The Favor Factor (Part 1) | What Attracts the Favor of God? | Pastor Aaron Pino

Genesis chapter 17, verses 1 through 2.

Genesis 17:1–2

I'm starting a new series this morning entitled The Favor Factor.

Now, by the end, this you're gonna shout whenever I whenever I give you that title because y'all don't know what's about to hit the hit hit your life and hit this house.

Okay, I'm just telling you right now.

Let me declare to us as a house prophetically, God has and is continuing to release his favor upon you.

And here's what you need to understand to keep deep down in your spirit.

Talent is good, but talent can't take you there.

Education is wonderful, but education won't take you there.

There are places and things that God wants to accomplish in your life, places to take you in your life, and my friend, it will only happen by his favor.

This isn't in my notes, but man, I've been I've been I've been sipping on this thing for the last two weeks.

Psalms 5, verse 12 says this that the Lord blesses the righteous and he surrounds him with the shield of favor.

Psalms 5:12

My friend, let me tell you today, favor is coming to you in unprecedented measure.

Favors visiting your home, your marriage, your business, your ministry, favor's visiting your mind, favor's visiting you.

I'm telling you this morning.

This is not hype, this is Jesus.

Jesus came, he preached this, his inaugural address, quoting Isaiah chapter 60, oh 61, he says, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

My friend, let me tell you right now, favor is your portion, and favor is the factor in the believer's life that allows you and I to go over the top.

Hallelujah.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but you are not called to live a mediocre life.

You are not called to live a minimal just giving by kind of life.

You are not just uh God has not ordained you just to survive, He has ordained you to thrive and thrive and thrive and thrive.

Amen.

I'm telling you, you need to come hang out for the next couple weeks.

How am I gonna preach on it, Pastor?

I have no idea.

Might be two, might be seven.

Who knows?

Just come hang out.

Because I'm telling you, something in the house is about to turn, something in the house is about to shift, and you might say, Well, that's nice for the church.

No, listen, you are the house, you are the church.

Come on now, somebody.

So, this is a word of the Lord for you, amen.

Genesis chapter 17, verses 1 and 2 say this.

Genesis 17:1

When Abram was 99 years old, put your hand on your neighbor's shoulder and say, My goodness, that's old.

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty.

Hallelujah.

And I I could just shout on that right there.

I am God Almighty.

Let me tell you something.

When God visits you, you don't have to worry about anybody else.

When God comes to you, you don't have to worry about what they say and that says, you don't have to worry about what your boss says or your neighbor says.

I'm telling you, when God is for you, who can be against you?

I am God Almighty.

Walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you and multiply you greatly.

Let's pray, Heavenly Father, this morning.

I thank you for the favor factor.

I thank you, Lord, that you are causing this house to be shifted into a new dimension of your grace and mercy.

Lord, I thank you that it comes upon us starting now, in unprecedented measure in Jesus' mighty name.

Lord, be glorified, be magnified, not to us, but to your name be the glory forever and ever.

Lord, I thank you for the flow of the Spirit that's already here right now.

Allow us to go deep into your word.

Let the revelation bring transformation to where we're never the same again.

We love you, we thank you, we call it done.

We speak to everything that might distract, and you already know.

Jesus reigns in this house.

Jesus, we love you, we thank you.

We call it done.

Come on, someone say amen.

Amen.

You may be seated this morning.

Hallelujah.

Everybody wants God's favor, everybody wants the blessing, everybody wants increase, everybody wants multiplication.

Amen.

I want it, you want it.

We all want it.

Come on.

But very few people ask the question what attracts the favor of God.

Because it's easy to sit back and say, Gimme, give me, give me.

My name is Jimmy.

I want more because I feel too skinny.

Come on, somebody.

You could want all these things and desire all these things, but you need to ask yourself the question: what does it take to attract the favor of God?

We spend our lives asking God to bless us while God is trying, watch this now, to form us.

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

Favor is not something that you and I chase.

Favor is something that follows the life.

Watch this, follows the life that is positioned before God.

And so this morning, I want to talk to us very briefly about the environment of favor.

