IMPACT Recap

Flowing in Favor Part 1

June 20, 2021 · 0:51:13

ObedienceBlessingsLeadership

Recap

Pastor Travis Hearn opened the service with a warm welcome and a focus on God's favor, drawing from the prayer of Jabez and the example of David. He emphasized that God's favor can open doors, change lives in an instant, and provide an advantage that surpasses human effort, skill, or wealth. The core message was that believers can actively 'win' and grow in God's favor through specific, biblical postures of the heart. Pastor Travis outlined three key pathways to experiencing this divine favor. First, favor follows obedience to God's Word, as illustrated by God's promises to Israel in Deuteronomy and Abraham's ultimate test of faith. Second, favor follows the humble-hearted, as modeled by Jesus Christ, who came not to be served but to serve. Pastor Travis contrasted this Christ-like humility with the destructive pride prevalent in culture and relationships. Third, favor follows the faithful, defined by dependability, responsibility with what God has entrusted, and availability to God and others. The sermon concluded with a call to surrender to Christ as the foundation for receiving favor and a prayer for God's blessing in every area of life.

Main Points

  • Favor follows obedience to God's Word and commands.
  • Favor follows those who walk in Christ-like humility, putting others first.
  • Favor follows the faithful, who are dependable, responsible, and available.

Verses Mentioned

  • Psalm 119:58 - "I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise." (NIV)
  • 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 - "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, 'I gave birth to him in pain.' Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request." (NIV)
  • Deuteronomy 28:1-2 - "If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God." (NIV)
  • Deuteronomy 28:3-6 - "You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out." (NIV)
  • Deuteronomy 28:13 - "The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom." (NIV)
  • Psalm 128:1 - "Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him." (NIV)
  • Genesis 22:15-18 - "The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, 'I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.'" (NIV)
  • Matthew 5:5 - "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (NIV)
  • 1 Peter 5:5 - "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'" (NIV)
  • Philippians 2:3-8 - "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" (NIV)
  • Isaiah 66:2 - "Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being? declares the LORD. 'These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.'" (NIV)
  • Proverbs 3:3-4 - "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man." (NIV)
  • Luke 12:48 - "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (NIV)
  • Luke 16:10 - "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." (NIV)
  • Matthew 25:21 - "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'" (NIV)

Daily Action Plan