Finish With Favor | Pastor Steven Furtick | Elevation Church

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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace  and good will toward men and women on whom his   favor rests. Somebody put in the chat, "He's  talking about me. That's me. His favor rests   on me." I used to let you touch your neighbor,  but I'm scared they'll lock us up in jail if   I have you touch your neighbor right now, so  just look at somebody, wink at them, and say,   "I've got the favor of God." Say it like that with  a little bit of swag. "I've got the favor of God." Anybody who knows that, just put it in  the chat. "I have the favor of God."   Not a fancy favor. "O Lord, I thank you  for my parking space. Thou hast given me a   parking space. It's very convenient." I'm not  clapping for convenience. That's fancy favor. I'm clapping because I could have  been dead. I could have lost my mind.   I could have gone crazy, but he kept me. I've  got favor! If you know you have it, celebrate it!   How many are excited about the favor of God?   I love y'all. It's a delayed reaction. You're  like, "I've got to think about that." That's   exactly what we're going to do today. We  are going to consider as this year ends… I wonder how many of you are new to our  ministry. By that I mean you've been a   part of this ministry for less than a year.  Put it in the chat. Say, "I'm a newb." Did   I use it right? I'm so sorry. My kids just  cringe every time I try to say something that's   remotely relevant. "You  can't say that." It's weird. But this message is for those of you whether  you're brand new to the ministry or been here   a long time, because we end each year kind of  wrapping a word from God around the year. You are   not going to believe what God told me to call this  year end. I had to get this one from the Spirit. I   could not do this with my mind, because I would  have tried to figure out what to call 2020. If you are on planet earth and watching this  in a future year and everything looks weird…   I can just imagine if you watched Elevation in  2019 and then turned it on in 2020. You'd be like,   "What happened to the people?" If you  didn't know, if it was much later and   you didn't have the historical context, that  would be kind of crazy. But I want to give you   some context that every year we finish the  year with one word from God, and this year,   the Lord told me we were going to finish with  favor. That's my message today: Finish With Favor. I said, "Lord, I can't say favor is the word for  2020 in good conscience. They'll think I'm crazy."   It was as if the Lord said to me (not out  loud), "They already know that. The people who   are still there figured that out a long time ago,  and they like it." That's the right kind of crazy.   I'm the right kind of crazy. At least I want to  be. I've been all kinds of crazy. I really have. Isn't it weird to call this the year of  favor? I've heard a lot of people use a   lot of words to describe 2020. Some of  them even started with the letter F, but   they didn't say it was the year of favor. I  went through a lot of options. I was thinking,   "Well, Lord, we should call the  year what people have experienced." The first thing that came to my mind… I don't know  where your mind went when I said the letter F,   but I thought the year of fear would  be an appropriate thing to call it,   but it didn't look right when I saw it in print.  I was like, "Well, that's not really too terribly   inspiring." We're giving an offering next weekend.  How many of you are excited to give to God? How many of you have been  excited to keep giving to God?   Then we go above and beyond. I made my check  out this week. I'll tell you, I fought God   like never before writing my check this year,  because there's more fear. I thought it was hard   to give in previous years, because we always  try to stretch, but this year I was like,   "Uh…" I had to practice writing the number  down a few times before I put it on the check,   because I knew what he was speaking,  but there was so much fear. I think the year of fear would  be a good thing to call 2020   if we're going to keep it 100, as the kids say.   We have found things to be afraid of that we  didn't even know we were supposed to be afraid of.   I was never afraid of a handshake until  this year. The year of fear I thought we   could call it. The fear offering. That didn't  sound right. It didn't sound very biblical. So, I thought about that, and then I  thought, "No. If you really want to be   accurate about it, we should label it the year  of frustration, because that starts with an F   and you can say it in church." The year of  frustration. The frustration of trying to   figure out what in God's name you  are going to do… Not next month. I have to check my phone every five minutes to  see if it's safe for me to go outside of my door,   I feel like. It's frustrating to me, because  I'm a rule follower. I know that surprises you,   because some people say this church breaks all  the rules, but I really like people to tell me   what I'm supposed to do. What I can't figure out  is… I live in North Carolina, but sometimes I go   to South Carolina, and even between two states,  I can't figure out what the freakin' rules are. Do you see what I'm saying? The frustration. Do  you feel my frustration? I am terrified to go on   a plane, not because it might crash but because  I don't want to have to deal with the… It was   already bad enough before the year of frustration  set in. You're telling me I have to pull up my   mask in between sips. I just don't think I can  do it yet. I'm not ready for it yet, and I don't   want to end up on the news, so I'm staying away  from planes until further notice. I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated right now because the church  is supposed to be full, and there are like   300 people, and they're all spaced out,  and there are empty rows. It stresses me   because it's bad crowd dynamics, and I don't  like it. But I have the right 300 in the room.   But I'm frustrated. It has certainly been… If we just want  to label this year according to the   facts, I think we could call it the year of  fighting. All things that start with the letter F.   We have found places and spaces to fight. We fight  over syllables. We fight over punctuation marks   on Facebook in this year, the year of fighting.  You can get canceled when you use a comma instead   of a semicolon in the year 2020. Somebody  will pick you apart for everything you say. Maybe it's different for people who have  a microphone or a platform or something,   but I think everybody has experienced it at some  level. Everything is controversial. Everything   you do is some big epic message, and we're  all supposed to figure it out. I thought of   calling it the year of Fauci, but that felt  a little bit limiting on what we could say. The Lord said, "You can call it any  of that or you can call it what Luke   4:19 says and tell my people…proclaim this  over my people…it's the year of favor."   