The environment of favor.

Did you know you could cultivate favor in your life?

If you didn't know, now you know.

Come on.

I'm about to learn you today.

Come on, somebody.

That's not proper English, that's proper Aaron English, okay?

About to learn all y'all in the house today.

There is an environment that welcomes the favor of God.

And today I want to answer the question: what attracts God's favor on our lives?

Because my friend, like I said earlier, God wants to take you places, but you cannot go there by yourself.

God wants to do things for you, but you cannot do it for yourself.

God has ordained for you and I to go over the top, but your self-reliance will not do it on its own.

What you need, what I need, what we need is favor.

Come on, anybody want some favor in their life?

Come on, because favor can turn it in an instant.

Favor can cause 400 years of captivity for the children of Israel and take it in one moment and cause them from being slaves to owners in one moment.

Favor causes the unbeliever who is drowning in darkness to encounter a man by the name of Jesus and to be saved by favor, grace.

We're saved by grace through faith.

Come on now, what is grace?

Grace is the favor of God.

It can take somebody who is so lost and drenched in sin, and in one moment, in one encounter, cause them to be going to hell, to be translated into the kingdom of heaven.

I'm telling you, my friend, you and I need more favor.

Hallelujah.

But it takes an environment, it takes a willingness to do things God's way in order to get what God says that you can get.

So that takes us now to the life of Abram.

Hallelujah.

I'm just excited, okay.

Pastor Aaron, didn't you talk about Abraham during offering?

I sure did.

You want to know why?

I'll give you a secret.

Can I just give you a secret?

Just talk to you for a second.

So we just entered into the month of July, right?

We got six months left.

So at the beginning of the year and the middle of the year, I always go through the Bible at least once.

So my Bible reading for the year has reset.

And now I'm in Genesis, Psalms, Matthew.

So in the next couple weeks, if you hear a lot of messages from Psalms, Genesis, and Matthew, you know why, okay?

Put your hand on your neighbor and just say, We're going there together.

Go ahead, tell them.

Put your hand on your other neighbor and say, Read your Bible.

Go ahead, tell them.

So here's the life of Abram.

Abram is visited by the Lord 24 years earlier.

And the Lord tells Abram, get out of the area that you're in right now and go to a land that I'll show you.

And I will bless you and your descendants.

You understand?

So Abram picks up everything he owns, takes his nephew with him, and they get out of Mesopotamia and they start cruising.

They start walking.

Then eventually, Abram gets to the land of Canaan.

And God says, Go ahead and look at the land, walk the land, because this is the place that I'm giving to you.

This is the place I'm going to bring your descendants into.

But here's the problem for Abram.

At this point, Abram is an older man, and he has no children.

And his wife Sarai is barren.

I don't know if you know this or not.

If you're barren, you can't have children.

You get to a certain age, the plumbing doesn't work like how the plumbing used to work.

Can I get an amen, somebody?

You don't have to raise your hand if you're there today, but just know your pastor ain't there.

Yeah, come on, somebody.

Glory be to God.

Try to make my wife blush on the front row.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

I just hear someone say, Jesus, forgive him.

Don't uh that ain't I need no forgiveness for that.

So here's Abram, and he has a promise 24 years earlier, and he's going through his journey, he's going through his process, but there comes a point in time during this 24 years where it does not look like what is supposed to happen is going to happen.

And so his wife Sarai says, Hey, listen, Abram, you keep talking about how God's gonna bless us and give us children and have descendants.

And I keep hearing from you all over and over and over.

You had an encounter with the Lord.

God talked to you.

I keep hearing how you keep saying God gave you a vision and God gave you a word.

And Sarai says, It's been a long time, baby.

Ain't nothing happened yet.

But I know it's in your heart, even though it's not in my body.

And so let me give you my maidservant Hagar.

Marry her, and she will provide you the air that you so desire.

So Abram said, sure, I think I could do that.

Yeah, no problem.

Fool.

Anyway, I'm not gonna preach on that right now, but I'm just telling you right now.

Men, cultivate your families, cultivate your wives.

