Year-Of-Favour

Okay, guys, so let's just go back to last week and then trace where we were at and then

move from there, move forward from there.

So we said last week that God is bringing forth release upon the earth, bringing forth

release upon the earth and this release will take the form of unparalleled kindness.

It will take the form of God restraining the devil even though wickedness will increase,

even though wickedness on the earth will increase, even though there will be exploitation, there

will be wickedness, God will restrain the devil, God will show unparalleled kindness

and God will cause Isaiah 61 verse 1 and 2 to break forth through us.

Isaiah 61:1

This is what we said last week and that this would go on for two and a half to three years

or churches that begin to step up to seed the earth with this release will see a harvest

and will be tremendously blessed.

We also said that this release used to happen once every 50 years at a time called Jubilee

Another word for Jubilee was Year of the Favor of the Lord.

And one of the things God wants to do is to say to the earth that you don't have to wait

for 49 years or 5 years or 6 years or 7 years, I am your Jubilee.

Jesus Christ is Jubilee and when he unrolls that scroll in Luke chapter 4 in the synagogue,

Luke 4 · chapter mention

he reads and says the year of favor and we said last time, last week that God will, it

will be a time of favor and of vengeance.

That's where we stopped last week.

So today we pick up on this idea, Year of Favor.

That's where we will go.

So if you want to title this teaching anything, call it Year of the Lord's Favor.

What does that look like?

Because we, last week we stopped at this point where we said that there's favor and there's

vengeance and vengeance upon the enemy, a restraining of him and favor upon people released through

churches that want to stand up and say, hey, look at what God's going to do, unparalleled

kindness.

So today we'll talk about this idea of favor.

So here are some questions we need to consider.

What does the year of favor look like?

What will it look like?

As I said, it'll look like unparalleled kindness.

Write this down almost like an equation on your page.

Okay, so the year of favor release will be unparalleled kindness.

It'll be restraining of Satan.

Even though the world will increase in wickedness, God will restrain Satan from bringing harm

to the earth.

And that Isaiah 61, opening the eyes of the blind, opening eyes, risen, captivity, release

from moral and spiritual bondage, comfort to those in despair and sorrowing.

These are the things that God wants to do for the next two and a half to three years.

Isn't it awesome that we get to be a part of who God is?

Because this is who he is.

So if this is what the year of release of favor looks like, the next question you need

to ask is, what will it take for favor to flow through us?

What will it take for favor to flow through us?

What will it take for favor to flow through Acts 29?

I can't hear you.

Sorry, Diana, just speak up.

Just kidding.

It's one of those days when jokes are really falling flat.

So what will it take for favor to flow through us?

For favor to flow through us, guys, we have to learn how to walk in favor and in this

idea of release.

If we don't know what it tastes like, if we don't savor it as a lifestyle, how can we

release it to others?

We have to be a people who are a people of favor, which means we have to understand what

it is to be fully forgiven and we have to understand what it is to be highly favored.

If we don't understand this, then we are not able to give to others what God wants to give.

Anytime God wants to do something on earth, he does call forth the people, but when people

come excitedly to him saying, sure, sure, use us, use us, God says, okay, let's start

training.

It's always been that way.

And so as we step up and say, oh God, let this be so, God is saying, okay, then can

you learn how to walk in my favor so that favor can flow through you?

And can you become a community or a people who are fully forgiven and highly favored?

Fully forgiven and highly favored.

We talked about what it is to be fully forgiven long ago, so I won't go there.

But what is it to walk as highly favored ones?

What is it to walk as highly favored ones?

Why is it that we don't walk in this constant awareness of God's favor?

Different reasons.

One of the reasons we aren't aware of God's constant favor is because we lack an understanding.

We lack understanding.

Or if it's not a lack of understanding, it's a lack of thinking and walking in it.

Guys, I don't walk consciously aware of favor.

I'm surprised at the number of times I asked God for favor.

I'm surprised at the number of times I asked God for favor.

I'm surprised at the number of times I prayed favor for you.

Sometimes we don't think much of favor because we get a whole lot of trinkets and baubles

from men, and that suffices, as in a few positions here, a little bit of recognition there, and

we think that is favor and we just gloat in it when God's favor is far more excessive.

Sometimes we don't know what favor is because it's been robbed.

Satan loves robbing us of favor.

God the Father loves robbing us with favor.

Satan loves robbing us of favor.

We tried this with Joseph.

The Father robs, Satan robs.

And then finally, sometimes some of us have received favor, but what happens in Christendom

is very often favor becomes an entitlement.

And when that happens, like it says in Deuteronomy 6, verse 10 to 12, God warns them saying,

Deuteronomy 6:10–12

I've given you wells that you did not dig, vineyards you did not plant.

I gave you houses that you did not build.

Once you begin to live there, do not forget who I am, and people did.

Jesus, on the other hand, had tremendous favor, but in Philippians 2, verse 6 to 9,

Philippians 2:6–9

instead of seeing himself entitled to favor, Jesus actually emptied himself out.

These are the different reasons why I don't walk in favor, you don't walk in favor, why

favor is not like breathing for us.

And so, I just want to launch into this idea of what favor really looks like.

So, here goes.

Before I start defining favor, just listen to this.

The Father wants the same relationship with you that he presently has with Jesus.

The Father wants the same relationship with me that he presently has with Jesus.

And he is relentless in his wanting this.

He doesn't get put off that I am not interested, he doesn't get put off that I turn away,

he doesn't get put off that I sometimes serve the Father of life.

He doesn't get put off that I am not interested, he doesn't get put off that I turn away,

he doesn't get put off that I sometimes serve the Father of lies.

He doesn't get put off that my interest fluctuates.

He doesn't get put off that sometimes my heart is fickle, because he is relentless

in wanting the same relationship with me that he presently has with Jesus.

How does he go about this?

