of my heart is reminding me that I see you in everything.
This is the first service of 2025, and I feel that it's very important we set the atmosphere and the tempo by not holding anything back, giving God all we've got, and creating within ourselves a sense of excitement that God's going to outdo every year previous simply because He can.
So let's set our heart and let's pray, then let's get into worship and let's give God everything.
God, and He has answered at any time. And He has answered. He's the God that does not change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And if He moved for you then, He'll move for you now.
So when we sing that song, I want you to sing like that answer just now came through. I mean, you just got it. You just received it. You just held it. I dare you, church, don't be quiet. I dare you, raise a praise, raise a shout.
I told you we're setting the tempo. This is not a make-do year. This is not a get-through year. This is a breakthrough.
We're going to sing that song again, and I want every—I don't care if you sing as bad as I do. It don't stop me, so why does it stop you? You don't care about what anyone else hears. I don't care about what anyone else hears. You ain't singing for them anyhow. You're singing for the One who paid the ultimate price.
Again, thank you, brother. Well, is it well with you this morning? Hallelujah!
Father, I've been waiting for this day since early November, and I'll tell you why in just a few minutes. But there are a couple things, since it's the very first service of the year, that I want to do.
The first thing is—no, go do the other one first, please—the one about updating your information. There you go.
As I told you last week, we have moved our database from an old facilitator to a new one, and we're going to be doing a lot of work on that. So I'm going to be working on a new one.
We are going to be doing a large project. We're going to be working on a new service, and we are going to be using it as our newsletter, I guess is what you'd call it, a provider. We've moved it over into a new area, and whenever you do that, you have some issues.
So we want to make sure that we have everything right. If your name is Jimmy, we don't want to refer to you as John or, worse yet, Jane. So we need to know you are John and not Jane because sometimes you can't tell by looking.
I was going to say Brad or Brian right there; they're both, and I got two now.
So we're going to be working on a new service. The first one is going to be—if you would, you can either do that. We have these cards you can use and fill that out. Do not scan the QR code on the card, though; that's an old card. But you can scan that QR code, and next, 2024 has come to a close.
So if you want a giving receipt for what you have given to Real Life Church over the course of 2024, you can scan that QR code or call that number and speak to lovely Mrs. Fowler, Miss Fowler, and she will help you. I always call her our Gwen, so calling her Miss Fowler, but our Gwen is my name. You can't use that one.
So if you would take care of that.
The next thing that I want to do, if I can get my elders to please migrate up here quickly, something that I want to do that I haven't done in years past is I want to introduce our elders.
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 12, I'm reading it to you out of the New American Standard. It says, "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction."
You know, for years I've done a ton of church consulting, and I've trained pastors all around the world. One of the things that I can tell you is the New Testament is not in detail concerning church government, and that's the brilliance of the Holy Spirit.
Because different churches in different lands, different churches of different sizes, different churches of different ages have different governmental structures. Government is important, but clearly the Holy Spirit thinks culture is much more important than government.
Because if you have government and that's all you got, you have a bureaucratic nightmare, tradition, right?
And so at Real Life Church, our government structure quickly becomes a government structure, and that's the reason why we have a board of directors who do not attend the church. They're from other parts of the country, and we also have in-house elders.
These elders are my go-to guys. These are the guys that help me keep Real Life Church on course, and we keep each other on course.
I'm going to introduce them in just a second, but I want you to know what our missional statement is for the elders. Because depending upon what kind of church you come from—and it always continues to shock me that I'm not your first and most beloved pastor.
It's hard to fathom y'all went somewhere else before here. As I recently told someone, "Where have you been for the last two years?"
But our missional statement for the elders is this: Acts chapter 20, verse 28. I want to read it to you out of two different translations.
The first is the New American Standard, where it says, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood."
Now let me read it to you out of the Passion Translation: "So guard your hearts. Be true shepherds over all the flock and feed them well. Remember, it was the Holy Spirit who appointed you to guard and oversee the churches that belong to Jesus, the Anointed One, which He purchased and established by His own blood."
So these are the guys we watch out for each other. We have each other's ears. We talk to one another, and we also watch out over you, right?
And I'm just keeping it real. From time to time, a certain personality type will migrate into the church. Biblically, they're known as wolves. They don't come to fellowship; they come to consume. They come to eat; they come to hurt.
And it's our job to be on guard. So if a wolf comes into the flock, we spot them, we mark them, we watch them, and if need be, we do not allow you to get hurt. We step in and intervene.
Okay, so I want to introduce our elders. I want to—well, I got to start with this guy last.
Let me have a mic so they can do it themselves. I want to start with this guy last or finish with this guy, so let's go down here.
What are you doing up here? You're a newbie. You're up here for the next one, but you want to come up here? I'll let you be up here because you're just that pretty.
Wait, you stay right there. No, take the mic, man.
My name is Brian Nellums.
Right now, this is what I got to say: in our bylaws, my elders serve for a one-year tenure, extendable to two if I like them.
He asked me one year, he said, "Pastor, is my tenure not up?"
