The Secret Ingredient to God’s Favor | Favor Factor Week 5 | Pastor Aaron Pino | Overflow Church

Romans chapter 5, verses 1 and 2 say this.

Romans 5:1

I'm reading now the amplified classic.

Therefore, since we are justified, acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God through faith, someone say, Hallelujah.

Come on, you're not an enemy of God anymore because you put your faith in Jesus Christ.

You're not the red-headed stepchild at the end of the table at a Thanksgiving dinner.

He looks at you as a son and a daughter today, and he says, I don't hold you far off.

I actually welcome you up close and personal because you put your faith in Jesus Christ.

Let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice.

Verse 2.

Through him, through who?

Through Jesus.

Through him also, we have our access, our entrance, the introduction by faith into this grace.

Watch this now.

We it by faith into this grace.

Watch the state of God's favor.

The state of God's favor.

Put your hand on your chest and just say, I'm favored by God.

Come on now, say it like you mean it.

Say I'm favored by God.

I am favored by God, in which we firmly and safely stand.

And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, today I pray that you would let the wind of the Holy Ghost blow in this house.

Anoint me, God, with the peculiar anointing today, to deliver this word as an oracle from heaven, not just to tingle the ears of men, but to pierce the hearts and the soul and the spirit, bringing forth transformation in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Lord, I thank you that in your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand there are pleasures evermore.

And so, Father, today, I thank you that we do not go alone in this word, but we are with you in this word, and so whisper your secrets.

Uh the the uh the the eyes of our understanding according to Ephesians be open and enlightened today that we may fully grasp that which we have been called into in Jesus' mighty name.

Shoutana Masata.

Father, I thank you, mighty God, that we are not the same, we are being transformed from glory to glory.

I speak to every hindering thing, distracting thing, and we take authority over you now in the name of Jesus.

We declare that God reigns, Jesus reigns in this house.

Come on, if you believe it, someone shout amen.

Amen.

You may be seated.

I feel wound up this morning.

Anyone else wound up?

Well, if you ain't wound up, just watch me be wound up.

I'll set it off today, okay?

Just don't let me preach about myself.

For those of you who don't know, we are in a series currently.

I think this is like our fifth or sixth week in the series called the favor factor.

Come on, how many of y'all know that you're favored by God?

How many of y'all over the last several weeks you have experienced the Lord's favor in peculiar ways in your life?

Come on, just somebody wave at me.

There you go.

Okay, I'm telling you.

I hear on a weekly basis from people in this room and people in second service, and they say, Pastor Aaron, since you've been preaching on favor, I've been experiencing the favor of God in my life like never before.

And I say, tell me about it.

And I start hearing stories of people talking about promotions at work.

I start hearing people uh talk about how their marriage is turning around because they have found favor with their spouse.

Come on now.

Uh my goodness, this past week, my my my daughter Bella Rose got a four-piece chicken nugget for McDonald's, and she didn't have four-piece in there, she had five pieces in there.

She opened that bad boy up and she counted them real quick because that's what you do with your McDonald's order.

Come on, somebody.

She opened that thing up and she goes, one, two, three, four, five.

She goes, Dad, I got five.

Favor.

And I said, Go ahead, woman of God, go ahead, go ahead.

Uh-huh.

The favor of the Lord, right?

But let me tell you right now, a moment of God's favor is greater than a lifetime of your labor.

A moment of God's favor is greater than a lifetime of your labor.

And I'm telling you, even when we come into the kingdom of heaven through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith.

Meaning we are saved by God's favor once we put our faith in the fact that He favors us.

Come on now.

How do you know He favors us, Pastor Aaron?

Because the Bible says, whenever you are still a knucklehead.

That's my translation.

The Bible says, whenever you are yet a sinner, Christ died for you.

Meaning, whenever you are an enemy of God, God wanted to become a friend of yours.

And so what did he do?

He sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty of your sin by going to the cross.

I'm jumping ahead of myself this morning, but let me tell you, I cannot think about favor without thinking about Jesus Christ.

Because it's only through the shed blood of Jesus that I have anything in my life.

It's only because of the Lord that I have breath in these lungs, it's only by the Lord that I stand before you today.

It's only by the Lord that I have not killed myself.

Come on now, that He has kept me in my right mind, He has kept me in right standing.

