53.759 The Blue Ridge Mountains were in our backyard. You know. 0:47:53.800 --> 0:47:55.640 Me and Holly went to that school. We never went 0:47:55.680 --> 0:48:01.880 on one hike. It was in our backyard. Crazy, and 0:48:01.920 --> 0:48:04.120 I looked at it. I was like, this is like 0:48:04.160 --> 0:48:06.920 the kind of thing I would pay the vacation at now. 0:48:07.800 --> 0:48:11.200 Not the dorm room. The dorm room was crap. And 0:48:11.320 --> 0:48:17.600 I think that was the problem. I think this is 0:48:17.600 --> 0:48:19.439 what I said to him I was looking at I said, 0:48:21.600 --> 0:48:24.040 we were so focused on what we were living in 0:48:26.880 --> 0:48:29.480 that we didn't even realize what we were looking at. 0:48:35.400 --> 0:48:39.600 When you're living in it, you don't even know what 0:48:39.600 --> 0:48:44.160 you're looking at. That's why we really have to be 0:48:44.280 --> 0:48:50.680 careful not to wish away stages of our life. Wade, 0:48:52.520 --> 0:48:57.560 because that was in your backyard. It took twenty twenty 0:48:57.600 --> 0:49:01.960 to get some of us to see that's. Showing up 0:49:02.000 --> 0:49:04.200 early to get a seat at Valentine at nine thirty 0:49:04.239 --> 0:49:06.160 on a Sunday morning was a privilege back when we 0:49:06.200 --> 0:49:13.320 could all do it without fear. We had the favor 0:49:13.400 --> 0:49:19.000 of God. We still do, but some of it it 0:49:19.080 --> 0:49:23.440 was our backyard. Just looked at it. I was like, dude, 0:49:23.440 --> 0:49:25.200 this is trippy. Are you sure they didn't move these 0:49:25.239 --> 0:49:30.000 mountains in since we left. Are you playing with me? 0:49:30.080 --> 0:49:32.719 Did you slip something in my turkey? What's going on? 0:49:32.960 --> 0:49:38.000 Is this really here? My illusion? It was there? He 0:49:38.160 --> 0:49:43.120 was there, He had been brought up there. He was 0:49:43.120 --> 0:49:49.600 a Nazareth. That's where he grew up. Is familiarity the 0:49:49.760 --> 0:49:55.000 enemy of favor? Because I think it is sometimes, I 0:49:55.040 --> 0:49:59.799 really do. I think we choose what is familiar, even 0:50:00.120 --> 0:50:07.440 the expense of God's favor sometimes. And I'll prove it 0:50:07.440 --> 0:50:09.680 to you not from psychology. I have no degree in that. 0:50:11.000 --> 0:50:14.560 I'll prove it to you, not from sociology. I prove 0:50:14.560 --> 0:50:17.560 it to you from theology and the text. Why is 0:50:17.600 --> 0:50:20.600 it that the place where Jesus should have been able 0:50:20.640 --> 0:50:23.840 to do the most, he was able to do the least. 0:50:26.120 --> 0:50:28.400 That should have been the place for the greatest favor 0:50:28.440 --> 0:50:33.160 of God? Okay, now I need to say this to you. 0:50:33.200 --> 0:50:35.920 This might sound rough. Some of the places where God 0:50:35.920 --> 0:50:37.680 should be working the most in your life, you're letting 0:50:37.719 --> 0:50:41.839 him do the least. And the reason is you are 0:50:41.960 --> 0:50:47.840 choosing what is familiar, and you are chasing away God's favor. 0:50:50.160 --> 0:50:55.280 For many of us, we're waiting on the vengeance. Ah, 0:50:55.800 --> 0:51:00.000 we think we know so much. And when he rolls 0:51:00.120 --> 0:51:02.839 up the scroll and sits down, and we think, well, 0:51:02.880 --> 0:51:04.440 it must be over because God didn't do what I 0:51:04.480 --> 0:51:10.399 wanted him to do. Look at me is finished when 0:51:10.440 --> 0:51:15.799 he says it's finished. He is who he says, he is, 0:51:15.880 --> 0:51:19.359 not who you think he is. And you are who 0:51:19.440 --> 0:51:23.239 he says. You are, not what they say you are, 0:51:24.680 --> 0:51:28.560 whether they is your thoughts, your addictions, your insecurities, your 0:51:28.600 --> 0:51:33.200 secret stuff, your secret stuff. You are not what that 0:51:33.520 --> 0:51:35.920 says you are or your life. That's not what we 0:51:36.000 --> 0:51:39.520 mean by favor. We don't mean the facts. We mean 0:51:39.560 --> 0:51:45.799 the father. So when they were looking at him, there's 0:51:45.840 --> 0:51:48.439 a Greek word that they