Hey, you don't got the mic.
No, you don't.
He said, "Pastor, is my tenure up?" I said, "Are you dead?"
And then Cleve this year did something—he stepped aside. He stepped off the elders team so that he could make room for someone new.
And so that just speaks of his character. I said, "You know, these are my elders team," and Cleve said, "Pastor, would it be okay if I stepped aside and made room for some fresh blood, some new thinking?"
I said, "Man, I'm looking for a way."
So now you know I'm joking; I mess with them. But these are our elders, and so these are the guys that help me envision the next and go to the next and watch over the flock. Amen?
So would you give our elders a hand?
Now you stay here.
Now the next group that I want to introduce to you, if I can have our ministry leads, and y'all should—okay, now I sent the email out. Come on, come on, come on, come on.
Is Asha up? Is she in?
Cleve, proof?
All right, there we go. I knew we were missing one; she had to come from the back.
Now once again, you know, in most of your more traditional churches, you'd have what they call deacons.
Okay, but to keep it simple, because if somebody's newly churched, they don't know what deacon is. They know Deacon Jones, the old football player.
So what I call them are our ministry leads because, you know, titles aren't important. Responsibility is.
Sometimes we trip over titles, and titles are just job descriptions biblically.
So what I want to do is I want to go through, and here we have Selene Anderson. Selene oversees our drama department.
And all of these people are responsible for guiding, building, increasing their departments. And drama departments are responsible for guiding, building, increasing their departments.
It's something that we consider really important because it's another vehicle to express the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So, Selene oversees drama, dance, and narration. Narration is like what Jaleesa and Zoe do, but never again before I preach.
And next, I want to go—we have Sean and Kristen Duffin, and they oversee a very important area in the church, and that is hospitality.
That's really your first connection, right? The first people, your parking lot attendants, your ushers, your greeters.
Am I missing altar and prayer team? That's their department there.
And then, of course, Aja. Aja is chosen, favored among all women.
She oversees the youth, the nursery. Michael and Sarah serve underneath her. These are our women.
And then, of course, Aja is chosen, favored among all women. She oversees the youth, our youth pastors, and that's part of her department.
She oversees that, and she shepherds it and guides it. Does the same thing I do as a pastor over that area.
Is this okay, y'all?
All right. I already introduced this good-looking guy and the better-looking lady.
And, of course, you know Jackie. You see Jackie every Sunday. Jackie is our worship leader.
Jackie, yeah, go ahead and give her. She's doing an amazing job.
Jackie oversees, of course, the band, the singers, and the board. If you don't know that, that board that's back there is part of the worship experience, and it's an instrument all to itself, and you got to learn how to play that thing.
And so, Jackie oversees all that.
And next, we have Eric and Lisa.
And Eric and Lisa oversee our continuing education, life track, small groups, and that's about to explode this year because we just had a talk about being able to do it digitally.
But all of the things that we want to make available to you so you can learn and you can disciple, be discipled, and grow, that's under their department.
And then we have our—well, let me start here first. Let me start here first because this is a very special thing right here.
Jaleesa, like, yeah. I get people reaching out to me, and they're going, "How do you do what you do?"
Because they're looking at us online and looking at all the shorts and all the different things that Jaleesa's doing online.
And they want to know how I'm doing it, and I'm like, I don't know.
And if I did, I ain't telling because I ain't sharing.
But Jaleesa oversees our growing media, right? So, digital, online, social, that's her.
All the pictures that are being taken, that's this young lady right here.
And then we have Harold.
Harold's been with me since before he was with me.
And you think I'm joking. He came from another church when we first started to help us run our wires. He wasn't even part of our church.
And I showed up at the church, and he'll come crawling up underneath the stage looking like a mad scientist with his hair everywhere.
And years ago, I attended a leadership training. I was a leader. I was a leader. I was a leader with Dr. Mark Rutland.
And Dr. Mark said, "Every church needs four different types of volunteers. They need the finder, the minder, the binder, and the grinder."
The grinder is the person that grinds it out. They're there. They are working. They are there.
Yeah. And that's Harold.
And I have threatened Harold with putting a cot here.
And he's like, "No, pastor, I am married. I'm married. I'm married. I'm married. I'm married. I'm married. I'm married."
I do got to go home from time to time.
But I also want to say this because the reason we have a new individual up here is because, as you said, we need a bass player.
And Harold can play the bass.
But Harold's one of these people, if you never see him on Sunday, that's because he's everywhere.
He's everywhere trying to do everything.
And so when Jackie said we needed a bass player, Harold can play the bass.
And so I went to Harold, and I said, "Harold, I need you to abdicate some of your responsibilities that someone else can step into that role.
And I need you to please, until we get a bass player, I know that's probably your least favorite thing to do, but would you do it until such a time as someone else comes?"
And this is classic Harold, right?
And I know I'm taking a few moments on this, but he's worth it.
This is what he said: "Pastor, I will do whatever you need me to do."
Yeah.
And so, technically, Harold oversees the facility. He's our facilities manager.
