Sunday sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew, 17 August 2020

We are continuing with the series on Favour of God. In the past, we have done several series but there are two that changed the path of the church, which are the series on the Holy Spirit and the series on the Lord’s second coming. The third such series if the one we are doing now, which is on the favour of God.

The Lord is not allowing me to move into another message. There will surely be a release of an anointing of God’s favour upon His church. If you believe so, Worship in the Spirit

Esther 2:17--17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

• God has favoured me above all.
• Each of you listening to this must become highly favoured more than anybody else! Let that anointing come upon you in a way that will make you be more favoured than everybody else.
• Let the blanket of His anointing come upon you. You are favoured above all. Get ready to expect the unexpected.
• Favour is God giving you an opportunity; God and man (the right people) giving you an opportunity.
• When I stepped out for God, I was praying for opportunities. My spiritual father gave me opportunities. Jose uncle gave me opportunities.

It is not us making a way for ourselves. It is God who is breaking open a way in front of us supernaturally.

• An ordinary village girl, an orphan and a captive girl received favour from God.
• I am special child, I am favoured, because of the Blood of Jesus, I am deeply favoured, and I am highly favoured.
• Opportunity widens for people who patiently prepare. There is a preparation in line with the opportunity you have.

Opportunities always disguise themselves as obstacles. You may have a feeling of unworthiness; BUT it is not that.

• Within 4 months of Vashti being sent out, Esther was called to be prepared.
• People have calling but they don’t prepare. Somewhere along the line, the Lord started preparing her and Esther surrendered to that. Esther went through 1 year of treatment.
• Always prepare yourself. As soon as the Lord give s you a prophecy, it takes time sometimes for it to be fulfilled.

Even if you are favoured, you must learn to be patient. Be willing to wait upon God with the right attitude.

• Depending on the level of opportunity you need patience.
• Even before Esther became a queen, she was learning how she would need to conduct herself if she would become a queen; How to speak, how to conduct herself, what to do, and what not to do, she already began to act in faith on how she was going to be if she were a queen.

A saying: We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our system.

• The people who win and the people who lose have the same dream. The difference is only that the one who wins has put in place a system to win.
• Hussain Bolt trained 14 hours. Up at 3.00 am, gym at 5.00 am, 6.00 am on the track. 8.00 am to the body conditioning camp, and again back on the track!

If you want to become one favoured by God, you have to put a system in place. You need to pray or read the Word of God.

• You need to value the man of God’s presence. One needs to make some decisions- Every month, I will fast and pray at least 3 days in a month. You have to ask the Holy Spirit how to build this system?

What’s in your private life is what manifests in the public life.

• The men and women of God who are serving God publicly, often have a secret relationship with the Lord; They pray, they pray in the Spirit and they worship the Lord, they have a discipline.
• If you want to know if someone is a genuine man or woman of God, you only need to look at their children. If all their children are serving God, then they have had a genuine walk with God. That is a system that has come in.
• If you want to be fruitful in church, you have to rooted and faithful.

God is giving some people the wisdom to set up a God given system in your life. Financial systems for financial miracles, spiritual systems of prayer and word for spiritual success.

I made a system that I will not waste a single moment in my life. Whether it is to encourage someone, or celebrate something or create memories. I won’t even waste my mistakes. I will learn from it. I will surrender them to Jesus. Earlier I used to have a “take life as it comes” kind of an attitude; but not anymore. I put a system that I will honour my parents--- I have a system in place for that. Though I used to know the importance of honouring parents it in the past, I used to still lose my cool with them. But now that has stopped. I will only says things in appreciation of them, even if they kill me, I will still respect them.

Philemon 1: 4- I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,

• There is a system where I pray. Apostle Paul talks about his prayer life.
• You have to set a system to see dreams, to create memories, learn from mistakes. Get ready to be patient

To put a SYSTEM in place means planning a process

• If you just say that you are waiting for the Lord’s coming and just sit there without doing anything, nothing will happen. If you saying you going to school and not wear your

uniform; if you say you will go to work and not even change your lungi, then how do you expect to see the promise??

