good morning church family and ministry friends i'm pastor stephen brooks welcome today to our online internet around the world church service i'm so happy that you're here today and i believe that god's word today is going to build you up and you're going to step into the supernatural favor of god and i believe that god's word also will continue to conform you into the glorious image of the lord jesus christ praise god now let's take our bibles and go over to the book of job chapter 36 verse 11 and we're going to look at this one verse just for a moment and then we're going to receive the tithes and the offerings verse 11 if they obey and serve him notice the word if you may want to underline that because it denotes terms and conditions or requirements that god would expect of us in order for a certain promise or blessing to be fulfilled if they obey and serve him they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures wow what a revealing verse and how different god's word is compared sometimes to old fuddy-duddy religious traditional type teaching that we've received that was uh presented to us from well-meaning men who just got off track and for some reason thought we're all supposed to be poor and never have anything but one day when we go to heaven then we'll finally have a a mansion and walk on streets of gold but my friends when you read the bible it delivers us and sets us free from a mentality of lack or insufficiency again if they obey and serve him so those are the requirements then we can step into this they shall spend their days in prosperity god wants you to have plenty of money to do all that he has called you to do he wants you to have extra overflow more than enough so that you can be a blessing it says they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years not just a few weeks or months their years in pleasures well i i really do think there are some christians that have not been taught the fullness of the word of god and they actually think through misinformed teaching that they're supposed to spend their years not in pleasures but in pressures and they have all of these various pressures and it's almost like they expect these pressures to come upon them and they do the difficulties of life certainly are happy to oblige them with the mentality of being pressure minded and so they have high blood pressure or they have financial pressure or they have pressure over here or pressure over there and that's not god's design for the life of the believer god says that he wants us to spend our our time in prosperity and our years in pleasures not pressures praise god hallelujah my friend let the holy spirit lead you into god's biblical plan for your life thank you jesus i think that the reason some people have high blood pressure is because they're under financial pressure and money problems can create stress and sometimes people they just do not know what to do i've realized that there are many in the body of christ that they want to do right they want to obey and serve the lord but sometimes you can't you can't get in because you don't know how so you cannot walk in an area of obedience if you don't know about it if you haven't been taught and you could even think i i love god i serve god and i obey god you can to the fullest amount of the knowledge that you have but still if there's a missing key you can't go through the door but once you have the key the struggle is over you don't have to break the door down or pry it open with the crowbar you don't have to have this pressure you can just take the key lock the door and go in so my friends one of the keys is that if we want prosperity and pleasure good things taking place in our lives then we need to obey and serve the lord and we have an opportunity to do that right now by honoring the lord with the tithe and offerings that is a biblical key to prosperity and pleasures it's not the only key but it is a major key praise the lord so let's do that right now let's obey and serve the lord by bringing the tithe and offering in praise god now if you prefer to mail in your tithe and offering please send it to stephen brooks international p.o box 717 raven falls north carolina 28654 now those of you that are mailing in your tizen offerings or those of you that are going to bring them in online in in the little notation box online and on your check if you're mailing it in write prosperity and pleasures hallelujah glorify the lord and write prosperity and pleasures oh hallelujah now if you're going to bring the tithe and offering in online please visit the ministry website stevenbrooks.org there's a link on the homepage that says give as a pink heart on it or red heart you can click it and it will take you right into the area where you can bring the tithe and the offering into the storehouse of the lord and i want to see you walking in prosperity i want to see you have wonderful things that bring pleasure into your life and god is looking at you right now wanting to bless you and wanting to lift you up into the blessed life that he has for you so push away a mentality that god wants you to be going through a constant battle a constant war or constant pressures that are discouraging you and deflating you no god wants you in joy god wants you in victory god wants you in prosperity god wants you in pleasures praise god praise the lord amen amen let me pray for you heavenly father as your people are honoring you with their tithe and with their offering and father as they are obeying job chapter 36 verse 11 as they obey and serve you and they're doing that right now father i pray that they spend their days in prosperity and i pray that they spend their years in pleasures thank you father in jesus name bless your people in jesus name amen and amen praise god thank you so much for your faithful giving the lord is blessing you whoo praise god now let's take our bibles today and go over to the book of esther praise god let's go to the book of esther today and i want to talk about enjoying covenant favor praise the lord enjoying