Put it on the screen. It's supposed to  come up. Yeah, that's the one. We had to   wait for it for a minute. We had to get to  the end to figure it out, but it's the year   of favor. "The Spirit of the Lord  is on me." That's what Jesus said. Favor. Are you familiar with that word?  The kids don't say favor much anymore.   This is a word… See, my kids introduce  me to new words that I'm unfamiliar with,   but I want to introduce some  people who are spiritually   growing into your faith to a word you  may not have heard. The word is favor. Now I can't figure out… This is  what I've been trying to figure out.   Go on over to Luke 4 in your Bible,  because we're going to study this today.   We're going to talk about the year of the Lord's  favor and how to finish with favor. What it's   going to require you to do is maybe forget how the  first 11 months went. Paul said, "This one thing   I do: forgetting what's behind and straining  toward what's ahead, I press toward the mark." I'm like, "That's two things:  forgetting and straining." He's like,   "No, you have to do them both. In order  to move forward, you have to forget." So,   let's just make a deal right now.  I won't bring it up if you don't.   All of the little temper-tantrums  and pity parties you had this year,   all that other stuff that is not appropriate  for us to talk about in a big group like this…   Did you hear the whole crowd go silent? The stuff this year, the other stuff  that was fear based, frustration based,   fighting against people you're  supposed to be fighting for…   I won't mention it if you don't. Today we'll  talk about favor. Specifically, the Lord said   we are going to… I want to personalize  this. You are going to finish with favor. Nothing in me wanted to tell you that, because I  cannot prove it by the percentages of COVID cases,   and I certainly cannot tell you that a flip of  the calendar is going to wave a magic wand and   all of a sudden make all the conflict disappear. I  can't say any of that, but I think the word favor,   although it's unfamiliar to some, is overly  familiar to others. I can't figure out which one   is harder: to get somebody who is overly familiar  with a concept to unfamiliarize themselves… Sometimes I think I'd rather teach somebody  who had never heard of Moses or, as the country   preacher said, somebody who doesn't know the  book of Ruth from a Baby Ruth. I'm telling you,   I think it's harder sometimes to  get someone who has heard the word   favor… "I went to the store, and I got some shoes,  and they were 20 percent off. It was favor." No,   it was Black Friday. That's all it was. It  wasn't favor; it was marketing. We cheapen it. Or we will think favor is like fame. It's a false  equivalent. We'll say, "Oh, look at how…" I heard   somebody say about a person one time who was  getting very popular… They said, "They're blowing   up." See, I knew the person personally, and I knew  they were blowing up. They were blowing up their   marriage. They were blowing up their physical  health. They were blowing up their emotions. So, while one person saw the climb of their  fame, I didn't really think it was favor. See,   we have a hard time knowing what the word means.  "Did I use that right? Did I say that right?"   I'll be honest. The last time I  preached on favor at Elevation was 2011.   I thought maybe the word needed to be retired,  but then I realized it just needs to be reclaimed.   So today, you came on the right day. You  clicked at the right time. We are reclaiming   the favor of God in our lives. I am reclaiming  God's favor for my family, for my perspective,   for my business, for my church, for my ministry,  for my emotions. I am reclaiming the favor of God. So, what is the favor of God? It's kind of hard to  give you a definition, because I don't know that   we have a worldly equivalent. If I'm trying to  explain to you the favor of God, it's easier for   me to show you than to tell you. Remember when  you used to say that all the time, Mom? "I can   show you better than I can tell you." She said  that a lot, and it was never a good thing, but   in this case it's a good thing. I could give you a  picture better than I could show you a definition. Now, what some of you need to do, and you don't  know this yet, is you need to take a selfie and   look at it, and the fact that you're still here  with light in your eyes and a smile on your face   is a picture of the favor… I wish  I could see a selfie right now   on Instagram. Tag me and say in  the tag, "This is my definition." What you are doing when you do that is  defining to the Devil that the proof of   the favor of God on your life is not the absence  of attack or ambiguity in your life this year.   It's a picture of God's favor. Sometimes  a picture is better than a definition. So,   we're going to see a picture of God's favor  from Jesus. He gave it to us in Luke 4:13   all the way through verse 30. This is so good. Are you familiar with the favor of God? Have  you heard about it? Even if you're not familiar,   it's probably better, because, again, I  can't really explain. It's not like luck.   It's different than luck. It's  something different than that.   Luck is validated and proven  externally, so it's different. I knew when I said, "It's the year of the Lord's  favor" it would make some people just think,   "What, are you in an alternate reality?"  No, but I am in an alternate kingdom,   and I do have a different spirit than the  spirit of the world. I have the favor of God. When I heard Elijah's friends the other day,  and they were calling one of the kids a simp,   I didn't know what a simp was. I said, "I'm not  familiar with this term simp. What meaneth this?"   They said, "It's kind of hard to describe."   Have you heard this term simp? Your kid is  not old enough. When Joel gets a little older,   he'll start saying crap you won't have a clue  what it means, so you'll try to correlate   the word to things we used to say when we were  growing up. Sometimes there is no equivalent.   He said, "It's a guy who will do anything  for a girl and doesn't care how it looks." They named somebody, and they said, "He's a simp."   I was like, "Okay, I got it now." I thought,  "Wow, it was easier for you to give me a   picture of it than a definition of  it." What did we call it? I mean,   some of the things I'm thinking of you can't say  like that, but I don't think we had an exact word.   