He goes about it by loving me right now like he loves Jesus and never slacking off or holding it back.

He goes about this relentless pursuit by loving me right now as I stand here and speak to you,

just as he loves Jesus.

He does not hold it back, he is continuously pouring it out,

trusting that it will be powerful enough to become first a distraction,

then something that draws me and then becomes my default.

That aside, he also bestows on me right now the favor that Jesus presently enjoys and has always enjoyed.

He bestows on me the favor that Jesus enjoys.

I would suggest to you that none of us actually on a daily basis think that this is our existence.

That one, the Father wants the same relationship he presently has with Jesus with you.

Two, that right now he makes sure that he has the same love for you that he has

for Jesus who's seated at his right hand and that he is bestowing upon me the same favor

that Jesus has always had. If I thought like this, I'd be very different but I don't think like this.

So let's kind of define favor. Favor is approval.

As in when I wake up in the morning, the first words he wants to say to me is,

hey Jacob, you've just woken up before you do anything else today.

I want you to know that you're already approved in my sight.

Children experience it. Babies experience it. Once they grow up and can talk, it begins to wear off.

But God wakes, the moment I wake up, God's first comment if he could make one and if I was listening was,

hey before you start the day, I just want you to know that you're fully approved.

This is what favor looks like. Another word that you can use when you talk about favor is favor.

Is esteem.

As an honor. If you read Isaiah 43, verse three and four from the message, it says,

you're highly honored, you're precious, you're beloved. I'll give up nations for you.

You're so, this is how much I love you. I would give up nations for you. You're precious,

you're honored. Jacob is highly honored, esteemed by the creator of the universe.

It doesn't even compute sometimes. Delight. These are all words that kind of begin

to, these are divine synonyms for favor.

Delight.

He would love to constantly say, I'm well pleased and delighted with you.

That I've got to take this teaching slow because I want to experience it too. I just don't want

to teach it. That the father actually has great pleasure in me. He is thrilled that I responded

to his love and decided to follow him. And that my pursuit of him has been pretty sincere. He's

thrilled at it. Gives him great pleasure. Brings him delight. Next one. Highly loved.

Highly loved. We talk about being much loved children and that's from our end.

And that's from our end. Much loved children. From his end too, there's this idea of being

highly loved. Jacob, you are highly loved. Highly loved. I remember once walking into a meeting in

some small town outside of Seattle. And as soon as I walk in, this man who was prophesying says,

looks at me and says, what's your name? And I said, Jacob. He said, Jacob, you are special to

God. You're highly loved. I remember bawling from that moment on for the next two hours.

Demonstrated kindness. Demonstrated kindness. Not biblical kindness, not biblical kindness,

demonstrated kindness. Not biblical kindness as in hiding in the Bible. This is kindness that is

evidenced through a demonstration of ways that God puts into emotions so that I actually experience

his kindness. I think this is the advantage of living longer. You can look back and see so

many incidents of tremendous kindness.

Demonstrated kindness. And you don't have to go looking three months ago, two months ago. You can

look yesterday and I can think of just fabulous kindness from God. This is favor.

You all think about favor. Remember how I started the service looking for Shirley?

It's this idea of kindness of God following you. Favor follows you. It surrounds you.

Access. Favor gives you access. If you have favor with a king, you have access to his courts.

Remember the place where King Xerxes stretches out his scepter so that Esther can enter. And he

prevents Vashti from entering, but he allows Esther to enter because she had favor. Favor gives you

access. We'll talk about each of these when we do the series on favor, just like opening up your

ancient doors. Each of these words we'll explore because the people who can walk in this kind of

favor, the language will change, their prayer will change, the way they conduct their lives will

change, their response will change, their intimacy will change, their battle and the way of battling

the enemy will change. It is such a powerful, important part of who we are within to God.

And yet we don't walk in it. I love this next word. It's not mine. Intentional bias.

Intentional bias. God has an intentional bias towards me. God has an intentional bias. It's

not by mistake. He has an intentional bias towards me. He can pick me out of a line.

And be biased towards me. It's an intentional bias. Here's another one. You may not believe this,

but I'm beginning to believe this. He often wants to say, if you will listen, that you,

you're my favorite. You're my favorite. And there are days when it's absolutely true.

You're my favorite.

When I say there are days when it's absolutely true, what I meant is there are days when I

actually know that it's true. Every day he says it, he's sincere about it. And there are extra

benefits. If there's favor, there's always extra benefits. Like it's not standard benefits,

it's extra. It's bonus. If there's favor, there's a settling of my outstanding debts.

As in, when I favor somebody, if I found out that they owed someone 20 bucks, I'd pull out 20 bucks

and pay it off because I favor the person. There's an outstanding debt settlement that comes with favor.

And then the last one is tailor-made or bespoke goodness or tailor-made goodness. As in, there's

goodness that he tailor-makes for you because he knows what gets your mojo going.

And so he tailor-makes it for you. Tailor-made goodness.

So let me put it this way. Favor is a blessing.

Let me put it this way. Favor is the goodness. Favor is the goodness and kindness of God,

given ungrudgingly

because he simply adores you.

Adores you.

Because he simply adores you. This is not the kind of adores you as in adoration, but adores you as in,

but I, what do you do with these words? What word can you use? Favor is God's goodness and kindness

given to me ungrudgingly in Christ because of Christ ungrudgingly given to me ungrudgingly

for the rest of my life for a lifetime.

Why? Because he simply adores me. Do you know what this could do to my life? It would ruin me

if I actually came into grips with this. It would make it impossible to escape God.

It would make it impossible to escape this way of thinking. You will not be able to escape favor

when you think like this. You will anticipate favor in every circumstance. You will anticipate

favor in every circumstance. But after all this, I can still miss out on this because I will not

find the time this week to understand it, to think about it. And so it will be words I parrot,

parrot, but I do not experience because I cannot find the time to understand or think about it.

