Sunday sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew, Cornerstone Church, 19 July 2020

Proverbs 16:15- In the light of the king’s face is life, And his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain.

If there is anybody who is going through difficult times, don’t be burdened, the God you have approached this morning, will send forth His healing, love, deliverance upon you. If you believe it, pray and sing in the Spirit.

THERE IS A SAYING THAT WHEN GOD FAVOURS YOU, HE ALLOWS SOMEONE TO BE A PROBLEMS SOLVER IN YOUR LIFE.

FAVOUR IS MENTIONED AS AN ATTITUDE OF GOOD TOWARDS YOU; IT MEANS A WILLINGNESS OR AN ABILITY OF SOMEONE TO HELP YOU TO HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANT. GOD IS TURNING SOME BODY’S HEART FAVOURABLY TOWARDS YOU, TO HELP YOU.

FAVOUR IS THAT WHICH DETERMINES THE LIMIT OR THE BOUNDARY OF YOUR DESTINY OR YOUR LIFE.

FAVOUR IS THE IMPARTIAL PARTIALITY OF GOD.

• God is never partial—but he is impartially partial. A bit difficult to understand.
• He says, in the WORD- Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated. There is an impartial partiality of God. Even before they were born, there is a favour that comes upon some people. We don’t understand. Why is it so?
• David committed the sin of adultery, murder (the sin of Lukri). But God calls him a man after GOD’s own heart. Jesus in the New Testament is referred to by people as the Son of David. But Jesus did not oppose that or refuse from being called so!

The Holy Spirit is saying this to someone who is depressed: God’s favour is finding you. Don’t be afraid to jump up again and look to the face of Jesus Christ. God is favouring you now to be used by God again.

• It is said that Favour is not fair. It can change any hopeless situation around.

This morning there is healing in the Name of Jesus. Let that skin disease leave. Let the fibroid in your uterus leave.

When God favours you, your mistakes become miracles.

• David was humble. On the contrary Saul was an arrogant man. He built his own idol. Increase your humility level. Don’t sit there thinking that you are somebody great! God gives grace to the humble.

Somebody is messing up, somebody else God is warming up!

• In the book of Numbers, the Lord said that in Jacob I have found no iniquity!!! Really?! He has been creating trouble even in his mother’s womb. Why did the Lord say that? He had found favour! Even this morning, let no iniquity be found in you. Say amen!

God has stopped coming down from heaven. He is using people here on earth.

Luke 11:9- “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

ASK

• Who is the one who usually asks? It is beggars, right! They ask, saying “give me something!” They is not specificity in what they ask. They don’t ask “give me a laptop”.
• They look unto the hands of the man who is the master of that house. They don’t need to know the master in order to ask him.
• We can’t ask, “Give me something Lord.”
• There is a distance associated with the word ASK. It doesn’t have a goal. It doesn’t have a personal touch, but it has a discipline.
• Every week, Wednesday we had a man coming over to ask us for alms. If he wouldn’t come one Wednesday, we would all wonder why he hadn’t. There was a regularity and a discipline but that did not mean that he had a relationship with us!

SEEK

Psalm 27:7-9- Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” 9 Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Seek the FACE of the Lord. That is the primary thing.

• The verse we read talks about the light of His face / His countenance. You need to seek His face, not to stand at a distance and only ask.
• When you go to see a potential bride, 90% of the time we look at the girl’s face. There is a saying that the face is the mirror of the heart. If you see the face, you know the heart. Every face will have a story.
• People are used to looking at His Hands. But God says, look at MY face. When you do so, God’s favour and blessings will come upon you,
• David was one who sought the Lord’s face, that’s why he was called a man after his own heart. Because he saw God’s face and knew God’s heart. If you are begging God then you don’t need to know the heart of God’s heart.
• There are many people who seek something from God but very few who seek Him for HIMSELF. If you seek his face, His favour will come upon you.

Seek His will------His ways------His plans and purpose

• The man who asks, finishes his asking and leaves on his way after he gets what he wanted.

Mathew 6:33: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you

• When you sit to ask Him, you must ask Him what is in His list that you should pray for, not what you want.
• When you seek His face. He will reveal His will over your life.

3) KNOCK

• You can knock upon only him or her with whom you have a close relationship.
• God’s favour is not some magic. It is in a relationship with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, where you have confidence in God.
• The Lord is saying in the Book Revelations, “I am standing at your door and knocking. If you open it, I will come and sup with you.”