Come on now.

It's only by the Lord.

So whenever I think of favor, I automatically think of the cross of Calvary.

Because whenever he went to that cross and shed his blood, he was exemplifying favor to humanity.

There is a factor to favor that is now made available to you and I.

Not just to come into the kingdom through salvation, once we put our faith in the cross, but once you are righteous, the Bible says in Psalms chapter 5 and verse 12 that the Lord blesses the righteous.

Psalms 5 · chapter mention

I got any righteous people in the house?

Come on now.

That means this: if you're righteous, you are blessed.

But the verse doesn't stop there.

Psalms chapter 5 and verse 12 says this the Lord blesses the righteous, but then he shields the righteous with favor.

Psalms 5 · chapter mention

Hallelujah.

So what does that mean?

You're not only blessed, but everywhere you go, you have the shield of God around you, and it's called favor.

There's favor at your school, there's favor at your job, there's favor in your marriage, there's favor with your family.

Come on, there's favor on the 95, you got favor in Walmart, you got favor at Dillers.

Come on now.

Favor, favor, favor, favor, favor.

It's because of Jesus Christ alone.

And so today I want to talk to us about the secret ingredient when it comes to favor.

Anyone want the secret ingredient?

Okay, I'll give it to you this morning.

So, one thing about me, you probably don't know this, but people who live with me and people who have lived with me, who do and who have in the past, they understand this.

I like to make chocolate chip cookies.

Anybody else like a chocolate chip cookie?

Okay, some y'all, some y'all fiending right now on the back row for a chocolate chip cookie.

Come on now.

Now I'm about to give everybody in the room my secret to my chocolate chip cookies.

Okay, watch this now.

It's the Nestle Toll House recipe.

Shocker.

But I add a little bit extra vanilla and a little bit extra salt and a whole lot of extra walnuts.

Come on now.

Oh, someone just caught the Holy Ghost right back there on the fifth row.

My, my, my.

But I'm telling you, the cookies, in and of themselves, they would still be good.

But whenever I add that secret ingredient to them, come on now.

It takes what has been good and it takes it to another level.

And my friend, this morning, as I'm I'm talking to you, you have already been favored by God.

That's right.

And it's good.

And you already have the favor of the Lord in your life.

Amen.

But let me tell you, there is a secret ingredient to this thing that will take the favor of God that is on your life to another level.

Come on now.

Y'all want to know what it is?

You sure you want to know what it is?

Because I'm telling you right now, what you have on your life is good, but I'm telling you, I'm looking at the most favored people on the face of the planet in this house today.

Come on now, not just to have an extra chicken nugget in your McDonald's.

Come on now, that's good.

But I'm telling you, you are favored by your boss, you are favored by your business partners, you are favored in arenas that you haven't even walked in yet.

But once you step your foot into that room, there is something that's that heaven's opening up on your behalf, and you're entering into something that you could not make happen because of your education, because of your networking skills, because of your strategy.

It can only be made possible through the favor of God on your life.

And there is a secret ingredient to this thing that if you would that if you would partake into this thing, it would allow the favor of God to go to another level in your house.

You ready for it?

I'm about to give you the punchline.

I'm gonna take the next 20 minutes to unpack it.

Is that all right?

The secret ingredient to favor, watch this now, is obedience.

Obedience.

And look, I'm not talking about just, you know, sometimes I feel like it, sometimes I don't, and I'm only gonna do it whenever I feel like it, and I won't do it if I don't.

I'm talking about, watch this now, radical obedience.

The radical obedience is this it's the obedience that just doesn't make sense.

It goes beyond your comfort zone, it be go, it goes beyond your mind, it goes beyond what you can see and feel in the natural.

There is a realm of radical obedience.

Watch this now, that opens up favor to you like it has never been opened up to you before.

Radical obedience.

Obedience is the gateway to endless testimonies.

Can I say it again?

Obedience is the gateway to endless testimonies, and radical favor is often waiting on the other side of radical obedience.

I gotta say that one again because I don't want you to catch the one on the way home.

I want you to catch that right now.

Come on, somebody.

Radical favor is often waiting on the other side of radical obedience.

So let me show you three people who have obeyed whenever it just didn't make any sense.

Can I bring some three stories to you?