Y'all stay with me. It has been a weird year,  so it requires some different kind of preaching. I don't think I could put it in a word for you.  Let me give you a picture. I thought about Moses,   how he found favor with God. I thought about  Noah, how he found favor with God in a flood.   I thought about Ruth, how she found favor with  Boaz. God can give you favor with a person. So, I thought we would skip right to the one who  not only spoke of the favor of God but showed the   favor of God, who was the favor of God, who is  the favor of God. Get ready. This is why I can   tell you it's the year of the Lord's favor and  I haven't looked at your bank balance. This is   why I can tell you it's the year of the Lord's  favor and I haven't looked at your medical report. This is how I can tell you it's  the year of the Lord's favor   and you don't even like to go home right now  because you can't stand who you're living with.   This is how I can tell you it's the year of  the Lord's favor. Luke 4:13: "When the devil   had finished all this tempting, he left him…"  How many of you want to get to that part? Let me read that again. Doesn't that  sound good? "When the devil had finished   all this tempting, he left Jesus." I thought about  calling this sermon "Are you done yet, Devil?"   Jesus has been out there fasting   40 days and 40 nights, and he's doing this  not only for preparation for his own ministry,   which is about to really, really take center  stage in the passage I'm going to read you, and   I can't wait to show you. But I had to put verse  13 in. It seemed important. If you don't realize   the announcement of God's favor came after  a season of testing for Jesus, you might not   recognize God's favor in your life. Now I want  to read it again so we don't misunderstand it. "When the devil had finished all this  tempting, he left him until an opportune time."   It doesn't mean it's over. See, this is one thing  you can know about every battle in your life:   it won't last forever. This is what you  can know about every blessing in your life:   it won't last forever. So, if you're in a blessing  right now, enjoy it, because there will be another   battle. If you're in a battle right now, endure  it, because there will be another blessing. So,   there was a temptation. It was 40 days  and 40 nights. There will be another one. I kept reading that over and over again, how  the Enemy tempted Jesus in the wilderness.   Then the part I'm about to read you shows Jesus  in the synagogue, which was kind of like church.   So, he's in the wilderness all alone, and he's in  the church with people he knew and who knew him,   and God showed me it was the same favor in  both places. I saw that the same favor we're   about to encounter working through Jesus in the  worship service was with him in the wilderness. That's what let me know the favor  of God is not contingent on a place.   You can find favor anywhere. That's why I don't  know what to compare it to, because I can't   say that about anything else in life. I can't  say, "You can find great pizza anywhere." No.   There are some places where the pizza is better  than others. "You can find a good man anywhere." I can't just say, "You can find a good  man anywhere." There are some places…   But the favor of God can be found  anywhere you want to look for it.   It was the same favor that enabled him to endure  the isolation and testing of the wilderness   that enabled him to proclaim  the truth in the synagogue.   You can find favor anywhere. Or maybe a better way  to say it is favor can find you anywhere. Can I be   honest? There were some times I wasn't looking for  God's favor at all. I was looking for other stuff. Just about the time I thought I couldn't make it,  the angels of God came to minister to my spirit.   When my flesh was weak, when my tears were  falling, when my hope was kind of foggy and   faded and fuzzy, here came favor. Here came  grace. Here came love. Here came mercy. Here   came favor. I wasn't looking for it, but it came.  I wasn't praying about it, but it came. I didn't   even think it was possible at this point,  but here came… How many have that testimony?   "Favor found me." Oh, that's a good  one! "Favor found me." Thank you, Lord. All this year, the goodness and the mercy of the  Lord were following me. I saw a table, and I saw   enemies. I sat at the table in the presence of  my enemies, and I was fed by the favor of God,   and I was fed by the mouth of ravens, and  I was fed by every word that proceeds…   Favor found me. Here I am, God.  I need you in this wilderness. I wanted you to know that the favor of God that  was with Jesus at the resurrection was with him   in the wilderness. The same favor of God that came  to Mary that was with Jesus in his mother's womb,   that was with you before the beginning of  your life… That same favor is with you.   Same favor, different place. Favor with a mask on.   Favor with a church on YouTube in your home   because you can't go out to church because  you live with your aging parent and you're   scared to get them sick. Favor where  you are. Same favor, different place.   Y'all, please pray for me. That's just verse  13. I'm so scared to go any farther, though,   because it felt familiar to me. Forty  days, forty nights in the wilderness.   Forty days to make up for 40 years. When  Moses was in the wilderness, he failed. So before Jesus began his ministry,  he set up a rematch with the Devil.   See, Moses' story in the Old Testament… He  struck the rock twice instead of speaking   to it. He became so afraid he became  frustrated. He became so frustrated   he started fighting. Do you remember  that from the beginning of the sermon? So Moses' story ended in failure. He didn't  get to go into the land he led the people to.   But Jesus came so that what Moses ended  in failure he could finish with favor.   I can't explain this to you, because it's  like a newb or it's like a simp. I don't   really know how to describe this to you,  because we don't have a context for it. You are so familiar with earning,  so you're reflecting on the year,   and you're thinking of all of the failures you  had, but Jesus said, "I want to set up a rematch.   I want to redeem the year. I want to  redeem January, February…" He said,   "I'm stepping into the last month of  the year so you can finish with favor." Thank you, Jesus! I receive your favor, and I  receive your grace, and I am your righteousness.   I thank you that you beat that Devil that  was beating me. You took away that sin   that was suffocating me, and you stripped  that shame that was sabotaging my life.   I thank you that you broke the back of  fear. I thank you that you broke the   yoke of frustration. I thank you that I no  longer have to fight from a place of defeat. I don't have to fight in my flesh. I  don't wrestle against flesh and blood.   