 This morning I want to speak to you on a topic called favored yet complicated. Favored yet complicated. Many of us can relate to the to the to the second part of it complicated but not to favored and many can relate to favored but not yet complicated. So I want to speak to the two groups this morning to be able just to encourage us from the Word of God some things that we can learn some things that we can apply for our own lives to see what the Word of God teaches us and to be a better people in our community in our workplace for Jesus Christ. Amen church. I heard this story recently there was this blonde lady that was driving and nothing against blondes but she was driving she got pulled over by this officer who happened also to be a blonde and and she was a female and the officer asked this lady said can you can I see your driver's license and this lady was searching her purse just searching thoroughly and be frustrated and she looked at her and she said I I don't know where my driver license how does it look like and the officer said it's it's a little square that has your picture on it so the lady just looking through her person finds a mirror and she looks in the mirror and she sees picture of her so as it gives it to the police officer police officer looks at the mirror and she's a picture of her senses and gives it back to says I'm sorry I did not know I just pulled over an officer so that that was a story that really encouraged me some of you will get it later but anyways if you have your Bibles let us open to Luke Luke 1 28 mirror picture and get it Luke 1 28 and it says this Luke 1 28 feet I have your Bibles it's on the screen here and it says the angel went to her and said greetings you are greetings you who are highly favored the Lord is with you I want to read this again the angel went to her and said greetings you who are highly favored the Lord is with you this is a story that we read about Mary who the angel came to her and said that she was going to give a birth to the Savior of the world to Messiah when angel said you who are highly favored little did Mary know that the complications that would come with this statement little did she know that she would be the one to carry a seed inside of her that will change the whole world but with that will come so much rejection so much name-calling so much you know being lied to being being to put in this position where people talk negative about you little did she know that she was going to face that after she would receive that word from my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ many of us are in a position where we are in a complicated situation but before the complication becomes there was a word from God that you are highly favored and the Lord is with you some of you this morning you may be facing a trial you may be certain things happening in your family in your marriage maybe in your health before you got to that position there was a word from God that you are highly favored and the Lord is with you we have to understand that part that before any trouble that you experience in your life the Lord knew you in your mother's womb the Lord knew everything about you and he said you are fearfully and you're wonderfully made before maybe there was a trouble with your finances or trouble in your family or with kids the Lord named you that you are highly favored and he will be with you and never leave you and never forsake you and then church and that is the God that we serve from the story that we read you know the angel comes to Mary and begins to tell her that you are highly favored little later down the road you know she begins to to experience these things you know Joseph comes to her and finds out that you know she's been you know she she's pregnant with with a seed and it's not hers and then Joseph begins to call off the wedding and then Mary needs to go to her family begins to lie and begin to say all these things and other people you know begin to talk and and then the community there's people are saying you know how can this be happening they had a wedding scheduled and now she's pregnant before that becomes a disgrace and all of this complication happens with Mary but one thing Mary does not do she does not loses the word that was given from the angel from God that I'm highly favored and the Lord is with me somebody say I'm highly favored and the Lord is with me somebody say favor is my name so if anybody asks you what is your middle name you can tell him favor is my name when we used to be in Nigeria there will be they would play the song called favors my name I loved it so much but I don't know if I could do it during this Wednesday service it's kind of kind of complicated but I want it from this story that we read we have to understand that favor comes way before any of your troubles that you begin to experience in your life nothing good comes without complications if you believe in a life that if you're gonna get blessed if you're gonna get promotion if you're going to get favor and life will be easy you're lying to yourself I'm not trying to prepare you for disaster but I want you to encourage you the favor from the Lord what God has spoken into your life to hold on to God hold on to God's promise because that is what will get you the time of trials that is what will get you through the time of persecution of name-calling a black male that is what will get you through your hard times is hanging on to the word that the God Almighty has spoken into your life in my church favor is a place where everybody wants but nobody realizes the complication and the burdens that it brings with it everything good in your life that you will receive will not be given to you as a as something as free a cost and you know you just have to sit back relax and just enjoy the ride there will be times of test there'll be times of trial if you can put up the picture I really like this picture that always that always kind of encourages me that this is your plan you believe that God will bless you and God will prosper you and God will do this and God is faithful and he will but don't expect your road to be this simple most likely it's going to be this and not most likely it will be this you will go through times where it's good you go through times where it's a little bit tough you go through times where you will rejoice you'll go through times where you will cry but you'll be like Job in good times blessed be the name of the Lord and in bad times blessed be the name of the Lord here's my God and he did not change he is my healer and he did not change he might deliver and he did not change I'll hold on to the promise that God has spoken to my life. I am highly