The world was a sinful and wicked place, and it grieved God so much that He regretted ever creating mankind. Yet Noah found favor in the eyes of God (Genesis 6:5-7). In this three-part series, Dr. Stanley uses both the story of Noah’s obedience to God and examples from his own life to help us discover how we can listen, trust, and obey the Lord. God may not be calling you to build an Ark, but He is most certainly calling you to fulfill His will. When we make wise decisions that honor and bring glory to Him, we will find His favor in our own lives.

the bible says then the lord saw

that the wickedness of man was great on

the earth and that every intent

and thought of his heart was only evil

continually

the lord was sorry that he had made man

on the earth

and he was grieved in his heart the lord

said i will blot out man whom i have

created from the face of the earth

from man to animals to creeping things

the birds of the sky

for i am sorry that i have made them but

noah found favor in the eyes of the lord

and that’s what i want to talk about in

this message and that is

walking in the favor of god and this is

the first

of three messages on this title walking

in the favor of god and when i think

about that

i think first of all what do we mean by

the favor of god

we mean first of all of god’s approval

and his acceptance of us

and his support his provision his divine

energy his joy

all of that and all of these are

expressions of the faith of god

so ask yourself the question do you feel

like you’re walking in the favor of god

do you sense his presence and power in

your life

do you see evidence that god is guiding

what you say

what you do where you look are all of

these evidence of the favor of god

the scripture says that noah found favor

in the eyes of the lord and also you

remember

that mary the mother of jesus also found

favor

before the lord and the truth is it

should be

every one of us should have the desire

to find favor with god in our life

and so i would ask you do you feel like

you have god’s favor

do you sense god’s presence and favor

goodness and kindness and love and joy

and forgiveness

and his presence and power and

enablement in your life or do you feel

like you just saw it out there alone

working your way through life and hoping

things will get better

he said he found favor in the eyes of

the lord

that is he sensed

god’s presence in his life in a very

special way

and when you were saved the holy spirit

came into your life to seal you as a

child of god

and the process of doing so i am certain

that he intended

for every one of us to sense his favor

to feel his favor

to experience his favor and to know that

the love of god had been poured out upon

us to save us from our sin

so then i’ll ask you simply this does

your lifestyle

and the habits that you live in every

day indicate to people around you

that you have the favor of god is there

anything in your life that cause

would cause people to think well maybe

they’re a christian maybe they’re not

do you have the favor of god is the

favor of god

evident by the lifestyle you live

and so when i think about that i think

about three things

that’s evident by our conversation

by our character by our conduct all

three of those which we live out every

day in front of everybody

they indicate whether we have the favor

of god or if we’re not

or if god has favored us in our

salvation

in the fullness of the holy spirit is he

evident

by the life that we live and so i ask

you do you worry about things do you

fret over them do you wonder where god

is do you sense his presence

do you know that he’s answering your

prayer do you know he’s in your life

in your conversation conduct and the way

you live it all out

what is one of the evidences of the

favor of god in your life

the first indication is simply this

that you’re listening to him that you’re

listening to god that you’ve learned how

to listen to god

until you learn how to listen to god in

your life you’ll never have his favor

because you’ll be living outside of his

will justifying what you’re doing

declaring everything is all right and

that you’re a christian but it takes

more than that

so when i think about that

uh learning to

live in his favor these verses are very

important

turn if you will to psalm 32 verse

8 and 9. psalm 32 verse 8 and 9.