covenant favor we're going to take off from the book of esther chapter 2. please drop down and meet me in verse 9 and let's first of all pray heavenly father as we're going into your word we ask that your holy spirit would come and bring illumination spiritual illumination let the light be turned on spiritually so that we can see the value of favor and that we can know how to walk in it what activates it what causes it to flow and then we can enjoy its wonderful benefits so father let let the spotlight of favor be illuminated by your holy spirit today in jesus name thank you father for your favor amen and amen esther chapter 2 verse 9. now the young woman well let's start in verse 8. so it was when the king's command and decree were heard and many young women were gathered at shusham the citadel under the custody of higai that esther also was taken to the king's palace into the care of heguide the custodian of the women now the young woman pleased him and she obtained his favor so he readily gave beauty preparations to her besides her allowance whoo it's like he pulled out the good stuff for esther so all of these ladies that are in uh you could call it like a uh this universe contestant to see who's gonna you know be chosen by the king to be the next queen all these ladies have already been assigned uh you know these gift packages with the with the best makeup that's available but esther she gets that but she gets also some secret stuff the very best of the best and that's given to her as well and she's off to a really good start and that happened because of favor then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king's palace and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place of the house of the women so she's now got a supporting cast surrounding her helping her with her hair uh helping her to get through all of these beauty preparations and helping her with the wardrobe and all of this stuff and she also was put in the best house praise god i'm telling you what favor will do some amazing things for you this is the favor that god can give let's continue on to verse 17. the king loved esther more than all the other women so he has had the presentation of all of them one by one one after another and i'm sure because uh you know they've already been filtered the how can i say they've already been uh kind of like uh pre-selected and gone through that there is still a long retinue of these various ladies that are all contending but out of all of them yes the king loved esther more than all the other women and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of vashti praise god now divine favor please listen divine favor has the unique ability to set a royal crown of blessing upon your head there is something about god's favor flowing into your life that will just crown you praise god in a way that only favor can do so what we need to do is first of all we need to be able to define favor and understand what it is the hebrew word for favor which we see here in the bible how esther was favored that hebrew word is hased h-e-s-e-d now the word has said in the hebrew is a very rich and a very complex word it's layered in its meaning and our challenge or the challenge particularly of any preacher is that there's no exact english equivalent for the word hased i can't say hased means just one word because it makes up much more than that but even still we're going to try to define what favor is so let's try to boil it down a little bit it's such a it's such a loaded word has said or favor and this is kind of what it begins to get condensed into has said can be defined as the extension of favor from god to man and it's based upon covenant so has said is the extension of favor god extending favor his favor to man but when you look and study said you realize that the majority of the time when this favor is extended it's based upon covenant not always but the majority of the time it is and even rabbis that you know would strictly teach from the old testament they still admit that while it is covenant-based that it's obvious that god also had it planned for the gentiles as well to to be brought into the kingdom and we see that certainly in what we would know as the new testament now god loves the people of the world we know that from john chapter 3 verse 16 but he responds differently to those that he is in covenant with so while the word has said which is favor does include love or what we would even describe as loving kindness it's so often circling around the theme of covenant praise the lord now let's dig deeper into the definition of favor biblical favor god's favor carries the meaning of god's loyalty to those that he is in covenant with so there is the favor of god but this favor this has said is wrapped in loyalty which again pulls us back to covenant hased does speak of love but the emphasis is on god's loyal love praise the lord he said does speak of kindness sometimes you'll see it in certain translations i know the new king james version uses the translation of loving kindness so it does refer to kindness but the emphasis is upon god's dependable kindness it's kindness that you can depend on whoo i like that and also has said the favor of god can be translated as affection but it's the affection where god is committed himself to he he could he's not just like affection to like everybody in a sense where it's all equal no there is a there's an affection to the covenant person where he's in covenant with that he now releases intentional affection towards that person and we can also define that affection as favor praise the lord favor the favor of god it comes out of devotion to the lord out of a heart of loyalty and covenant now let me try to still shrink it down a little bit more simply so that we can understand it in english again there's no one word in the english that we can just uh boil it all down to but we're trying to get it at least into a definition that we can grasp it understand it and then apply it so i i would like to just give you what my definition of biblical favor