favored and the Lord is with me church. Amen. I remember before when we were in this church and we decided, you know, we encourage a lot of people, you will help your community, you will change your family, you will begin to influence people, you will one day open up a home group, you'll be a leader, you know, you'll have more than enough. But not many people realize in order for you to change your family tree, you will be rejected by your own. If you think that you can get up and you say, you know, you're the first one in your family to serve God, and you're going to be like this light on top of the hill, and you know, everybody's going to applaud you to your way to the top, and that's not how it's going to happen. You know, looking at Mary's life, and if you put yourself in a position of Mary, how do you explain to your husband to be that you were, you just got, you're pregnant? I mean, if you put yourself in a position of that, how do you explain to your parents before the wedding day that this was going to happen? How do you explain that position? How do you explain that situation that, look, the angels stood by the house and you know, now I'm pregnant. How does that just make sense? But she knew from the word that God has sent her, the word from heaven that I'm highly favored, and the Lord is with me, even though my husband might not understand, even though my family might reject it, even though I have to lie to my, and hide from everybody to protect the word of God that has spoken to me. I know the Lord is with me, and he will not leave me, and he will not forsake me. Amen, church. That's what happens many times when you begin to open up your home group, and you believe like, man, okay, I'm going to witness to my friends, I'm going to evangelize, I'm going to, you know, talk to my parents, they're going to receive God, I'm going to talk to my schoolmates, you know, everything's going to be good, and I'm going to do this thing, but then you begin to realize that the devil begins to attack you. The devil begins to attack your own health, the devil begins to attack your family, the devil begins to attack your finances, and all these things, and you begin to question, did God really say to me that, you know, I'm highly favored, and he's with me? Is God still with me through this time of tests and trials? No, I want to do so much for God, I want to be able to change my family, but why is this thing happening to me? First point, I want you to understand that blessing, these blessings attract persecution. Blessings, they attract persecution. Don't pray for a bigger blessing if you do not want to face the burden that comes with it. Do not think that God can elevate you to a place where you will just walk freely, smile freely, and do whatever freely without your name being stained, without your reputation being stained by some, you know, doubt or some, some criticism, some haters, or all these people, they're going to say things, they're going to lie by you. Don't think people just applaud you to your way to the top. If you want to make a difference in this world, if you want to make a difference in your own world, critics will not leave your name untarnished and unstained. If you want to be a person of influence for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they'll never be a person that will rise up and just say, you know, you go ahead. They'll be always critics, they'll always be haters, they'll always be blackmail, but that is what you know that you're on the right path to, from, and your name is called by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I'm at church. It's a blessing to have a higher paying job, but then your life becomes so busy and you don't have enough time for family and friends and all that. It's a blessing to have a bigger and a nicer car, but the expenses and the maintenance that you need to keep it, it's a blessing, you know, to be married to a beautiful wife, but then you need the money to maintain it, you know. It's a blessing, you know, to have tacos here and there, but then you have to fight the love handles that come with it. You know, there's so many blessings that you can get, but the persecution that comes with it, love handles are not persecution, but in the way it is. There's so many things that we want from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but we have to understand that Satan will not just give you a free way to receive what God has paid with his whole life to give you. The first point that we wrote down is blessing, attract, persecution, and you know, today, many times I hear people pray against their trials. They begin to pray against, you know, God, you know, that nobody will persecute me. Nobody will say these things. God, turn their heart so they will love me. God, you know, that they may understand me, they may do this and they may do that, but you have to understand that in your face, when you face a trial, you can choose to come out better in it. When you are facing a hard situation, you choose to become better when you are in it. It's not the critics, not your surroundings that chooses it for you. God chooses what we are in. God chooses the situation that you are, maybe the family, maybe the unfortunate situation that you are in, but you choose how you come out on top of it. You choose, do I come out better? Is my faith stronger through this, or did this situation just destroy my faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? God chooses what we go through, but you choose what you go through it. Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and I'll tell you one thing. If gold must be gold, it must go through fire. If gold must be gold, it must pass through fire. One thing that I heard this preacher saying, I really, really love that something that always stuck out to me is that devil, devil will not attack something that is never a threat to him. Devil never and never attacks something that he knows will not affect him. He will not waste his time. As a Christian, as a believer, when you know that you're receiving attacks from the enemy, hold on to the word that was spoken from God to you. Hold on to the word that God has said that you are highly favored and the Lord is with you at all times. Hold on to the promise that God has said you're fearfully and wonderfully made, not the skin or the stretch of your body. Hold on to the promise that God has said that you'll be on top and not on bottom when your family begins to reject you. Maybe they don't understand your passion for Lord Jesus Christ. Hold on to what the God said to you that me in my house will serve the Lord. Hold on to the promise that men, my God will supply all