God is touching somebody’s heart here today- I am seeing a man with white shirt and white mundu. You may nto be very keen to watch this service but God is knocking at your door.

Stephanos, saw heavens opened when he knocked.

You should knock for eternal things.

God says- David are looking into My heart? I will rebuild the broken tents of David. If you are seeking and knocking, the Lord is faithful to build your home.

GOD’S FAVOUR IN TIMES OF TROUBLE

The Bible says if two or more come together in My name, there I will come into their midst. There is a favoured gathering. We forgot the value of that, perhaps that’s why the Lord allowed this. Pastor says that he still wants to see our faces and prays that the Lord would how forth His mercy and open doors for the people of God to come together. There are six ways of coming together as per the Word.

Genesis 49: 1-2- And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days: 2 “Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father.

• Gather all you family together. Bring everyone in your home.
• In the following verses, we hear Jacob speaking of Reuben his first born.

REUBEN

Gensis 49:3-4- Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. 4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it— He went up to my couch.

• He says, Reuben, what you do is not good. The double portion is meant to be yours. You are the first. But your mind is not fixed.
• This is a little bit of history—After Rachel, Jacob’s wife who he loved dies, Reuben went to the concubine that belonged to his dad.

SIMEON

Genesis 49:5- Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of [a]cruelty are in their dwelling place.

• And about Simeon, it is said that the Lord would scatter them in a way that they don’t have a peaceful abiding place.
• This is a quick history- Somebody misused their sister. But they forgot that vengeance is the Lord’s and they killed all the men in that place in their fierce anger. They forgot letting it go into the hands of God. Two things that God won’t share with anybody are Glory and vengeance.
• When you read Deuteronomy 33, Moses when he blesses the tribes of Israel, there were only 11 tribes. Simeon was left out.

What about Reuben? How come he was inducted into the blessing?

• Did not Jacob not know that Reuben had defiled the bed of his father? Did Jacob not curse? Why did Jacob not correct them?
• Some people tell you that you can correct them, but when you do, they get upset.
• Jacob too felt that even if had asked Reuben or confronted him at that time, it would have been difficult.
• There is a time when parents are afraid of their children. If they ask something, we get upset and want to pounce on them.

Even if you parents are in the wrong, and you are right, you still have no right to pounce back on them. When you take that decision, God will send such great blessing and favour upon you that you will be saturated by it.

• If you behave well and humble yourself before your parents, God will send forth His favour upon you.

Let not your head ever refuse rebuke. You need somebody to checkmate you and correct you.

Pastor: I don’t want to be a war lord to myself where nobody can speak to me and where I feel that I am always right.

Genesis 49:28- All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.

• All these 12 tribes of Israel were blessed. Not one was cursed. But Jacob knew what would conspire in the future.
• If you don’t change your nature and character, what is ahead of you isn’t great.

JUDAH

Verses 8-9 - “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you. 9 Judah is

a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He [a]bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

• Judah wasn’t perfect. He as the one who delivered Joseph to the hands of the Ishmaelites.
• Judah was the one who slept with Tamar, his own daughter in law. He was willing to do anything for cheap sex. He went home to bring the sheep and went by leaving his staff behind as a surety. But he never came back and Tamar becomes pregnant with his child. And he repents of his sin and calls Tamar more righteous than him.
• The Lord doesn’t say if any of them, Reuben, Simeon or Levi said sorry or repented.
• Jacob declares about Judah that the lawgiver shall rise from you.
• The DNA of this church is the one of praise unto God.

JOSEPH

Genesis 49:22- Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall.

• Joseph wherever he was, he walked in the favour of God. He always believed that the God of his fathers will help him.
• No matter what he went through, because He had God’s favour upon him, he was always helped.

Verse 25: With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

What is the blessing of the breast?

➢ It signifies nourishment. ➢ It implies a finished product. ➢ It is a blessing that is perfected by God.

• Joseph went through difficulties but God blessed him with the perfected blessing

God is going to give someone a house that was built for somebody else. Some of you will receive charge in your jobs to run the full show!

• In the midst of your trouble, if you declare that God is my help and if you walk in a relationship with Christ and seek His face, there are some finished products that God has kept for you.
• Potiphar told Joseph this entire house is yours. You may have come as a slave. But you take over.