use, and it's used ten 0:51:48.520 --> 0:51:50.759 times in the Book of Acts, only twice in Luke. 0:51:51.080 --> 0:51:53.479 It says, when he said what he said, he said 0:51:53.480 --> 0:51:57.840 today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Faith comes 0:51:57.880 --> 0:52:02.560 by hearing. Faith comes by hearing, but not with physical ears, 0:52:02.560 --> 0:52:08.319 spiritual ears. And it's a terrible thing. The famous woman said, 0:52:08.320 --> 0:52:10.160 I can't remember her name right now. To have sight 0:52:10.239 --> 0:52:13.640 but be blind, it's a terrible thing because he's talking 0:52:13.640 --> 0:52:16.080 about opening blind eyes. But they are blind to the 0:52:16.120 --> 0:52:20.080 Blue Ridge mountains that are in their own backyard because 0:52:20.080 --> 0:52:21.480 He is favor, and he's right in front of them, 0:52:21.520 --> 0:52:22.959 just like the favor of God is right in front 0:52:22.960 --> 0:52:25.120 of you. I promise it is. It's everywhere. You bumped 0:52:25.160 --> 0:52:26.960 into it trying to get in a fight on your 0:52:26.960 --> 0:52:28.840 way out the house. Today, you bumped into the favor 0:52:28.880 --> 0:52:30.759 of God. You had to push the favor of God 0:52:30.760 --> 0:52:35.319 out of the way to get to your bad attitude. 0:52:37.360 --> 0:52:39.879 He said, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. 0:52:39.920 --> 0:52:44.120 And he sat down and they spoke well, but they 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:49.680 were so familiar. That's Joseph's son. Wow, he talks good, 0:52:50.160 --> 0:53:00.880 but we know him. We know him familiar favor. Familiarity 0:53:01.120 --> 0:53:07.320 is familiarity keeping you from God's favor. Are you addicted 0:53:07.360 --> 0:53:15.680 to feeling miserable? Feels familiar? If fear is your natural 0:53:15.719 --> 0:53:20.640 habitat for long enough, you'll seek it out. You'll find 0:53:20.640 --> 0:53:24.440 something to be afraid about. I started looking up a 0:53:24.480 --> 0:53:26.680 state taxis the other night and freaking out. And I 0:53:26.680 --> 0:53:29.759 don't think I'm dying. I just needed something to be 0:53:29.760 --> 0:53:34.279 worried about. I just needed something to freak out about. 0:53:34.280 --> 0:53:35.960 I didn't have anything in the moment. It was too good, 0:53:36.040 --> 0:53:38.319 it was too good. I had to make something up 0:53:38.320 --> 0:53:42.839 in the moment. Isn't that crazy? But I think I 0:53:42.920 --> 0:53:47.920 was seeking what was familiar and to receive and accept 0:53:47.960 --> 0:53:50.720 God's favor. When he says the year of the Lord's favor, 0:53:51.640 --> 0:53:54.799 the other translation is the acceptable year of the Lord. Now, 0:53:54.840 --> 0:53:58.360 the Jewish people knew a concept called jubilee every cycle 0:53:58.400 --> 0:54:01.560 of seven years and fiftieth or forty ninth year. The 0:54:01.640 --> 0:54:03.800 rabbis differ as to which one it fell on. Originally, 0:54:03.840 --> 0:54:07.360 the debts would be forgiven and the prisoners would be released. 0:54:07.719 --> 0:54:11.879 And Jesus was saying, I am your jubilee. You don't 0:54:11.880 --> 0:54:13.799 have to wait till the fiftieth year. You don't have 0:54:13.840 --> 0:54:15.840 to wait till twenty twenty one. You don't have to 0:54:15.840 --> 0:54:17.400 wait till you get married. You don't have to wait 0:54:17.520 --> 0:54:19.360 till you get divorced. I mean, everybody's trying to go 0:54:19.400 --> 0:54:24.360 somewhere else, he said. Today. Today, this is the everybody 0:54:24.320 --> 0:54:26.640 saying this is the year, this is the year. This 0:54:26.880 --> 0:54:32.360 is the year. But if frustration is a more familiar 0:54:32.400 --> 0:54:38.520 state for you, you you will create frustration. You do this. 0:54:39.160 --> 0:54:41.640 I know this is hard to hear, but please hear 0:54:41.640 --> 0:54:44.040 me with spiritual ears. Please hear me with spiritual ears. 0:54:44.400 --> 0:54:46.480 Some of the frustration you just got to get through 0:54:46.520 --> 0:54:49.160 because it's not your fault. Some of it you're creating. 