Joseph Prince - It's Not Luck, It's God's Favor
This is an excerpt from: The Kairos Year Of Right Time, Right Place - Part 1
Have you ever had this experience? "I must pray about this, I must pray about this," and before you had a chance to pray, answer came. You didn't have to pray. Well, that will happen more and more this year. That's what he said to me. "This will happen more". And when you see that happen, give glory to Jesus. That's one reason why we're sharing this, theme of the year and all that, so that when you see all these things happening, you will give only one the glory. You won't give it to the one instrument that God used. You won't give to another person or whatever, you'll give the glory to Jesus, amen. Praise the Lord. Amen.
Okay, let's go back to the servant. So, "Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah," and this is the family of Rebekah, "she came out with her pitcher on her shoulder". So beautiful. They say that people like this, right, they have very straight backs, very good posture. They put it on their heads as well as they carry on their shoulder, and they walk like this. Let me try, amen. Okay, don't tell anybody, okay? Praise God, hallelujah. This vision will be kept secret. So, the right time, okay, she came out. Now, watch this, okay. "Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold".
All right, check out the Hebrew. It says, "Beautiful meod". Meod means very beautiful. Why did God put this for us? Why? God is telling us, whether it's the life partner or whatever, when you ask God, when you pray and look to God, God will give you the best. He'll give you the best. It's a deal or whatever it is, whether it's an encounter, don't forget, many of these right moments and right timing, listen carefully, many of them happening this year will be you meeting someone that turns out to be someone who needs Jesus. Don't forget, that's the right timing, right place, not just for you, for that person. And if God uses you like this, let me tell you this, you are very blessed. You know why? He trusts you. Of all the people, of all the daughters that can come out, God brought Rebekah out, amen. Rebekah, she knows it later on, she'll be so blessed, feeling so, you know, so, special, isn't it? And if God lets you meet that old colleague, that classmate, he trusts you. Don't let that opportunity go by.
Remember just now, we read Galatians 6 real fast, it says, what? "In due season we shall reap," right? The next verse says, "As we have opportunity". In other words, what opportunity? Kairos also. So, the emphasis here is on kairos. As long as we have kairos, let us do good to all. Now, here the first part refers to humanity as a whole, all right? Community work, blessing the poor, the less fortunate, but especially those who are of the household of faith. So, during our kairos it's not about me, I, myself, us, my family. It's about being a blessing. Another thing, don't forget, the first mention of qarah when Abraham's servant prayed give me qarah is all about Jesus and the church. You cannot have qarah or success outside the church. The first occurrence of qarah and success happened, all right, in this chapter. Which means, what? God doesn't see any success.
You can say you accomplished that and all that, nothing to God is of any value except what is in the church, his church, his. One day, the church today is peripheral to the world. The world is focused on the world, and the church is peripheral. One day the world is peripheral to the church when Jesus comes again. All of a sudden everything is about Jesus and his church. And church is not a building, it is people that are saved, redeemed, called out ones, hallelujah, amen. Are you with me so far? All right, so he said, "Let the girl that come out be the one that will say, 'I'll give you drink,'" and then she look at his ten camels and say, "'I'll feed them all also. I'll give them all drink.'"
Now, I made a study. One pitcher, average pitcher can carry 3 gallons of water, which is 11. something three over liters. One camel, not ten, one camel can drink, minimum, a lot can drink a lot, even 50 over gallons in a few minutes, but let's go minimum. Minimum, 30 gallons, which is 113 liters. Ten camels, she says, "I'll water them all," right? It's 1,113 liters. Now, you work out the math, how much she went back and forth, back and forth. This girl is not just very beautiful, she's amazing, her character. She's the extra-mile girl. And she's fit. Muscles. Amen, she works out to carry 3 gallons, and then to run back forth, and to again, you know, you get some more, the water, it's not easy. Camels. She said that, you read carefully, "Until they finish drinking".
Camels don't seem to finish drinking. Right? It's amazing. You work out the math. And this is the kind of girl he prayed for. And guess what? All the daughters didn't come out, only one came out, and she fit exactly what he said. So much so that he said this, he was wondering, drop down, "And the servant ran," and she met all the criteria, see, "'I will draw water,'" she said, "'for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.'" It's one thing, I'll give them some, lah? The rest, oh, okay, ay, you will take care. "'Until they are finished drinking,'" all right? Drop down, verse 20, all right, "And she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back," see the ran back? That's a lot of running. This girl, she believed in running. She is a fit girl, you know, running, running folks. Some girls are just pretty but cannot run. Cannot carry. Amen. Bro, you are in trouble, you looked at your wife.