Don't just have a vision for yourself, have a vision for her and have a vision for your future.

Because I'm telling you right now, you the last thing you want is your wife to say, Hey, listen, I know you were going someplace, but I can't go there with you.

Why don't you just do it by your own?

Oh, that's a word for somebody in the house today.

You can get quiet on me if you want to, but I'm preaching the word of the Lord today.

So Abram takes Hagar as his wife and she conceives a son.

And Abram, for the next 13 years, thinks that because he hasn't heard the Lord on the situation, that he has permission to do what he had just done.

Let me give you something right now.

God's silence is not God's approval.

Well, come on, I'll tell you right now.

Well, I didn't God didn't tell me nothing.

That doesn't mean he approved it.

Well, you know, I didn't feel anything whenever it happened.

That doesn't mean that God didn't feel nothing.

And just because you didn't feel like God told you not to do it doesn't mean that you should have done it.

Come on now.

So for 13 years, Abram's living in what he believes to be the fulfillment of God's promise.

Look at Ishmael.

I'm raising him up right.

Ishmael, you know that you're my seed and you're blessed.

Come on, let's let's go to the top of this mountain.

Look at our land.

Ishmael, look at this land, it's all gonna belong to you.

And you're gonna have sons that come out of you.

Ishmael, you don't know this, but whenever mom had you, she was visited by the Lord in the wilderness, and the Lord says that you're gonna be a wild donkey.

And the Lord says that twelve kings are gonna come from you, Ishmael.

Read your Bible, y'all.

Okay, read your Bible.

Hagar was visited by the angel of the Lord out in the wilderness whenever she's running from her life, because Sarah said, I made a mistake.

I want to get rid of this lady.

Which any woman in her right mind would say the same thing.

Can I get an amen, somebody?

Oops, take her out.

Anyway, that's another.

So here's Abram.

Abram, the angel of the Lord, told your mom, You're gonna be a king, and kings are gonna come from you.

Look at the land.

This is all gonna belong to you.

You know, I was an old man and I couldn't have children with my other wife, and so I met your wife, uh, your mom, and we had children.

Ishmael, this is it.

You're the fulfillment of God's promise for my life.

So time goes by, and God then visits Abram after Abram took the situation into his own hands.

My friend, I'm telling you right now, you might have a promise, don't put it in your hands, put it in God's hands.

You might feel like it's not happening in the time that it should happen, don't put it in your hands, put it in God's hands.

You might know that you have a promise from on high, but you don't know how it can happen.

And so you say, I'm gonna make it happen for myself, don't make it happen for yourself.

Let God make it happen for you.

So, Abram, after 24 years of the beginning of the promise, and 13 years after Ishmael is born, God visits Abram and watch this now.

God shows up and lets Abram know what God wants to let you know that a moment of favor is greater than a life of labor.

Can I say it one more time?

Because I don't want you to catch that one on the way home.

I want you to catch that one right now.

God wants you to know a moment of favor is greater than a life of labor.

A moment of favor is greater than a life of labor.

See, you've been toiling, you've been trying, and you're putting your hand to this thing and saying, I'm gonna make it happen by myself.

But God is saying, whenever I favor you, I could turn around an entire life of what you've been toiling and laboring and trying to do on your own.

I'm telling we we turn we shift in the house today.

We're shifting the house over the next several weeks.

I'm telling you, your life is getting ready to turn around.

God is is is doing this for you right now.

The things that you have taken in your own hand, in your own ability, God is saying, put it in my hands and let me do it in my ability because you don't need more education, you don't need to try harder.

What you need is my favor.

Why?

Because a moment of favor is greater than your life of labor.

Hallelujah.

So God shows up to Abram in the middle of Abram thinking that he made it happen all by himself, and God begins to talk to him, and God begins to turn it around for Abram.

You want to know why God turned around from Abram?

Because God promised Abram that God was going to do it, that Abram was not going to do it.

My friend, you might be in the middle of your process right now.