You always inhabit what you think.

Please don't forget that. There's just no other way around it.

Truth is learned through repetition. You inhabit what you think.

To think is to ponder on something with the help of the Holy Spirit so that it goes deep into Spirit

and affects the soul. Think is not repeating these words to me.

I have to think to come up with these words that explain him.

I could give you scriptures for each of these words.

Yeah. Any questions before we go on?

May I not be caught not thinking about this because if I don't,

it'll be one of the best messages I've ever preached, but it won't be my experience.

We're on to something, guys. When we were singing one of the songs, I thought,

Father, I just want to go up there and remind the church that you're going to affect the earth

through us. I decided not to because Jane was saying something that was more profound.

So I thought, okay, I'll talk about it later. But that's one of the things we need to understand is

life will change.

Any questions?

Have you noticed in this whole list there's nothing about earning deserving nothing about

self- hattenment and self- Kitchens and spiritual multitudes or religious

but the Bible thatph Saltz.

about earning, deserving, nothing.

Good question.

How can we all be God's favorite?

The simple logical answer is just mind boggling.

Because Christ is in you and you are in Christ

and Christ is God's beloved son.

You are therefore as favored, as loved,

as special as Christ himself.

And therefore you become highly favored.

There's no separation.

We are heirs of everything that God has

and co-heirs with Christ.

It's fascinating that that's the answer.

That in Christ I find favor.

I am both in him and he is in me.

Everything about the father is attracted to the son.

And today the son is in me and I am in the son.

Whatever belongs to the son is mine.

In any ways I was loved to begin with,

but in the son it goes far beyond just being loved,

being redeemed, being ransomed.

It goes far beyond that.

Listen to this verse in Romans 8.32.

Won't he who gave up his son

now freely give us all things?

So let's continue down this road with

continue down this road with figuring out,

okay, so what else does favor look like?

Yep.

Yeah, this is very powerful.

How does our prayer change

before and after understanding favor?

Many of the things that you stand in faith for

will no longer be required once you know favor.

The language of prayer will change too

because you will now operate from a place of knowing

what is yours in God because of his heart towards you.

The goodness of God will become more and more evident.

Every promise from the word will carry in it

favor, provision, goodness, release.

If you are all that we said you are,

the confidence you have in God will grow like crazy,

like it'll escalate.

Striving will become less.

Outcomes will take on a guarantee.

Not of this is what I want,

but I am so sure of the goodness of God in this circumstance.

It is now unavoidable.

Promises will carry the heart of God in them.

If God has said it,

it will be a promise to God.

It is now unavoidable.

If God has said it,

either through a Rhema word or through the word,

it must come to pass.

You become confident of this.

Prayer changes completely.

And remember guys,

you don't always need a prophetic word for a promise.

Some promises are in the word.

You don't need an extra word for it.

Run with what is in the word.

All the single people, all the single people.

I say to you, you don't need a prophetic word.

What you need is a simple word from Proverbs which says,

he who finds a wife or a husband finds a good thing.

Go to the book of Genesis and you'll hear God saying,

it is not good for a man to be alone except Jacob.

And Derek.

That sunk his boat.

Alrighty.

And Derek's dad's boat.

Anyways, we'll come to that later if we have time

because I wanna talk about promises

if we get through favor.

So here are some really cool thoughts

about favor that I want you to look at.

Favor is access to the ultimate place.

Favor is access

to the ultimate place

of relationship.

I love this.

I'll tell you why.

Favor is access to the ultimate place of relationship.

Why?

Because I'm seated with Christ in heavenly places,

but that makes it sound like just scripture.

Think of it this way.

In John 13, 23, you have John leading against Jesus,

head on Jesus' chest.

That boy had tremendous favor.

Like I've said before, he probably met Jesus

when he was 13 or 14, lived longer than most of the others.

And so Jesus had a special place for John.

John would call himself the beloved disciple.

And so he's reclining with his head on Jesus' chest.

What we need to understand is that favor

is an open door into intimacy.

Favor is an open door into intimacy.

Like I remember with my nieces,

especially with Hannah, she was the youngest one.

And she had favor with me.

There's another kid called Diego, five-year-old,

son of one of my good friends.

And Diego has tremendous favor with me.

Favor opens the door to intimacy.

The more I realize how favored I am,

the more easy it is to run,

despite what yesterday must have been,

to run through an open door into his arms

becomes easy when there is favor.

Because favor gives me access

to the ultimate place in relationship.

Second, favor is the fullness of permission

to adventure into the world.

Into everything Christ has.

Favor is the fullness of permission

you actually have to adventure

into everything that Christ has.

Again, I take you to Romans 8.32.

If he who freely gave us his son,

will he not freely give us everything else?

Romans 8.32.

Okay, what about growing in favor like Jesus did?

It is we who grow into favor.

It is not God who increases his favor.

We grow into favor by understanding this,

thinking about it, practicing it, walking in it,

using favor as a door into intimacy.

Do you think of all the 12 disciples,

John had any problem barging into Jesus' house

any time of the day?

Even Peter, who would stumble into things,

would perhaps have been a bit careful.

Not John, to the point that John probably knew

Jesus' home and relatives so well,

that Jesus had absolutely no problem turning to John

at the cross and saying,

hey, here's your mom, take care of her.

Man, once you begin to realize the favor

that God has upon you,

your heart will begin to take advantage

and move into intimacy.

So we grow in favor,

not because God is increasing his favor,

but because we are exploring or plumbing the depths

of this amazing approach or attitude of goodness

that God has towards us.

Do unbelievers have favor?

They do, but they don't realize it

because they belong to another father

and their spirits are dull.

The Bible says that God sends rain

and causes his son to fall both on the good and the evil.

But someone who does not know Christ

is never able to receive it, recognize it,

walk in it, respond to it.