my needs according to his riches and to his glory when you don't see enough money in your bank account. Hold on to the promise where it says that by his stripes we're healed when the signs of sickness and weakness is in your body. Hold on to the word of God that he has given to your life. Amen, church. One thing I really like that one guy said that he said, if you do not want to make a difference, if you do not want you controversy, if you do not want blackmail, if you don't want people talking negative about you, if you don't want any attacks from the devil in your life, if you don't want to experience the hard times, simply do nothing. Just breathe air. Because the moment you begin to want to succeed, the moment you begin to want to rise on top, the moment you want to change somebody's life, that's the day you begin to rock your boat and when you rock the boat, people are not happy. Not only people, but the enemy is not happy that you want to rise above. So from then on, he'll do everything that he can to destroy that thing that God has placed into your heart, that thing that God has put deep down inside the dream that God has given you. God, the devil do everything that he can to destroy it at its very birth. When you look at Joseph's lives, when God began to give him the dream of one day that the sun and the moon begin to bow down to him, God began to give him the dream at the very birth, Satan was there to kill that dream through his brothers. Satan began to say, who do you think you are? What do you think that you dream? What do you think you're going to be before he can even do anything just a dream? Satan was there to destroy it. The dream that God has placed inside your heart, the vision, the word from God that God has given you and each one of us, we have that, to be a good musician, to receive that healing that you were praying for. Maybe it's the good marriage, maybe it's your family, maybe it's your kids to come back to you. That dream inside of your heart that God has given you, Satan will be there to try to destroy it at its very birth. That is so important when before Mary received all these complications her life, all this rejection, all this blackmail, all this, you know, negativity from all around, she had the word from the Lord that said, you are highly favored and I am with you. If the goons are good, I am with you. If the goons are bad, I'm still with you, but hold on to the word that is given to you from the beginning, church amen. Let us put our hands together for Jesus Christ. I want to put up a quote that Prophet T. B. Johnson said that I really like. It says that every successful person wants to be loved and admired, but your critics will never leave your reputation unstained and untarnished. You must rise above that. Whatever you want to do for our Lord and save your Jesus Christ, if it's to open up your home group, if it's to, you know, to one day open an orphanage from one, maybe they open a, you know, hospital, maybe one day to give away a car, maybe one day to have a wonderful marriage, maybe one day to have a wonderful family that you've never seen happening through generations of your past, maybe it's one day to own a business, maybe it's one day to, you know, to be a fashion designer, to be the best photographer, to be a mess musician, drummer, whatever it is, your critics will never leave you, leave your name, your reputation unstained or untarnished, but you as a man of faith have to rise above that. Amen, church. I want you to repeat after me, I will rise above that. Say it louder, I'll rise above that. Say it again, I'll rise above that. Come on, put your hands together for Jesus Christ. Number two, if you can write down, is that without a test, there could be no promotion. Without a test, there could be no promotion. Every test that you experience in your life, a promotion is right on the other side of that. Every, every trial that you experience, and something that Prophet Joseph says a lot is that trials are the soil in which a man of faith flourishes. If you have faith and you believe and you stand upon the word that God has given you, that trial is the soil where you will be taken to another level. Amen, church. We know that as you continue to grow in God, you know, you cannot escape a test. You have to understand, as you go higher, there'll be a new test, a new test, but that test qualifies you for a promotion. So, if you are in a difficult time right now, that is a qualification. God says, go higher, go higher, go deeper. I want to take you not from where you are. I want to take you from glory to glory. I want to take you from that curse into blessing. I want to take a marriage into a place that you never dreamed of, that you never seen. I want to take your health and your business to a place that only others dreamed of come higher. Without a test that can never be a promotion, not promoting that test that God has put in your way. It's not to say that, oh, devil, you know, you begin to rebuke the devil, you begin to cast the devil to the pit of hell. No, it could be a place where God says, if you pass this test, there comes glory after glory after glory and after glory. Come on, put our hands together for Jesus Christ. Joseph did not choose dry pits, but he chose to come out stronger. Daniel did not choose the lines then, but he chose to come out stronger. Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they did not choose the fiery flames, but they simply chose to come out stronger. Great men are those who simply choose to come out stronger. Tell your neighbor, I'm a great man. Come on, tell him, I'm a great man. I will come out. Come on, say, I will come out. I'll come out stronger. Come on, say stronger. Come on, stronger. Come on, let us put our hands together for Jesus Christ. When you are a kid, there's certain things that you wish that, oh, how can I fast forward through this difficult time so I can get to a time of, you know, I'm a teen and I can do all these things. When you become a teen, there's certain tests and difficult times that you receive that you begin to say, how can I become an adult that all these difficult times that I experience, you know, I can pass through it and go to be, you know, a young adult or adult or in your early 20s, you say the same thing, so many things that you experience, and you begin to put this mindset, how can I fast forward the things that I'm experiencing right now so I can just go to another place. The very thing that right now you feel like is a burden, one day you will miss it. The very thing right now, the difficult time that you feel like it is, one day you'll begin to miss it. You know, I'm looking back right now, I'm