or god's favor is divine favor is god supernaturally working through someone whether that's someone is a sinner or a believer and it's god working through that person to give you the opportunity that you need in order to succeed so i'll say it one more time and this is just my definition of divine favor it's god supernaturally working through someone whether that person is a saint or a sinner to give you the opportunity you need to succeed praise the lord get ready for this divine favor will allow you to live out the script that god wrote for your life before you were ever born now that quote i got from jerry savelle who's one of the world's best teachers on favor but god's favor is for all praise the lord all of his people so i want to say that again divine favor will allow you to live out the script that god wrote for your life before you were ever born and i'm going to get into that in just a little bit with some of my own experiences and how uh i just want to give a few examples of how it helps you to come into this praise god what god just pre-ordained for you he had it all planned out before you were ever born in his favor that's going to take you into it now let us address the question what does favor produce what does this biblical favor of god produce in your life number one it causes people to deal kindly with you we see this in the book of joshua it causes people to deal kindly with you joshua chapter 2 verse 1 now joshua the son of nun sent out two men from acacia grove to spy secretly saying go view the land especially jericho so they went and came to the house of a harlot named rahab and lodge there now we know the situation uh the words gonna get out that there's some spies in the land so now they're being sought after and rahab is going to hide them and save their life now verse 12 she's talking to the two spies now therefore i beg you swear to me by the lord since i have shown you kindness since i have shown you has said or favor that you also will show has said to my father's house to my father's house okay so again notice how has said or favor in other words do me a favor you know it's it begins to very quickly hear with rahab begin to touch on covenant in other words look i've hidden you guys and i've spared your life now i know that you and the whole army of israel are coming and i know you're already i already know you're going to win so when you take this city spare me and my whole household and everybody i get all my relatives in the house don't kill us look i gave you hassett now give me a set give me favor praise god and you know what she got it and they came and they spared her entire house and even king david descended from her even jesus christ descended later on down the line from her fascinating what god's favor can do to position you to crown you in a sense that you can have a legacy despite your past excuse me while i drink my water praise god so has said favor causes people to deal kindly with you it caused rahab to deal kindly she gave her said to the two israeli spies and the two israeli spies dealt has said to her they dealt kindly back to her it causes people to deal kindly with you nobody wants to be roughshod handled and just roughed up and talked too rudely no you want favor praise the lord now let's let's look just for a moment at second samuel chapter nine this is very interesting second samuel nine and we'll see another example of how favor the biblical favor god can use it just to touch a man's heart and the next thing you know he's wanting to be kind to somebody he's wanting to show favor to somebody and we see it here in second samuel chapter 9 verse 1. now david said is there still anyone who has left of the house of saul that i may show him has said that i may show him favor that i may show him kindness for jonathan's sake see david and jonathan were in a covenant together but saul has been killed jonathan was killed with him and david as king now was just sitting around thinking about the very special covenant relationship that he had with jonathan and he thinks you know what saul's gone jonathan's gone i want to do something to express favor to somebody that would be a relative of him verse 3 then the king said is there not still someone of the house of saul to whom i may show the kindness of god what is has said what is favor it's the kindness of god causing people to do things for you that are just kind and nice and even wonderful look what david is going to do for a descendant of saul now he hears about mephibosheth the son of jonathan verse 6 now when mephibosheth the son of jonathan the son of saul had come to david he fell on his face and prostrated himself then david said mephibosheth and he answered here is your servant so david said to him do not fear for i will surely show you has said for jonathan your father's sake he says i'm going to i'm going to do you a favor i'm going to do favor unto you i said unto you for jonathan your father's sake and will restore to you all the land of saul your grandfather and you shall eat bread at my table continually right there was a tremendous release of favor where he has land now given back to him that he had previously lost and now there is no such thing as lack of food or insufficiency he's going to be eating at the king's table literally every single day why because every time david looks at mephibosheth he can see the characteristics the physical traits that remind him of jonathan his father whom david was in covenant with and let me say if mephibosheth would have played this right if he would have if he would have done right he could have ridden this favor for the rest of his life but eventually later when david went through a great trial mephibosheth lost a lot of favor because he just had a problem in his life that he never overcame he never understood his true identity as uh having royalty in his in his life and his grandfather was king saul and saul was king and saul died but if saul would have obeyed the lord and never got into sin then his son jonathan would be the next person in