0:54:50.680 --> 0:54:53.840 You're creating it. When you compare yourself to other people, 0:54:54.080 --> 0:54:57.000 you're creating it. When you overload yourself with all this 0:54:57.120 --> 0:55:00.719 stuff you're looking at, you are making yourself frust And 0:55:00.760 --> 0:55:02.640 the reason you're doing it, I'm gonna tell you why 0:55:02.640 --> 0:55:05.879 you're doing it because it feels familiar. So you want 0:55:05.880 --> 0:55:15.640 what's familiar, because that feels like nazareth favor feels funny. 0:55:16.480 --> 0:55:19.239 There's no equivalent for God's favor. People don't love you 0:55:19.360 --> 0:55:22.040 like that. They don't love you like that. So when 0:55:22.080 --> 0:55:25.840 God tries to you push out away. That's not familiar. 0:55:26.840 --> 0:55:29.160 That's not familiar. I can't just trust that my sins 0:55:29.200 --> 0:55:31.960 are forgiven. I can't just pray to God in any situation. 0:55:32.280 --> 0:55:34.600 I can't just give God this burden. I can't just 0:55:34.719 --> 0:55:37.000 roll it on him and trust that he cares for me. 0:55:37.280 --> 0:55:40.759 I can't smile I'm going through this. I can't trust wholeheartedly. 0:55:41.000 --> 0:55:44.000 I can't take the next step without knowing all the details. 0:55:44.160 --> 0:55:47.600 That's not familiar. So I will create frustration through a 0:55:47.640 --> 0:55:51.120 spirit of manipulation, just to feel what feels like home 0:55:51.200 --> 0:55:55.960 to me. It said, they fastened their eyes on him. 0:55:56.160 --> 0:56:01.200 The word is adnitzio and spell it. You can look 0:56:01.200 --> 0:56:05.200 it up on a bible at at neat seo. It's 0:56:05.320 --> 0:56:10.080 used to describe a very emotional attention. I gotta show you. 0:56:10.120 --> 0:56:11.880 This is too important. Go all the way back to 0:56:12.000 --> 0:56:20.080 verse twenty one, please, yeah, no, twenty two? Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, 0:56:20.160 --> 0:56:22.160 twenty three. You want the right one the whole time. 0:56:22.200 --> 0:56:26.440 Sorry about that, but I can't find it. Is it 0:56:26.480 --> 0:56:30.000 still there? I'm sorry. I am not messing this up, 0:56:30.239 --> 0:56:33.600 because this is what makes the difference. This is why 0:56:33.640 --> 0:56:36.600 I didn't see the mountains. This is why I couldn't 0:56:36.640 --> 0:56:40.759 see the Blue Ridge mountains because yeah, yeah, yeah, the 0:56:40.800 --> 0:56:42.920 gracious word came from his lips. Uh da da da 0:56:43.040 --> 0:56:45.520 da dah. All the eyes, yeah, the eyes of everyone 0:56:45.600 --> 0:56:47.560 verse twenty That's where it was. That's where it was. 0:56:47.880 --> 0:56:52.000 The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were at neat seo. 0:56:53.640 --> 0:56:59.319 It's an emotional focus. It's the same word. Listen to 0:56:59.360 --> 0:57:01.719 this halt. When he was taken up in X one 0:57:01.760 --> 0:57:06.440 to ten, they at need Ceo. They watched because they wondered, 0:57:06.560 --> 0:57:10.480 if he's leaving, what's going to happen? To us, that's 0:57:10.480 --> 0:57:13.319 how you felt all year. Well, if I'm losing this, 0:57:14.320 --> 0:57:16.800 if it's not like this anymore, what's going to replace this? 0:57:17.280 --> 0:57:20.280 That's what the word was. It was the same word 0:57:20.440 --> 0:57:23.640 when Peter was cussing, when Jesus was being taken away 0:57:23.640 --> 0:57:26.840 to be crucified. The servant girl at needs CEO fastened 0:57:26.840 --> 0:57:29.040 her eyes. It was an emotion. It's not just like 0:57:29.120 --> 0:57:33.280 you look. It's like you're emotionally focusing on something. And 0:57:33.360 --> 0:57:36.080 here's the thing I found out about God's favor. My 0:57:36.400 --> 0:57:44.560 emotional focus determines whether I go to frustration, fear, fighting, 0:57:45.840 --> 0:57:49.800 or favor. So the Lord said he wanted to give 0:57:49.840 --> 0:57:53.640 you the gift this last month of the year, whoever 0:57:53.720 --> 0:57:57.360 this is for, He wants to give you your emotional 0:57:57.800 --> 0:58:02.200 focus back. And what that is going to require. I 0:58:02.240 --> 0:58:04.400 want to make sure you're down because this is not 0:58:04.440 --> 0:58:06.960 going to be easy. You are going to have to 0:58:07.080 --> 0:58:11.920 let go of some certain attachments to familiar things that 0:58:11.960 --> 0:58:14.960 are blocking God's favor. I don't mean you're gonna leave 0:58:15.000 --> 0:58:17.160 the city. I don't mean you're gonna flee the state. 