Steven Furtick - Finish Strong With God's Favor
This is an excerpt from: Finish With Favor
You are so familiar with earning, so you’re reflecting on the year, and you’re thinking of all of the failures you had, but Jesus said, «I want to set up a rematch. I want to redeem the year. I want to redeem January, February…» He said, «I’m stepping into the last month of the year so you can finish with favor».
Thank you, Jesus! I receive your favor, and I receive your grace, and I am your righteousness. I thank you that you beat that Devil that was beating me. You took away that sin that was suffocating me, and you stripped that shame that was sabotaging my life. I thank you that you broke the back of fear. I thank you that you broke the yoke of frustration. I thank you that I no longer have to fight from a place of defeat. I don’t have to fight in my flesh. I don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. The Spirit of the Lord is on me. He has anointed me. He broke that failure. He broke it off your life. That’s why you’re going to finish with favor. When you’re afraid, when you’re frustrated, and when you’re in it, when you’re fighting, you just do familiar stuff. That’s why you call people you love names. That’s why you yell at people who are trying to help you. Because when you’re in fear… That’s why you strike the rock twice. That’s why you do it.
Now let me show you this, because this is so powerful. When Jesus finished in the wilderness… It said the Devil was done, but Jesus wasn’t. The Enemy got tired before the Savior did. You’re going to overcome. You’re going to endure this. You’re going to finish with favor. You started with some other stuff. I know you did, but you’re going to finish with favor. The Lord told me to tell you that. This is how we know. Luke 4:14. Did we really only do one verse so far? The Bible says he left the wilderness. That’s the first place. If you want to study this later, there are several places we’re talking about. We’re talking about the wilderness where the Devil was finished but Jesus wasn’t. He outlasted him. And he lives in you, so you have that spirit of perseverance in you.
After the point that you give up, when you’re tired and hungry and lonely, and all of those things, and the Devil is trying to get you to do crazy stuff… People are doing crazy stuff this year. That’s all right, because it said Jesus did what Moses couldn’t do. Then in verse 14 it says, «Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit…» That in itself is amazing, because he didn’t return in the pessimism or in the pain. He returned in the power after 40 days of being tested by the Devil. It let me know the favor of God doesn’t mean he stops the test. It means he continues the transformation so that he keeps working in my life, so that he has unlimited patience and grace. So, he outlasted the Devil.
I’m just laughing because Graham, my cockiest child, was telling me the other day he thinks he could beat Mike Tyson in a fight because Mike is 60. He was serious. He said, «I think I could outlast him. He’s old». Anyway, that’s what made me laugh. I was thinking about Jesus outlasting the Devil. I thought, «That’s crazy». But I guess that’s some kind of self-confidence… delusion. Y’all pray for Graham is what I’m saying. «Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside». This is the real breaking news. He broke the chain. He broke the shame. That’s what I mean by it’s the year of the Lord’s favor. That’s what the Lord said. So, it spread through the whole countryside. «He was teaching in their synagogues…»
Remember, he was in the wilderness. Now he’s in their synagogues. «…and everyone praised him». He didn’t pay any attention to that. He knew that man’s empty praise and treasures that fade are never enough. Look at verse 16, because it’s important. «He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.'»
Breaking news. Good news. But wait a minute. They’re poor. No, no, no. I’m not talking about situation. I’m not talking about circumstance. I’m not talking about fame. I’m talking about favor, good news to the poor, a report that contradicts the reality. «Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'» Good news to the poor. I love all this stuff. «He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor». I put «2020» by it in my Bible. I don’t see that necessarily right now, but I believe it, because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things I can’t even see.
So, I want to ask you something. Will you proclaim something you can’t currently perceive? He said, «Proclaim to the poor». That’s not easy. «To the blind». That’s not easy. «To the prisoners». Let me tell you something. When Jesus was on earth, there is no widespread record of people getting out of prison en masse, but he still said it was the year of freedom and favor. The year of the Lord’s favor. Watch what he did. Y’all know how I haven’t had the stool out here in a while? I brought it today just for this moment in the sermon. It’s a prop. «Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down». That’s why I wanted to bring this out: to show you what Jesus did while you were stressing out, to show you what he’s doing in heaven right now.