And if you can't receive, recognize,

and respond to favor,

now how do you even quantify it?

What is favor?

Favor is the fullness of permission

to adventure into everything Christ says.

One of the best examples I can give is,

unfortunately, in a moment of weakness and error,

I gave Jeevan the code to my home

and the keys to my home.

And so now what has happened is,

he now assumes that he has the fullness of permission

to adventure into my home at will.

And sometimes when I come out of my room,

Jeevan's sitting there,

because he can let himself in.

There are times when he feels like he needs to cook lunch

on my stove, which I never use.

It's called the fullness of permission

to adventure into everything Jacob has.

Only in this case, we now get,

God is saying, hey,

but don't you know you're highly favored, Jacob?

Don't you know that you get extra benefits?

Don't you know that you're approved

before you start your day?

Don't you know that my delight likes just tenting on you?

Don't you know that you think you're much loved?

I think you're highly loved.

Don't you know that every day I find ways

to demonstrate my kindness to you,

whether you recognize it or not?

Don't you know that you have access

to everything that is in Christ?

Don't you know that I have an intentional bias towards you?

Haven't you seen that often enough?

Don't you know that you're my favorite?

There are days I know you've felt that.

Don't you know that I've settled so many

of your outstanding debts,

spiritual, physical, material, relational, financial.

Don't you know that I've tailor-made goodness for you?

When you know all that,

why will I not allow you to adventure

into everything that Christ has for you?

Come, Jacob, explore, explore.

Jacob, you're so hesitant.

You're always concerned about, am I good enough?

Am I holy enough?

How did yesterday go?

Those things are important, but it always holds you back.

Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6,

where he said, Corinthians, we've opened our hearts to you,

but your hearts are too small to receive our love.

Jacob, I want to say the same thing to you.

I've opened my heart to you.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

we have opened our hearts to you,

but your heart is too small to receive that love,

and therefore there is still distance and hesitation.

Won't you begin to explore this idea of favor

and step into all that I am?

Part of the idea is that favor is the confidence I have

in my deficits that Christ's benefits will take over.

Let me rephrase it properly.

Favor is the confidence I have.

Favor is the confidence I have.

Favor is the confidence I have

that the benefits of Christ

will fill my deficits.

You know, long ago, before we became a megachurch,

when Acts 29 was really small, I think four or five people,

I was invited to a large church,

and they asked me to preach,

and it was like a golden opportunity.

And so I went with a whole lot of props and even a sheep,

because I wanted to really illustrate my sermon very well.

You guys, you know, I'm a big fan of the church,

sermon very well.

You guys have no idea what you have been spared.

Can you imagine me bringing a sheep into the church?

So I go there and everything with the teaching went wrong.

It was such a flop in my mind.

So I knew it stank.

And so I went home.

I used to live in Richmond then,

and I remember standing on the balcony,

looking out and saying,

Oh God, what an opportunity.

And I just blew it completely.

I just beat myself up for about two hours.

And finally I turned to God and said,

what do you think about it?

What do you think of what happened tonight?

And I felt God saying, go stand out in the balcony.

It was dark by now.

I went stood out in the balcony.

He said, look up, and I look up.

And there was this clear sky.

And then as I would watch, clouds would come.

And wherever there was a gap,

the clouds would just fill that gap.

And I'm looking at it for a while.

And then I hear the voice of God as clear as day.

And he says, Jacob, remember something.

I'll always cover the gaps for you.

I'll always cover the gaps for you.

And I've never forgotten that.

I just started bawling

because that's a very natural thing for me to do.

And I've never forgotten that.

That was about 15 years ago, man.

And whenever I've done a miserable job,

and every so often that happens,

I know that the deficits, the lack, the inadequacies

are being compensated by no other

than the Spirit of God himself,

and that the gaps are covered.

Paul caught this when he said,

I boast in my infirmities and in my weakness,

for when I'm weak, then he is strong,

and his grace is sufficient.

His grace is sufficient, not like a little cookie

that is given to a kid who's been craving for more.

But grace is sufficient as in it fills the gap completely.

It levels the depression.

This is what favor does.

These are confidences that we have to build up,

because then we won't try to compensate it ourselves.

We won't try to compensate it ourselves.

I love this next line.

I wrote it, I thought, huh, that came out well.

Favor, there's no favor there.

Favor is being condemned to the fact

that favor is being condemned to generosity.

Favor is being condemned to generosity,

as in God's favor condemns me to God's generosity,

as in I'm ridden off into generosity.

And the moment I say generosity, do not think dollars.

If God's generosity was only limited to dollars,

what would I do about forgiveness?

What would I do about kindness?

What would I do about a million second chances?

What would I do, man?

His generosity is his goodness profusely being

poured out upon me again and again and again.

Please go home and think about these things.

Grow in it.

Like the question asked,

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God.

How?

The boy thought.

So favor is being condemned to generosity

and this generosity is preferential,

as in you are preferred over others.

This generosity is undeserved.

And this generosity just breaks my heart in a good way.

And if you haven't experienced it,

then know that there is another level of living

that you and I need to enter into.

Favor is being condemned to God's generosity.

And guys, this is not when there's a crisis.

This is not when there's a difficult situation

or when there's a Good Friday and Easter and Christmas.

No, no, no, this is every day.

This is every day, every day.

To get up in the morning knowing,

ah shucks man, I am condemned.

Really?

What are you condemned to?

To God's ridiculous generosity today.

What did you do to earn it?

Nothing, man, totally undeserving.

And like, what else?

It's preferential, man.

It's like the special card you get,

preferential card where you go through doors

that others can't go through.

It's preferential, it is undeserved.

And every time that happens, it just melts my heart.

It breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart.

I'll tell you some of the things that happen

in terms of condemned to generosity on a daily basis.

I'll be asking God a question.