The Spirit of the Lord is on me. He  has anointed me. He broke that failure.   He broke it off your life. That's why you're  going to finish with favor. When you're afraid,   when you're frustrated, and when you're in it,  when you're fighting, you just do familiar stuff.   That's why you call people you love names. That's  why you yell at people who are trying to help you.   Because when you're in fear… That's why you  strike the rock twice. That's why you do it. Now let me show you this, because  this is so powerful. When Jesus   finished in the wilderness… It said  the Devil was done, but Jesus wasn't.   The Enemy got tired before the Savior did.  You're going to overcome. You're going to   endure this. You're going to finish with favor.  You started with some other stuff. I know you did,   but you're going to finish with favor.  The Lord told me to tell you that. This is how we know. Luke 4:14. Did we really only  do one verse so far? The Bible says he left the   wilderness. That's the first place. If you want  to study this later, there are several places   we're talking about. We're talking about the  wilderness where the Devil was finished but Jesus   wasn't. He outlasted him. And he lives in you,  so you have that spirit of perseverance in you. After the point that you give up, when you're  tired and hungry and lonely, and all of those   things, and the Devil is trying to get you to  do crazy stuff… People are doing crazy stuff   this year. That's all right, because it  said Jesus did what Moses couldn't do.   Then in verse 14 it says, "Jesus returned  to Galilee in the power of the Spirit…" That in itself is amazing, because he  didn't return in the pessimism or in   the pain. He returned in the power after  40 days of being tested by the Devil.   It let me know the favor of God doesn't mean  he stops the test. It means he continues the   transformation so that he keeps working in my  life, so that he has unlimited patience and grace. So, he outlasted the Devil. I'm just laughing  because Graham, my cockiest child, was telling   me the other day he thinks he could beat Mike  Tyson in a fight because Mike is 60. He was   serious. He said, "I think I could outlast him.  He's old." Anyway, that's what made me laugh. I   was thinking about Jesus outlasting the Devil.  I thought, "That's crazy." But I guess that's   some kind of self-confidence…delusion.  Y'all pray for Graham is what I'm saying. "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the  Spirit, and news about him spread through the   whole countryside." This is the real breaking  news. He broke the chain. He broke the shame.   That's what I mean by it's the year of the  Lord's favor. That's what the Lord said. So, it spread through the whole  countryside. "He was teaching in   their synagogues…" Remember, he was in the  wilderness. Now he's in their synagogues.   "…and everyone praised him." He  didn't pay any attention to that.   He knew that man's empty praise and  treasures that fade are never enough. Look at verse 16, because it's  important. "He went to Nazareth,   where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath  day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.   He stood up to read, and the scroll of the  prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it,   he found the place where it is written:   'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has  anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.'" Breaking news. Good news. But wait a minute.  They're poor. No, no, no. I'm not talking about   situation. I'm not talking about circumstance. I'm  not talking about fame. I'm talking about favor,   good news to the poor, a report that contradicts  the reality. "Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'"   Good news to the poor. I love all this stuff.   "He has sent me to proclaim freedom for  the prisoners and recovery of sight for   the blind, to set the oppressed free, to  proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." I put "2020" by it in my Bible. I don't see  that necessarily right now, but I believe it,   because faith is the substance of things hoped  for and the evidence of things I can't even see.   So, I want to ask you something. Will you proclaim  something you can't currently perceive? He said,   "Proclaim to the poor." That's not easy. "To  the blind." That's not easy. "To the prisoners." Let me tell you something. When Jesus was on  earth, there is no widespread record of people   getting out of prison en masse, but he still said  it was the year of freedom and favor. The year   of the Lord's favor. Watch what he did.  Y'all know how I haven't had the stool   out here in a while? I brought it today  just for this moment in the sermon. It's a   prop. "Then he rolled up the scroll, gave  it back to the attendant and sat down." That's why I wanted to bring this out: to show  you what Jesus did while you were stressing out,   to show you what he's doing in heaven right now.   I was surprised to see in Revelation, chapter 5,  that he was seated on the throne. I thought that   was weird. I'm like, "Well, that's the  whole problem, God. If you'd get up and   do something about this crazy mess… How are  you going to sit down at a time like this?" "Mary, help me in the kitchen." You know, Martha.   Remember that story? I'm thinking, "How could  you be seated right now?" What really got me   was that Jesus is quoting Isaiah  61. Let me show you this real quick. Now, Jesus didn't have YouVersion, Craig  Groeschel Bible app. None of that "verse   of the day" for Jesus. They handed him  the whole scroll. It was probably the   synagogue leader there in Nazareth…  It was probably his decision which   scroll he handed him, and Isaiah… The  whole thing was probably on the scroll. Do you know how you have the verse markers in your  Bible? I say, "Turn to Isaiah 61, verses 1-2,"   and you're like, "Okay. Isaiah 60, 62… The  one between is 61." That's how we do it.   There were none of those in the scroll  Jesus read. He didn't need them. He   found the place. He knew the Word that good,   because he was the Word. It's kind of easy to find  the place when you are what you're reading. All   that to say, when you know who you are, you know  where you belong, you can always find a place. When you know the favor of God is on your  life, you can find your place anywhere. Isn't   that good? Don't you want to live like that? I'm  not there yet. You're not either, but Jesus was.   So, he's like, "Okay. We're  reading Isaiah. Okay. All right.   This is the part… This is something  I wrote about me." How cool is Jesus? He wasn't talking about circumstances. He  wasn't talking about lemons and lemonade.   