“Highly Favored”
In sports this phrase means absolutely nothing…you may by highly favored and go into the game and find yourself the object of an incredible defeat. When you are favored and you get defeated they call that an upset.
In God, being favored is part of the package, and you never fear an upset for you stay favored.
Last week we left off with Zach, going through the worlds longest “time out”…nine months and then getting his voice back as his son John was about to be born. In the 6th month of Liz’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent out on his 4th mission, the last one we know about to a town called Nazareth. There he would find a young woman named Mary, engaged to a man named Joseph who was a descendent of David.
Last week in our msg “Torched by an Angel”, we saw what could happen in our lives if we argue with God’s plan rather than agree. We witnessed the value of being positive and the difference between saying “Could it Happen?” and “It Could Happen!”
Today Gabe has arrived in the presence of Mary and says:
, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
The story goes on to tell us…
29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be
One translation says,”confused and disturbed” Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.(same alarm as Zach had)
Now before we go further in the story, let’s look at this. Basically God just said, “Congrats Mary-you are very special in God’s eyes!” Rather than take that at face value, Mary wanted to analyze this…where did that come from…ok what do you want from me.
Many times things will happen that we never expected
The Flat Tire
It seems Jerry was driving home from work one afternoon when he got a flat tire. He happened to pull over in front of the city’s largest mental institution. Jerry noticed one of the patients watching him from behind the fence as he grabbed the jack out of his trunk.
One by one, Jerry loosened each of the four lug nuts on the wheel and placed them inside the hubcap he had put on the ground. Off came the flat tire and on went the spare. But as he turned to grab the lug nuts, he kicked the hubcap and caused them all to roll into a sewer opening a few feet away.
Jerry jumped up and screamed: "Oh No! Now what am I gonna do. I’m done for. There’s no way I can go anywhere now!"
A voice came from behind the mental institution fence. "You still have four lug nuts on each of the other three wheels. Why not take one nut off of each one and put those three on the tire you’re changing. That should at least get you to a gas station or auto parts store, where you can get more lug nuts."
Jerry was relieved and impressed. "Wow," he said, "that’s amazing. How did you think of that?"
The patient replied: "I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid."
Consider today that we too may be more interested in what happens to us that we cannot receive what’s said about us. We may be crazy but we’re not stupid! God wants each of us to realize that we have been blessed in advance because of our connection with Him. As believers we are highly favored by God…just like Mary.
What does it mean to be highly favored?
Ps 5:12
12For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
We have this “shield” of protection around us known as God’s favor. We are untouchable…unphased by things that send others reeling. Because of that shield we need not be afraid…we operate with total confidence in our maker. Let me illustrate…
Play Movie clip:”Independence Day”
The only way that the enemy could be destroyed, the only way to penetrate the shield is to give the mother ship a virus….a cold
Once you impact the mother ship, you impact the fleet.
You see the devil knows that you are “favored”. He knows that the only way to bring down your “favor shield” is to bring a virus into your relationship with God. Weak relationship: weak shield, no relationship, no shield. Some viruses last a day…others can hang on for quite a while
If he penetrates your hotline to heaven and breaks the connection, interrupts the call, then you lose the “Teflon coating”. Things that used to slide off of your “no stick” surface now begin to stick.
You and I need to believe in our shield. We’re favored and that enables us to pass on favor to others. Look at your neighbor and say, “Do me a favor!”
Favor comes in more flavors than Baskin Robbins it will taste like whatever you need it to. You walk into meetings with preferential treatment…people do things for you…situations work out for you…all because of favor. (handout attached to lesson)
The breakdown comes again when we fail to realize what we have and who called us and just who or should I say whose we are. Mary was getting the skinny on who she was…she was being prepped for a miracle. Too many of us act like we work for the CIA and that God has us on a “need to know” basis. It’s ok to wonder why? Just don’t stay there…
Mary wondered why?
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
Again it was the difference in asking:
How can I be sure vs. How will this be?
Gabe sets her at ease:
. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
Mary “found favor”. It was always there but now she collided with it and so it would cause some terrific things to take place. She will have a son…his name will be Jesus and he will be great…the Son of the Most High! In a sense, Mary was totally satisfied with life when God interrupted her. It seems God visits us when we are quite comfortable with our own ordinary plans of life. Even during this Christmas God calls people who are happy with themselves and do not seem to need any particular business with God at all.
Gabe goes on to answer Mary’s how question…here’s how its going to be…
35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be calledC the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God."
The info ends with a promise..nothing is impossible with God.
Then Mary responds: the response that would usher in the promise of God to the world!
38"I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
May everything you said come true!
Mary agreed with the plan…she allowed herself to accept what God desired and all that comes with it. It begins with servanthood
There are a couple things we can glean from why the angel told Mary about Liz’s pregnancy too. Perhaps it was to further validate the miracle that Mary was about to receive since she was related to Liz.
You see it’s easier to believe it can happen for you if you know it has happened for someone else.
God put people in our lives to help us walk through stuff. Mary was so excited about this new revelation that she went to see Liz
39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
the baby leaped in her womb…you see God said He would be filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb.
When preparation meets purpose, your spirit will leap within you
Not only do you become enthusiastic, but you have a promise from God that you would be blessed because you believed what He said
John would be born to prepare the way….Jesus would be born to become the way
and all you and I would have to do is find Him, and we would find the way.
God’s plan was to make himself known to us. As we recognize his favor on us and all that comes with it, its our job to share that with everyone in our circle of influence.
We have a list of 12 values.
We value “outreach” …evangelism through special events, strategic partnerships and relationships. We reach out to bring in.
We value “missions” …our strength is not in how many people we add but rather how many we send out to do the work of the ministry
As we prepare ourselves for the new building and the new year, we need to keep the main thing the main thing….church is all about relationship with Christ and getting folks connected to His family through our family. Our job is to be strategic and intentional about what we are doing. There’s a program called Mission Evangelism, being developed by some friends of mine and one of them Terry Collins is here today. I want Terry to come and introduce the program to you and help you prepare your hearts for helping others see that they are “highly favored” in the eyes of God.