He's the one that knows where every wire is, what outlets do what, and what turns on what.
And we need to pray that nothing ever happens to him.
But when Harold did that, that made room for the person we've been waiting on for about two years.
And this is Melvin Rodriguez.
And Mel, go ahead and give him a hand.
Melvin stepped in because he knows how to get us to the next level when it comes to the audio and the video and the lighting and all those things that he's the tech guy.
And I used to think I was techie until tech like drove right past me.
So this is our team.
And I'm going to say one other thing. Bishop Miller used to always say this to me.
He said, "You know what God's going to do by the team He assembles around you."
God's got big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big things in store. Amen.
So let's go ahead and give them a hand clap. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Hallelujah, Father.
Okay. And with that, I think we're ready for the word.
You thought my Christmas coat was all I had.
As I told you, I have been waiting for this Sunday for a long time.
And Sister Fowler, if you would go to slide two before you go to the title slide.
And back in October, I think I was reading a book by Wayne Myers. Wayne Myers is now 101 years old, and he's still preaching.
And the book, he's just one of those ones that just either they tear you down or stir you up.
And in it, he made a comment.
And this is what started. And I want—I got to lay this groundwork before you know what I'm preaching on.
And if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm going to be preaching about Joseph and his coat of many colors.
But Dr. Myers said that the people of God trust God with their future, but not with their finances.
And that hit me because I want—we got to write, you know, thinking is okay. Right? Christians are not. It's okay to think.
And it blew me away, that statement, because I know it's true because I was one of them for many years.
I would trust an invisible God to take me to an unknown land after I die, but I couldn't trust that same God.
I trust Him with my destiny, but not my dimes.
And how can I have such great faith that after I die, He's going to bring me to a place called heaven, but I can't trust Him with meeting my immediate needs here and now?
And so as I was meditating on that, the Holy Spirit could see our Christian life is one long Holy Spirit school.
He's always instructing us and teaching us and guiding us and developing us into Christlikeness.
And one of the lessons that we've got to learn is the very God who will take us to heaven can be trusted to meet our daily needs.
Right?
And so what I'm going to be sharing with you probably over the next six weeks—and don't get all spiritually constipated. I ain't going after your money.
Pastor's going to take up an offering. No, I'm going to be teaching you something that will work for you on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Okay. So what I want to talk to you about is favor versus labor.
And we're going to be using as our model, our case study, Joseph.
Put up on the screen, as we get started, Genesis chapter 37, verse 3.
Now, all of us know—we've—you know, it is one of the most famous stories in the Bible.
I mean, there's been full animation movies about it. There's been Broadway plays about it. There's been hit rock and roll songs, hit country songs.
Everyone knows about it, but most people don't know anything about it.
Right?
So a man born a long time ago got a coat of many colors, right?
But there's a reason why it's in the Bible, and I'm going to show you that in just a second, but let's read this.
Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.
Why is that in the Bible?
I mean, seriously, why do we need to know what somebody wore? What is the significance?
It's got to be more than just a fashion statement, right?
Now put up on the screen, if you would, Romans chapter 15, verse 4.
Let me give this to you, young man.
Whatever was written beforehand is meant to instruct us in how to live.
You see that?
Paul is telling us in the book of Romans, don't discount the Old Testament.
Don't forget the stories, and don't forget all of the things because everything that was written in earlier times has a modern-day application.
There's something in those stories we need to know to teach us how to live now.
So let's continue.
The scriptures—and he's talking about the old stories—impart to us an encouragement and an inspiration so that we can live in hope and endure all things.
So in the story of the coat of many colors, there's instruction on how to live and such a level of hope that we can endure when we understand what the significance of the coat was.
We can endure all things.
Now, so what did the coat represent?
Listen to this.
It represented favoritism and special status.
The coat had a representation. It represented favoritism and a special status.
It wasn't just a garment, and it wasn't just a piece of fabric.
It represented a special favor that Joseph had with his father.
Joseph, the Bible says, was the son of Jacob's old age and the firstborn of Rachel, who was Jacob's most beloved wife.
And in a time when clothing indicated status—now, this is important—clothing indicated status.
The typical garments—go ahead and stand up, young man. Let everyone see how pretty you are.
Come up here.
The typical garments were this: drab, earth tones, worn and torn, and short.
Because life was about labor. It was work. And you had to wear work clothes.
Now, here comes Joseph.
Now, this isn't a really great representation because the modern King James says that his garment went down to the soles of his feet.
It was really like a very colorful robe.
And what it signified was this: listen, Joseph was not expected to make his living the way his brothers did.
This represented favor.
This represented labor.
And when Joseph wore this, he was proclaiming, "I am the favored of my father."
Now remember, this ain't just a story about Joseph; this is a story about Cleve and Brad and Brian—all of us.
Because Jesus—I'm going to jump ahead—Jesus, when He made the proclamation of His mission, He said, "This is the year of the Lord's favor."
That everyone who believes in Him becomes the favored of their father.
So the coat was a proclamation that I don't live by the same way you live.
