A Lift That Only Goes Up: Unleashing the Favour of God

Sermon outline

It is God's favour, not sweat or anyone's approval, that lifts a believer, so meditate on it and speak it every day whatever the circumstances.

1. Meditate on the favour of God and bless with your mouth

   Jesus grew with God's favour on him, and the Lord blessed Samson as he grew up. This month the church is to meditate on favour every day, whatever the circumstances or the contradictory reports. The power of life and death is in the tongue, and God says he creates the fruit of your lips, so bless yourself, your children and grandchildren, your husband or wife, your workplace and your business.

   Illustration: Get up in the morning and say, 'I'm blessed, my family is blessed, my finances are blessed, God's blessing is on my life.'

   “We can curse ourselves or bless ourselves. I encourage you to bless yourself.”

   • Luke 2:40
   • Judges 13:24
   • Proverbs 18:21
   • Isaiah 57:19

2. The sovereignty of God: God is still the boss

   He introduces what he calls a theological word, the sovereignty of God, and breaks it down simply. A church cannot be run by human reasoning, training and education alone. It must be run by men and women who are yielded to the Holy Spirit, because we are the temple of God. Parents likewise cannot make their children what they want them to be. They can only seek God's will for each child, pray it and commit the child to God.

   Illustration: As much as he plans, when he comes on stage his heart is: 'Lord, I've prepared, but you can change me anytime you want to change me. Church doesn't belong to me. It belongs to you.'

   “God does what he wants, when he wants, the way he wants to, and he asks no one for permission.”

   • 1 Corinthians 3:16

3. Stick with the word, and be careful who speaks into your life

   God watches over his word to perform it, so a child of God must get familiar with the word and not run after dreams, stories and one prophecy after another. The anointing and a counterfeit spirit can run so close together that the counterfeit can be accurate, and it takes strong discernment to tell them apart. Be careful who lays hands on you and who speaks into your life. When someone brings you a bad dream or an evil report about yourself, stop them and break it in the name of Jesus.

   Illustration: A girl followed Paul for days saying that these were men of the Most High God. What she said was correct, but she spoke by a spirit of divination, and Paul cast it out. She was a professional fortune teller who made her masters a lot of money.

   “If you want a word from somebody, go to the word.”

   • Matthew 17:20
   • Jeremiah 1:12
   • Acts 16:16-22
   • Proverbs 10:22

4. Seven decisions that will control favour in your life: one to four

   One, favour is the shortcut to uncommon success: you do not have to grovel for someone to promote you. Two, favour eliminates years of pain, ending the life of working hard and going nowhere. Three, favour is the currency for money: money is a blessing, but it is favour that brings the contracts, and he says he himself depends heavily on favour as leader of the church and keeps his life right so that it is never lifted. Four, favour is a product for conduct: it changes how you behave, because you do not have to do what the world does to get where it wants to go.

   Illustration: The favour of God is like a lift that only goes up. He sees it promoting the church year after year and month after month.

   “The favour of God is like a lift. It doesn't go down. It just goes up.”

5. Decisions five to seven: warning, confrontation and greatness

   Five, a warning is a favour: when someone warns you in a kind way, God is protecting you from a future mishap that you can now see and escape, so young people should not resent a parent's warning. Six, confrontation is favour: correction is not control but God saying that he still loves you and has his hand on you. Then, favour will make you great. If you are struggling with something, so is everyone, and you have a high priest in the heavens who understands your weakness and intercedes for you.

   Illustration: He asks the church to take a few seconds and imagine themselves being great, because that is where God is taking them.

   “God's not taking you down. He's taking you to greatness.”

   • Hebrews 4:15
   • Hebrews 7:25

6. Rich in favour: houses richly stocked with goods you did not produce

   He takes Moses' words over Naphtali and speaks them over every member of the church: rich in favour and full of the Lord's blessings, for a lifetime. Then he reads the promise of houses you did not fill, cisterns you did not dig and vineyards you did not plant, and says you need no fortune teller when God's word tells you your future. The same passage carries a warning: when you have eaten your fill, do not forget the Lord or his house.

   Illustration: You go to a well and can only get as much water as the bucket will hold, so he tells the church to draw the word out of him. He remembers the days of struggling to buy a couch, and sees them coming to a place where they give away furniture, cars and houses.

   “When God makes you a rich cat, don't you forget the house of the Lord.”

   • Deuteronomy 33:23
   • Deuteronomy 6:11-12

7. Ten benefits favour will bring to your life: one to five

   One, God will give you supernatural increase and promotion. Two, honour in the midst of your adversaries: do not react under pressure, because God is waiting for the right moment to lift you up and he will not share his glory. Three, supernatural restoration of everything the enemy has stolen: everyone has made wrong decisions and trusted the wrong people, so stop beating yourself up. Four, great victories in the midst of impossibilities: do not fight fights that are not yours, hold your peace and let God fight. Five, increased assets, especially in the area of real estate, and a life that is full until it overflows.

   Illustration: Your adversaries are like actors on a stage who come on and must go off. God used Joseph's brothers to throw him into the pit, knowing all along that he would lift Joseph out and promote him.

   “Don't beat yourself on the head.”

   • Isaiah 42:8
   • Genesis 37:23-24
   • Proverbs 6:31
   • Joel 2:25
   • Exodus 14:14
   • Deuteronomy 6:11-12
   • Galatians 3:13
   • John 10:10

8. Ten benefits: six to ten

   Six, prominence and preferential treatment: when one person closes a door another opens it, and people favour you without knowing why. Seven, recognition when you are least likely to receive it, often through one person or family who takes you to your next level. Eight, petitions granted on your behalf by ungodly authorities. Nine, policies, rules and regulations changed and reversed to your advantage: follow policy and procedure, but know that God is bigger than both. Ten, battles won that you did not even have to fight.

   Illustration: A company whose policy is an annual increase of ten per cent and no more decides this year to give fifteen or twenty. A whole company can receive an increase because of one Christian.

   “God's bigger than the policy, bigger than the procedure.”