listen to what he says i will instruct

you and teach you in the way which you

should go

so i’ve got to be listening i will

counsel with you with my eye upon you

do not be as the horse or as the mew

which have no understanding

whose trappings include bitten bridal to

hold them in check or otherwise

they’ll not come to you so if we’re

going to be

listeners listen i will instruct you and

teach you in the way which you should go

in order for me to know the will of god

and the way of god

the first lesson is i’ve got to learn to

listen to him

how do you listen to god have you

thought about that in your own life do

you listen to him

when you go down to pray do you take

time to listen or do you do all the

talking

this is why the holy spirit came into

our life

the moment we were saved to be our

internal

guide and director he’s the one who

points us in the right direction he’s

the one who gives us

awareness of what’s happening he’s the

one who shows us on the other side of

the question

that you and i couldn’t figure out

without his good counsel

so learning to listen to god is the

basic

lesson of being a godly person

so in order to listen to god we must

learn how to identify his voice

so let me ask you a question don’t raise

your hand naturally

now think about this soberly and

seriously

if you had to answer this to god do

you know how to listen to god

do you know are you aware when god

is trying to speak to you do you know

in your heart when you may say well my

conscience said this and my conscience

said that

do you do you think about the fact that

the holy spirit is speaking to you

he’s trying to say something to you

sometimes it won’t make any sense to you

at all

but that’s not the issue the issue is

that he is omniscient

i’m the president omnipotent he knows

exactly what we need

when we need it and how we need it and

he knows how to say it to us in a way

that we can understand it all of us

every single day

should want to listen to god from the

moment we wake up till the time we lose

consciousness

going to sleep at night so in order to

listen to god we got to learn how

first of all god’s voice will be

consistent

with scripture the one thing that you

always have to remember

god is not going to tell you something

that is a violation of the word of god

never i may not understand it but he’ll

never ask us to violate the word of god

so it’s going to be consistent with

scripture

and secondly oftentimes it’s going to be

in conflict with human reason

somebody says well this is the

reasonable thing to do if you

obey god it will not always be the

reasonable thing to do

if you listen to god it won’t be all

sometimes the reasonable thing to do

because

he knows past present future he knows

your abilities talents skills

and he knows his will for your life a

third thing is

it’s going to clash with fleshly desires

sinful desires that crop up in a

person’s life

we all have to be sensitive to that and

listening to god

what you hear is going to clash there’ll

be conflict you’ll sense the conflict

this is what happens when you are

tempted in some particular area of life

you you feel this conflict on the inside

that’s the spirit

versus the flesh trying to give you

direction for what to do

oftentimes it’ll challenge your faith

when you listen to him

you listen to what god is trying to say

to you it’ll challenge your faith to do

what you probably don’t think you’re

capable of doing

sometimes it calls for courage in your

life and that is

god are you sure you want me to do this

yes because listen when god gives the

command

he also accompanies that command with

his power

strength energy know-how in order to

help you to be able to do

what he called you do so when somebody

says well i know god’s calling me to do

this and so but i don’t think i can

remember this god does not call you

without giving whatever is necessary to

help you

and they enable you to do it he speaks

quietly

every time somebody says i never heard

god speak well you expect him to shout

he’s not going to shout because he has

the holy spirit living inside of you

and the spirit of god the holy spirit

god the father god’s son

all three persons of the trinity they

whisper to us quietly this is my will

this is the way walking in it one thing

about

it he speaks very clearly i can’t ever

remember god saying

figure this out he always speaks clearly

somebody says well god’s never spoken to

me yes he has

you may not have been listening it may

be a shock to you that he spoke to you

he may have spoken to you in a way that

you didn’t expect you didn’t anticipate

but to say that you’ve been saved by the

grace of god and god didn’t speak to you

surely he did

that’s the reason you got saved he

convicted you of your sin somebody was

preaching or you read something

and you felt convicted of your sin that

was the spirit of god speaking to your

heart

he told you that you needed to be saved

that spirit of god

yielded your life to christ that’s the

spirit of god

god doesn’t stop talking to you when

you’re saved that’s the beginning of the

voice of god in your life

to not only bring you to conviction and

salvation but to bring you

to live a daily life of obedience and

surrender to him

he speaks personally watch this god will

never say

you all he speaks to you and to you and

to you and to me

never you all he may say to all of us as

a fellowship

i want you to do lessons so but he’s

speaking to each of us

individually that’s our god’s awesome

personal loving individual care for you

that he loves you enough to speak to you

about your situation

it may be about your marriage by your

children about somebody you’re going to

marry

or your finances or whatever it might be

watch this carefully

god speaks clearly and individually to

us

about every single concern that we have

all things that we’re not concerned

about that we ought to be concerned

about

convictions of sin he’s always speaking

for example have you not said to your

children

listen to me have you ever said to them

if you don’t listen to me who are you

going to listen to and they have an