The coat signified that Joseph was not expected to perform common everyday tasks.
And this brings us to our first lesson: favor or labor.
We can make a living by favor, or we can make a living by labor.
Most of us—listen, most of us have been trained to believe that life is hard and that it's near impossible to get ahead.
That's what we've been trained to believe.
In fact, there's a man I follow. I've read all of his books, and he recently put a post on social media, and he has spent his whole adult life teaching people to think differently so that they can get ahead financially.
And he made a statement. He said, "If we would learn to think differently, getting rich is easy."
That's all he said.
And you should have seen the venomous, hate-filled posts that followed that.
Everyone attacked him for simply making a statement that getting ahead is easy.
It's possible, right?
Because we've been hardwired to think life is hard and getting ahead is nearly impossible.
And if that's the way we think—listen to me—if that's the way we think, then it's true for you because as a man, so is he.
But the question that's worth—listen to this—the question worth asking, like I said, we've been hardwired to think life is hard, getting ahead, "I can't save no money. I'm never going to get out of debt. I can't, I can't, I can't."
We're hardwired to think that way.
The question is, is that God's way of thinking?
Is that God's way of—is it possible that the way we've been wired by experiences and even tradition and even our ancestry is it possible that that's wrong?
Well, look at this.
Look at this verse: Proverbs chapter 10, verse 22.
Is this okay this morning? We're going somewhere special with this.
Proverbs chapter 10, verse 22 says, "The blessing of the Lord makes truly rich, and He adds no sorrow with it, neither does toiling increase it."
But say it again: "The blessing of the Lord." That's what makes truly rich.
Okay, now this word "rich" in the Hebrew has no other possible way of defining it.
It means wealth. It means material wealth.
It means wealth. It means wealth. It means wealth.
It means wealth. It means wealth.
You've got to really tie yourself into a religious pretzel to make this word mean anything other than rich.
It's just what it says, and I didn't write it.
The Holy Spirit put it in there. He wanted us to know that it's the blessing of the Lord that makes truly rich.
And that word "sorrow" means burdensome, heavy toil, aka labor.
And labor—that hard, burdensome—when you're wore out mentally, you're wore out physically, you can't wait till five o'clock because you despise what you gotta do, but you gotta do it because if you don't do it, ain't no way you're gonna make it.
The blessing of the Lord doesn't add that to it, and that adds nothing to the blessing of the Lord.
Yes.
Now, the best way of illustrating this is, since I have a laborer here, I want you to imagine that it's not January in the upstate; it's August, and it's blistering hot, and we haven't had rain in three weeks, and the ground is rock hard.
And I give my beloved Cleve a shovel, and I say, "Now, Cleve, here's what I need you to do. If you'll agree, I want you to spend the next hour digging a trench from here to there. We ain't got no machine; I got a dull shovel. But if you'll do that, if you'll spend the next hour—no TikTok breaks, no FaceTime, no put your phone away—and give me a full hour of digging a trench from here to here, I'll pay you a hundred dollars."
A hundred dollars ain't bad.
So he starts the shoveling. About a half hour into it, man, that sun's been beating down on him, and he's got a shovel, and that ground's rock hard.
His muscles are starting to hurt, and he says, "Uh, Pastor, man of grace and love, can I take a water break?"
And I say, "Well, Cleve, you're a full-grown free man; you can do whatever you want, but if you do that, you're breaking our agreement, and I ain't paying you nothing because you agreed one full hour of work."
So he keeps digging. About 45 minutes into it, man, he's really hurting, and he's a Christian, so he ain't cussing, but he's coming awfully close because he's starting to hear that song, "I'm working for the man. I wish I had a plan to kill that man."
And what is he waiting? He's waiting for that clock to end.
And that's how a lot of us go through life.
And when that 59 minutes—he's got one— as soon as it hits 60, bro, I ain't talking about 61. When it hits 60, he's done.
Why? Because that was the agreement.
Now let's imagine that when he comes to me for pay, instead of giving him one $100 bill, I give him ten $100 bills.
That's favor.
Now here's what would happen: suddenly his sore muscles are forgotten. He doesn't remember how much he hated it, and he's like, "Yo, you want me to finish this? I can do another hour."
Listen, here's what I want you to understand, and I'm going to show you Bible verses for this: favor will always outproduce labor.
I want to say that to you again: favor will always outproduce labor.
Now you and I can trust in labor, and if he had his full trust in labor, what would he expect from me? A hundred dollars.
But if he was trusting in favor, he would know that whether it came through me, you, or someone else, he was going to get more than that because favor always outproduces labor.
I ain't talking about not working. God has never condoned laziness, and I'll show you that.
But so don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying if we trust in favor, we can sit on the couch and eat bonbons, which we ain't doing anyhow because we're doing the Daniel eating plan.
But when I talk about—see, like, you preach grace, and some people hear, "Well, I can live however I want," right?
Or you preach faith, and I can use that as a tool to manipulate God. That's wrong.