You might be in the middle of obtaining your promise right now, but keep on holding on to Jesus, keep on holding on to the Lord, keep on holding on to that promise, keep on holding on to what He has declared to you, He's declared to your life, declared to your ministry, declared to your family, declared to your business.

Keep on holding on because favor is on the way.

So when God shows up to Abram, He begins to talk to Abram about what is the environment for favor.

And he speaks to them in these short lines right here.

I'm God Almighty.

What was he saying?

I could turn it all around.

I could make a way where there seems to be no way.

Even though you might be aged in your body, Abram, I am ageless, and my promises do not have an expiration date.

I'm telling you right how I feel this thing in my bones.

You might not feel it in your bones.

I feel it in my bones right now that favor is coming upon your life.

Favor is coming upon this house, favor is coming upon you in unprecedented ways.

Now and he gives them these lines four four keys to the environment of favor.

Walk before me.

Be blameless.

I'm going to make my covenant between you and me, and I will multiply you.

So you ready for the environment of favor?

You ready to go there?

The first key in the environment of favor where God says, Walk before me, is this.

You need to understand this.

Favor begins with relationship.

Favor begins with relationship.

God looked at Abram and He said, Abram, walk before me.

Watch this.

Live your life conscious of me.

You see, because here's here's the reality of people.

We walk before the news.

We walk before our family.

We walk before the opinions of men.

We walk before our boss.

We walk before our business.

We live conscious of the news.

We live conscious of your family.

You live conscious of your boss.

You live conscious of all these different things.

But God visited Abram and He says, if you want to cultivate favor in your life, live conscious of me.

Walk before me.

Don't walk before your problem.

Don't walk before your situation.

Don't walk before the thing that you feel like is bringing lack in your life.

Don't walk before the sickness.

Don't walk before the disease.

Don't walk before those things.

God says, Abram, Abram, Abram, walk before me.

You want to cultivate favor in your life, you need a relationship with God.

Hallelujah.

My friend, this morning, I want to encourage you to walk before the Lord.

Walk with a consciousness of his nearness to you.

He is not some far-off entity sitting on a cloud with a thunderbolt just waiting for you to mess up so he can throw that thing and strike in you behind.

Can I get amen, somebody?

He's not some off in the cloud somewhere, God.

No, he is an up-close and personal God.

He is yeah, he is involved in the in the events of man.

He is involved in the intricacies of your life.

He was the one that woke you up this morning.

He's the one that supplied all your needs.

He's the one that puts the breath in your lungs.

My friend, let me tell you, he is not a far-off God.

He is an up close and personal God.

So you need to live a life that is conscious of him.

Understand this.

Everything in this life is in the sight of the Lord.

So whether you realize it or not, your life is already before him.

Help me.

Help me, Lord.

God invited Abram to walk before the Lord because God was saying, Abram, I saw what you did.

I know you've been reveling in it for the last 13 years.

Abram, I know you thought you made this thing happen on your own.

Abram, I know you think you're the man, but let me remind you something, Abram.

Walk before me.

Don't walk before your ability, walk before my ability.

Don't walk before your power, walk before my power.

I've seen it all already, Abram, but I came here today to remind you that I am God Almighty, and I want you to live in my favor.

But if you're going to live in my favor, Abram, I need you to be conscious of me.

Can I go here this morning?

Because Abram, if you were conscious of me rather than conscious of yourself, you would not have gone into Hagar.

Is this all right?

You are so concerned about your life rather than my promise, you made it happen on your own.

And because you walked before yourself rather than walking before me, yes, you've caused a son to be born and he will be blessed, but he will not be in covenant with me.

And he will be a wild donkey, meaning that he will have animosity all the days of his life.

And little did you know, over two uh thousands of years later, he's still gonna be a wild donkey in the earth.

Oh, y'all ain't ready for this.

Come on now.

Come on, well, what are you what are you talking about?

I'm talking about right now.

Come on, the the Middle Eastern people, the Muslims, and the and and come on now.

Why can you say that?

I just did.

I just did.

If you don't like it, come back next week.

I'll give you a lollipop.

How about that?

You like me then?