0:58:17.320 --> 0:58:19.480 I don't mean you're gonna move to Canada. I mean 0:58:19.480 --> 0:58:22.680 that in this moment, you are going to decide what 0:58:22.800 --> 0:58:26.480 has been in your backyard all along that is bigger 0:58:26.480 --> 0:58:28.840 than what you're going through and living in right now 0:58:29.600 --> 0:58:35.240 that my focus, listen, my focus is my favor, not 0:58:35.440 --> 0:58:39.800 your favor. God gave you a favor. God gave me 0:58:39.840 --> 0:58:44.080 a favor. God gave you a family. God gave me 0:58:44.160 --> 0:58:47.960 a family. God gave you a gift. God gave me 0:58:48.000 --> 0:58:51.280 a gift. Every preacher watching me, God gave you a church. 0:58:51.920 --> 0:58:55.880 God gave me a church. Everybody watching this that wants 0:58:55.880 --> 0:58:58.280 God to do something that he's doing for somebody else, 0:58:58.640 --> 0:59:02.400 it is time for you to focus on the favor 0:59:02.680 --> 0:59:06.480 that God has given you in this season of your life. 0:59:06.520 --> 0:59:11.680 And I promise you this, at Nisio, you will find 0:59:12.040 --> 0:59:16.160 what you're looking for. If you want to look for goodness, 0:59:16.320 --> 0:59:18.720 it's on your right hand. If you want to look 0:59:18.760 --> 0:59:24.760 for mercy, it's on your left hand. So he rolled 0:59:24.840 --> 0:59:28.480 up the scroll and he sat down and said, you 0:59:28.560 --> 0:59:32.000 want favor, it's right in front of you. It's right 0:59:32.040 --> 0:59:34.520 in front of you. It is right in front of you. 0:59:34.880 --> 0:59:37.560 It is not out there somewhere. It is not to 0:59:37.600 --> 0:59:40.400 be found in any earthly promotion. It is not to 0:59:40.400 --> 0:59:43.680 be found in any earthly acclaim. It is in the wilderness, 0:59:43.800 --> 0:59:46.680 it is in the synagogue, it is in Nazareth. But 0:59:46.800 --> 0:59:49.200 the place where he was brought up was the place 0:59:49.240 --> 0:59:53.680 where they were so familiar with him that they could 0:59:53.720 --> 0:59:59.920 not receive the favor because they chose what was familiar. 1:00:00.600 --> 1:00:06.120 That's Joseph's son. Are you open to seeing the favor 1:00:06.120 --> 1:00:10.560 of God? I asked the Lord to do three things 1:00:10.600 --> 1:00:15.320 for us. Make us conscious of his favor. You got 1:00:15.320 --> 1:00:20.600 to see it, to help us cooperate with his favor. 1:00:21.960 --> 1:00:25.560 Stop fighting against what God is doing in my life. 1:00:26.640 --> 1:00:28.200 And then the biggest part of all this, why I 1:00:28.200 --> 1:00:31.000 want to give my offering next weekend to make me 1:00:31.080 --> 1:00:38.360 a conduit for his favor. I want that because this 1:00:38.440 --> 1:00:41.720 is the year of the Lord's favor, and I don't 1:00:41.760 --> 1:00:50.280 know about tomorrow. He opened the scroll, you know, that's 1:00:50.280 --> 1:00:54.520 the same thing he did in Revelation five. They couldn't 1:00:54.560 --> 1:00:57.080 find anybody to open the scroll and break the seals. 1:00:58.200 --> 1:01:01.400 And then there was a lamb next to the one 1:01:01.400 --> 1:01:07.680 who was seated on the throne, not stressed, not freaking out, 1:01:08.080 --> 1:01:12.160 and neither should you be, because no matter how it started, 1:01:13.400 --> 1:01:20.720 it's gonna finish with favor. What sins started in the garden. 