What is the blessing of the womb?

➢ It implies a blessing that is protected blessing like how a baby inside of the womb is

protected.

• That is God’s divine favour. If God gives you a ministry, no envy can destroy it. Nobody can touch it. There is a protecting nature of God’s blessing.
• You will have the blessing of the womb and blessing of the breast. It is from the face of the King that favour, blessing and help comes.
• There is a saying that God doesn’t delight in long legs.

Psalm 147:10- His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;

• The one who looks at His face is blessed. Don’t put the cart before the horse.
• We want God’s favour and not man’s favour. Man’s favour can come within God’s favour but man’s favour doesn’t imply that you have God’s favour.

STOP networking! Without God’s favour networking is a waste of time.

• God is not interested in your networks and links. God will say, go ahead and do your thing and when you get hit, then let’s see! ☺
• Don’t take your refuge in your contacts but take your refuge in God. Look unto the face of God and be strengthened. He will do a miracle for you.

In fact, God is looking to shape you for the next one decade. Receive wisdom and be strengthened, for the next 10 years God shaping your business. God is going to download what you need for ten years, in the next 3 months. The face of this church is just going to change. The Holy Spirit is releasing what you need for the 4 generations in this church.

Psalms 50:5, 15- “Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have [a]made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

• If you have made a covenant with God and if you will knock and have a relationship with Him, He will answer you when you call upon Him in the day of trouble.

Daniel 3:2- And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

• An elite gathered together. There is saying that gold rules and he who has gold makes the golden rules.
• Mammon here is an evil power. They were asked to bow before it and worship.
• 3 young Israelites said that they will not bow down.
• There is a generation that is raising up that will no love gold or silver but will have a conviction.

The Holy Spirit is saying that in Egypt, money failed them. Don’t keep your refuge in money. Don’t serve money.

• Because they did not bow down, they were thrown into fire heated 7 times more. The king showed his fury. But they came out unscathed because the fourth person was with them in the fire.
• In the midst of your fiery furnace, Christ is with you. The shepherd will stand closely with you.

There is an anointing for you, if you uncompromisingly walk in the favour of God, no matter how great the king is, they will bow down before you whatever is not of God will bow before you.

Daniel 3:26- 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the [a]mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.

• The King addressed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego as the servants of the Most High God! Because they stood uncompromising for God, when they came out, they were known as the servants of God. When you come out of your fiery trial, the Lord will make you a servant of God.

The Holy Spirit is saying that some of you even if you are going through COVID-19, the children of God will come out without ANY issue. Your children, your business, your health, will remain untouched. Heaven will be with you. You will come through! But stand faithful.

Daniel 3:29- 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”

• The Lord will make the homes of the enemies that stand against you, a dung hill!

The Holy Spirit is saying, “Don’t panic over money matters”.

WHY SHOULDN’T YOU PANIC OVER MONEY MATTERS?

Mathew 6:24- “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and [a]mammon.

• You can’t serve both God and mammon.
• I am saying this to you, don’t worry about

Fashion Food Future

If you are serving God, then you will be worried about these three

Pastor’s anecdote: I don’t have a Master credit card. I have a VISA but not a Master card. This cannot be my Master. I only have Jesus as my master.

Daniel 3: 30- 30 Then the king [a]promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.

The King promoted them!

• If you look unto the face of the King, there is life. If you look unto the face of the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, you will be promoted.
• Some people’s businesses and jobs will be lost but the Lord will take yours to another level!

God is taking some of your ministries to another level. There is a promotion at the end of the lockdown.

Psalms 102: 13-14- You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come. 14 For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, And show favor to her dust. Thou shall arise and have mercy upon Zion.

You shall receive the

Grace of God

Goodness of God

Glory of God

Verse 18- This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

• People who are not just born but created in the image and likeness of God.

There is a generation that the Lord is created during the lockdown, they are new creation, a new generation. God’s favour will come upon them.

Verse 20, 21- o hear the groaning of the prisoner, To release those appointed to death, 21 To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem, 22 When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

The Lord is delivering people who are sentenced to death either because HIV or cancer. We speak forth the deliverance. Whatever the negative report may be, it is terminated in the name of Jesus.

Verse 22- When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

• They had favour and they gathered together
• You will not serve the Lord in vain. You will be rewarded.
• When you dedicate and surrender yourselves to the service of the Lord, you will experience His favour