2 Keys To Unlock 7 Blessings Series

Discovering Your Destiny Series * Seven Sermons from the Book of Ruth

Two Keys Brings Seven Blessings

(Inspired from Perry Stone’s Book, Lay It On Me)

August 3, 2014 Chester FBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

Introduction:

A Before Ruth would experience the breakthrough with Boaz, she asked for both GRACE & FAVOR.

1 Ruth 2:2 (NASB) 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:10 (KJV) 10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

Ruth 2:13 (NASB) 13 Then she said, "I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants."

Ruth 2:19 (NASB) 19 Her mother-in-law then said to her, "Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed." So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz."

a Grace is the unmerited, undeserved divine blessing that come from God to you.

b Favor is the unearned blessing given to you by men & women.

2 Closely examine where the flow of blessing comes from in Luke 6.38,

“Luke 6:38 (NASB) "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

a Unquestionably, the heart of God is the source of all blessing, yet the flow comes through the hands of men.

b With Ms. Ruth, we know she was blessed by YHWH because every time she turned around somebody was blessing her!

B It is possible for us to with both the favor of God and the favor of man.

1 Grace & Favor are linked together for the ones who love the Lord.

a Grace is the unmerited, undeserved divine blessing that come from God to you; Favor is the unearned blessing given to you by men & women.

b The are different, but they have a commonality that we need to explore.

aa They both mean we’re treated better than we deserve, regarded in higher standing than we’ve personally earned.

bb IL. Getting bumped up to First-Class from coach when Kayleih died.

2 When we think of favor we often think if we walk in the “favor” of men then we must be a poor witness . . . surely God can’t think highly of us if people think we’re alright. (That’s not true.)

a You can walk in God’s blessing and in people’s favor simultaneously. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive from one another.

b I believe grace & favor brings seven blessings.

I Favor can stop death.

A Daniel 2.24, Daniel got a word of interpretation about a king’s dream and saved the wise men in Babylon.

Daniel 2:24 (NASB) 24 Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king."

1 Queen Ester (Purim) delivered the Hebrews in Persia become she confronted the king, made intercession for her people and exposed a Satanic plot against her Jewish kinsmen (Esther 5.2).

Esther 5:2 (NASB) 2 When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.

2 When Peter was about to get his head chopped off, the church prayed for Ol’Peter and 12 hours before he was scheduled to be beheaded, God spared his life from death (Acts 12).

a King Herrod had arrested James (John’s brother) and put him to death with a sword, Herod’s approval ratings spiked so he went out and found him another Apostle to kill, Peter (Acts 12.3.)

Acts 12:3 (NASB) 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread.

aa Herod put him in jail and decided to kill him after Passover.

bb That night Peter’s friend down at the church went to praying for him and while the church was praying, God sent two angels to the jailhouse to free Peter, give him a stay of execution (Acts 12.7).