Three people that I believe have a good illustration on how obedience opens up radical favor.

Will you let me talk to you about that this morning?

The first person that I think of whenever I think of radical obedience is a man by the name of Noah.

Anybody know who Noah is?

If you don't, I'm about to tell you.

In Sunday school, do you ever remember that song?

Who built the ark?

I got oh my gosh.

First of all, not only do I only have one-fifth of the room know the song, y'all who sang the song, it's been a long time since you done sang that thing, because that was a s Noah, no, okay.

Who built the ark?

Noah, noah, who built the ark?

Oh my gosh, Lord, I pray for your servants in the name of Jesus that they would receive it.

No, okay, watch.

But Noah was the very first person in scripture that we ever read that was favored by God.

Yes, he was the first person in scripture.

So in in Genesis chapter six, I'm not gonna have us read the whole thing because honestly, we could read that entire chapter to paint this picture.

I'm not gonna have us do that this morning, but in Genesis chapter six, the Bible says that that God looked upon humanity and he understood that the minds in the hearts of man had grown wicked and evil, and all they did all day long was plant violence in their heart and in their mind, and that's all they did was violence.

And so there came a point in time when God looked at humanity and said, I regret making these jokers.

Yeah, that's pretty rough.

I'm glad God never looked at me and said, Aaron, you have just messed yourself up so much.

I regret making you.

He's never done that with me, and he's never done that with you either.

Come on, somebody.

But here's humanity.

They have rejected the Lordship of God so strong, they've entered into this perversion where everything that they did, everything they thought was violence, and in the midst of that, where God looked at humanity and God wanted to destroy humanity, he found one man by the name of Noah.

And the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8, but Noah found favor with God.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

And so, because Noah found favor with God, watch this now.

God says, Hey, look, Noah, uh, I'm about to kill everybody, but because you have found favor with me, I'm gonna preserve your life.

Right?

And so, what did he do?

He said, Noah, I want you to build me an ark.

I want it to be so long, so high.

I want it to be made with this kind of wood and and this kind of uh of sealant on there.

And Noah, understand this.

Uh, you're gonna make this, and I'm I'm also gonna want you to preserve the animals.

And so, Noah, I'm gonna send animals to you two by two of every kind.

I'm gonna send uh I'm gonna cause you to to reap seven of the clean birds, and that way, whenever you get off the sea, you can sacrifice to me and we can enter into covenant together.

But I'm gonna send two by two every kind of of living thing, the birds of the air, the things that crawl on all fours, and the things that that scurry along the ground.

I'm gonna bring them to you.

And uh, once it's all complete, Noah, I'm gonna send rain on the earth, and there's gonna be a massive flood.

So, what happened?

Took over a hundred years, and Noah built the ark.

Welcome to overflow Sunday school this morning, right?

Come on now.

Some of you like, I've never heard this story before.

You're hearing it now, okay.

But Genesis chapter 6 says this God spoke to Noah, build a large boat from Cyprus with Genesis chapter 6, 22.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention Genesis 6 · chapter mention

Watch this now.

The Bible says, so Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Noah did everything exactly how God commanded him.

This is radical obedience, y'all.

God comes to a man who has never seen rain before, and he says, Hey Noah, it's gonna rain.

God comes to a man surrounded by wickedness and perversion, and Noah, he talks to Noah and he says, Noah, you found favor with me.

What?

I don't know about you, but I I sometimes I sit back and say, I don't think I'm doing as well as what I think I'm doing.

Maybe not you, but I I think that sometimes.

Maybe I'm not doing as well as what I should be doing.

Hello?

But God looks at your faithful obedience, the fact that you're righteous and that you're righteous not by your own doing, but by the doing of the shed blood of Jesus, and he actually says, You're doing a lot better than what you think you are.

Come on now, come on, you hear what I'm talking about?

He's saying that over you today as well.

You're doing a whole lot better than what you think you are, not because of human effort, but because of the keeping power of the blood of my son.

Hallelujah.

So he goes to Noah and he goes, Hey, it's never rained before, and I want you to build a boat.

What's rain and what's a boat?

You know what I'm talking about?

What's rain and what's a boat?

But Noah didn't say that, did he?

Come on now.

I know I didn't read you the entire chapter, but Noah didn't say, okay, God, uh I don't know if I really believe you on this one.