When I preach about favor, I'm not saying you never work again. God wants you to work, but He doesn't want you to trust in what you do to be the end result of what He can get to you.
He wants you to understand that you're not going to get what you want; you're going to get what you want.
Understand that you are favored of your Father, and favor will always outproduce labor.
Yes.
Let's keep going here.
I probably have preached this to myself a hundred times, and I'm hoping I can preach it as good as I did on time number 72.
Yeah, let's go ahead and do this.
Genesis chapter 3, verse 17. I want to show you that God never intended—it was not part of the divine plan that you and I make our living by hard, back-breaking, mind-aching labor.
Everyone say, "God's way."
Do we want to live God's way? Do we want to live man's way?
Look at Genesis chapter 3, verse 17.
I'm going to read you two verses: "And to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it," the ground is under a curse because of you. In sorrow and toil shall you eat of the fruits of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face, your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you shall return.'"
Now my question for you is this: was that a blessing of the Lord?
No, man was being cursed because of disobedience.
As the born again, the redeemed of the Lord, this is where we got to retrain the brain.
You are redeemed from the—you are redeemed from the curse by the blood of Christ. Amen?
So if this is how Adam was to make his living because of disobedience, what was it like before he disobeyed?
We don't really know, but in my mind, it's got to be the exact opposite of that.
If that was punishment, then that means before that, the ground cooperated with him.
His environment was a partner in his prosperity.
He didn't eat bread by the sweat of his brow; he got it another way, and it wasn't by burdensome labor.
It would have been by divine.
And see, the thing that we've got to understand is if we are in Christ, we are in no way—not in any capacity cursed.
We are the most blessed of God.
I mean, the blessed—the Old Testament—look at what we walk in and think, "I wished I had that."
Go back to Proverbs chapter 10, verse 22: "The blessing of the Lord makes truly rich."
And if you remember this, chasing a quick rabbit, when man was first created, the first thing God did shows God's character and His nature.
The first thing God did when man was created—and man had done nothing to deserve it—he hadn't performed any great sacrifice; he hadn't given a dime in the offering bucket; he had done nothing.
And the Bible says, "And God blessed him."
You have got to understand, child of God, that your Father is in the blessing business, not the cursing business.
God is not out to curse you; God is in the blessing business.
You have got to understand, child of God, that your Father is in out to bless you.
God is a blesser by nature, and you got to really go out of your way to disobey to be cursed.
The obedient of the Lord—those who said, I'm not talking about the perfect; I'm talking about those whose heart is to please God—you walk in the blessings of God, and you've got to quit shrinking back from letting God bless you.
You got to quit shrinking back and understand favor always results in opportunities, but it also results in opposition.
And I'm borrowing you from next week's message, but you got to understand if you're going to be who God created you to be, you're going to have unforeseen and unpredictable opportunities, but you're also going to have opposition.
And it's because of our reluctance to engage opposition we shrink back from the blessing of the Lord, and we say, "Well, if no one sees me, no one opposes me. If no one hears me, no one insults me."
You got—if you want to be the favorite of the Lord, man, you got to wear some bright clothing and put it out on the line, and you got to be willing to say it and show it.
For the Bible says the redeemed of the Lord say so.
You ought not to be afraid to say, "I am the blessed of the Lord. I am the favorite of God."
You see, people laugh when I say things, and I say things on purpose.
Whenever you know some—I know there's two different ways. I'll try to hit you; I'll hit you with humor or I'll hit you with shock, shock and awe, right?
And I've done it because I've done it before, and I'll do it again.
I told someone one time I was preaching to a church, and I said, "God loves you, but He can barely tolerate you."
And there was a—Steve, you remember this—Sister Mary, right? Wasn't that her name?
She had been in the ministry many, many years, a saint of God, and she went home tipped, and she went home and she said, "Lord, you got to do something with that young man. He's wrong. You got to talk to him. He said you love me, but you can barely tolerate me."
And she said the Lord spoke to her and said, "He's right."
Because what she didn't hear was the last part of that was the things you tolerate you never change.
You won't change anything until what you have is intolerable.
Then you'll change it.
And if you've ever understood, every time you go into the presence of God, you go to His word, you go into worship, although He's always trying to change you.
Why? Because He finds your present state intolerable because He knows what you're capable of.
He knows what He has put within you.
He knows the gifts. He knows the calling. He knows the potential, and He's trying to pull it out of you.
So does God love you without condition?
Does God tolerate you barely?
The blessing of the Lord, it makes rich.
So to say I'm blessed is to say I live by favor.
Go to with me to the book of Ephesians.
If you trust in labor, then you will live by what you're able to produce.
I did it for years. It stinks.
My wife married into myself.
Y'all are like so quiet, but when I married her, this is because my wife lived a life of such dependence on God.
She didn't need anyone but God.
If she thought of something, it came to her.
I mean, she just got everything.
She said, "I would like this." Boom, there it was.
It was kind of intimidating to me.
And so, you know what I told her?
I told her, "You've trusted God; now trust me."
I wanted to be Tarzan.