at high school, when I was in high school, man, I just hated with passion school. Now I am at my early 20s, I look back and I said, I wish I could go back to my high school years because I could do so much for our Lord and save Jesus Christ. I wish I could just go back there and I can do so much more, but during that time of my like, during the high school, I feel like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they increased the fire seven times and all these tests are hurling at me and all this stuff, but now I look back and I say, I wish I could go back to that time and make the best out of it. The place that you are in now, which is your test, one day you will look back and you'll say, I wish I could go back and I can do more for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I wish I could go back during that time and do more for God. Don't think that your test is a place where you can skip through it without a test that could be no promotion. Pass the test that you are in so you can qualify for the reward that God has for your life. Amen, church. And the last point I want you to write down is that your life now is a dream to someone else. Your life right now is a dream to somebody else. Heard of this pastor that he was serving at church and he was complaining, God, you see my shoes, they're all ripped and stinky, you know. How can I, you know, bless me, I was praying for so long, you're not giving me shoes and God said, okay, no problem, go to the marketplace and I'll give you the shoes. So the pastor goes to the marketplace and he said, there'll be this, this man and you will see him and, you know, that's it. So he goes to the marketplace and he sees the same man that God has told him and he looks at that man and that man barely has any clothes and has no shoes. And the pastor realizes, says, God, I thank you that you even give him the shoes that I have. The same person that it was that marketplace that was without shoes and didn't have enough, he was complaining, God, why are you, you left me like this, you know, I don't have all these things. And then all of a sudden God points him to a person that has no legs and he sees that he raises his hands, says, God, I thank you that you've given me legs. The thing and the place that you are in now, we feel like it's such a trial, such a hard place by yet others dream to be in your shoes. Many times they feel like, you know, God, I feel like, you know, this, this place which you've given me this family so broken, but yet foster kids dream of having a family, even if it's a dysfunctional one. Many people, you know, they're in a marriage and they're having difficult times and they complain the murmur to God and they say, God, why are you giving me this? But there are many people who never get married and they pray to have a marriage like yours. Many of us, we complain the shortage of money that we have, whereas in third world countries, people are praying for just food and bread and just clothes on their bodies. Your place now that you experience is a dream to somebody else. Don't begin to murmur and complain. Don't begin to, you know, blame God. Don't begin to cast your blame on God. God, why'd you put me in this situation? Just raise up your hand and say, Lord, I thank you. And good times you were there and you were faithful. And bad times you were there and you're faithful. And I don't know, I'll get through this. I know that the word that you've given me that I'm highly favored. I know that you're with me. I know you'll never forsake me because that is your word. And Matthew says that heaven and earth passes away, but your word will not pass away. So I'm standing upon the word. You called me highly favored. You said you'll never leave me. And I stand upon that. You look at, you look at David, when God has given him this promise of being a king and David holds on to that dream and that promise, but yet he lives his life. Before he becomes a king, a persecution of name calling, of people betraying him, people saying things about him. And you feel like, God, where is the word that you're giving me? Where is the kingdom? But God wanted to tell you, I want to take you through this test because there's a, there's a promotion. There's a glory place that I want you to reach. And until you pass this test, you will not be able to maintain of kingdom that I got. I have prepared for you. A difficult time right now that you may be experiencing, maybe it's, you know, you, you've been serving at church, maybe you were running your home group. You feel like the life that you've been given to other people is the same life being sucked out of you. You feel like, you know, the things that you are doing, you know, you're blessing people with money, but you yourself are shortage on money. And you feel like, God, where is this promise that you're giving me? That is his test of trial, where God is seeing how will you respond in this difficult time so he can give you the promotion that lies right ahead of this test. We serve in God's church that will not give us a temptation more than we can bear. We serve in God that they will not leave us or forsake us in the time of testing, the time of trouble. And he says that this time of testing trial, I know that you can pass it because I am with you. I will never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Just know that you are highly favored and God is with you. Amen, church. That is the God that we serve. And James one 12, it says the scripture, if you can put up on the board, it says, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test of time, he will receive the ground of life that God has promised to those who love him. Whatever situation you are in, you have the power of decision, the power of decision to decide and to know that you can, your trial can, can, you think it might impair you, but will only improve you for the glory that God has ahead of you? You think that the hard time is there to break you apart where God wants to make you into a person that will be an influence in your generation, in your tree, in your family tree, in your community, you know, people will look at you and say, you are highly and favored. Come on, let us put our hands together for Jesus Christ. What will you allow your circumstances to do to you today? Will you allow your circumstances to bring back the mind to say that I'm favored or you begin to murmur a complaint? I want you to this this morning just to be encouraged that whatever your situation that you are in, God is with you, he'll never leave you and he will never forsake you. That is his promise and he says, I watch over on my word, then make sure it does not come back void.