But I'm telling you right now, because Abram stepped out walking before himself rather than walking before the Lord, trying to do it in his own ability rather than the ability of the Lord, you have to you have this branch that has come off that is living in a certain type of blessing.

But because it wasn't the plan of God, it's brought nothing but destruction.

That's right.

My friend, if you want to walk in the favor of the Lord, if you want to cultivate an environment for his favor in your life, walk before God.

Do things God's way, and you get what God says you can get.

Psalms 1, verses 1 through 3 says this blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

Psalms 1:1–3

And on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like, watch this now, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season.

Watch this now, and its leaf does not wither.

And all that he does prospers.

Hallelujah.

My friend, when you walk before the Lord, when you walk conscious of the presence of God, when you and I live a life that says, I am moving and leading and going before, not in my own ability, but in God's ability.

The Bible says, Psalms chapter 1, verse 3, that everything you do, all that you do shall prosper.

Psalms 1:3

You know what that's called?

You know what that's called?

Favor.

You know what that's called favor.

I'm telling I'm trying to teach it this morning of what it takes for you and I to walk in the favor of God.

You want to cultivate an environment for favor?

Walk before the Lord.

He sees it all already.

Did you know that?

Now you do.

You kind of knew that in the back of your head, but you didn't want to believe it.

You know what I'm saying?

Don't look at me with that tone of voice, everybody.

Okay, I'm telling you right now.

You cannot expect for favor while ignoring the one who gives the favor.

You cannot expect favor while ignoring the one who gives the favor.

But understand this walking with God eventually changes the way you and I live.

So God visits Abram and He's visiting you today.

He says, I'm God Almighty, walk before me.

But watch what he says after that.

God looks at Abram and He's telling Abram, he told Abram this, he's telling you this today.

He says, Be blameless.

What does that mean?

It means this that favor grows.

You ready for this?

Favor grows in integrity.

Favor grows in integrity.

Unimpaired and with character.

You know, I think we need more character in today's day and age.

Would you say so?

People say one thing, they do another.

They say they Christians, but then you you you go out to eat with them, and you say that ain't very Christian like of you.

You you only tip two percent.

That ain't right.

Don't get quiet on me now.

Ah, yeah, that's a preference, is it?

If you want to be blessed, how you're not gonna be blessed, people who are in your in your path.

That's character, that's integrity.

People nowadays they they claim to be Christians, but then you get around them and all they do is cuss.

I've been guilty.

Just this morning I cussed somebody.

No, I'm teasing right now, okay?

Oh my gosh.

Let me tell you right now, when they're setting out fireworks at two o'clock in the morning, it's hard not to, okay?

I'm just telling you right now.

I didn't, but I'm just telling you right now.

I'm in deep sleep, thinking I'm in the in a war zone somewhere.

But my friend, let me tell you something.

If you want to cultivate favor in your life, have integrity.

Have character.

And here's the thing with character and integrity.

I can't lay hands on you and impart character and integrity to you.

You have to make the decision to be who you really say you are.

And here's what you need to understand about being blameless is being faithful, not being flawless.

Integrity is about being faithful, not being flawless.

Philippians chapter 2, verses 14, 15 says this do all things without grumbling or disputing.

Philippians 2:14

I could lay hands on some people right now, whenever I read that.

I'm not making eye contact with no, I'm teasing no one in the room.

They're next door.

Okay.

Uh do all things without grumbling.

That was a joke as well, if you didn't know.

My bad.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing.

Verse 15, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as the lights in this world.

What was Paul saying to the Philippian church right here?

He says this whenever you have integrity, you actually become a sign and a wonder in a world that has no integrity.

And whenever you live with integrity and character, you actually point people to a greater reality that there is light in the darkness.

Be faithful, you don't have to be flawless.

Look at your neighbor and say, Be faithful, you don't have to be flawless.

I remember hearing this story about a young child, and they were learning how to overcome the spirit of lying.

Their mom would ask them, Did this really happen?

No, it didn't happen like that, it happened like this.

And then come to find out, no, it really happened the way mom found out it happened.

You're lying.

You you can't lie like that.