After about—yeah, how'd that work out?
I'll tell you exactly how it worked out between you and me.
No one else.
I found out I had more in connection with the chimp than with Tarzan.
And after about two years of struggle, I went to her and I said, "Love, you remember what I told you?"
And she said, "Oh yeah."
I said, "Forget about it."
I've never been lazy; that's not been my problem.
But my problem was for years I've been lazy.
I've been lazy.
I've been lazy.
I've been lazy.
I've been lazy for years.
I trusted God with my future but not my finances.
I didn't know how to trust God with nickels and dimes, right?
And I didn't feel—this is—I didn't feel worthy of being favored.
I didn't feel worthy of it.
So because I didn't feel worthy of it, I was trusting in my own ability to work harder.
Why work 40 hours a week when you can work 80?
Why work 80 when you can work 120?
Why enjoy life when you can die early because you work three jobs?
You didn't enjoy your children; you didn't enjoy your wife; you didn't enjoy your car; you didn't enjoy your house; you didn't enjoy God.
I ain't got time for God because I got to go to the third job I have.
It's time that we disrobe from labor and put on favor.
Is this okay?
Look at—go to the book of Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20.
The Bible says this, and if it's written: "To Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us."
Let me read you that same verse.
See, because if you trust in labor, you're trusting in self.
If you trust in favor, you're trusting in the God that can do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond anything you can hope or ask or imagine.
I think favor is God's way; hard, burdensome labor is man's way.
So let me read you the same verse.
Never doubt—this is out of the Passion Translation—never doubt God's mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this.
He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request and your most unbelievable dream and exceedingly wildest imagination.
He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energizes you.
Now I've heard people say, "Well, pastor, that applies to heaven."
Nay, no, uh-uh, you're wrong.
That applies to the here and now because even as He is, so are we in this world.
This is not an afterlife verse; this is a for-life need.
That exceedingly great God whose grace flows to you with a love-fueled generosity in your life today.
Let's skip down.
Let's go to the book of Romans, chapter 10, verse 1.
Imagine going, what would life be like if we trusted God for our own salvation?
Trusting in our own works to be whole.
Most of us would say, we can't do that.
And yet, we trust in self for our provision.
That's no different than trusting in yourself for salvation.
So you trust self for provision. You trust self for healing. You trust self.
We've got to learn to trust God with everything that pertains to our life.
Look at this verse right here: Romans chapter 10, verse 1.
"Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Real Life Church to be saved."
Sozoed.
I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it's a misdirected zeal, for they don't understand God's way of making people right with Himself.
Stop right there.
Listen to what Paul's saying.
They don't understand God's way.
They don't understand God's way of being healed.
They don't understand God's way of being prospered.
They don't understand God's way of being whole.
So what happens when you don't understand God's way?
Well, let's keep reading.
"Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law."
Yes.
They tried to do it.
They try to do it their own way, which is really no way because you can only do it God's way.
We don't trust in ourselves for our salvation, but we trust in our labor for our provision.
We're operating on bad information.
The answer is not to work harder; it's to believe more.
Now, once again, don't hear what I'm not saying.
I'm not saying don't work.
Right?
The Bible clearly says if a man won't work, don't let him eat.
And he said, "Don't let him eat."
And that means at the public expense.
If you won't work, don't come to me and ask me to pay for your meal.
That's what Paul said.
He said, "If you won't work, you don't get to eat at the public expense."
God never condoned laziness.
Read through the book of Proverbs, and you'll find out.
God says the sluggard is on his own.
But we got to learn not to trust in our labor.
You work, but don't put your trust in your employer.
Don't put your—well, I make $500 a week.
And is that all?
Can you not trust God that somehow in a way that only God can do, at the end of the week, instead of 500, you got 1500?
How did God do it?
I don't know, but He does exceedingly abundantly above and beyond anything I can hope or ask or imagine.
I'm living by God's favor.
I've embraced favor.
Right?
You've heard me say it this way.
You've heard of the Amorites.
You've heard of the Perizzites.
Behold God's favor.
Right?
Right?
Because we come from the land of favor.
God has proclaimed divine favor over our lives, but we got to retrain our brain.
It's not hard to get ahead.
It's not hard to become debt-free.
It's not hard to have your car paid off.
It's not hard to have your house paid off.
It's not hard to get healed.
It's not hard to be made whole.
It's not hard to walk free.
It's not hard to be saved from prison.
It's grace, grace, grace.
What is grace?
Grace is unmerited favor.
I'd like to—the way my mind processes it is this: favor is grace in motion.
When grace is working, favor is operational.
And favor causes things to happen for you and I that make us stand out and stand apart.
Whew, I got to hurry up.
Again, when Jesus proclaimed the favorable year of the Lord, it's as much—2025 is as much a year of God's favor as it was the day Jesus said it.
So what is 2025?
A year of favor.
What does favor make happen?
The unimaginable. The unthinkable.
It's hard to process how good God is, but when you're walking in favor, men and women, boys and girls rise up to give you money, favor, and things.
