John K. Jenkins Sr - The Power of Favor

I want to talk about the power of favor. Look at your neighbor and say, «There 's power in favor! Power in favor!» Now look to the other side and say, «You need some favor in your life!» Amen, you can be seated. The power of favor. Now, today, look at your neighbor and say, «Today is about Bible study.» And what are you supposed to say after that? Since you don’t come to Bible study, I’m bringing Bible study to you. Okay, this is a Bible study. We’re going to explore favor. I’m going to teach you about favor. I’m going to give you a bunch of verses. Normally, in Bible study, I would turn to the verses, but today I won’t because I have a multitude of them. What I want to challenge you to do is to write the verses down, and in your own devotional or study time, I plead with you-yes, I plead with you-to read these passages of scripture and allow the power of these scriptures to minister to your spirit and heart. They are powerful principles and truths about favor.

Now, last week I talked to you all about dreams. We shall see what will become of your dream. We concluded that message with a video of me flying with the Blue Angels. Amen! I got texts, phone calls, and emails from all over the country from people who saw the video or heard about it, and here’s what they all asked: «How did you get to fly with the Blue Angels? Faith! It ain’t fair!» I didn 't say it was fair. I didn’t say I deserved it; I didn’t deserve it. I don’t know how I got chosen- favor! And the favor that God has extended to me, He wants it to flow onto you.

I want to go through these scriptures today and talk to you about favor. Let me define favor for you. First of all, favor means delight, pleasure, goodwill. It means God finds pleasure in His children. Because He finds delight or pleasure, He extends to you what He calls favor. Now, many of you are chasing after money, houses, land, careers, or spouses, but I’m trying to tell you favor is much better than all of that. What do you mean, Pastor? When you have favor, here’s what Proverbs-jot down this verse-Proverbs 22:1 says: «Loving favor is better than silver and gold .» Amen! The loving favor of God is better than silver and gold. What do you mean by that? Here 's what I mean: you might not have a new car, but if you have favor, your old one will keep on driving. I’ve got a witness on that point right there. That 's how it works! When you have favor, you might not have a house, but your apartment will feel like a mansion. When you have favor, you may not have the most expensive clothes, but when you are draped in favor, you look good no matter where your clothes come from-you look sharp!

So what I want above anything is favor. If God gives me favor, if God extends favor to you in life, it puts you in a positive posture and mood, regardless of what you drive, where you live, or where you work. Favor is that kind of thing. So, peppered throughout all the scriptures, there are many examples where we see favor in action, and I believe it’s the same thing that God did for these people -He 'll give it to you too. Now let’s start off by looking at Genesis 18:3. Jot it down, we’re not going to turn there. I’ll tell you what it 's about, but just jot it down.

Let me slow down — somebody say, «Slow down, Pastor!» Oh, this is the 12:00 service, and I’m trying to hurry up for the next service. We don 't need to rush; we can take our time. Favor includes when God moves on a person’s heart to bless another person-that’s peppered throughout the scripture. In Genesis 18:3, Abraham found favor with an angel that visited him, and that favor made the angel promise him and prophesy that he would have a son. A promise was made because of a visiting angel that Abraham found favor with. In Genesis chapter 19, jot that down; read the whole chapter. A whole city was about to be destroyed, but because one man found favor with God, that whole city was not destroyed.

Now, why is that important? Because some of you are worried about the fact that there’s someone in your family who isn 't doing right. Your husband isn 't doing right, your wife isn 't doing right, your children — you worry that some kind of judgment is going to come upon you. Here 's what you need to know: when one person in that household finds favor, God protects the whole household because of that one person’s favor! Oh, I should have heard a few more amens for that, because some of you are here today — not because of you, but because somebody in your house had faith. That 's Lot; he found favor, and the whole city of Zoar was saved and spared from destruction because Lot found favor. That 's what Genesis 19 says.