He wasn't talking about vaccines. He wasn't  talking about candidates or any of that.   He so knew his purpose he found his place. Same  favor, different place. So, he unrolls the scroll.   He goes, "Yeah, this one. This one  right here. This is what I want to say. Are you listening, Rodney? Are you  listening, Carol? Are you listening, David?"   Because he knew these people, because  it's the place where he grew up,   and they knew him. They thought they did. We  think we do. We're so familiar, aren't we?   I wonder if familiarity is sometimes the enemy of   God's favor. The reason I wonder that… Isaiah 61.   This is Isaiah, hundreds of years  before Jesus. Isn't that amazing? He said, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on  me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim   good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind  up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for   the captives and release from darkness for the  prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's   favor and the day of vengeance of our God…"  Does that sound familiar? Some of it does. Give me Luke 4 again. Let me show you this.   It said he stood up and unrolled it, found  the place. "'The Spirit of the Lord is on me,   because he has anointed me to proclaim good news  to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom   for the prisoners and recovery of sight  for the blind, to set the oppressed free,   to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then he  rolled up the scroll, gave it back, and sat down." Go back to Isaiah 61:2 one more  time. He said, "To proclaim   the year of the Lord's favor and the day of  vengeance of our God." Go back to Luke 4:19,   the same verse I just read to you, one  more time. He said, "To proclaim the   year of the Lord's favor." One more time  I want you to see this. This is powerful. In Isaiah 61:2, the prophet said,  hundreds of years before Jesus,   "To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor  and the day of vengeance of our God."   Go back to Luke 4. Jesus said, "To proclaim  the year of the Lord's favor," and he sat down.   Why did he stop there?   See, this was the problem. It  wasn't that the people listening   didn't know the Scriptures. They were  very familiar with the Scriptures. We think that's the problem. "If people knew the  Bible more, if people knew the Word of God more,   then America would turn back to God," and  all of that. No, no, no. They knew the Bible.   They knew the rest of the verse.  "The year of the Lord's favor   and the day of vengeance of our  God." That was in their Bible. So, when Jesus said, "The year of favor  of the Lord" and then rolled up the scroll   and sat down, they were confused, because  they were waiting for the vengeance part.   "When are you going to finish this?"  Remember Mortal Kombat? "Finish him."   That's what they wanted for the Roman oppression.  That's what they wanted him to come and do. That's what we want the Lord to do. "Get rid  of this. I want this to stop. I want this to   be done. I want the bad people punished. I want  the wrong to be made right. I want the favor of…"   What we say when we say the "favor of God"  is we want all of the enemies eliminated.   Jesus came to save the people  they wanted him to wipe out.   Oh yeah. He came to fulfill the  law, not abolish it. He did it.   He came to fulfill the vengeance of God. Sin has to be punished and shame has to be dealt  with, but he did not put it on you, and he did   not put it on me. See, this is the breaking  news. This is the good news of the gospel.   This is what will set the captive free. He  didn't come to put it on you. He came to take   it on himself. He became sin who knew no sin,  that you might become the righteousness of God.   This is the gospel. It's good in 2020. It was good  in 20. It was good when he said it, and it's good   to the last drop. Now take this gospel and drink  this blood and receive this word. It is finished. I need you to know what he did. I need you to know  he said it's the year of the Lord's favor. Period.   You're looking at it. Don't look for the new  car. That might be favor. It might be payments.   Don't look for that for  favor. Don't look for Boaz.   Don't look for any of that. He sat down. He said,  "I don't know how to tell you what favor is.   Let me show you a picture of this." It would be so cool to end the sermon here,  but I can't, because I didn't write the Bible.   I wish at that moment they would have  put "Finish with favor" in the chat,   subscribed on YouTube, turned  on the bell, and gave the tithe   to the year-end offering. We could have  built the kingdom. They didn't do that. Remember, we read the Bible… It's  what it said and it's where it said.   So, saying that he defeated the Devil  in the wilderness… Where it happened   tells us he was doing for us what we could never  do for ourselves. That's the grace of God. If it   starts with grace, it ends in favor. If it  starts with effort, it ends in frustration.   Finish with favor. Start with grace. He stood up, and he read, and he  stopped at the part he came to fulfill.   He came to do that for you. You can't do  it for yourself. That's the whole point. He   rolled it up and gave it back to Timmy, the  synagogue assistant. He put it back in the ark,   and Jesus said, "I'm the ark. I am  the Word of God." Isn't that amazing? He opened the scroll and read the passage.  He's going to set the prisoners free. Good   news to the poor. What you don't have, God is  going to make up the difference. All of these   things that we can take symbolically.  They don't even have to be literal.   That's what he's doing in your life this  year. This is not Andy Dufresne style.   Do you remember when he got out of prison? This is  a spiritual prison. This is spiritual blindness. What really ministered to me in the text  is to know that he said he came to open the   eyes of the blind. He said in verse 21, "Today  this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."   Look at the whole verse. "He began by saying to  them…" He finished with favor. He began to speak.   He sat down. When God sits, he's not tired; he's  finished. The work is finished. It's accomplished. He began by saying, "Today…" Not January 1,  2021, when absolutely nothing changes and we   all promise to go on diets and to do better and  we think something magic… No, no, no. Today. This   is the year of the Lord's favor. "This Scripture  is fulfilled in your hearing." They were amazed.   "All spoke well of him and were amazed at  the gracious words that came from his lips."   