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. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch
Dr. Charles Stanley: 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, 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 favor 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 Scriptures say 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, this 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 sort of 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 in 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’d ask you simply
this, does your lifestyle and
the habits that you live out
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 is 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 are 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,
learning to live in His favor,
these verses are very important.
Turn if you will to Psalm
thirty-two, verse eight and
nine.
Psalm thirty-two, verse eight
and nine.
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
mule which have no
understanding, Whose trappings
include bit and bridle to hold
them in check, or otherwise
they’ll not come to you.”
So, if we 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 get 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 or my
conscience said that”?
Do you think about the fact 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,
omnipresent, 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, ’til
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 or 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 will be conflict, you’ll
sense the conflict.
This is what happens when you
are tempted in some particular
area of life.
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 will 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
a command, He also accompanies
that command with His power,
strength, energy, know-how, in
order to help you be able to do
what He called you to do.
So, when somebody says, “Well, I
know God’s calling me to do thus
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 enable
you to do it.
He speaks quietly.
Every time somebody says, “Well,
I’ve 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 the Son, all
three persons of the Trinity.
They whisper to us quietly,
“This is My will.
This is the way, walk ye 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 was the 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 to you
all.
He may say to all of us as a
fellowship, “I want you to do
thus and 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,
about 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.
Or things that we’re not
concerned about that we ought to
be concerned about.
Convicts us 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 listening 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 they can influence you in
different ways, but that–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 suites 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 me in as a listener
to God.
I pray to Him and listen.
I listen to 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, an absolute
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,”
would be different in 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 worry and
fret 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?
He–it’s like He just pulls the
sheet by sheet by sheet by sheet
by sheet off of our minds and
our thinking and we get down to
this restless feeling.
“Well, God is trying to say
something to me.”
And that doesn’t come
automatically, that comes by
experience.
And so, you get down 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, “Well, 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.
Sometimes 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 and
what kind of life are they
living, before they start
telling me what God’s saying?”
Because some time 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’ll think,
“Well, God, 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 of the
message you give somebody else.
If you tell somebody else,
“Well, here’s what God told me
to tell you,” you’d better be
sure about what you’re saying.
Or you’ll mislead somebody.
And before you say that, you
need to ask the Lord, “Now 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 me,
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 when I got
through praying, I was just as
dissatisfied as when I started.
And a day went by, a week went
by, and a 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 of what’s it
about.
And so, God knows how to get our
attention.
And He knows how to get us
intense.
And when I think about 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
are 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 ’til He gets to the
root of the issue, until we are
able and willing to say, “Okay
God, I’m willing to do it.”
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 I remember flying over
it and just looking a little bit
of the 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’d say, “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 have avoided this
disappointment?”
Sometimes, that’s the way God
gets our 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 our 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, then 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 could lose their house.
Especially if, for example, they
could 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 weren’t
listening.
And God can correct any decision
we make if our hearts are
genuinely committed to Him and
sincere in the process.
Sometimes, it’s sickness.
Sickness or injury gets our
attention.
And I’ve met people down through
the years, who’ve said, “You
know, I was heading in the wrong
direction and God’s laid me out
and here I am.”
And here I’ve been, and I can
remember the last time I fell
and was laid out for a little
while.
And I thought, “Well, 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.
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 of what I want?
Am I walking in His favor?
Is that the witness of the
Spirit to my spirit?
That God and I are on the same
track.
We’re on the same timetable.
We want the same things.
I desire the same objectives in
my life.
I desire the same goals in my
life as God’s 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.
He sometimes–you’ll think,
“Well, I couldn’t ever deserve
it.”
That may be exactly what God
wants.
Watch this, God is not a task
master.
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?
That 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’re 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 there,
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.
And with that direction comes
your blessing.
And I pray the Holy Spirit will
speak to somebody here today who
has never trusted Jesus as their
Savior.
They have 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
have 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 sin,
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
this 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 towards us.
In Jesus’s name, amen.