1:01:22.000 --> 1:01:26.720 Jesus dealt with on the cross, and he buried in 1:01:26.760 --> 1:01:33.520 his tomb. So I'm making the declaration you're gonna finish 1:01:34.360 --> 1:01:41.600 with favor. I wonder do you receive that or are 1:01:41.640 --> 1:01:46.160 you gonna chase it away? Are you gonna chase it away? 1:01:47.160 --> 1:01:51.240 That's what the people did to Jesus. He starts speaking 1:01:51.280 --> 1:01:53.240 about the favor of God. He said, it's the year 1:01:53.280 --> 1:01:55.760 of the Lord's favor. And they were ants. They were 1:01:55.800 --> 1:01:58.200 looking at him. They were expecting one thing, you know, 1:01:58.280 --> 1:02:00.000 like we all are. This is how it's gonna be. 1:02:00.280 --> 1:02:02.520 This was supposed to work. They're looking at it. They're 1:02:02.560 --> 1:02:04.720 focused on what they think he's going to do. But 1:02:04.800 --> 1:02:08.560 he said something very powerful. He said in verse twenty four, Truly, 1:02:08.640 --> 1:02:12.160 I tell you, amen, I say to you, no prophet 1:02:12.440 --> 1:02:16.280 is accepted in his hometown. Oh do you accept what 1:02:16.320 --> 1:02:18.920 God is doing in this season of your life? I 1:02:18.960 --> 1:02:21.560 know what you expected him to do, But will you 1:02:21.680 --> 1:02:24.439 accept what he is doing? He said, you are too 1:02:24.600 --> 1:02:28.760 familiar to receive the favor that is sitting right in 1:02:28.800 --> 1:02:31.720 front of you. You are so used to rejection that 1:02:31.800 --> 1:02:34.120 you find it when it's not even there. And you 1:02:34.160 --> 1:02:37.560 are so unfamiliar with acceptance that you can't receive the 1:02:37.600 --> 1:02:40.840 love I'm sending you. And whoever you are, and whatever 1:02:40.880 --> 1:02:43.640 this year has been like for you, the Lord send 1:02:43.680 --> 1:02:47.480 me with the message. Today is the day of the 1:02:47.520 --> 1:02:51.200 Lord's favor. It is right in front of you. And 1:02:51.360 --> 1:02:54.520 I don't care how it started. I don't care what 1:02:54.640 --> 1:02:58.360 it looks like. It doesn't matter what happened up until now. 1:02:58.840 --> 1:03:05.320 You will finish with favor. Confess it. I will finish 1:03:05.720 --> 1:03:11.640 with favor again. I will finish with favor. And he 1:03:11.800 --> 1:03:18.560 sat down right in front of him. He said, the 1:03:18.640 --> 1:03:21.320 problem with you, well, you can't receive the favor. This 1:03:21.400 --> 1:03:26.080 is to the Jewish people who should have really known him, 1:03:26.320 --> 1:03:29.640 the people who saw him running around when he was 1:03:29.640 --> 1:03:40.240 two years old. Their familiarity killed their favor. And this 1:03:40.360 --> 1:03:46.720 is kind of sad that Jesus was rejected by the 1:03:46.760 --> 1:03:53.840 people that should have recognized him. Listen to this verse 1:03:53.880 --> 1:03:57.640 twenty five. I assure you this is Jesus speaking to 1:03:57.680 --> 1:04:00.480 the people that he knew that should I've known him, 1:04:00.480 --> 1:04:05.080 but couldn't see it because their emotional focus was on 1:04:05.240 --> 1:04:08.720 what they expected God to be like? Is that where 1:04:08.720 --> 1:04:11.920 your focus is what you expected your kid to be 1:04:12.040 --> 1:04:15.479 like at age eighteen that you expected that you would 1:04:15.520 --> 1:04:19.520 have kids by now what you expected to happen this 1:04:19.640 --> 1:04:22.440 year in your career. If that is your emotional focus, 1:04:22.600 --> 1:04:28.080 it is going to kill your favor. That's what happened. Here. 1:04:30.000 --> 1:04:34.440 Jesus goes all the way back to their history and 1:04:34.480 --> 1:04:37.080 he says there were many widows in Israel twenty five 1:04:37.200 --> 1:04:40.760 at Elijah's time. You remember this story? Do you all 1:04:40.800 --> 1:04:44.520 remember this? I hope you don't, because if you're unfamiliar 1:04:44.520 --> 1:04:47.960 with it, you'll hear it better. I hope you don't know. 1:04:48.120 --> 1:04:50.000 He said there was a drought three and a half years. 1:04:50.000 --> 1:04:52.919 There was a famine caused by the drought. Yet Elijah 1:04:52.960 --> 1:04:55.240 twenty six was not sent to any of them, but 1:04:55.320 --> 1:04:57.640 to a widow in Zaraphath, in the region of Sidon. 1:04:58.600 --> 1:05:01.520 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the 1:05:01.520 --> 1:05:04.280 time of Elijah the prophet. These are famous Bible stories, 1:05:04.480 --> 1:05:07.360 first King seventeen, second King's five. You can look these 1:05:07.440 --> 1:05:10.040 up later, but what you'll see is this that God 1:05:10.080 --> 1:05:14.360 sent his greatest favor to the people who were least familiar. 