Okay, God, you know, I I've never seen it happen in my life.

How do I know it's really gonna happen?

Okay, God, uh, you're talking about rain.

Uh, I've never even heard that word before, let alone I don't even know the context of what that is.

He didn't do that, he just said, okay, let's make it happen.

But how many times in the life of people you want to know step A to B to C to D, and if there's any tension between D and F, because there's no E.

You see what I did right there?

I didn't realize I did it until I said F between D and I said I did an ABC's in my mind real quick.

A B C D E E.

Oh my bad, okay.

Well, watch if there's any tension in there, you say, I don't know about that, I don't know if that's really God, I don't know if if this is the will of the Lord for my life.

And so, what happens many times because it's unfamiliar to you, and because it's uncomfortable for you, you think it's not really God.

Because it's not familiar to you and it's uncomfortable to you, you think I'll get I'll catch something on the next go around.

My friend, I'm so grateful that Noah didn't face something that was unfamiliar and uncomfortable to him, and he goes, I don't know about that one, Lord.

Uh catch me in 50 years, and maybe I'll be prepared for that.

No.

He heard the word from the Lord, and what did he do?

He said, Okay, let's build the boat.

Ham, Shem, Japheth.

Let's let's get the wood that's needed to build this thing.

Let's endure the ridicule that comes because we're building this thing.

Let's endure the shame that happens because we're actually saying yes to the Lord in the face of adversity.

Come on now.

What did Noah do?

Noah found favor first, but then he responded to that favor with obedience.

God asked Noah to prepare for something he had never experienced based entirely upon a word from God.

I wonder what the last thing is that God told you to do, but you didn't do it because it didn't make sense.

I wonder what the last thing God told you to do, but you didn't do it because it was uncomfortable for you and it was unfamiliar.

And the room grew still.

You step on somebody's toes, they don't scream, they just be quiet.

Noah's obedience didn't have to make sense to everyone else.

Watch this now, it only had to make sense to the God who spoke it.

Why?

Because God saw something that was coming down the corner and he favored Noah and He wanted to preserve Noah, but watch this now.

The favor was only entered into whenever Noah said yes, it was only entered into whenever Noah was obedient to that word.

Can I keep going?

Favor gave Noah the instruction, but obedience preserved Noah's life.

When God speaks, obedience does not need an explanation, obedience needs a response.

My friend, I'm telling you right now, if you want favor on your life to go to another level, be obedient to whatever the Lord tells you to do.

But I don't know if I like it.

Do it anyway.

It's uncomfortable.

Do it anyway.

I don't fully understand what I'm what what it all is gonna entail.

Do it anyway.

Come on now.

Okay.

Radical obedience brings radical favor.

Whenever Ashley and I first had kids, she was pregnant with with Max the first time, and we had a conversation before we we had children, how we're gonna raise these kids.

That's a good thing to do, right?

You gotta be on the same page if you're gonna be raising these these children for the rest of their life.

You know what I mean?

Or the rest of your life, but you understand what I'm saying.

And one thing Ash and I, Pastor Ash and I agreed on is we're not a house that counts.

You know, some parents they count.

If you're a county parent, there's no shame on that.

But get over here, Billy.

I'm gonna count to three.

One, two, and then Billy looks you right in the face and goes, three.

Uh-huh.

That's how it rolls sometimes.

But watch, Ashley and I, we had the conversation and we said, we're not gonna be a counting house.

Because if they can listen and obey on three, they can listen and obey before we ever have to say one.

And so our children are gonna be raised in the admonition of the Lord, but also with the instruction of mom and dad.

Wait, we ain't waiting for you to get your mess together by the way we count to three.

If you can say yes on three, you can say yes whenever I first tell you to do it.

Come on now, somebody.

And let me tell you, there's some people in the room, you're you thinking God's gonna wait till three with you.

Come on, just step out and call them and and reconcile the relationship.

One, two.

Just step out and start the ministry.

One, two.

See, y'all ain't like this one, but I'm gonna go there.

Just go ahead and start, trust me with your money.

One, two, no, I'm telling you right now, now God is slow to anger and he is abounding in grace.

Amen.

I'm grateful because if he wasn't, I'd be dead whenever I was about 12 and a half years old.