line to have been the king and if jonathan would have lived right and honored the lord and if he would have been the king that would have meant that mephibosheth would have been the third king over israel but mephibosheth has just lost all of that he had very low self-esteem very uh low self-worth and he did not value these covenant relationships and it eventually cost him and he lost out but my friends that favor though can come in and can just lift you up and put you at the king's table and you in a sense you have to embrace royalty because the only people eating at the table are is the king and the princes and you know the the sun prince and uh and and the daughter princesses and hey you're you're thrown in there you're you're one of them in a sense you're just one of them praise god so this this uh favor of god uh working through an individual who's touched with that touch can do something to lift you up and do something extremely kind for you that alters your life in a dramatic way overnight praise the lord now we also see in scripture very clearly that the favor of god will distinguish you in a very remarkable way i want you to see a verse that's very interesting that brings this out this is psalm 17 and i want us to go down to verse 7 praise the lord thank you jesus verse 7 show your marvelous loving kindness show your he said show your marvelous favor by your right hand oh you who save those who trust in you from those who rise up against them now the word has said is translated here as loving kindness but i want us to dig deeper and go into a couple of literal translations that literally translate this from the hebrew and i want you to hear what it says particularly in the smith literal translation this is fascinating verse 7 smith literal translation make your has said distinguished whoa can you believe that make your has said distinguished i'm telling you the favor of god the has said of god will distinguish you wow praise the lord here's young's literal translation separate wonderfully your has said separate wonderfully your kindness or your hasset or your favor separate wonderfully it it separates it distinguishes here's the literal standard version separate your has said wonderfully separate your kindness wonderfully now when we look at the new king james version show your marvelous has said so read it like that read it from the real hebrew show your marvelous has said other translations say show your amazing hased and it's implied in the hebrew that when god does it it distinguishes it separates why because not everybody has it even in the church there are many christians that don't understand it or they're not walking in certain areas that release it upon their life and so they don't have that special touch but god can put it upon your life we're going to talk about how to walk in it in just a few more minutes praise god so my friends we can see in scripture that this distinguishing of the said of god the favor of god was upon esther she she was distinguished she was different even from the finalists of the other ladies she's still different she's still distinguished she got the best house and then she got moved into the royal palace whoo praise god crown on her head think about joseph when joseph was in prison he ended up running the whole prison why it said that the favor of god was on his life and he had he had favor with the with the chief person that was over the prison but that person let joseph run everything because god's favor was on his life joseph had his own office in prison now yes it's still a prison so you know uh it's not we can't make it like a glorious thing but even in prison he had favor had his own office and he's running everything and that favor took him from the prison all the way to being the ruler of the nation he was running the whole nation he was only under uh pharaoh as as the sense where pharaoh is still the pharaoh but pharaoh said joseph do everything um he's under pharaoh and name only but joseph is the one doing any doing everything he's basically saying hey if you want food this is how it is this is how we're running things this is what we're doing this is what the plan is seven years we're going to execute this plan there were to execute this plan i mean he's running the whole show and pharaoh was like just do it because god's favor is on your life and you have a level of wisdom that we're not able to tie into the way you are and he's walking there in that abrahamic covenant of wisdom praise god we're tied into that also in christ but it's that favor it's that favor that put him in that place where he could go into that position wow praise the lord thank you jesus if you have a resume and you turn it in and you're qualified but everybody else is qualified too what's going to separate yours the favor of god what do you do when there's 3 000 applicants you know you need favor supernatural favor praise god that's why you need to believe that if that's the job that god has for you that god will give favor to you and uh you're it's just there's something about the favor that will do what distinguish that will separate in a wonderful way in a magnificent way praise the lord thank you lord today hallelujah now divine favor will give you opportunity oh this is very very powerful divine favor will give you opportunity opportunity pastor stephen to do what well for joseph to stand before pharaoh for esther to stand before the king but it will give you the opportunity as well to meet certain people special people that god has pre-planned that you are to meet that that will form deep friendships and covenant relationships that are based around kingdom loyalty praise god and god can set these things up that that nobody else can do and this this is the favor of god i remember one time before i was even married i was reading the book a pastor gave me a book to read and i read the book by a by a very a very famous preacher that was on television and the book was real popular but you know i didn't know anything like that i just you know i'm just reading the