Keion Henderson - The Side Effects of Favor

Luke chapter 1, verse 26, this is what the Bible says: «And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into the city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to be a man’s wife. She was to marry a man by the name of Joseph, who was of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came in unto her and said, 'Hail! For you are highly favored; the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.' When she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast her mind upon the manner of the salutation. She said to herself, 'How could this be? ' The angel said to her, 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God .' Everybody say you have favor with God! And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there shall be no end.' I want to talk to you, as I told you yesterday, on this subject matter: the side effects of favor. You may touch everybody on your way down to your seat and just tell them there are some side effects to favor. Have you noticed on television lately that they have all these commercials for medicine? You know America is one of the only two nations in the world that allows pharmaceutical companies to market directly to consumers. In every other country, the medicine is regulated by the government, which does not allow for such economic prowess. But America, being the great country that it is, allows the pharmaceutical companies to speak directly to us. If you’ve ever paid attention while laying in bed or watching television, you see all these drugs with names you can’t even pronounce. When they air, it shows two people walking in the park, the sun shining, while they have cancer, but they 're skipping, and a soft, gentle voice comes in saying, 'If you or anyone you know is suffering from failing livers or hearts, hasn’t had a heartbeat in three or four weeks, and has no brain activity, you’re in luck because we have had a breakthrough.' If you notice, the person giving the diagnosis is in the commercial, smiling, while everyone is drinking lattes, and the wind is blowing, and the trees are cascading their leaves from the sky. Everything seems well, and in the background, there’s this soft voice assuring you that everything will be fine. After that, they rush to list the side effects: you might die tomorrow, your teeth might fall out, your eyes might swell. Have you ever seen these commercials? Anyone know what I’m talking about? Raise your hand! It’s almost as if you’re thinking, 'Oh my God, they found a miracle drug, ' but then you realize that even though they promise to cure what you have, you could still die. So, this medicine is a breakthrough; it’ll ensure the alpha hydroxy cells allow blood to flow properly, but after you take it, your liver might fail and your heart could stop. There is often one voice for the cure and another voice for the side effects. Oh God, I want you to pay attention when you get home today. There 's a pleasant voice in the commercial, and notice that the person who delivers the good news appears in the commercial while the person who shares the bad news is merely a voiceover. They know that we only want to see those who bring us good news. Oh, y’all don’t want to hear this sermon today! This is how the human mind is structured; we are always drawn to those who bring good news, but we don’t want to see those who deliver bad news. That’s why churches have pontificated; we’ve preached sermons, stood in pulpits, and told everyone how favor isn 't fair. 'Slap your neighbor and tell them to fake it ' til you make it! God’s about to give you a ram in the bush, and favor is coming into your life! ' But then, when a preacher tells you that before you can pick up your bed and walk, you’ve got to lay on it for 38 years, that’s when y’all check out of the sermon. You want Jesus to come to your wedding, but you don’t want to run out of wine. So, I wanted to tell you today that Jesus is coming, and I thank God that he was born. I’m so glad we are here during the Christmas season, but before you are healed from your issue of blood, you will have to meet all the doctors and spend everything you have, and no one will be able to heal you because there are always side effects to favor.