As soon as I finish the question,

there'll be a truck going past my door with my answer.

A ball letters on it.

And I'll, before I even say what the answer is,

why do you do this?

Who are you?

Who am I?

Don't you have other stuff to do?

Do you have to respond immediately?

Can't you take time?

Aren't we supposed to tarry for the Lord through the night?

Why do you respond so quickly?

Being aware of favor allows you to spot

and recognize favor quickly.

You know, it's odd when you buy a car,

you notice other cars like yours on the road.

Till then, they didn't exist.

But the moment you buy it, like when I bought my bike,

which I go cycling around Vancouver,

now I recognize bikes all over the place.

Before that, never had that experience.

If a question comes in, what bike do you have?

Just feel free to answer it however you want.

Here's another one.

Favor is permission to flourish and overflow.

To flourish and overflow.

Favor is permission to flourish and overflow.

Favor is permission to flourish and overflow.

He commands extravagance upon you.

He commands extravagance upon you.

Because of stupid theologies that make God out to be a miser

who's recycling things here on earth.

We never even consider the possibility

that favor is permission to flourish.

And flourish does not mean a million to me.

Flourish could mean $300 to give away.

Flourish to Bill Gates could mean 3 billion to give away.

Flourish to someone in India could mean 300 rupees,

which is $6 to give away.

But favor gives you permission to flourish and overflow.

And overflow, I love that after the word flourish

comes the word overflow.

Because once I flourish it is supposed to overflow.

Anything that is poured into a cup past a certain point

spills over the brim.

My cup runs over.

Favor causes your cup to run over.

Unless you're taking a cup

and keep putting it into bigger cups,

that's the only way you won't flourish.

Whenever things come into your life, let it go out.

Jesus did this.

Entitled to tremendous favor and glory,

he decided that, nah, I'll let this overflow.

God has a desire to prosper us.

John, three John, what's the scripture?

Three John chapter one, verse two.

If you read it from the message,

I love the way it writes it in the message.

Three John.

Three John.

One, verse two.

Nup, three John.

Is it three John one, two?

Um.

Yeah, the pastor to my good friend Gaius.

How truly I love you.

We are the best of friends.

And I pray for good fortune in everything you do

and for your good health

that your everyday affairs prosper as well as your soul.

Love it, eh?

That your everyday affairs prosper.

Maybe you're growing tomatoes.

I wouldn't understand why.

But you begin to prosper, your garden begins to prosper.

Your cooking begins to prosper.

We limit prosperity to dollars and cents

because our minds are so trapped

in what the world says is prosperity.

There's a question?

Hold it.

Pardon?

Oh, you grow tomatoes too.

I thought you grow corn, Jeevan,

and that you then can the corn that you grow.

I mean, when you look at Isaiah 61,

verse five to seven and verse nine,

this is the old covenant.

And look what God says he'll do for his children.

Isaiah 61, provision will be supplied.

Security will be restored.

Double honor will be bestowed.

Promises will be fulfilled.

Debt and bondage will be reversed.

Priests will be clothed.

Generations will be blessed.

Work will be fruitful.

Does that sound like prosperity?

Does that sound like the favor of God?

Receive at church.

There's an expectation one should have.

Like I said, I don't know who came up with this phrase,

but it's so true.

We inhabit what we think.

Is this not your way of thinking?

It's gonna be very hard to recognize things

when they happen.

Someone gave me what felt like

Ferrero Rocher.

It was wrapped up very nicely,

and I felt it and it felt like Ferrero Rocher.

And it felt like three of them.

And I am not a Ferrero Rocher guy.

So I gave it to someone else,

recycled the gift without opening it.

And I went to visit this person who I didn't know too well

and gave it to them,

because that person was just an acquaintance

and I gave them the Ferrero Rocher.

I gave it to them and the next time I went to visit them,

they were just gushing.

They were just so moved by my generosity and kindness.

I'm thinking to myself, wow,

three Ferrero Rocher go a long way.

What I didn't know was there was a gift certificate

for 50 bucks that was wrapped around the Ferrero Rocher.

And now this guy couldn't understand

why Jacob Amir acquaintance was giving him

a $50 gift certificate.

And when I found out,

you have no idea how regretful I felt.

Why?

Because when you do not think a certain way,

you do not receive, recognize, inhabit that place.

So nowadays I open every gift before I re-gift it.

So guys begin to focus on God's favor and goodness.

And one of the ways to go about this on a regular basis,

which I've been practicing now for a few weeks,

is I speak back God's favor to him.

As in I'll focus on favor and then I'll say,

because you favor me, this is how you are towards me.

This is how you will respond because you favor me.

I speak back his favor towards me

coming into agreement with him.

I speak back his favor and his goodness.

And what happens then is you propel yourself

into a place of rest.

You propel yourself into a place of rest

when you speak back his favor to him.

As in father, I got this pain on the left lower back

or pain in the hip or pain in the knee.

Let's just stick with left lower back right now

because for me that's real.

And so before I even come to you for prayer,

I just wanna acknowledge how highly favored I am.

How your goodness is something you want to break

into my life on a continuous basis.

How you have an intentional bias towards me.

How your promise carries your heart

and your favor and your goodness for me.

And your promise is that the son of righteous

rises with healing in his wings.

Your promise is that by the stripes that your son bore,

I am healed.

Your promise is that into this deficit of the weakness

and the pain in my back will come the benefit of Christ

and Christ's benefit is healing.

Knowing all this father, I just agree with you.

And I speak back your favor upon me,

absolutely confident of the outcome

simply because of your goodness and your faithfulness.

Now you suddenly get placed into a field of rest

instead of a field of striving and faith.

I remember maybe I've shared it with some of you one on one.

And as I share this, I think my sister,

if she's listening, will get a shock as will my mom,

but so be it.

Unless my sister and my mom are there, yes.