book you know and i i read the book and the book really helped me it actually saved me from making a mistake that would have caused me a lot of pain probably would have caused other people a lot of pain as well and i thank god for that book now when i read that book and that book greatly changed and impacted my life i had no idea that one day i'm going to meet the man that wrote that book and that man is going to end up becoming my spiritual father and i i couldn't have guessed that in a thousand years nor did i know that when i would meet him when i went to his church that kelly was sitting in the church as a single woman believing god for a spirit-filled husband and that i would meet also my wife at his church so my friends there are some things that god wrote a script before you were ever even born and god had it all planned out you're going to meet this person you're going to meet that person and there have been times particularly when i was younger in ministering i would uh i would see certain ministers and i would think wow that that's that's really something they're doing they're doing great work for the lord and then as time would go by i would end up meeting them and oftentimes with certain ones even form deep friendships that are lasting where you end up having uh meals with them and fellowship with them and you know it's more than just just exchanging a phone number it's it's a real friendship and you'll have that you'll have them in your heart and you'll be in their heart until you go home to be with the lord and so really it's eternal because when we get to heaven things are really in a sense just beginning praise god so favor will give you opportunity to meet certain people and to have covenant relationships established it will also give you the opportunity to go through doors that without favor are almost impossible to access you you can't get in you you uh maybe you don't know the people or maybe you do know them or but they're not responding because everybody else is wanting to go through those doors too but favor is the wildest thing it can literally get you through doors that other people can't get through i'll give you an example one time i went to a a large uh it was called the world conference it was a christian uh group that had their their annual meeting and thousands of people would come from all over the world just nations pouring in people all over the world coming and uh they would have uh the most uh you know well-known speakers in the body of christ speak at the conference and so forth and so uh i knew people within this ministry organization that was hosting this big global conference and kelly and i got there early and we wanted to get a good seat because it's going to fill up and it's this is when we had first gotten married it's going to fill up and you try to get in later you're going to be way back in the back or something like that so we went there and there was already a line and there's uh various doors but there's already lines and uh and then the ushers were saying nobody else can come in also you can't come in early unless you have like a pass or something like that and we just thought lord um we know a lot of the people here but they're they're they're on the inside and we're on the outside so uh we can't really get in and this was before cell phones so we just stood there and just said lord we need favor and a guy came out from the inside came out of two big doors they opened up and he looked at me and said stephen what are you doing here i said well we came so we can go to the meeting tonight he said well he said you want to come in now i said we would like to that way we can um you know not have to go through the big crowd later and uh he just took us past every single usher took us past every uh checkpoint and took us all the way to the front took us all the way to the front said here sit right here and he had authority because he was he was way at the top but he happened to come out of the door and saw me and then took and we knew who he was because i had ministered with him one time and so he took us right in but without that without some type of favor uh we we're stuck we're stuck so again the favor will allow you to go through doors sometimes they're they're literal doors you'll be taken through real doors into a place that others don't have access to thank you jesus favor will also give you opportunity to go to unusual places unusual countries to do unusual things and god is going to carry some of you into that by going to unusual places unusual countries now favor will also give you the opportunity to speak and share christ with very unusual people and i have found myself my wife and i we found ourselves in very unusual situations around some very unusual people that we have been able to share the lord with them and even prophesy over them knowing they're completely lost they don't know god we don't even know if they're interested in god but a conversation was struck up and you know and you stand there in a situation like that and you realize in your heart i will probably never be in this place i couldn't replicate this moment again i can't somehow fabricate it because it happened by the hand of god so since i'm here i'm just going to go for it and i'm going to share the lord with them and if they're open i'm going to even ask them if i can pray for them and so many times they'll say yes and then the prayer turns into a prophecy and i remember i prayed for a very well-known person that that a lot of people in certain circles would love to meet and i just and we somehow just met him in a very unusual place in a very unusual time and uh most of the most of the other people that were there were either drunk or having a hangover or out of it this was not a this was not in the church this was a secular arena and i'm not i'm not trying to walk into places that are that are sinful but we were led by the holy spirit into this place to minister to this person and the lord just really really ministered to that man pastor stephen did he get on his knees