Watch what they said next. "'Isn't this Joseph's  son?' they asked." That messed the whole thing up. I didn't tell you this, but when we  went to see Jody and Emily a while back…   This is my brother-in-law. He works  at North Greenville College where   I went to school. It's North Greenville  University now. They've really moved up. We were talking about how beautiful the  campus was. Not necessarily the buildings.   The buildings are fine, but it was the  Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.   He said something to me. I can't  get this out of my head. He said,   "Can you believe we had this the  whole time we were here as students?"   I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Bo…"  That's what he calls me. We call each other that. He points to the mountain range. It  was a really pretty day too. He goes,   "This was in our backyard. The Blue  Ridge Mountains were in our backyard."   Holly and I went to that school. We never  went on one hike. It was in our backyard.   Crazy. I looked at it. I was like,  "This is the kind of thing I would   pay to vacation at now." Not the dorm room. The  dorm room was crap. I think that was the problem. This is what I said to him.  I was looking at it. I said,   "We were so focused on what we were living in  we didn't even realize what we were looking at."   When you're living in it, you don't even know  what you're looking at. That's why we really   have to be careful not to wish away stages of  our lives, because that was in your backyard.   It took 2020 to get some of us to see that  showing up early to get a seat at Ballantyne   at 9:30 on a Sunday morning was a privilege  back when we could all do it without fear.   We had the favor of God. We still do. But some of it… It was our backyard. I just looked  at it. I was like, "Dude, this is trippy. Are you   sure they didn't move these mountains in since  we left? Are you playing with me? Did you slip   something in my turkey? What's going on? Is this  really here? Am I hallucinating?" It was there.   He was there. He had been brought up there.  He was in Nazareth. That's where he grew up. Is familiarity the enemy of favor? I  think it is sometimes. I really do.   I think we choose what is familiar even  at the expense of God's favor sometimes.   I'll prove it to you, not from  psychology. I have no degree in that.   I'll prove it to you not from sociology; I'll  prove it to you from theology in the text. Why is it that in the place where Jesus  should have been able to do the most   he was able to do the least? That should have  been the place for the greatest favor of God.   Now, I need to say this to you. This might  sound rough. Some of the places where God   should be working the most in your life you're  letting him do the least, and the reason is   you're choosing what is familiar,  and you are chasing away God's favor. For many of us, we're waiting on the vengeance.   We think we know so much. When he  rolls up the scroll and sits down,   we think, "Well, it must be over, because  God didn't do what I wanted him to do."   It's finished when he says it's finished. He  is who he says he is, not who you think he is. And you are who he says you are, not what they  say you are. Whether they is your thoughts,   your addictions, your insecurities, your secret  stuff, you are not what that says you are,   or your life. That's not what we mean by favor.  We don't mean the facts. We mean the Father.   So, when they were looking at him,  there's a Greek word they use,   and it's used 10 times in the  book of Acts, only twice in Luke. It says when he said what he said… He  said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled   in your hearing." Faith comes by hearing, but not  with physical ears…spiritual ears. It's a terrible   thing to have sight but be blind, Helen Keller  said. It's a terrible thing. He's talking about   opening blind eyes, but they are blind to the Blue  Ridge Mountains that are in their own backyard. He is favor and he's right in front  of them, just like the favor of God is   right in front of you. I promise it is. It's  everywhere. You bumped into it trying to get   in a fight on your way out of the house  today. You bumped into the favor of God.   You had to push the favor of God out  of the way to get to your bad attitude. He said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled  in your hearing." And he sat down,   and they spoke well, but they were so familiar.  "That's Joseph's son. Wow, he talks good,   but we know him." Familiar. Favor. Familiarity.  Is familiarity keeping you from God's favor?   Are you addicted to feeling  miserable? It feels familiar. If fear is your natural habitat for long enough,  you'll seek it out. You'll find something to be   afraid about. I started looking up estate  taxes the other night and freaking out,   and I don't think I'm dying. I just needed  something to be worried about. I just needed   something to freak out about. I didn't have  anything in the moment. It was too good. I had   to make something up in the moment. Isn't that  crazy? I think I was seeking what was familiar. To receive and accept God's favor… When  he says, "The year of the Lord's favor,"   the other translation is "The acceptable year of  the Lord." Now, the Jewish people knew a concept   called Jubilee, every cycle of seven years. On  that fiftieth or forty-ninth year (the rabbis   differ as to which one it fell on originally), the  debts would be forgiven and the prisoners would be   released. Jesus was saying, "I am your Jubilee.  You don't have to wait until the fiftieth year." You don't have to wait until 2021. You don't have  to wait until you get married. You don't have to   wait until you get divorced. Everybody is trying  to go somewhere else. He said, "Today…" This is   the year. But if frustration is a more familiar  state for you, you will create frustration.   You do this. I know this is hard to hear,  but please hear me with spiritual ears. Some of the frustration you just have to  get through because it's not your fault.   Some of it you're creating. You're creating it  when you compare yourself to other people. You're   creating it when you overload yourself  with all this stuff you're looking at.   You are making yourself frustrated. I'm going to  tell you why you're doing it: because it feels   familiar. You want what's familiar, because  that feels like Nazareth. Favor feels funny. There's no equivalent for God's favor. People  don't love you like that. So, when God tries to,   you push that away. "That's not familiar. I  can't just trust that my sins are forgiven.   I can't just pray to God in any situation. I can't  just give God this burden. I can't just roll in   on him and trust that he cares for me. I can't  smile while I'm going through this. I can't trust   wholeheartedly. I can't take the next step without  knowing all of the details. That's not familiar." So, I will create frustration through a  spirit of manipulation just to feel what   feels like home to me. It said they fastened  their eyes on him. The word is atenizo.   