People do things for you that make no sense.
They just can't help themselves.
They're attracted to you.
Favor opens up for you opportunities, and you can learn to overcome the opposition.
Romans chapter 4, verse 4 and 5.
When people work, they earn wages.
It can't be considered a free gift because they earned it.
But no one earns God's righteousness.
No one earns God's favor.
It can only be transferred when we no longer rely on our own works but believe in the One who powerfully declares the ungodly to be righteous in His eyes.
It is faith that transfers God's righteousness into your account.
I've been meditating—listen, I've done this for years.
I trusted in myself.
I remember telling Deborah, "Trust me; I'll get us out of this."
It was never meant to be so hard.
My wife and I never needed to be homeless.
I just needed to learn.
Jimmy's not capable of doing what Jesus can do and transfer my faith from self.
And I'm telling you, I'm not capable of doing what Jesus can do.
Something as I learned to do it.
And I wished I could say I learned it quicker, and I wished I could say—but little by little, I learned I can trust God with my finances as much as I do with my future.
And God began to do things for us.
When we were able to buy a car and pay cash for it, we both were stunned.
Can I just keep it real?
We always had to buy our cars at the buy here, pay here, avoid the Gestapo.
Drive a junker.
I mean, I had a car when we were going to Bible school.
Tulsa is not known for its hills.
We had a little hill that probably wasn't any higher than that balcony, but I had to hit it just right.
Otherwise, my car wouldn't make it up the hill.
I was like the little train who thought he could.
And I would be getting close to the top, and it would start slowing down.
I mean, by the time we got to the top of my line, we would be doing like two miles an hour.
And I'm like, "Oh baby, please don't go backwards. Please don't go backwards. Please don't go backwards."
And I'm going to Faith University, learning, trusting in self.
Then as I began to learn to trust God, we went to go buy her a car, and I called and I asked, "How much money is in that?"
And I went, "Oh my goodness, we can pay cash."
At my coat, do I look like I need financing?
I wasn't that arrogant.
On the inside, I was, but on the outside, I was like, "God been good to Jimmy. God been good to Jimmy. God been good to Jimmy."
And not for the first time in our lives, we didn't have to make payments.
I didn't have to do anything.
I didn't have to do anything.
I didn't have to do anything.
I didn't have to do anything.
I didn't have to do anything.
The first wondering, "Am I going to be able to make that bill?"
I'd rather trust in faith.
I'm trying to hurry up.
You can wear the coat of a laborer, and you can live the life of a laborer, or you can wear the coat of favor, and you can live the life of favor.
The Bible is full of examples of God's favor showing how He wants to bless us and how He wants to help us in our lives.
I'm going to just read this so we can see what it says.
You through.
Favor is often thought of as God's kindness and special treatment, something that we don't deserve because of who we are, but that He gives because of His love.
See, Joseph got a coat, and here's our question.
I'm going to bring this.
Did Joseph work harder than his brothers?
Was he more intelligent?
Why did he get the favor?
Because he was loved of his father.
Do you doubt that God loves you?
I mean, He sent His only begotten Son to die for you.
Recently, I read a quote by a pastor who would disagree with everything I preach on, and he put a picture on Facebook of his three daughters, and he said, "I would give them the world if I could."
And I thought to myself, he loves his daughter so much that he would publicly declare, "I'd give them the world if I could."
But he doesn't think God loves him as much as he loves his daughters?
If he would give his daughters, whom he loves as a father, the world if he could, do you think that our Father who loves us and owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all the silver and the gold is His, that He would withhold anything from us?
We've got to learn to accept the fact that we are the favorite of God.
And we're not trusting in ourselves anymore.
So Joseph got the coat simply because he had been born.
That's it. That's all he did.
You are the favorite of God because you have been born again.
That's it. That's all that matters.
You are the favorite of your Father simply because you've been born.
Hmm.
So listen, it's okay to just accept favor, proclaim it loudly.
Now here, I'm bringing this to a close, and Eddie, you can go ahead and go get that for me, sir.
Favor will always attract to you opportunities, but it will also attract to you opposition because those who trust in labor are jealous of those who walk in favor.
And they don't understand how they're getting ahead, so they hurl accusations.
You know why Joseph's brothers hated him?
And they stripped him of his coat because they hated the coat, and they hated him for daring to wear it.
Yes, sir.
They would have embraced him.
Now, listen to me.
I'm bringing this to a close.
They would have embraced him if he would have taken off the coat and said, "Daddy, I'm not worthy of that."
Oh, they would have loved him.
They would have celebrated him if he would have said, "I'm not worthy of your love, so I'll wear what my brothers wear."
But they hated him because he had the audacity to say, "Daddy, if you want me to have it, I'll wear it.
And I'll wear it because I know you love me.
I'll wear it because it is a proclamation that Jesus Christ loved me enough to die for me."
I'm modernizing it.
I am not going to be ashamed of the coat of many colors that proclaims to all the world that Jimmy is not to live by labor, but Jimmy is to live by favor.
Why?
Because I work harder than anyone?