and receive christ and start talking in tongues no he didn't but he was touched by god and he never he had never encountered god's presence ever before in his life and it's a seed sown and as a prayer of blessing and god loves the world god loves people praise the lord and it's a joy it's a joy pastor stephen what gets you in to places like that that um they're so special i can't mention them i don't mention them because if you mention certain things you'll never ever get back in uh it has to be kept secret that's a part of maturity there's some things you just don't tell you you protect certain people because those kind of people they want their private lives kept private but what gets what gets a person into places like that god's supernatural favor supernatural favor of god so that you can minister christ to unusual people in unusual places i'm telling you get ready many of you are going to find yourself lifted by god's favor into places like that now let me say this favor will fast track you to the top where where you're able to function and do what god has called you to do you were able to do your thing pastor stephen i'm ready to do it but i need the lifting yes that's what the favor will do favorable will do it quickly favor will fast-track you to the top praise the lord now let's get into the nitty-gritty i think whenever we hear the subject of favor of course is very exciting because god's favor can do some some amazing things for you it's it is it is a very unique key again it's not the only key within the kingdom but there's something about favorites it's it's a very highly prized key but while we do know about it i feel that we can define it and have a good grasp of it we need to know how do we get it how do we get the favor of god what causes the favor of god to be released into our lives to be released towards us so let's jump into this now the first thing that will cause the release of god's favor is that we must understand that the initial flow of favor begins with the born-again experience the born-again experience is god's act of favor towards us the new birth is a birth into the family of god's favor look at romans chapter 8 verse 29 romans 8 verse 29. for whom he foreknew he also predestined that's you he foreknew you for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brethren moreover whom he predestined that's you these he also called whom he called these he also justified and whom he justified these he also glorified can't you see my friend that this predestination god's calling god's pre-planning for you is already evidence of his favor and once you are in the body there's the release the initial release of favor we see this in acts chapter 13 acts 13 verse 48 now when the gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the lord and as as many as had been appointed to eternal life that's predestination and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed praise the lord so favor begins with the new birth because this my friends is an election of grace salvation is an election of grace it's not on merit it's by the grace of god and what is grace well most theologians define grace as being what unmerited favor now that is a theological definition but it is it fits 100 it's unmerited favor so the unmerited favor of god can be classified also as god's divine favor praise the lord now as i've mentioned a couple of times the kingdom of heaven operates on keys and we're talking about keys what it takes to get god's favor activated in our lives we see that these keys are mentioned by the lord in matthew chapter 16 verse 19 and i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven so we're going to release these keys today and we're going to use them now one of these keys one of these conditions is that we must walk in the fear of god this is not something that's optional if you want the favor of god to come upon your life and be sustained we must walk in the fear of god and i just have to i have to let you know this and you probably have already noticed this but there are certain teachers in the body of christ who do not really how can i say it they they teach that it doesn't really matter how you live your life as a christian well you were under grace and so you can live however you want and you know we're under grace now and that is a horrible uh abuse of the teaching of biblical grace so you have to watch out for that because remember you have to walk in the fear of the lord if you want the favor to be upon your life so if you're living all crazy and stuff like that you're practicing sin i'm not talking about if you sin you miss it you make a mistake and you ask god to forgive you but if you're just practicing continually continually practicing sin that is a primary reason why that the promise of favor does not deliver for many believers and they know about it and they they shout amen yeah it's true i i i lord let favor come upon me but it's not delivering because they're not walking in the fear of the lord see i can call domino's pizza i can get on the phone and say uh please send me a large uh you know cheese pizza and uh you know with this and that on it okay so they will deliver that pizza on condition what is the condition or the terms well first of all that i that i pay okay that that's really all you have to do and pay and give them an address of where to come to but my friends you can ask god god deliver to me your favor but he's not going to deliver it if you don't meet the terms or the conditions and that is that we we use the keys of the kingdom and we walk in the fear of god praise the lord first john chapter 3 verse 7 little children let no one deceive you and there are deceivers out there there are deceitful teachers that say you can just pretty much do whatever you want and you know just live however you want doesn't matter you're going to end up in heaven anyhow so watch out little children let no one deceive you he who practices righteousness is righteous just as he is righteous in verse 8 he who sins and in the greek that it's it's