It's used to describe a very emotional attention.  I have to show you this. It's too important. This is what makes the difference.  This is why I didn't see the   mountains. This is why I couldn't see  the Blue Ridge Mountains. Verse 20:   "The eyes of everyone in the synagogue  were [atenizo]." It's an emotional focus.   It's the same word when he was taken up in Acts  1:10. They atenizo. They watched, because they   wondered, "If he's leaving, what's going to  happen to us?" That's how you felt all year.   "Well, if I'm losing this, if it's not like  this anymore, what's going to replace this?" That's what the word was. It was the same word  when Peter was cussing, when Jesus was being   taken away to be crucified. The servant girl  atenizo, fastened her eyes. It's not just like   you look. It's like you're emotionally focusing  on something. Here's the thing I found out about   God's favor: my emotional focus determines whether  I go to frustration, fear, fighting, or favor. The Lord said he wanted to give you the gift  this last month of the year, whoever this   is for… He wants to give you your emotional  focus back. What that is going to require…   I want to make sure you're down, because this  is not going to be easy. You are going to   have to let go of some certain attachments to  familiar things that are blocking God's favor. I don't mean you're going to leave the city.  I don't mean you're going to flee the state.   I don't mean you're going to move to  Canada. I mean that in this moment,   you are going to decide what has been in your  backyard all along that is bigger than what   you're going through and living in right  now. My focus is my favor, not your favor. God gave you a favor; God gave me a favor.  God gave you a family; God gave me a family.   God gave you a gift; God gave me a  gift. Every preacher watching me,   God gave you a church; God gave me a church.  Everybody watching this who wants God to do   something he's doing for somebody else, it is time  for you to focus on the favor God has given you in   this season of your life. And I promise you this.  Atenizo. You will find what you're looking for. If you want to look for goodness, it's on your  right hand. If you want to look for mercy,   it's on your left hand. So, he rolled  up the scroll, and he sat down and said,   "You want favor? It's right in front  of you." It is not out there somewhere.   It is not to be found in any earthly promotion.  It is not to be found in any earthly acclaim. It is in the wilderness. It is in  the synagogue. It is in Nazareth.   But the place where he was brought up  was the place where they were so familiar   with him they could not receive the  favor, because they chose what was   familiar. "That's Joseph's son." Are  you open to seeing the favor of God? I asked the Lord to do three things for us: make  us conscious of his favor (you have to see it),   to help us cooperate with his favor (to stop  fighting against what God is doing in my life),   and then the biggest part of all (this is  why I want to give my offering next weekend),   to make me a conduit for his favor. I want that,  because this is the year of the Lord's favor.   I don't know about tomorrow. He opened the scroll. That's the same thing he  did in Revelation 5. They couldn't find anybody   to open the scroll and break the seals, and  then there was a Lamb next to the one who was   seated on the throne, not stressed, not  freaking out, and neither should you be,   because no matter how it started,  it's going to finish with favor. What sin started in the garden  Jesus dealt with on the cross   and buried in his tomb. So, I'm making the  declaration: you're going to finish with favor.   Do you receive that or are you going to chase  it away? That's what the people did to Jesus.   He started speaking about the favor of God.  He said it's the year of the Lord's favor,   and they were atenizo. They were looking at him. They were expecting one thing, like  we all are. "This is how it's going   to be. This is how it's supposed to work."  They're looking at him. They're focused on   what they think he's going to do, but he said  something very powerful. He said in verse 24,   "Truly I tell you (amen, I say to you),  no prophet is accepted in his hometown." Do you accept what God is doing in this season  of your life? I know what you expected him to do,   but will you accept what he is doing? He said,  "You are too familiar to receive the favor   that is sitting right in front of you. You are so  used to rejection you find it when it's not even   there. You are so unfamiliar with acceptance  you can't receive the love I'm sending you." Whoever you are and whatever this year has  been like for you, the Lord sent me with a   message. Today is the day of the Lord's favor.  It is right in front of you. I don't care how   it started. I don't care what it looks like.  It doesn't matter what happened up until now.   You will finish with favor. Confess  it. "I will finish with favor." He sat down right in front of them.   He said, "The problem with you, why you can't  receive the favor…" This is to the Jewish people   who should have really known him, the people who  saw him running around when he was 2 years old.   Their familiarity killed their favor.   This is kind of sad that Jesus was rejected  by the people who should have recognized him. Listen to this. Verse 25: "I  assure you…" This is Jesus speaking   to the people he knew who should have  known him but couldn't see it because   their emotional focus was on what they expected  God to be like. Is that where your focus is?   What you expected your kid to be like at age 18?  That you expected you would have kids by now? What you expected to happen this year in  your career? If that is your emotional focus,   it is going to kill your favor.   That's what happened here. Jesus goes  all the way back to their history.   "…there were many widows in Israel in  Elijah's time…" Do you remember this story?   I hope you don't, because if you're  unfamiliar with it, you'll hear it better. He said there was a drought for three and a  half years. There was a famine caused by the   drought. Verse 26: "Yet Elijah was not sent to  any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the   region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel  with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet…"   These are famous Bible stories: 1 Kings 17  and 2 Kings 5. You can look these up later.   What you'll see is that God sent his greatest  favor to the people who were least familiar. I wonder… Do we know too much? Do we have too much  of a blueprint of how God is going to bless us?   