• Jesus help me to prepare myself.
• Esther began to walk like a queen even before she went up to meet the king.
• When I watch some people minister, I am amazed. They have come prepared. The moment they take the mike, they know how to bring the glory of God down.

If God gives you an opportunity, then it will always be bigger than you! God gives you a blessing so that you can be a blessing.

• The reason God raised Esther up was so that she could stand in the gap for God’s people. There is a purpose of God to show you favour. It is not selfish; it is not for your agenda and your purposes. This applies even in the areas of business, jobs, family lives and in matters concerning your children.

LET’S LOOK AT SOME CHARACTERS IN THE BOOK OF ESTHER

1) VASTHI- She refused to show up

• Who calls you matters.
• Not everybody will get the same response from me. But I have a different response if my mentors call me. When your boss calls you, will you act with him the way you would act if your friend calls you? Vasthi refused to show up and she lost her place.

2) Ahasuerus King – He is easily persuadable

• He is distracted very fast. He said, “OK, kill the Jews!” and with the same force, he said later “OK, don’t kill the Jews.”
• Are you one of them? You want Herod, you also want the wise kings. You listen to deliberations from the world and also from the Word.
• This morning, if you are unstable, the Lord send forth His mercy. May you make decisions for God. To Stand in Christ for the church, for His kingdom. May God give you the grace for it!

3) Haman- He is devious

• He loses his happiness to small things. He wants people to build his self-esteem and self- image. He is greedy.
• He is believed to have more wealth than the king and it was because of that wealth that he came into that position.
• He was ambitious to become someone on his own.
• He is a man out of control. He is not in control or doesn’t come under control. He hasn’t submitted to anybody and nobody had managed to control him.
• Don’t use your money or influence against the Kingdom of God. Don’t use your authority against men of God and church of God. If you do, you will fall into the pit you have dug for others. Do not come against men of God. I have experienced this in 25 years of ministry. Never ever stand against anybody whom the Lord has anointed, even if it is a small child.

4) Mordecai- he was the man behind the scene

• Esther had a Mordecai.
• Mordecai was the man behind the scenes. The Lord is rising up some people who will be mentors.
• Your name will never be seen but all those that you helped and mentored will shine forth for Go. It may also be your own children. Because of your prayers, because of you sowing the Word into their lives, they will shine forth for God.

We don’t want to be heroes; we want to be hero makers.

• In this church, every single person who comes here are ministers of God. God will create opportunities for you.
• Mordecai’s cries could be heard inside the palace.

GOD HAS THREE TYPES OF CHILDREN

The 1st type: This one is likened to the prodigal son

• Those with an “I don’t care” attitude.
• Selfish. The black sheep of the family.
• The prodigal son ran away from home, he wasted the resources God gave him and ended up having a wasted life.
• These children are not born again.
• They are dead inside.
• They lead a reckless life. These children bring a lot of heart ache to the father.
• They are attracted to everything that is anti-moral.

The 2nd type: This one a son but is bitter hearted

• He hasn’t left home. He is within the home but has no relationship with the father.
• These are wounded and hurt people.
• They do not know how much their father loves them.
• But they only want to walk independently.
• They suffer from the fear of rejection.
• Their entire effort is to work and work and work.
• Even this son is breaking the heart of his father. No relationship with the father.

When you have stumbled you shouldn’t run away from God. When you have a disease, will you run away from the doctor? If your car is broken down, will your run away from the mechanic?

Onesimus was a slave who worked in Philemon’s home. He had robbed Philemon and ran away from there. Paul met Onesimus in Rome. Paul brought Him to the Lord. Paul is saying this to Onesimus to go back to Philemon and to repair his relationships. Paul is saying that “he is very profitable to me. He is like a son to me”! (Despite the fact that Onesimus was actually a slave) • Philemon was a rich man. He had lots of money, he also opened his home up for the

church. But Paul is saying that more than the Philemon, Onesimus is much more profitable to him!

• If you have the heart of a pastor, you wealth is not needed. You will become profitable for the kingdom of God.