Glory be to God.

But he he put up with me for another six and a half years till I turn 18.

Come on, somebody.

So he's slow to anger and he's abounding in grace, but I'm telling you right now, he's not playing the counting game with you.

He's asking you to just say yes.

Even when it doesn't make sense, even whenever it's uncomfortable, even whenever you don't have all the answers.

Why?

Because your radical obedience unleashes radical favor.

Look at the life of Moses.

God said, Moses, you found faith with me, build a boat, bring your family in there, fill it with animals, because I'm about to kill everybody.

And so you know what Moses did?

He said, Okay, Lord, and the time came.

Watch this.

The time came when the rain started falling.

He had built the boat, he had given the animals had been gathered, and then you jumped down later on in the in the story of Moses, and it says this that God shut Moses in.

Moses could not shut the door by himself.

Like I said, Noah.

Moses, Noah, I'm preaching out the gospel of Aaron this morning.

Just in case you're wondering.

But watch, the Bible says that God shut Noah, come on now, Noah into the ark.

Noah built the thing, but there was still an element that could only be accomplished by the hand of God.

So you're working what you need to work, you're doing what you need to do.

But I'm telling you, God is wanting to shut you in with his favor.

God is wanting to preserve your life with his favor.

God is wanting to do something with for you and with you because you are favored by God.

But he can't shut you in unless you build something.

He can't shut you in unless you put your hand to something.

He can't shut you in until you say, okay, it doesn't make sense, but I'm building it anyway.

Come on now.

Radical obedience brings about radical favor.

Can I get an amen?

So the second story that reminds me of this is it's by a man by the name of Richard.

And I heard this story the other day.

I was reading this book, and this story just popped out to me.

And the story goes like this: there was a Texas landowner.

Had to be Texas, you know what I'm talking about.

We in Nevada.

I want the stories to be there was a Nevada landowner.

Come on, somebody.

But here's this man by the name of Richard.

He owns some land in Texas, and he's a God-fearing man, he's a spirit-filled guy, and he he knew the voice of the Lord.

And one day he's farming out on his land.

And one day the Lord speaks to him and says, Hey, I want you to go drill on a certain piece of property in your land.

And he kind of scratched his head and he kept working working the thing.

And then the Lord said again, Richard, I want you to go check out this piece of land over there.

Start to drill.

And so Richard brought tens of thousands of dollars worth of drilling equipment.

He had to face the ridicule of his friends.

Why you build, why you why are you buying all this stuff?

There isn't any oil on your land.

That's all in a different part of Texas.

There's nothing here.

And Richard would say, Well, I think I have a word from the Lord.

And so I'm going to do what he told me to do.

And so watch this.

This man begins to drill on his land with equipment, tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

And all of a sudden, one day he strikes oil.

That's what I said whenever I heard the story, too.

I was like, mm-hmm.

And watch this now.

He struck oil whenever everybody else looked at him and ridiculed, and whenever it didn't even make sense.

The land was for farming, it wasn't for drilling.

But because he had a word from the Lord, come on, somebody.

And the Lord said to go drill, he drilled in this land.

And watch this now.

Let me get my facts straight.

Can I get my fact straight this morning?

He begins to drill.

And then that he he put a pump there.

And watch this now.

The pump began to produce.

You ready for this?

600 barrels of oil every single day.

Wouldn't you like that in your life?

My God.

I'm telling you right now.

And so he was there and he said, My goodness, look at this.

600 barrels of oil a day.

I don't know if you know this or not, but a barrel of oil right now goes for right around between 75 and 80 dollars a barrel.

Someone do the math on that real quick.

I didn't do that before I got up here, but I just know that's a lot of money.

So watch, he's sitting there and he's he's drilling this thing, and he says, Well, I have the equipment.

I might as well try to drill somewhere else on this land, too.

Come on, now that's wisdom right there.

You know what I'm talking about?

Some of y'all would try to return that equipment, call it renting.

No, you bought that thing, okay?

I'm telling you right now.

How much is it, Mark?

How much is that oil?

What is that?

48,000 bucks a day for the 600 gallons, barrels of oil.

But watch this now.

Richard eventually developed 10 producing wells which produce, you ready for this?

Approximately 2,000 barrels of oil a day.