That's not integral, that's not character.

Happened a couple times, and mom would catch them in a lie.

Did this happen like this?

No, it didn't happen like that, it happened like this.

And come to find out, no, it really happened like mom saw it happen.

Time and time again, this happened, and then eventually the same child came in and was in the middle of a lie.

And in the middle of the lie, they caught themselves and said, No, no, that was a lie.

And when that happened, the dad, the dad interjected and said, Hey, listen, that's integrity, that's character.

It's whenever you understand, I've been going down a path, but I don't want to go down that path anymore, even if it's in the middle of it, and you recognize it's time to turn right whenever I've been going left.

Hello, you understand what I'm saying?

My friend, integrity is being faithful, it's not being flawless.

If you want to cultivate an environment of favor in your life, God tells Abram, walk before me, and He tells him, Be blameless.

The favor of God isn't attracted to perfect people, the favor of God, watch this now, get this deep down in your spirit.

The favor of God is attracted to surrender to people.

So you might not have it all figured out, but you're in the process right now.

Just be faithful.

Just be faithful.

Come on, be faithful to be who you say you are, be faithful to be who God says you are.

Can I get an amen?

Somebody you want to cultivate favor in your life, it grows best in integrity.

God then visits Abraham and says something that I believe is just completely like out of this world, amazing.

And I don't have enough time to teach the whole thing.

Just come hang out and you'll understand it.

God looks at Abram and says, Walk before me, be blameless.

But then he looks at Abram and he says, This I will establish my covenant between you and me.

Wow.

Someone say, Wow.

Say it backwards.

Wow.

That was real good.

It lets us know.

You ready for this?

That favor is built on covenant.

You want to know why that you're gonna walk in favor?

It's because you're in covenant with the most high.

You want to know why favor is your portion?

It's because you're in covenant with God.

Now, here's the thing.

I say that word covenant, a lot of people don't know what covenant means.

The covenant is beyond the blessing.

Oh.

I got four minutes and fifty-one seconds to teach this thing, so I need you to listen fast.

Is that alright?

Lock the doors.

Watch this.

The blessing which we are all blessed, amen.

I want the blessing.

You need to want the blessing as well.

The blessing of God is the generosity of God.

The covenant of God is all of God.

Let me say it again.

Put a note in your iPhone.

Because you know it won't work in that Android.

Anyway, my bad.

Glory be to God.

If I offended you, while blameless before the Lord, I know.

The blessing of you can put it in the Android too.

I won't, I won't be mad at you.

I love you, you know that.

Watch this now.

The blessing of God is the generosity of God.

The covenant of God is all of God.

We don't have time to turn there, but in Genesis chapter 15, God speaks with Abram.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

He says, Abram, I'm going to make a covenant with you.

I want you to grab some animals and I want you to cut them in half.

I want you to lay them out before me.

Abram did this, and he goes into a deep sleep and he has a powerful dream.

I'm not going to talk to you about that.

But whenever he wakes up from his dream, it says that Abram wakes up and he sees between the sacrifice that was cut in half, in between the middle of the sacrifice, was a flame and was smoke.

And it represented God himself walking between the sacrifice.

Couple things to notice here.

Is this all right?

You still with me?

First thing to recognize is this Abram did not walk between the sacrifice, only God walked between the sacrifice.

Why?

Because it was God alone making the covenant, and it was God alone who keeps the covenant.

Why were there two, why was there an animal cut in half on either side?

Great question.

Because what they would do in a covenant was this we're cutting this animal in half, and we're both gonna walk between it.

And if you break this partnership, may what has happened to these animals happen to you.

So if you break this deal, may you be cut in half and bleed out everywhere.

So Abram makes the sacrifice, falls asleep, wakes up, and he wakes up to God alone walking through the sacrifice.

Why?

Because God was saying, I'm the covenant making and the covenant keeping God.

Abram, you're not gonna be able to keep this covenant with me, but I'll be able to not only keep the covenant, I'll be able to keep you within the covenant.

And I will do the heavy lifting.