answer

if you don’t listen to god who are you

listening to you listen to somebody who

doesn’t really know you

there are lots of people who know you

who want to tell you how to live your

life and

what you should do and what you

shouldn’t do and and they can

influence you in different ways but

here’s the important thing

god who created you who indwelt you with

the holy spirit the moment you were

saved

he is the one whom we are to listen to

above everybody else in the world no

matter who they are

he’s the only one who is infinite in his

wisdom

he’s the only one who knows everything

about you he knows your potential he

knows his will his purpose his plan

he knows who best suits you he knows

where you ought to live what you ought

to drive

he knows everything about us we should

consult him about everything in life

name me one thing you should not ask god

about

so ask yourself this question would you

say

that you’re a listener among god’s

children would you say

count man is a listener to god i pray to

him and listen

i listen to the messages i listen to the

voice

of those speaking the truth i listen to

the words in the songs

i’m listening to god it is a sacred duty

and absolutely essential in our

relationship to god to listen to him

so how does god get our attention well

he gets our attention in different ways

and probably if we had you just stand

and say well here’s the way god gets my

attention

be different different people’s lives

one of the ways he gets our attention

is to feel restless you can’t quite put

your finger on it

but you have this restless feeling

inside you don’t know what’s happening

you look around you can’t put your

finger on it it’s not that

somebody’s wronged you or that you’ve

made some bad mistake or that you’ve

sinned against god in some awesome way

but you have a restlessness and think

about this think about how busy you are

from the time you wake up

you start thinking about what you’re

going to do and your plans and so forth

the things that you were in fred about

and so god has to get in on all of that

and so

the way he begins to get our attention

is make us restless

so you think about all these things and

none of them seem to be the issue and

finally

what does he do it’s like he just pulls

the sheet

by sheet by sheet by sheet by sheet off

of our mind and our thinking

and we get into this restless feeling

well god’s trying to say something to me

and that doesn’t come automatically that

comes by experience

and so you get out to pray and you don’t

feel like you’re getting through

or you kneel to pray and you think well

god what are you trying to say to me

and sometimes he has to get us very

restless about our life in order

to drive us to finally say oh god you

must be saying something to me

because watch this it’s natural and

normal

for us to look at the first thing that

we think could be the issue and think

well

god you must be saying this or not even

include god in it this must be happening

my kids this my husband this my wife

this our relationship

on and on we go the things about our

debt and so

god gets us restless enough to get us

quiet enough to say well lord

what are you trying to say to me and so

it’s very important

that he get our attention sometime it’s

a message from somebody else

sometimes god may say something to you

through someone else

because god has spoken to them about you

because he cares about you watch this

god isn’t

he’s not tattling on you that’s not the

issue god wants to get your attention

and sometimes somebody else

has to be the avenue through which god

speaks

so i learned a long time ago when

somebody says well here’s what god told

me to tell you

i have two thoughts first of all who is

this

what kind of life are they living before

they start telling me what god’s saying

because sometimes i’ve heard the most

bizarre things

that god absolutely could not would not

should not

can’t say and then sometimes somebody

would say something i think well god

yeah i needed to hear that thank you

very much

so we have to be careful that the

messages that we receive from somebody

else

and likewise be careful the message you

give somebody else

if you tell somebody else well here’s

what god told me to tell you

you better be sure about what you’re

saying or you mislead somebody

and then before you say that you need to

ask

the lord and lord is this right in my

life

before i start giving somebody else

direction lord

is this right in my life so we have to

be careful

about a message we give to somebody else

and so one of the ways he gets our

attention is to bless us

and what does that usually do we usually

say well lord i surely didn’t expect

this i don’t deserve this thank you very

much we can’t thank him enough

that would be our choice way of god

getting our attention

but it’s not his usual way because

usually he has to get

to something deeper than that but that

is one way he gets our attention

to remind us how good he is do you ever

think about how good god is to you

one of the ways god gets our attention

is when we stop

to think how good you are to meet god

then of course his unanswered prayer

will get our attention

now is that bad no it’s not bad because

i can think about sometimes in my life

when god was making a major change and

direction in my life

that came to me first of all as a little

sense of restlessness

i didn’t know what was going on and i

would pray and

and um when i got through praying i was

just as dissatisfied as when i started

and the day went by a week went by and

the month went by

and two or three months went by and i’m

still talking to god about the same

thing of which i do not have any idea

what it’s about

and so god knows how to get our

attention

and he knows how to get us intense

and um when i think of it a few times

i’ve made big moves

in my life have usually been times

when i’ve been through a season of

asking and searching and seeking and

usually those times uh introspection

looking in my life to be sure everything

is right between god and myself

and is there anything i can correct or

change or whatever