No.
Because I'm more intelligent than anyone?
No.
I'm more anointed than anyone?
No.
I was born.
That's all.
And God's favor came upon me.
Right?
So we can choose to take off—come on up here, Eddie.
Stand up, young man.
Next year, man.
You know, you know, listen, and I'm going to present to you a challenge.
Some folks are sitting there and watching us online thinking, "I would never wear that jacket."
When I wore that one, a guy walked up to me and said, "You're not real humble, are you?"
And because I just refuse to play games, I just said, "Humility is highly overrated."
But see, you can't judge—listen to me, and this is important.
You can't judge someone's humility by what they wear, what they drive, or where they live.
You can't.
You look at someone who's blessed and think, "Well, they're not very humble."
You're misreading it because you're looking at the coat of many colors and not understanding that the reason they're blessed, the reason they have what they have is because you don't know their backstory.
Their father has loved them.
And so I personally think that in 2025, you and I ought to get rid of the Carhartts.
You know what I'm talking about.
We ought to get rid of the labor label.
And that believe that only way we can make it is we got to work hard or do more.
And let's just put on the coat.
Let's just believe in God's favor.
So next week, I'm going to issue a challenge right now, and I'm going to see how many of you are brave enough.
And I know most of you won't.
But here's a lesson in faith.
Do you know why you and I as a collective struggle to operate in the supernatural power of God?
We're too concerned about self.
I mean, as soon as I put this on, I know people—some of you, I can't believe he's wearing that.
Why not?
It's just a coat.
Right?
So here's my challenge.
I'm going to continue this, and we're going to go deep into this.
I probably got about nine lessons on this.
It's going to open up our world.
Oral Roberts used to teach us that faith needs a point of connection.
So here's what I'm going to ask you to do next week: get your most obnoxiously loud piece of clothing and put it on.
Put it on and come to church.
Why?
It's a point of connection.
It's making a declaration.
I'm the favorite of God.
Is this—I'm trying to bring this to a close.
You've heard me say that when God paints the portrait of your life, He does not paint it in pale pastels.
God paints in bright, vivid, bold colors.
So why not wear something that just proclaims, "I'm the favorite of God"?
And not be concerned about what anyone else thinks because it's that concern about what other people think that keeps us from moving into the supernatural.
Because we think, "Well, I won't do that because what would they think about me if I stood up and said, 'I have a word from the Lord?' What would they think about me if I started dancing across the front? What would they think about me if I wore orange pants and a yellow shirt?"
What would they think of you?
Care too much about what they think about you.
Quit worrying about what people think.
People think about you, and you'll find it a lot easier to obey God.
You just will.
It's like, "I don't care what you think. I'm going to dance like a crazy woman across the front."
Why?
Because you don't know that God healed me of cancer.
I'm going to praise Him like a maniac because you don't know that my son who had disappeared from my life for 30 years came home yesterday.
Don't judge my praise till you know what.
Worry about my clothing because I'm wearing it to impress Him, not you.
And I want the whole world to know that Jesus loves Jimmy.
Stand to your feet this morning.
Hallelujah, Father.
Can we just lift our hands?
And if you would, we would love to hear your voice.
If we can get the offering, the communion elements ready, we're going to take communion on our way out.
I know this has been probably an abnormally long service, but it was an abnormally good sermon.
I am so excited about what God is going to do in this house this year.
And to do it in this house, He's got to do it in your house.
Because all this house is, is a collective of you.
Right?
So take the ceiling off.
Just when you go home, look at your house and think, "What—the limits off of God."
And don't worry about those who trust in labor.
They're always going to think you cheated anyhow.
How did you get that car?
You must have ripped off an old woman.
What are you doing?
What are you doing living in such a nice place?
How did you get debt-free?
I trusted in God.
I cried out unto Him, and He heard, and He answered.
Amen.
Hallelujah, Father.
So we've got communion elements down here and down here.
And I'm going to ask you, and we have it back there.
If you would, this is only going to take us a few minutes.
We're just going to receive communion together.
If you would, come and get your elements.
And then when everyone has their elements who wants to receive communion, we'll receive it together.
He has done for us.
The fact that stripes were laid upon His back so that we might be the healed of the Lord.
So we declare by faith as we receive this that healing is ours from the top of our head to the soles of our feet.
Every organ, every atom, every cell.
Let your life force flow through us.
In Jesus' name, go ahead and receive the bread.
Of His own Son, do you honestly think there's anything He'd withhold from you?
When He gave you the treasure of all time, the universe and heaven itself.
So, Father, once again, as we receive this cup, we are in remembrance that the blood of Christ was shed so that the taint of sin would be out of our lives.
That we would be made altogether holy and altogether righteous and altogether acceptable in Your sight.
So as we receive this cup, I declare we receive favor in Jesus' name.
Let God blow your mind.
And I pray in Jesus' name that it comes in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
That the biggest problem you have is you ain't got enough space.
Sing us out of here, young lady.
For in Jesus' name. He gave.
on Jan 05, 2025