And if I do not fulfill my promise to you, may what happened to me happen to what happened to these animals.

If I do not fulfill this word that I have given to you, may I, God was saying, God was saying, God was saying, may I, God, be cut in half and bleed out all over.

Woo! Woo! Hallelujah! May I be cut in half and bleed out all over if I do not fulfill my promise to you.

That happened in the life of Abram.

But what happened thousands of years later?

Here comes the God man by the name of Jesus.

And what does he do?

He bleeds out for everybody, he fulfills the covenant for man and God.

And he says, Man, I'm gonna do something for you that you cannot do for yourself.

I'm gonna bleed out for you and I'm gonna carry the weight and the brunt of this covenant.

Because you cannot create this covenant and you cannot keep this covenant by yourself.

But because I am God most high, I am making a way for you.

Jesus.

And he does for you what you cannot do, period.

So he visits Abram.

Watch this now, Donnie, if you'll come.

He visits Abram and He says, Walk before me, Abram.

Be blameless, Abram.

And when you do that, Abram, I'm going to establish a covenant between me and you.

I'm going to establish my promise between me and you.

And you won't be able to make it happen on your own.

But I'm the one that can make it happen for you.

And if watch this now, and if I don't let it come to pass, let it be done to me like it's done to these animals.

You see, we all want the blessing.

I want the blessing.

Anybody else want the blessing?

We all want the generosity of God, but my friend, understand this the blessing, in my opinion, is not superior to the covenant.

Because the blessing is the generosity of God, but the covenant is all of God.

I want blessings, but I want God.

I want provision, but I want the provider.

I want healing, but I want the healer.

I want salvation, but I want the savior.

Come on now.

You want to cultivate the environment of favor in your life?

Understand this.

Come into covenant with God.

Come into relationship with God.

Let Him do for you what you could not do.

After he looks at Abram, he says, Walk before me, be blameless.

I will establish my covenant between me and you.

Abram, when you live conscious of me, and you're faithful, not flawless.

I'm going to establish a covenant between us.

And Abram, the result of this covenant is your increase.

Hallelujah.

You see, because many people think increase, and you just think money.

That's great.

I want an increase of money.

We all need an increase of money.

Can I get an amen?

Let me tell you, I need an increase of peace.

I need an increase of joy.

I need an increase of health.

I want an increase of legacy.

I want an increase of all things in my life.

Multiplying greatly was the fulfillment of God's promise and the fulfillment of Abraham's heart's desire.

See, Abram took it in his hands 13 years earlier, but God says, Man, if you just remain faithful, I'm gonna release my favor upon your life.

If you just remain faithful and walk before me, you'll see the establishment of our covenant, and I will multiply it.

My friend, let me tell you something this morning.

Everybody wants God to multiply them, but God first asks, Will you walk with me?

Will you trust me?

Will you live with integrity?

Will you enter into covenant with me?

My friend, favor is not random, favor is found on a pathway.

Relationship, integrity, covenant, and multiplication.

So this is what I want to do this morning.

If you're in the house today, you don't know Jesus, you don't have relationship with him, today's your day.

I want to pray for you that you would enter into relationship with him.

Simple.

All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Boom.

Easy.

I want to do that first.

If you're in the room, I want every head bowed, every eye closed.

If you're in the room this morning, say, Pastor Aaron, I know I'm not in the right relationship with the Lord, but today is my day.

If that's you on the counter three, I want you just to lift that hand up high.

That's so I can see you and I can pray for you.

I already see you.

Alright, she's right there.

I see you.

Put the hand up on the counter three.

One, two, three.

Come on, raise the hand.

I see you.

I see you.

I see you.

I see you.

I want everyone in the room, whether you raise your hand or not, to repeat this prayer to me, say, Heavenly Father, I come before you today, acknowledging my need for you.

Save me, cleanse me, wash me, make me brand new.

I believe in my heart that you raise Jesus from the dead.

You're raising me from the dead right now.

I commit my life to you.

I turn from the life of sin.

And I turn to the life of Christ.

Thank you for saving me.

In Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

Come on, let's give God a handcuff of praise.