it's denoted he who practices sin he who practices sin is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning so my friends we do not need to be practicing sin we need to be living righteous lives that glorify the lord first corinthians chapter 6 continues to shed more light on this subject first corinthians chapter 6 verse 9. do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor solomites nor thebes nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of god and such were some of you were past tense in other words that's the way you used to be we don't practice or do those things anymore praise god thank you lord jesus so let me say this no one ever runs out of favor when you are walking in the fear of god no one ever is going to run out of favor when you are walking in the fear of god say praise the lord this is very very important walking in the fear of god entitles you to the favor of god again walking in the fear of god entitles you to the favor of god whoo praise god so let favor deliver to you amen by living a life that glorifies the lord hallelujah now here's another key for favor to flow in your life this one also is very important you must walk in humility because pride will cause you to swiftly lose favor with god and this this is very important because the lord will move he'll move very quickly in this area there's something about can i call them spiritual sins you know there's things you do in the natural in a sense it's all spiritual but there's something you do natural but these things in the spirit particularly this area with pride you talking about short circuiting the blessings pride is is lethal when it comes to its awful consequences and we see in james chapter 4 verse 6 but he that's god gives more grace therefore he says god resists the proud but gives grace to the humble see god gives more grace what is grace unmerited what favor it's favor favor favor favor favor and what will cause the favor to lift very quickly is pride so he gives grace to the humble he gives faith he graces favor he gives favor to the humble so you need to stay humble woo praise the lord watch out for pride it's a very very sneaky thing it's what the devil got all tangled up in and they got him booted out of heaven and has gotten him an eternity destined that's unstoppable he's hitting towards the lake of fire and he knows it my friends we must walk in humility walk in humility walk in humility resist pride give the lord jesus all the credit give god all the glory and let that favor continue to ride upon your life praise the lord amen now also in order for the favor to be sustained we must continue to walk in obedience to god's word there's uh you know we would be hard-pressed to find a more candid example of this as what we see in deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 1. this is one of the most powerful chapters in the bible that you must familiarize yourself with deuteronomy 28 and look at verse 1 now it shall come to pass if again if denotes there are certain terms and conditions that are required to be met before god delivers on the promises whoa now what shall now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the lord your god to observe carefully to observe carefully all his commandments which i command you today the lord your god will set you high above all nations of the earth and these things happen because you obey the voice of the lord your god so we must continue to walk in obedience to his word in order for the favor to flow praise the lord now we must also be committed to spiritual stewardship pastor stephen what do you mean by spiritual stewardship well let's take a look at this from the book of galatians chapter 6 and drop down please to verse 7. verse 7 do not be deceived god is not mocked for whatever a man sows that he will also reap for he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption now the fact that it's corruptible means that it's temporal means that it's earthly okay so he who sows to his flesh will the flesh reap corruption but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life so there's one type of sowing that is temporal very earthly very short-lived and there's another type of sowing that is eternal that is eternal value and benefits and if you sow to spiritual things you're going to reap eternal rewards praise god and in this area of sowing in the spiritual things the greatest pursuit that you could ever be involved in is the pursuit of winning souls for god and that's what i mean by being committed to spiritual stewardship you must be spiritually minded you must have eternity uh upon your heart and you must realize that the most important thing that we can do is to win lost souls for god praise god is there any more beautiful verse in scripture john chapter 3 verse 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved praise the lord so my friends this is god's greatest interest on the earth winning lost souls for him and when you invest into that the favor of god will ride high on your life and it will take you to the high places praise the lord look at this in first timothy chapter 2 praise god first timothy chapter 2 verse 4 speaking of how god who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth god desires for all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and when you are tied into that when you know god wants people to be saved and souls are upon your heart and you take time to witness to those that are open and sometimes maybe even to those that are not so much open but you're just you're sowing the seed praise god my friends when you're doing that the favor of the lord will be upon your life and when you pray and when you intercede and you you say god bring conviction that they might turn from their sin god grant repentance god have mercy and also when you have opportunity you speak to people and you lift up jesus never forget the most important evangelistic tool that you'll ever have is your personal testimony of what god did for you i'll never forget the day that i gave my life to jesus