"And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not". Now, stop. What did he ask God for? Success. What is the Hebrew word? Qarah, right? Now, I'm gonna look close with this, okay? He was wondering whether the Lord made his journey prosperous or not. The word prosperous is the word tsalach, another Hebrew word. By the way, I cannot finish everything, you know? You see my heart, I wanna pour out, I wanna pour out, then you all make me sing some more, so, you know, the time is passing, and I need to dismiss you all, so this only part one. Part two next week. Okay?
Okay. Watch this. The word tsalach, now why is this word important? It's the first time it appears in the Bible. This is the same word tsalach, prosperity or prosperous, the same word used Joshua 1:8, "Meditate on my word, you will make your way prosperous," tsalach. This is the first occurrence. Remember Psalms 1? "Meditate in his law, though he meditate day and night, whatever he does shall prosper," tsalach, and this is the first occurrence. So, in other words, something there for us to learn. Again, it's this, we learn this. Tsalach, prosperous, first mention of it has got to do Christ and the church, in the chapter about Christ and the church, has got to do with a right happening. And only God can do that for us. That's a word used for, world out there use it, in fact it was only invented in the 1700s by an Englishman from a fairy tale, and the word there that describes qarah, right happening, the world out there calls it serendipity.
Now, what is serendipity? I'm gonna give you a definition from the dictionary, okay? Serendipity is an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident, good fortune; the world calls it luck. You didn't plan that day to meet your life partner. You just went because your friend told you to go somewhere and all that, and then you bump into your life partner, here today you are married. You thought it was a chance happening. God arranged your steps. I see husbands and wives looking at each other. Actually, you don't have to wait for this year, you've been experiencing it already. But this year it will be more pronounced, more consistent, so that you give glory to God when it happens. And please write to us also, we like to hear the testimonies. Amen.
Even for your health, the Lord allow you to hear something, see something, all right, at the right time, amen. A lot of... so in other words, they don't look for example, "Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things you desire," and those are material, physical things as well he just got through telling us, "shall be added to you". You're not running after them. You're running after the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these things are added to you. That's serendipity. You're pursuing something, and then you chance upon something fortunate, something good. Do you know that a lot of scientific discoveries, even medicine and all that, I can share a long list of it. Like, for example, penicillin, it's all a serendipitous discovery.
For example, penicillin, penicillin, that kills bacteria. Alexander Fleming, and he's a Presbyterian Christian, by the way, he himself said, "It's God who was involved in this experiment". Because he left a petri dish full of bacteria overnight. Forgot to clear it, he just kept it to one side, he left it by accident, he says, "accident". Next morning he got up, there was a growth that stopped and killed the bacterial growth. That's how they discovered penicillin. Until today it still kills bacteria, saved many lives. And Alexander Fleming, that scientist, that's the Presbyterian Christian, he says it was God that caused all that to happen.
Another guy, his name is Fry, and more recent times in the 1980s, he was in the choir. Again, all these things, you know, in the church, amazing what God can do, right? He was actually, trying to write down his notes, and his notes are falling all over the place, and he was thinking, "Is there a better way to have my notes stick on somewhere"? And straightaway he got the idea. He was working for 3M. Post-it Notes. He's a Christian, serving God in the choir, singing, and it started with the choir notes falling all over the place. And he has a friend in 3M that produced an adhesive, like a glue, but not very strong, so the friend put it aside. Not very strong, but actually it's the perfect one for the Post-It. It cannot be too strong. And that was in the 1980s. Serendipity. Not looking for it, good things happen.
The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in October 1492. He actually went on this journey, this expedition, to discover new lands. Not America. For them, the west, America, is a place where you go far enough, you will fall. They believed the land was flat. But he reads his Bible. He's a Catholic, but he reads his Bible a lot, and he also wanted, besides, trying to get exotic riches in different lands and spices and silk and all that during that time for his country, for his emperor, he actually wanted to share the good news also. And for the first time he went it in a way, his men actually nearly, you know, there was nearly a mutiny on board and all that, but he really felt like he needed to go do this way, and many of them thought they will fall. And that's how America was discovered.
Coca-Cola was found serendipitously, all right? The guy was creating something for the stomach, you know, for digestion, to help people, you know, it's sort of like a cough syrup. But a lot of people who drank it, like it. Coca-Cola. No advertisement, Pepsi also good, all right? Okay, so. Serendipity. There's the word they use out there in the world, but for us, God makes serendipity happen to us. Right time, right place.