2,000 barrels of oil a day.

Someone say that's a lot of oil.

That's a lot of oil.

Don't say oil, say oil.

Okay.

Ty, that that that's that oil, that's that oil, oil.

Okay.

But but watch this now.

Because he was obedient to the word of the Lord.

This is a true story, by the way.

Watch this now.

Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 19 says this if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

We know this scripture very well.

Proverbs chapter 3 says this: trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

My friend, let me tell you right now, God is just waiting for your obedience.

I want you to get this deep down in your spirit this morning.

Obedience did not create the oil.

Someone say amen.

Obedience revealed what was already beneath his feet.

Sometimes God's favor is already present, but his instruction reveals where you need to find it.

My friend, all around you, God's favor is surrounding you.

All around you, it's going by you every day, every place you go, every place your foot treads upon.

There is favor there, there is favor there, there is favor there.

It's all around you, but I'm asking you this: what does God ask you to do to tap into that thing?

Hmm.

My God.

I wish I was preaching on something more shouty this morning.

Because it's hard to shout on obedience.

You know what I'm talking about?

Nobody wants to shout on obedience because it's like it's like a rock between your eyes.

You don't want to shout about that.

Yes, I'm not being obedient like I showed.

Amen, Pastor Aaron.

Hallelujah.

I've never I've never been in the church service preaching about obeying the word of the Lord, and people just get up and start running around the altar.

I've never done that.

You start talking about healing and prosperity, people want to run all day long.

Come on now.

You want to talk about the power of Jesus' name?

People want to get up and start shouting and all this other.

You start talking about you need to be more obedient.

People just want to get quiet on you.

That's all right though.

Because you you need a well-balanced meal.

Right?

I'm all for candy and cupcakes, but every now and then you need to eat that broccoli too.

Come on.

Maybe you don't like broccoli.

You need to eat them string beans as well.

Come on now.

But I'm telling you, my friend, God wants you to be well-rounded and he wants you to become a person of radical obedience.

Not because he's trying to punish you, not because he's trying to get something or withhold something from you.

There is something around the corner that he can only get to you when you give him your yes.

Come on, there is something he wants to get to you whenever you say yes to him.

Amen.

The third person I think of, whenever I think of favor, is Jesus Christ Himself.

Can I close with this this morning?

Here is Jesus in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

It says this that he abased himself and humbled himself still further and carried his obedience to the extreme death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him.

You want to talk about being uncomfortable?

Try being the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

And then your father says, Hey son, you see all those people on the earth?

They're trying to get up here, but they can't make it on their own.

And the only way we we can do this is by there being the shedding of somebody's blood.

Because there is no remission of sins, or there's no putting away of sins unless there is the shedding of blood.

And so, Jesus, I know you're sitting on the throne right now and you're the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, but I need a sacrifice.

Because the bulls they've been sacrificing don't keep them as long as what I need them to keep them.

The doves they've been sacrificing do not keep them as long as what I need them to keep them.

Because I need a spotless, unblemished lamb who is willing to lay down their life for the good of all humanity.

And so you know what Jesus did?

The Bible says that he did not count it equality with God to be something to be grasped after or saying, He basically said, I know I'm God, but I'm gonna I'm gonna remain God.

Why should I go down and be like the servants?

That was not his mindset.

He said this, I know I'm God, and the only way to save these people is for God to become like them.

That's right.

Oh, come on now.

This is the gospel right here.

And so what did Jesus do?

Jesus left his throne as God to become a man, he left the position of a king to become a servant.

To die a gruesome death as a servant.

Watch this now, so that way the servants can then become the kings.

Oh, come on now.

You want to talk about uncomfortable?

You want to talk about unfamiliar?

Come on now.

Mm-hmm.

I see some of y'all.

You get that new car and you don't want to ever go back down to that junky car you ever got.

You know what I'm talking about?

I done graduated from that thing, Pastor, and I ain't I ain't going to that.

But Jesus didn't do that.

Jesus didn't say, I'm a I'm a God.

I'm sitting on the throne right now, and why should I leave this palace and the worship of these angels to go down and save the peasants?

He didn't do that.

You know what he did?

Okay.

Yeah, I could do that.

Yeah.

I'm gonna be radically obedient to the will of my father.

So watch this.