christ i i had grown up in church and i was very religious but i wasn't born again but when i was a senior in high school i gave my heart to jesus and the moment i did it felt like 2 000 pounds of weight came off of me and i knew i had passed from spiritual death in the spiritual life and i went down to the river and got baptized there in the freo river uh in bandera texas praise god free old course meaning cold and it was true to its name it was cold but i was happy and warm in my heart praise god so you could always show your testimony anywhere any place that anybody is willing to hear it you can always share your testimony praise god and you'll be amazed at how that will that speaks to people glory to god so my friends when you apply these keys you'll start walking in new levels of favor jesus grew in wisdom and in favor with god and man so you could increase in favor increase in favor increase in favor and god's going to place it upon your life and god's going to use it to take you to amazing places that you're supposed to go and that's your ticket to the top it's the favor of god but the favor of god is not just like random accidental luck or chance when you see a believer walking in favor you're looking at somebody that's walking in covenant knowledge you're looking at somebody that understands kingdom keys it's not that they're lucky it's not that they were you know quote born under a lucky star or some kind of uh horoscope type uh you know soap opera life no no no no they're working the covenant it's god's blessing it's happening on purpose praise the lord and when you know it you can sustain it that's what god wants you to do he wants you to walk in his favor walk in his favor his love his goodness his loving kindness hmm oh god's going to put it on you and there will be times you extend has said to others you'll extend favor towards others because you sense god is flowing through you praise the lord praise the lord i believe god's favor is coming to you very quickly i i felt impressed the holy spirit to teach this message because i believe that you're going to need his favor but the favor is going to be there in a new door perhaps are you ready perhaps one of the greatest doors you've ever gone through before it's a door of expansion and increase and blessing it's not it's not like you're having esther you know like it's not like somebody's putting a a crown on your head but i would call it a crowning moment yes i would absolutely call it a crowning achievement and it's going to be it's going to be initiated through favor and so you go through the door and you'll be crowned praise the lord lift your hands i want to pray for you heavenly father you're positioning your people for favor and father it's your intention that it not be a one-time act but it be sustained upon their lives because they're going to need it again they're going to need it again and so father let your favor come in a new way let the spirit of favor as mentioned uh in the book of zechariah that the spirit of favor come right now upon your people at rest and let them apply these keys father god of walking in the in the spirit of the fear of the lord and and these other principles of humility and obedience to your word and being committed to spiritual stewardship of having a heart for the lost lord let them use these keys and let favor be sustained upon their life in a beautiful beautiful way and father let it take them to the top let me give you all the praise for it in jesus name say i receive and shout amen praise god forever and ever now perhaps you have watched this message but you do not know jesus as your personal lord and savior my friend this is your opportunity to step into divine favor and of course most importantly receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life within your heart if you would like to get your life right with god right now repeat this prayer after me say lord jesus you died on the cross at calvary to save sinners just like me jesus i turn from my sin and i turn to you save me now wash me with your precious blood write my name in your book of life and jesus i accept you as my lord and savior right now in your name i pray amen and amen if you have prayed that welcome to the family of god the family of favor whoo praise the lord glory to god hallelujah my friends let us celebrate the favor of god and proclaim the lord's death until he returns by now taking holy communion together why don't you take communion with me in our online church family you can get some grape juice and some unleavened bread i use these little travel packs i love these little things because it's all in one you can take it anywhere you go and let's take holy communion together today and first let's pray over the bread and the juice father we thank you for the bread and the juice we bless it and we set it apart through this prayer as being holy and we thank you that this is now the body the flesh and the blood of christ our savior the father as we receive the body of jesus we thank you for his word as we receive his flesh we receive his favor thank you father god we bless it in jesus name amen let's receive together you're receiving favor you're receiving the flesh of christ you're receiving favor praise god praise the lord hallelujah father we thank you for the blood of jesus it's beautiful cleansing power applied to our lives right now father we ask you to wash us clean from all sin cleanse us from all unrighteousness and we thank you father god that we are in right standing with you thank you for your favor resting all over our lives in jesus name we pray we thank you father god for just a heart for the lost to bring them into the safe place of security in christ we thank you for the shed blood of jesus in his great name we pray amen and amen praise the lord let's receive praise god praise god now keep using the keys that i've shared and watch as god demonstrates miracle supernatural divine favor to you and you'll know that came from god my friends thanks for watching i'll see you back next time bye bye