I was surprised to see in Revelation, chapter 5, that he was seated on the throne. I thought that was weird. I’m like, «Well, that’s the whole problem, God. If you’d get up and do something about this crazy mess… How are you going to sit down at a time like this»? «Mary, help me in the kitchen». You know, Martha. Remember that story? I’m thinking, «How could you be seated right now»? What really got me was that Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61. Let me show you this real quick. Now, Jesus didn’t have YouVersion, Craig Groeschel Bible app. None of that «verse of the day» for Jesus. They handed him the whole scroll. It was probably the synagogue leader there in Nazareth… It was probably his decision which scroll he handed him, and Isaiah… The whole thing was probably on the scroll.
Do you know how you have the verse markers in your Bible? I say, «Turn to Isaiah 61, verses 1-2,» and you’re like, «Okay. Isaiah 60, 62… The one between is 61». That’s how we do it. There were none of those in the scroll Jesus read. He didn’t need them. He found the place. He knew the Word that good, because he was the Word. It’s kind of easy to find the place when you are what you’re reading. All that to say, when you know who you are, you know where you belong, you can always find a place. When you know the favor of God is on your life, you can find your place anywhere. Isn’t that good? Don’t you want to live like that? I’m not there yet. You’re not either, but Jesus was.
So, he’s like, «Okay. We’re reading Isaiah. Okay. All right. This is the part… This is something I wrote about me». How cool is Jesus? He wasn’t talking about circumstances. He wasn’t talking about lemons and lemonade. He wasn’t talking about vaccines. He wasn’t talking about candidates or any of that. He so knew his purpose he found his place. Same favor, different place. So, he unrolls the scroll. He goes, «Yeah, this one. This one right here. This is what I want to say. Are you listening, Rodney? Are you listening, Carol? Are you listening, David»? Because he knew these people, because it’s the place where he grew up, and they knew him. They thought they did. We think we do. We’re so familiar, aren’t we?
I wonder if familiarity is sometimes the enemy of God’s favor. The reason I wonder that… Isaiah 61. This is Isaiah, hundreds of years before Jesus. Isn’t that amazing? He said, «The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God…» Does that sound familiar? Some of it does. Give me Luke 4 again. Let me show you this. It said he stood up and unrolled it, found the place.
«'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back, and sat down». Go back to Isaiah 61:2 one more time. He said, «To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God». Go back to Luke 4:19, the same verse I just read to you, one more time. He said, «To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor». One more time I want you to see this. This is powerful. In Isaiah 61:2, the prophet said, hundreds of years before Jesus, «To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God». Go back to Luke 4. Jesus said, «To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,» and he sat down.
Why did he stop there? See, this was the problem. It wasn’t that the people listening didn’t know the Scriptures. They were very familiar with the Scriptures. We think that’s the problem. «If people knew the Bible more, if people knew the Word of God more, then America would turn back to God,» and all of that. No, no, no. They knew the Bible. They knew the rest of the verse. «The year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God». That was in their Bible.
So, when Jesus said, «The year of favor of the Lord» and then rolled up the scroll and sat down, they were confused, because they were waiting for the vengeance part. «When are you going to finish this»? Remember Mortal Kombat? «Finish him». That’s what they wanted for the Roman oppression. That’s what they wanted him to come and do. That’s what we want the Lord to do. «Get rid of this. I want this to stop. I want this to be done. I want the bad people punished. I want the wrong to be made right. I want the favor of…» What we say when we say the «favor of God» is we want all of the enemies eliminated.
Jesus came to save the people they wanted him to wipe out. Oh yeah. He came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. He did it. He came to fulfill the vengeance of God. Sin has to be punished and shame has to be dealt with, but he did not put it on you, and he did not put it on me. See, this is the breaking news. This is the good news of the gospel. This is what will set the captive free. He didn’t come to put it on you. He came to take it on himself. He became sin who knew no sin, that you might become the righteousness of God. This is the gospel. It’s good in 2020. It was good in 20. It was good when he said it, and it’s good to the last drop. Now take this gospel and drink this blood and receive this word. It is finished.