In accordance to my stewardship and faithfulness, God’s favour comes upon me. I don’t serve God out of duty.

I have not put anybody in ministry because they gave me offering and they have lots of money or come from a big family. But if your heart is right with God and you have a relationship with the Lord, He will grant you favour and make you favoured.

• Going back to the 2nd type of son. It is not sufficient if you are in the house with your father but you need to draw close to him. You need to have a relationship with Him. And for that, you need trust.
• Without faith it is impossible to please God. No relationship works without trust and faith. What if the husband doesn’t trust the wife? What if there is no trust between children and parents?
• The oldest son, did not have trust and did not have closeness too.

GOD IS TELLING YOU: learn to enjoy the party! God the Father has organised a supernatural party for His children. There is anointing, party, gifting’s, celebration, an outpouring of His presence. Don’t stand far off.

The 3rd type: This son was favoured above both of them

• Who was this Son?

Hebrews 3:4-6- 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope [a]firm to the end.

Mathew 3:17- 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

• Jesus was favoured above all. What does one mean by ‘ALL’? He was favoured more than the 1st son and the 2nd son.
• More than working for God, God is wanting relationship. He doesn’t want you to do anything. He has a heart that overflows with love for you and longs to have a relationship with you.
• Verses 5 from Hebrews 3 shows us that Moses was working but there was no love or reverence but a fear. There was no relationship. He is doing what he had to do. He looked at God like a Judge.
• When you have a perspective like God being a judge, you will try to bargain with him saying “I killed only one but my friends killed ten people.” or “I had only one peg, he had 100 pegs!” Both are wrong in the eyes of God. Both get the same punishment.
• More than the person with ADAM’s nature in the Old Testament (OT) or the person who walks in the laws of God in the OT, the one who understands the love and favour of God in the New Testament like Jesus is more significant.
• The OT person is working and washing the car. The NT one (3rd type of son) is also doing it. But for the 3rd type, the Father is important, he knows that it is his car but the other one (2nd type) is only looking at it as ‘work’!
• Esther is a team worker. She had a relationship with Mordecai.

In the New Testament, works are not important but the relationship.

• You are the beloved of the Father. That is why He favours you above all because you are worth the Blood of His only Son.
• There is therefore no condemnation or those who are in Christ Jesus.
• I am favoured of God. Because of that, responsibility-consciousness and stewardship comes as an outcome of your relationship with the Father.

You will feel that “this is my Father’s House. I have to steward it and watch over it.”

• The ability of steward things faithfully, is what determines the authority and the levels of anointing over your life. It all depends upon the relationship you have with the Lord.

Help me to be a good steward

• Genesis 13 says that Abraham was rich in silver, gold and cattle. But he is asking who will be the heir to all this. Should this be my slave Eliezer?
• I have seen people who have wealth and houses, much more than their need but they are crying for one child to be an heir to all that.
• GOD has everything but HE is looking for a son who is in a relationship with Him or the one who is stewarding correctly and the one who is responsible.
• As a pastor I look for sons and daughter. Will you steward the ministry well?

➢ The first son comes from pride and rebellion. ➢ Second son says I won’t walk with him but I will work with the father. Slightly better

than the first son. ➢ The third son says, “I am the beloved son of God”.

When you understand this, your life will change your prayer will change!

• Lazarus’s tomb was visited by Jesus. And when he prays. He just says Father I thank you that you have heard my prayer. He knew he was a son.
• Health is your inheritance as a child of God.

Inability to give or receive love is a sign of sickness.

DISCOVERY- FAVOUR ABOVE ALL

• You need to discover the heart of the Father.
• You need to understand who YOU are. Only then will you have the confidence to pray. You are His Son. Don’t serve God out of duty
• God gave Abraham a son whom he was willing to lay down and sacrifice and because of that God promised him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and sands on the sea. Just because Jesus was sacrificed, the Father found several children (like you and me)

You are a special child. You are rare. There is nobody else that is like you. If you go now, you are gone forever. God won’t make another person like you. You are unique. Each eye is different, finger prints cannot be replaced. You are a special child.

Relationship Responsibility Stewardship