So some years ago, because of my own fault

and because of an unfair dealing,

I had to pay back $26,000 in 12 days.

And we weren't a mega church then

and we didn't have the private jet.

So it was not like we could sell that either.

So I had to pay $26,000 off in 12 days.

I didn't know how.

And I decided I would not steal

and that would not beg.

And so I remember panicking because I was so scared.

And then I was pacing up and down in my living room

and asking God, Father, what is your goodness,

your favor, your heart say towards me?

And he gave me a scripture from 2 Kings 11

and 2 Kings 19, where it talks about

how even though they have laid a siege against you

and built siege mounds against you

and they have archers ready to shoot,

I want you to know that not a single arrow will be shot.

The city will not be taken.

And in the way he came, he will return.

And I realized that God is saying, don't worry about it.

No one will come after you.

You'll get whatever needs to be gotten.

Even though they put a siege mound around you,

don't look at it.

I don't know how it happened, man.

In 12 days, I started getting money from all over the place.

I was a thousand dollars short.

I remember thinking, gosh, Lord, you did amazingly well.

I was quite happy.

And then I had to meet Heidi and Chris at Himalaya.

That restaurant, there are these things called restaurants.

They are these large rooms with tables and chairs

where you can sit and eat.

If you don't remember.

So I was at Himalaya and as we're leaving,

Chris suddenly pulls out a check for a thousand bucks

and gives it to me.

And she had no idea what she was doing.

Here I was thanking God for Father,

you provided most all of it.

And he's thinking, really?

That's how I do stuff?

Sometimes it's important guys to begin to say back to him

the things that you know he has said out of his favor.

This was my own fault.

Sure, I was treated unfairly in the bargain,

but it was my fault.

I was at fault.

And yet God's favor broke through.

If favor only happened when you are not at fault,

then favor would never happen

because you're always at fault.

You know, I'm scared to abandon myself

to this kind of thinking.

It'll take away all striving.

It'll, life will become too easy.

You know, I love this line that I heard from somewhere

and I'm applying it to myself right now.

I am living below my privilege.

I am living below my privilege.

And it is bothersome that I do not inhabit this place really.

I do not.

That's been the most bothersome thing about this teaching,

that I do not inhabit this place of favor,

that I'm living well below my privilege

and that somehow I'm scared to abandon myself

to thinking like this.

But I want to so badly.

And guys, when you start this process,

one of the things Satan does

is he tries to bury favor alive by delaying things.

Favor is often buried alive by delay

because Satan fights to retard favor

or to hinder favor from breaking through.

So here you are waiting for this sure thing

called the heart of God towards you in favor.

And somehow, even though it's there,

there is a hindering or a retarding of its progress.

And so you bury it alive saying,

ah, this might work once in a while, not always.

This is why we are scared to abandon ourselves

to this kind of thinking, guys.

Because if we abandon ourselves to this kind of thinking,

rest will kick in because you don't strive anymore.

What will you do if you can't strive?

What will happen to us self-made men?

And if you're thinking of a question,

but doesn't God want us to work?

Yes, after he tells us what to do.

Remember, guys, one of the things Satan loves doing

is devouring or stripping you of favor and blessing.

Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

So walking in favor is critical to battle too.

Walking in favor is critical to battle.

An awareness of God's favor,

an awareness of goodness is critical in warfare

because that's exactly what the devourer

tries to strip off you.

But if you know that the sun is going to stand still,

if you know that Jericho has been given over to you,

if you know that you don't even need five stones,

but you're just gonna pick five stones

because it feels good to just twirl them in your hand,

if you know that you don't need armor,

if you know that this snake that has just bitten me

is harmless and I can shake it off,

if you know that not a single life

will be lost in the shipwreck,

if you know the favor and the goodness of God,

can you imagine the advantage it gives you?

This I have experienced, the favor of God in battle.

It makes you unafraid to take Jericho.

It makes you unafraid to shake the serpent off your hand

and keep preaching as if it was a mosquito bite.

Betty is asking a question,

what does it mean to be entitled to God's favor?

You are entitled to God's favor,

but when favor becomes an entitlement,

it becomes all about you,

when favor is supposed to pour into you and then overflow.

So you are entitled to favor.

I am entitled to my inheritance.

Again, unfortunately, Jeevan has stuck his foot in there too,

but I am entitled to my inheritance.

But when my inheritance becomes an entitlement

that I will not share with my sister or with others,

because I now own it and it is mine,

then it becomes a problem.

And in this, Jesus is our role model.

In Philippians 2, verse 69, where it talks about emptying,

empty your favor, man, create room for more.

Favor doesn't increase because it's constant

and Christ is in you and it's constant,

but you can increase your capacity to receive favor

by causing it to flow out.

You increase your capacity to receive favor

by allowing it to flow out.

Every time you cause the favor that's poured into you

to flow out, you increase in capacity to receive more.

I don't know whether to stop here or not.

Let me just touch on maybe two or three points more

and then I'll stop.

I won't finish the whole thing.

Because we'll be doing this anyways in 12 minutes,

seven to 12 minute thingies.

Such a cool word, a thingy.

It just takes care of everything.

Guys, these words are connected.

Favor,

presence,

glory,

goodness,

promise,

provision.

All these words are connected.

These words are the ingredients

for release.

If you want release in your life

or you want to bring release into somebody else's life,

these words are all connected.

If you go to Exodus 33,

Exodus 33 says,

if you want to bring release into somebody else's life,

if you go to Exodus 33, verse 13 to 19,

Exodus 33:13–19

Exodus 33, 13 to 19,

Exodus 33, 13 to 19,

I think from the NIV.

If you're pleased with me, teach me your ways

so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.

Remember that this nation is your people.

The Lord replied, my presence will go with you

and I will give you rest.

Then Moses said, if your presence does not go with us,

do not send us up from here.