God becomes a man, he's born in a barn, raised by an earthly family, grows up, turns 30, begins his earthly ministry, 33 and a half years old, he gets accused, and they say, Crucify this man.

He says he'll destroy the temple and raise it up in three days.

Blasphemous.

And the same people that were screaming, Hosanna, they turn on him and started screaming, crucify him.

You want to talk about uncomfortable?

How about all your friends and all your relatives and the people who you were thought that had your back one day, they turn on you in a split second and they start looking at you and saying, mm-mm, we really don't like that guy.

Talk about uncomfortable, talk about unfamiliar.

We know Jesus was in a position of being uncomfortable because in the garden he's he's so stressed out praying for humanity, he begins to sweat blood, and scripture gives us insight into his prayer, and he said, Father, if you could allow this thing to pass for me, let it pass.

Come on now, but watch this.

Get this in your spirit.

This is too good.

Jesus didn't want to go to the cross.

Do you realize that?

In the garden, he said, God, I don't want to do it.

I know it's gonna hurt.

I can already feel the pressure of all the sin of humanity on me, even now in my physical body.

All the murder, all the rape, all the fevery, all the lying.

I could feel it coming on me, God.

I don't want to do this.

You want to talk about uncomfortable, unfamiliar.

He had never known what it was like to have sin.

And here he is, there's a divine transference taking place even in the garden.

He had never felt what he was feeling before, and he cries out to the father, Lord, it hurts.

If this cup can pass for me, let it pass.

But watch the transferring statement.

But not my will be done, your will be done.

God, it's not what I want, it's what you want.

You have my radical obedience, Father.

You have my yes.

Even when it's unfamiliar, even when it's uncomfortable, I willingly lay down my life.

You know that scripture verse that says, For the joy set before him, Christ endured the cross, despising its shame.

Do you understand the joy set before him was not you?

Shocker, the joy set before Jesus was to please the Father.

The joy set before Jesus was to do the will of the one who sent him.

Even when it hurt, even when it was unfamiliar, that was the joy.

His joy was to say, God, my father, I give you my unequivocal yes.

No matter what you ask me to do, no matter what you invite me into, I'm giving you my yes.

And here's the powerful thing.

Because Jesus Christ gave his obedience to the Lord.

Did he go to a cross and die?

You better believe it.

Was he poured out of himself so much that whatever they pierced his side, doubt flowed, blood and water?

You better believe it.

Was he buried in a tomb for three days?

You better believe it.

But guess what?

On the third day, he rose from the from the dead.

And when he rose from the dead, you know what he received?

He received all authority, all power, all dominion over death, hell, and the grave.

My God, because Jesus was radically obedient, he received radical favor.

So, my friend, my question to you is this morning.

What is God asking you to do?

What is he waiting on your yes?

See, some of y'all waiting for a new word.

God, give me a word, give me a word, give me a word, give me a word, give me a word.

But you haven't done anything with the last thing he told you.

Wow, yeah, he told me that, but that was uncomfortable.

Yeah, he told me that, but that was unfamiliar to me.

My friend, let me tell you something.

There is favor in your life that you already have because you're righteous and you're shielded with favor.

But I'm telling you, favor goes to the next level whenever you give God your yes.

No matter what it feels like, no matter what it looks like.

So the question today is will you say yes to him?

Stand with me all over the room today.

Understand this.

The foundational yes that you can give to God is yes to entering into relationship with him.

That's the very first thing.

You have no favor until you give your life to Jesus Christ.

You think it's luck.

You might have luck because it's not Jesus, but I'm telling you, whenever you enter into relationship with Jesus, there is something that comes upon you that you cannot do for yourself.

And God is extending that favor to you this morning.

But what it takes is it takes someone to say yes to him.

He's looking at you and he and he's saying, Son, it's time to come home.

Daughter, it's time to come home.

You don't have to run away any longer, you don't have to feel what you're feeling anymore.

Today's your day to come home.

And listen, just because he extends something to you doesn't mean that you receive it.

You have to say yes.

Just because he extends something to you doesn't mean that you automatically have it.

No, you have to say yes to what he's giving you.

So he's extending salvation to you today.

He's extending a relationship with you today.

Will you say yes?

Will you say yes?

I want everyone to close their eyes and bow their heads this morning.