Keith Battle - The Gift of Favor - Part 2

I started a series last week called The Gift of Favor. I thought it was appropriate during the Christmas season, when we exchange and receive gifts, to talk about the gift that Mary received: the gift of favor from God. This is a gift that we all have in different measures; we have all been favored by God. Favor, by definition, is an extra measure of grace that has been extended to us by God. It is not something you can earn; it is not something that we deserve. It must be bequeathed to us by God by His own choice. We discussed this in part one, and if you missed it, you can go to YouTube or our church website and watch it. It takes 30 minutes, and you can catch up on where we are today. I’m going to continue with part two today, and we are going back to Luke chapter one. So if you have a Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter one. If you have it on your phone or any useful Bible, and if you are at any of our physical locations—Fort Washington, Woodbridge, Landover, Greenbelt—please stand with me as we read the Word of God today. Amen. I am reading from the New International Version today, verse 26. Here we go: In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, «Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.» Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, «Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.» «How will this be?» Mary asked the angel, «since I am a virgin.» The angel answered, «The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; so the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. And watch this: even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.» Let me read that again; stay right there. I said Elizabeth, your relative, is having a child in her old age. Research says that Elizabeth was in her 80s, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. Let me try it again on this side; maybe I’ll get a better reaction. I said she was said to be unable to conceive, and she is six months pregnant! Okay, y’all aren’t ready either. The word on the street is that she can’t do it, but she is six months pregnant! They said she was unable to conceive, but she is six months in, despite what they said. Okay, let me say it like this: If you’re in the chat right now, I want you to put three words in the chat. If you’re in one of our locations right now, I want you to go to at least two people, give them a pound, and say these three words to them. You ready? Give them these three words: Let them talk! Let them talk! Let them talk! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Let them talk! Say what you will. You can’t stop it! You can put your mouth on it, but it won’t stop it. Your opinion is your opinion, but it doesn’t stop what God’s going to do. Let them talk! This isn’t for everybody; this is just for people who have individuals in your life who don’t believe that God is going to use you to do anything. This is for people who don’t believe that you are capable of doing anything progressive in your life. Let them talk! If God is for me, who can be against me? Let them chirp; let them talk! You can’t stop it with your words! Glory, glory! If you agree with that, just tell somebody, «I got favor.» Do that for me: «I got favor! I got favor! I got favor! I got favor! I got favor! I know it ain’t fair, but I got it! I know I don’t deserve it, but I got it! I know I look crazy, but I got it! If you knew my past, I shouldn’t have it, but is anyone here grateful that I got favor? I got unstoppable favor! I got my flavor!» I got miracles happening up in here! Y’all remember when Daniel—excuse me, when Daniel was in the lion’s den? He was in the lion’s den, which was the death penalty. If you get thrown in the lion’s den, you don’t make it; the lions kill you. He’s in the lion’s den, Deacon Wilson, because he had favor, and because he had favor, he had haters. You can’t have one without the other. When I said we won favor, everybody raised their hand. Favor comes with haters! Here’s y’all don’t really get it—I wish I could read the Bible! His haters hated him so much that they got the king to throw him in. The king liked him, but the king was tricked by their scheme. And he’s in the lion’s den! Oh, I wish I had time! He’s in the lion’s den, and the king couldn’t sleep the whole night knowing…