How will anyone know that you are pleased with me

and with your people, unless you go with us?

What else will distinguish me and your people

from all the other people on the face of the Earth?

and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth.

The Lord said to Moses, I will do everything you have asked because I am pleased with you

and I know you by name.

Then Moses said, now show me your glory.

The Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim

my name the Lord in your presence.

I will have mercy on who?

I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom?

I will have compassion.

But he said, you cannot see my face.

No one may see it and live.

Then the Lord said, there is a place near me where you may stand on a rock when my glory

passes by you.

I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I pass by.

Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back but my face must not be seen.

So when you connect to favor...

When you connect to favor...

When you connect to favor...

You become conscious of presence.

In this passage between Moses and God, conversation between Moses and God, this is what is happening.

He knows he has favor.

His favor then begins to...

Because he connects with God's favor, he is in a place where he is conscious of God's

presence to the point where he is saying, hey, if your presence doesn't go with us,

it doesn't matter whether you send an angel or whether you send Jethro or whether you

send a guy smarter than me, I ain't going.

So when you connect to favor, you become conscious of presence.

When you are conscious to presence, your eyes are wide open.

Your eyes are wide open to his glory.

Because once you connect to presence, your eyes are wide open to what is otherwise concealed

glory.

Your eyes get wide open to what is concealed glory.

As in, okay, God, I'm so connected with your favor that it is impossible to escape your

presence now.

I'm so aware of you because I know what favor looks like.

I'm so aware of you now.

And as I become aware of you, my eyes open to how just ridiculously glorious you are.

And once my eyes open to his glory, guess what happens?

It increases my awareness of his goodness.

Because your God, the glory of your God is his goodness.

The glory of your God is always his goodness.

The glory of your God is his goodness.

The glory of your God is his goodness.

It delights to be good to me.

His goodness follows me every day.

Psalm 23 verse 6, his goodness follows me every day.

Psalms 23:6

I must expect and explore his goodness and favor every day.

I must expect.

I don't walk in expectation of his favor every day.

Why would I ask for his favor if I expected?

I must expect and explore his favor and goodness every day.

In all my circumstances, guys, in all my circumstances.

We'll talk about promise and provision another day.

I just think I need to say something about promise to people who are waiting on promises.

But we'll talk about promise and provision another time.

Because I think just wrapping our heads around this is head wrapping enough.

Guys, God's promises are dynamite sticks of his goodness and favor.

God's promises are basically dynamite sticks of goodness and favor.

In each promise, each promise carries his heart.

Each promise carries his heart towards you.

Each promise announces his presence.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Every promise is a gift to God.

Every promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

Each promise is a gift to God.

And as you begin to believe the promise, now that you have a different way of seeing it,

so even though I may have a pain in my left back or left shoulder,

the fact remains that the heart of God towards me is carried in the promise,

the heart of God towards me is carried in the promise,

Hey Jacob, my son was striped so that you could receive my healing.

Hey Jacob, my name is Yahweh Rafa.

I'm your healer.

Hey Jacob, my name is Yahweh Jaira.

My name is Yahweh Rohi.

Hey Jacob, I am someone who rises over you with healing in his wings.

Hey Jacob, just so you know, I send my word and I heal your disease.

Hey Jacob, I just wanted you to know that healing is the bread of my children.

Hey Jacob, I wanted you to know that your body belongs to me.

It's my property. I'm a good steward of what I look over.

Hey Jacob, I just want to heal you not because of any of these promises, but because you're my son.

Hey Jacob, by the way, it's not promises that cause your healing.

It's my compassion and power that cause my healing.

My power moves through the compassion I have for you because I just simply adore you.

So when a promise begins to convey or carry the heart of God towards me,

then it changes the way I approach a promise, guys.

It then begins to proclaim or announce the presence of God into a situation.

Suddenly into that situation, it's not a promise that is entering.

It's not me repeating a scripture.

We so often make scriptures so separate from God when it is always announcing his presence.

And then the outcome is guaranteed.

I mean, it's been guaranteed for the last 20, 29 or 30 or 32 years in my life.

And now the same applies when you pray for someone else.

If this release is how you bring yourself release, the same thing should now apply for others.

Only now when you pray for others, your heart combines with God's heart.

So that the compassion of God, the desire of God, the power of God, the confidence of God,

the favor of God begins to flow through a human person, that the word becomes fleshed through you.

Release comes when I join with not a promise.

Release comes not when I wield a scripture.

Release comes when I join my heart with the heart of the father whose favor I continuously enjoy.

And now it's overflowing and spilling and affecting those around me.

This is how we need to think if the remnant is supposed to become a people that see the release

through the earth after the flood for the next little while.

That's Java.

Hey man.

So, once we begin to believe a promise like this, then provision is the key.

When we begin to believe a promise like this, then provision kicks in.

Then provision kicks in.

Each promise that is believed will have the consequence of provision.

And provision will be contested, you guys.

Provision will be contested.

Provision will be contested.

There is someone who tries to retard or hinder provision from coming to us.

We have an active enemy.

And when provision is contested, what do you do?

You fall back again on the favor of God, on the goodness of God, on the heart of God,

on the goodness of God, on the goodness of God.

Remember, I'll end, I'll stop now.

Remember that we are the only organization in the world that exists for the benefit of our non-members.

And God wants to teach us how to bring this release.

Go ahead, May.

When the promise is not believed, the provision can still come, but you won't enjoy the process.

And sometimes when the promise is not believed, the provision is delayed.

Because when the provision is delayed, it's not because God is delaying it.

It is because it's being contested.

And when there is no contest, then it can get delayed till God Himself intervenes.

Let's assume that God himself intervenes.

Let's assume it's like me wanting to give Don something and Derek does not want it to go to Don.

And so I have given it, but Don doesn't receive it because Derek is preventing it from getting to Don.