Have we lived in it so long we  no longer see it for what it is?   He said God had to go to a woman at Zarephath,  had to go to a Syrian commander named Naaman   to show what he could do, because the  people who should have received his power   couldn't recognize what was  right in front of them. Can you? God has given you some great opportunities this  year. He has done some amazing things in your life   this year. He has shown you some ugly stuff that  if he didn't show it to you would have killed you.   Can you receive that? Is this the acceptable year  of the Lord? He's talking about his salvation,   his deliverance, his ministry. I wonder if we have  accepted this for what it really is yet, because   that's the key. Will you accept the favor of God  or are you pushing it away because it feels weird?   That's what they did. It says in verse 28, "All the people in the  synagogue were furious when they heard this."   They heard about God's favor and they were  furious? Yeah. Because it wasn't what they   were familiar with. "I don't like  this. I'm done." What if Joseph   would have said that when his brothers  threw him in a pit? What if Mary would   have said that when the angel visited? "I  don't like this. This doesn't feel good." Do you understand that somebody else is counting  on you to find your favor in your situation?   They don't have the last word. That's why I love  God. If he said this is the year of his favor,   this is the year of his favor. If he said I'm  anointed, I'm anointed. If he said I can do it,   I can do it. If he put it in my hand, if  he gave it to me, I'm going to unroll it.   I'm going to read it. I'm going to sit down  with him and trust that it is finished. Verse 29: "They got up, drove him out of the town,  and took him to the brow of the hill on which the   town was built, in order to throw him off the  cliff." Watch this. They chased away God's favor   because it was not familiar.   You have been chasing away the favor of God  because it has been coming looking like trouble. You have been chasing away the favor of God  because it has been coming looking like challenge.   You have been chasing away the favor of God  because it's not comfortable. Are you going   to chase it away or are you going to embrace it? I  believe God's favor is finding someone right now,   and what I want to leave you with on this  message Finish With Favor is verse 30. When the favor of God is on you,  you can do what Jesus did. "But he   walked right through the crowd…" Six  feet back. Six feet back. Six feet back.   "But he walked right…" Go ahead and take  a selfie right now for a picture of favor,   because guess what. There were some  times in April and May and June and July… I'm starting my New Year's Eve sermon early. I'm  starting it right now. We're going to finish with   favor. So, go ahead and take the picture right now  and post it with #finishwithfavor. Watch this. The   Devil should have killed you while he had the  chance. He should have killed you in the cradle.   He should have killed you before you  found out that the power of God is on you. He should have taken you out before you found out  "I've got the favor of God." It can't kill you.   And he went on his way, because it is not finished  when they say it is. It is not finished when hell   says it is. It is not finished when a government  official says it is. Jesus said, "I will build   my church, and the gates of hell will not  prevail." I declare over Elevation this is   a ministry that was started in the mind of God.  I declare it over your family. I declare it over   your calling. You didn't start it, you don't have  to finish it, and you don't have to figure it out. So, walk right through in the favor of  God. "And they that wait on the Lord   shall renew their strength; they'll mount up on  wings like eagles." Oh, it feels good to get above   it sometimes. "They will run and not grow weary."  I like progress when I'm getting there fast,   but one thing it said… "They will walk   and not faint." I don't know if you got  very high this year. A lot of us didn't.   I don't know if you got very far this year or very  fast. It has been slow progress for a lot of us,   and even some steps backward, but I'm  still walking in the favor of God. Are you going to chase it away? They chased Jesus  out of their town. Or are you going to embrace it?   The favor of the Lord. It's right  in front of you. It's not far off.   It's not in some distant galaxy. It's not  waiting for some future version of you that has   better Scripture reading habits. No,  no, no. The favor of God is here. Lord, we're really tempted right now. That's the  truth. We're tempted to be afraid. It's familiar.   Everybody is doing it. It's a really foreign  concept for us to resist the temptation to fear. It's really easy to fear. It's familiar.  We know how to do it. We're good at it.   We are professional fearers.   We're frustrated about the things that  keep on slipping on us. It's hard for us to   believe you're at work even in those  areas. Some of us are born fighters,   but the problem comes when we start  fighting against the very favor   you gave us…the gift, the situation,  and yes, Lord, even the thorn.   So, Lord, when you gave me  this proclamation, I thought   it was weird. I thought the "year of the  Lord's favor" didn't sound right for 2020. But then you showed me that the fear, the  frustration, the fight… That's what favor is for.   That's why you gave us that favor: to raise  that child. That's why you gave us that favor:   to be patient as we wait.  That's why you gave us that   favor: to battle that addiction.  That's why you gave us that favor. We take our seat with you now. People  are taking stands everywhere this year.   Just for a moment, we want  to take a seat with you.   We thank you that you're  worthy to open the scroll.   You know what's going to happen in the future.   You've already been there, and you declare that  because you finished with favor, we will too. "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me   all the days of my life, and I  will dwell in the house of the Lord   forever." I will finish with favor. Give him  praise if you receive this word. Thank you, Lord.
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Channel: Elevation Church
Views: 727,091
Rating: 4.9108171 out of 5
Keywords: steven furtick, finish with favor, elevation church sermons, pastor steven furtick, steven furtick sermons, 2020 sermons, preaching, preacher, favor, familiarity, the year of favor, conscious, cooperate, conduit, fear, frustration
Id: bT1RNuikquo
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Length: 77min 42sec (4662 seconds)
Published: Sun Dec 06 2020
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