1:05:15.440 --> 1:05:18.560 And I wonder do we know too much? I wonder 1:05:18.640 --> 1:05:20.800 do we have too much of a blueprint of how 1:05:20.880 --> 1:05:23.480 God is going to bless us. And I wonder have 1:05:23.600 --> 1:05:26.120 we lived in it so long that we no longer 1:05:26.160 --> 1:05:28.840 see it for what it is? He said, God had 1:05:28.840 --> 1:05:31.160 to go to a woman at Zarapat, had to go 1:05:31.240 --> 1:05:34.080 to a Syrian commander named name and to show what 1:05:34.120 --> 1:05:36.720 he could do because the people who should have received 1:05:36.760 --> 1:05:45.640 his power I couldn't recognize what was right in front 1:05:45.640 --> 1:05:48.640 of them. Can you God has given you some great 1:05:48.640 --> 1:05:51.480 opportunities this year. He's done some amazing things in your life. 1:05:51.560 --> 1:05:53.560 This year, He's shown you some ugly stuff that if 1:05:53.560 --> 1:05:55.080 he didn't show it to you, it would have killed you. 1:05:55.280 --> 1:05:58.800 Can you receive that? Is this the acceptable year of 1:05:58.800 --> 1:06:02.720 the Lord? He's talking about his salvation, his deliberance as ministry. 1:06:03.800 --> 1:06:05.960 But I wonder have we accepted this for what it 1:06:06.000 --> 1:06:11.160 really is yet? Because that's the key. Will you accept 1:06:11.160 --> 1:06:14.040 the favor of God? Or are you pushing it away 1:06:14.080 --> 1:06:20.479 because it feels weird? That's what they did, It says 1:06:20.480 --> 1:06:22.680 in verse twenty eight. All the people in the synagogue 1:06:22.720 --> 1:06:26.640 were furious when they heard this. They heard about God's 1:06:26.640 --> 1:06:30.920 favor and they were furious, Yeah, because it wasn't what 1:06:31.160 --> 1:06:36.360 they were familiar with. I don't like this. I'm done. 1:06:36.440 --> 1:06:39.160 What if Joseph would have said that when his brothers 1:06:39.200 --> 1:06:40.880 threw him in a pin. What if Mary would have 1:06:40.880 --> 1:06:43.240 said that, when the angel visits, I don't like this. 1:06:43.240 --> 1:06:46.800 This doesn't feel good. Do you understand that somebody else 1:06:46.960 --> 1:06:51.080 is counting on you to find your favor in your situation? 1:06:54.360 --> 1:06:58.520 They don't have the last word. That's why I love God. 1:06:58.720 --> 1:07:01.080 If he said, this is the year of his favor. 1:07:01.480 --> 1:07:04.080 This is the year of his favor. If he said 1:07:04.120 --> 1:07:07.440 I'm annoying, I'm annoying. If he said I can do it, 1:07:07.680 --> 1:07:09.960 I can do it. If he put it in my hand, 1:07:10.240 --> 1:07:12.680 if he gave it to me, I'm gonna unroll it. 1:07:12.880 --> 1:07:15.520 I'm gonna read it. I'm gonna sit down with him 1:07:15.800 --> 1:07:21.640 and trust that it is finished. But they got up 1:07:21.760 --> 1:07:25.200 verse twenty nine, drove him out of the town, took 1:07:25.240 --> 1:07:27.280 him to the brow of the hill on which the 1:07:27.320 --> 1:07:29.800 town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 1:07:29.840 --> 1:07:36.000 Watch this. They chased away God's favor because it was 1:07:36.120 --> 1:07:42.640 not familiar. You have been chasing away the favor of 1:07:42.680 --> 1:07:46.240 God because it's been coming looking like trouble. You have 1:07:46.360 --> 1:07:49.520 been chasing away the favor of God because it has 1:07:49.560 --> 1:07:52.800 been coming looking like challenge. You have been chasing away 1:07:52.840 --> 1:07:57.800 the favor of God because it's not comfortable. You're gonna 1:07:57.840 --> 1:08:05.040 chase it away? Are you gonna embrace it? I believe 1:08:05.040 --> 1:08:10.400 God's favor is finding someone right now. And what I 1:08:10.440 --> 1:08:13.480 want to leave you with on this message finished with 1:08:13.520 --> 1:08:18.920 Favor is verse thirty that when the favor of God 1:08:19.000 --> 1:08:23.720 is on you, you can do what Jesus did. But 