Up steps Jeevan, that mighty man with an amazing muscular body.

And he decides, nope, this will be contested.

And so he fights Derek down and he releases it.

And so we need to contest.

If you don't contest, things are delayed.

God still comes through because if everything depended on my faith.

Hey guys, at the end of the day, use a promise as a battle axe, but use God's faithfulness as your shield.

Use God's promise as a battle axe, but use God's trustworthiness of faithfulness as a shield.

So that even if your battle axe is chopped, his trustworthiness will still bring it through.

Sometimes we focus so strongly on our inadequacies and our deficiencies and our limitations that there's no way we'll get what we want.

Because our faith may flounder, our trust may get shaken, our knowledge of scripture may not be able to do anything.

Our trust may get shaken, our knowledge of scripture may not be adequate, our lives may not be blazing pure, our thoughts and attitudes may be bitter, our hereditary garbage may be overwhelming.

And in situations like that where you are not able to meet basic standards, fall back on the heart of God, the trustworthiness of the faithfulness of God.

The presence of God, the ridiculous favor of God that you never deserved or earned, but is given ungrudgingly simply because he adores you.

And upon the goodness of God.

And the more you receive this, the more you'll want to be champion.

That's a strange thing.

Favor doesn't make you lazy. Favor makes you even more diligent.

Favor doesn't make you lazy.

I've seen that with your lives. If I favor you, I find that you don't say, well, now I don't need to do anything. Jacob favors me.

Now it's like, ah, shucks, wonder what he's going to ask me next.

That is a bad example. Didn't go the way I was planning to.

Anyways, Derek, go ahead. I'm done. So now I'm open to questions.

I'm actually done. Okay. Like I'm done. Yeah.

How do you contest for things?

You contest for things by one, like I said, using the promise as a battle axe.

You use your favor as where you stand with God.

You use his trustworthiness as a shield.

And you use your constancy in moving forward in obedience as your diligence.

So let me name those four things again.

Diligent in my moving forward consistently.

It's a secret to a successful Christian life. Consistency.

Nothing else. Your gifts and all that stuff is just important glitter.

But consistency is the key.

To use the promise as a battle axe or a sword.

Use his trustworthiness as my shield.

Use the fact that he is, that your God is good and that his favor upon you is tremendous.

Use that as your, as a posture or the position that you take.

Because once I know how highly favored I am and how good God is, my stance will be very different.

Hey, you should see guys who turn up at Chad's church.

It's one of the largest churches in India.

People yearn to preach there.

And they come dressed like it was their wedding.

And then I'll go there.

But because I have tremendous favor there, I'll go there like this.

Perhaps my pants will be a little shabbier.

And why?

Because once you have favor, you know how to stand because of the tremendous favor you have.

You got a different swagger.

You got a different posture.

You got a different position or stance.

You know that you can enter in and you have tremendous favor.

Otherwise you have to work for it.

You got to dress for it.

You got to speak a certain way.

You got to work a certain way.

Use these four things to contest.

Any other question?

Okay.

So here's what I want you to do for any of you that are not well.

Let's just pray for your healing.

Let's just pray for your healing.

And as you pray for your healing, let me ask these questions so that you put yourself in a really good position as you pray for healing.

One, you do realize that as you approach God for healing that you have the fullness of his permission to get everything that Christ did for you, right?

That into your deficit, into your weakness, into your place of sickness, Christ's benefits yearn to enter.

That Jesus Christ does not hold this back from you.

That you have permission into the fullness of all that he is.

That all that he is and has done is going to enter all that you are not and don't have.

All that he is and has done is going to break into all that you are not and don't have.

That's the idea of favor.

You know that, right?

As you approach him to seek healing for your pain.

What about goodness?

Open your eyes to the goodness of God.

Open your eyes to the goodness of God.

Your God is good.

That's his glory.

Your God is good.

His goodness is not theory.

His goodness wants to take shape, form.

His goodness wants to be demonstrative.

His goodness and his kindness are always demonstrated.

Healing comes from the goodness and the kindness of God.

Open your eyes to his goodness.

Next, think of the promise that you want to embrace right now.

And let's go beyond healing.

What other promises are required to enter into your situation?

Remember, his promise carries his heart towards you.

Remember, his promise, when you receive it, brings his presence into your situation.

And his presence has always changed situations.

Remember that his promise carries his goodness.

Remember that his promise guarantees an outcome.

Don't look at how it will come to pass.

Don't attempt to figure out how this promise will come to pass.

And finally, release.

God wants to bring release to you.

The spirit of the sovereign Lord was upon him more than 2000 years ago.

He wants to bring release.

You don't have to wait for the first time.

He is Jubilee.

He is here right now.

He wants to bring me release.

He wants to free my lower back.

He wants to free my shoulder.

He wants to bring release.

The spirit of God brings all this to pass in our lives right now.

From a place of absolute peace,

from a place of absolute peace,

from a place of absolute peace,

from a place of absolute power,

from a place of absolute power,

from a place of absolute power,

from a place of absolute power,

with Christ seated at the right hand of the Father.

So now will you receive it?

Guys, this is what I meant by thinking favor through.

It takes time.

We have time for everything else.

So now Father having thought this through,

we'll just take a minute or two to quietly receive your favor,

your goodness, your promise,

and release.

All my life you will be faithful.

All my life you will be so, so good.

With everything that you are able,

your favor, Lord.

I don't know the rest of the words of this song, Father.

Part of your goodness I receive.

I receive.

Thank you.

Okay church, let's end with that song.

I've been touched by a fire.

I think Tate wanted the song Good Good Father,

but this is one of his other favorite songs.

So enjoy as we sing.

So as we sing this song,

may favor set you ablaze,

may you walk in it for the rest of this year,

the next year, and the year after that.

Grow in it.

We'll talk about this more and more over the next few weeks.