and so unanswered prayer is one of his

methods

of getting our attention till he gets to

the root of the issue

until we’re able and willing to say okay

god i want to do it

when when they came to me to talk to me

about coming to atlanta i said no

i have no interest in coming to atlanta

georgia never had been to atlanta but

one time remember flying over it and and

just looking a little bit of that

skyline which was not very big at that

time

i said no week after week after week and

they’d come to see me and i said no no

no

one night got down to pray

and before i got up from praying i knew

that i had to be obedient to god against

my will against my wishes against

everything in me

and my wife would have told you i

complained all the way to atlanta

i didn’t want to come i finally had to

say yes lord i’ll come sometimes he gets

our attention by disappointments

everything’s just going along fine and

we have a big disappointment in life

and so we think well what did i do how

could i vote how could i have avoided

this disappointment

sometimes that’s the way god gets their

attention so when we get disappointed

what do we do we back off and say okay

god

what are you trying to say to me and

then sometimes there’s failure

failure gets their attention all failure

is not bad

if failure in any given area of your

life

gets your attention gets you on your

knees before god

once that happens it’s not all bad

because

failure what does it do it drives us to

god

sometimes it’s financial problems that

oftentimes gets people’s attention

especially if they can lose their house

especially if for example

they can lose their job

lose their opportunities and so people

instead of turning to god

they go borrow some money and so instead

of listening to god

obeying god they try to avoid

this uneasy feeling and that uneasy

feeling is god’s goodness

it’s god’s grace getting the person to

realize

maybe you made the wrong decision

maybe you aren’t listening and god can

correct any decision we make

if our hearts are genuinely committed to

him and sincere in the process

sometime is sickness sickness or injury

gets our attention

and i’ve met people down through the

years who said

you know i was heading in the wrong

direction god’s laid me out here i am

and here i have been and i can remember

the last time i i fell and was laid out

for a little while

and i thought well what’s what’s going

on

it took me about six weeks

of praying and listening to god but when

he got my attention

i said yes lord thank you thank you

thank you

if this is what it took to stop me this

is what it took to get my attention

i want to thank you thank you thank you

for it

so sometimes that’s what he uses

so to walk in the favor of god whatever

it takes

it’s worth it and when the scripture

says that amidst

all the sin and wickedness in the world

that noah found favor in the eyes of god

look what god did with him when he found

favor in him

so ask yourself this question am i

walking in the favor of god in my life

be honest am i walking according to my

pattern or what i want

am i walking in his favor

is that the witness of the spirit to my

spirit that god and i

on the same track we on the same time

table

we want the same things i i desire the

same objectives in my life

i desire the same goals in my life as

god wants

am i walking in his spirit

by his spirit do i want the same things

that god wants for my life are my

desires the desires of god ask yourself

the question is this what god wants

sometimes watch this god will want more

for you than you want for yourself

sometimes he’ll want something better

for you you’ll say i don’t deserve it

that’s not what god says sometimes you

think well

i couldn’t i could never deserve it that

may be exactly what god wants

watch this god is not a taskmaster

god is an awesome wonderful exciting

beloved heavenly father who wants the

best for us

in every area of our life he wants us to

do what

he wants us to walk in his favor

but to walk in his favor i must learn

to listen to him that’s the first step

what does that mean it means i want to

walk

with his approval i want to walk

with his acceptance his support

his provision his divine energy

and his joy

learning to listen to god is lesson

number one amen

father we thank you for loving us thank

you for reminding us that

as we want to teach our children

very early in life to listen to us

when we are saved first lesson

listen to you i pray for people seated

here this morning

who are not listening they’re making up

their own mind i pray that you’ll bring

great conviction upon them which will be

an act of love on your part to stop them

dead in their tracks

this morning from heading in that

relationship which should not be

bind that which they should not do going

there living that

doing this doing that without asking for

your direction and guidance i pray that

you’ll stop them dead in their tracks to

remind them

that you are willing to give clear

direction

with that direction comes your blessing

and i pray the holy spirit will speak to

somebody here that today who’s never

trusted jesus as their savior

they’ve been living on their own doing

pretty good they think

but lord what they don’t know is what’s

coming

i pray that they’ll be willing to stop

right now

ask you to forgive them of their sin

repent of their sin right where they sit

lord be willing to be honest with

themselves and acknowledge

that you’ve been trying to speak to them

for a long time and they’ve been

ignoring you but today

they’re listening they’re surrendering

their life to you

i pray the spirit of god will be heavy

heavy heavy heavy god on every upon

every heart that’s living in sin

living in disobedience have plans to

send

plans to disobey you make them so heavy

dear god

they have to repent right here and now

sitting right where they

are in order to get right with you

before they walk out of the service

today

thank you for your awesome love for us

lord

god we surrender ourselves to you today

and we praise you for your forgiveness

your love and your goodness to us

in jesus name amen