1:08:25.360 --> 1:08:35.000 he walked right through the crowd six feet back, six 1:08:35.080 --> 1:08:39.360 feet back, six feet back, six feet back, six feet back, 1:08:39.640 --> 1:08:43.960 six but he walked right Go ahead and take a 1:08:44.000 --> 1:08:47.000 selfie right now for a picture of favor, because guess what, 1:08:47.280 --> 1:08:51.280 there were some times in April and May and June 1:08:51.439 --> 1:08:54.040 and July. I'm starting my New Year's Eve. Sermon early, 1:08:54.080 --> 1:08:56.599 I'm starting to right now. Listen, right now, We're gonna 1:08:56.640 --> 1:08:59.639 finish with favor. So go ahead and take the picture 1:08:59.720 --> 1:09:02.719 right now now and post it with a hashtag finish 1:09:03.040 --> 1:09:06.320 with favor. Watch this. The devil should have killed you 1:09:06.680 --> 1:09:09.280 while he had the chance. He should have killed you 1:09:09.360 --> 1:09:12.200 in the cradle. He should have killed you before you 1:09:12.400 --> 1:09:14.920 found out that the power of God is on you. 1:09:15.439 --> 1:09:18.320 He should have took you out before you have found 1:09:18.360 --> 1:09:25.120 out I got the favor of God. It can't kill you. 1:09:25.800 --> 1:09:32.400 It can't kill you. And he went on his way 1:09:33.560 --> 1:09:36.559 because it is not finished. When they say it is, 1:09:37.840 --> 1:09:41.400 it is not finished. When Hell says it is, it 1:09:41.520 --> 1:09:44.639 is not finished. When a government official says it is. 1:09:45.479 --> 1:09:51.679 Jesus said, I will bill my church, and the gates 1:09:51.760 --> 1:09:56.759 of Hell will not prevail. I declare over elevation. This 1:09:56.840 --> 1:10:00.760 is a ministry that was started in the mind of God. 1:10:01.040 --> 1:10:04.320 I declare it over your family. I declare it over 1:10:04.360 --> 1:10:08.160 your calling. You didn't start it. You don't have to 1:10:08.200 --> 1:10:11.240 finish it, and you don't have to figure it out. 1:10:14.240 --> 1:10:19.519 So walk right through in the favor of God. Walk 1:10:19.640 --> 1:10:24.320 right through in the favor of God. Walk right through 1:10:24.600 --> 1:10:28.479 in the chat with your mouth say I'm walking in 1:10:28.520 --> 1:10:33.400 the favor of God. Again, I'm walking in the favor 1:10:33.720 --> 1:10:38.720 of God. And they that wait on the Lord shall 1:10:38.800 --> 1:10:42.320 renew their strength. They'll mount up on wings like eagles. 1:10:42.520 --> 1:10:45.280 Oh it feels good to get above it. Sometimes they 1:10:45.320 --> 1:10:48.760 were running, not crow weary. I like progress when I'm 1:10:48.760 --> 1:10:52.479 getting there fast. But one thing is said, they were 1:10:52.560 --> 1:10:57.559 walking and not fame. I don't know if you got 1:10:57.640 --> 1:11:00.920 very high this year. A lot of us didn't. I 1:11:00.960 --> 1:11:03.360 don't know if you got very far this year very fast. 1:11:04.320 --> 1:11:06.280 It's been slow progress for a lot of us, and 1:11:06.320 --> 1:11:10.800 even some steps backwards. But I'm still walking in the 1:11:10.840 --> 1:11:16.439 favor of God. You're gonna chase it away they chase 1:11:16.560 --> 1:11:21.880 Jesus out of their town, or are you gonna embrace it? 1:11:24.680 --> 1:11:29.439 The favor of the Lord. It's right in front of 1:11:30.400 --> 1:11:35.200 It's not far off. It's not in some distant galaxy. 1:11:35.960 --> 1:11:40.040 It's not waiting for some future version of you that 1:11:40.160 --> 1:11:43.000 has better scripture, reading habits. No, no, no, no no, no, 1:11:46.800 --> 1:11:59.160 The favor of God is here. Lord. We're We're really 1:11:59.160 --> 1:12:04.000 tempted right now. That's the true We're tempted to be afraid. 1:12:04.880 --> 1:12:12.320 It's familiar. Everybody's doing it. It's really foreign concept for 1:12:12.439 --> 1:12:18.200 us to resist the temptation to fear. It's really easy 1:12:18.200 --> 1:12:19.840 to fear. It's familiar. We know how to do it. 1:12:19.880 --> 1:12:27.280 We're good at it. We are professional fearers. We're frustrated 1:12:27.320 --> 1:12:29.559 about the things that keep on slipping on us. It's 1:12:29.600 --> 1:12:32.840 hard for us to believe that you're at work even 1:12:32.880 --> 1:12:39.960 in those areas. Some of us were born fighters, but 1:12:40.040 --> 1:12:42.960 the problem comes when we start fighting against the very 1:12:43.040 --> 1:12:49.559 favor that you gave us, the gift, the situation, and yes, Lord, 1:12:49.600 --> 1:12:56.560 even the thorn. So Lord, when you gave me this proclamation, 1:12:56.680 --> 1:13:04.160 I thought it was weird. I thought it was weird. 1:13:05.800 --> 1:13:08.400 I thought the Year of the Lord's Favor didn't sound 1:13:08.479 --> 1:13:13.120 right for twenty twenty. But then you showed me that 1:13:13.160 --> 1:13:20.400 the fear, the frustration, the fight, that's what favors for. 1:13:22.560 --> 1:13:26.479 That's what favors for. That's why you gave us that 1:13:26.520 --> 1:13:30.320 favor to raise that child. That's why you gave us 1:13:30.360 --> 1:13:35.720 that favor to be patient as we wait. That's why 1:13:35.720 --> 1:13:40.120 you gave us that favor to battle that addiction. That's 1:13:40.120 --> 1:13:46.000 why you gave us that favor. We take our seat 1:13:46.000 --> 1:13:51.840 with you now. People are taking stands everywhere this year. 1:13:54.200 --> 1:13:57.160 Just for a moment, we want to take a seat 1:13:57.200 --> 1:14:01.559 with you. We thank you that you're worthy to open 1:14:01.600 --> 1:14:04.960 the scroll. You know what's going to happen in the future. 1:14:08.360 --> 1:14:14.760 You've already been there, and you declare that because you 1:14:14.920 --> 1:14:25.680 finished with favor, we will too. Surely, goodness and mercy 1:14:26.520 --> 1:14:32.240 will follow me all the days of my life, and 1:14:32.320 --> 1:14:37.799 I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 1:14:39.600 --> 1:14:46.679 I will finish with favor given praise. If you received 1:14:46.680 --> 1:14:54.400 this word, thank you Lord. It's the year of the 1:14:54.400 --> 1:14:59.040 Lord's Favor. Do you believe that takes faith? You have 1:14:59.080 --> 1:15:01.920 to look right in the of circumstances that seem to 1:15:01.960 --> 1:15:06.679 say otherwise and still declare I will finish with favor. 1:15:07.360 --> 1:15:10.080 And I want to thank you for helping us finish 1:15:10.080 --> 1:15:12.960 this year with favor as a ministry not only to 1:15:13.040 --> 1:15:16.639 receive God's favor, but to be a conduit of God's favor. 1:15:17.160 --> 1:15:20.240 When you give here in our year end offering, just 1:15:20.320 --> 1:15:22.240 know that you're a part of building God's kingdom that 1:15:22.280 --> 1:15:25.639 can't be shaken, and I'm excited about seeing how God 1:15:25.760 --> 1:15:29.720 uses you. We're designating December thirteenth on that Sunday for 1:15:29.800 --> 1:15:32.400 our offering weekend, but of course you can give any time. 1:15:32.439 --> 1:15:35.040 Eleviationchurch dot Org. I want to appreciate all of you 1:15:35.080 --> 1:15:37.080 who tied, those of you who are beginning to do 1:15:37.160 --> 1:15:39.800 that to put God first. This is a great time 1:15:39.840 --> 1:15:42.639 to do it, To tell God before a new year begins. 1:15:42.680 --> 1:15:44.160 I want to thank you for your favor, and I 1:15:44.200 --> 1:15:46.479 want to trust you in faith and put you first. 1:15:46.880 --> 1:15:48.839 For those of you who are giving above and beyond, 1:15:49.160 --> 1:15:51.479 just know that we're praying for you. Know that we 1:15:51.520 --> 1:15:53.599 believe that God is going to supply all your needs 1:15:54.120 --> 1:15:57.160 as you continue to respond in obedience to Him. But 1:15:57.200 --> 1:16:00.640 above all, know this that he's already gone before. I 1:16:00.640 --> 1:16:03.160 want to put the blessing on you before we go. 1:16:03.760 --> 1:16:05.719 The Lord bless you and keep you. Make his face 1:16:05.720 --> 1:16:08.639 shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord 1:16:08.640 --> 1:16:11.599 turned his face towards you and give you peace. May 1:16:11.640 --> 1:16:16.280 his favor be upon you. We're finishing with favor. Nothing 1:16:16.520 --> 1:16:19.160 can stop what God has started. We love you.