Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
December 28, 2014 - W1452

I want you to know that honoring and being grateful is going to be a huge and crucial part of activating God’s blessings.

In Luke chapter 7, Jesus goes to a house of a skeptic, and his name is Simon the Pharisee, not Simon Peter. A woman arrives and washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, wipes them with her hair and pours precious scented oil on Him.

Simon the Pharisee said, “If you were really a prophet, you would know that this woman is a sinner, and you wouldn't have received this kind of honor from a sinner.” Jesus looked at Simon and said, “Simon, let me ask you this: If two people owed a land owner money, one a million dollars and another a hundred, the land owner forgave them both, which one of them do you think would love that land owner more?” Simon said, “The one that owed him a million dollars.”

And then Jesus said, “You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:46 and 47)

You could say that she poured out honor on Jesus. Now, I want to talk to us today about pouring out the oil of gratefulness and honor. Gratefulness is oil that may not be scented. It's like when someone does something good, you say thank you, that was so good and you respond to an act that they have done. Whereas honor goes beyond that. It's mixed with perfume. And when you give honor, it may not be just for one thing that a person has done, but you look for someone to honor for who that person is. The Bible says when you show honor, you receive God's favor, but without her having given any honor, she wouldn't have received God's favor.

And so the principle is when you give gratefulness and when you pour out the oil of honor on people, it activates God's blessings. When she showed honor, she received favor, but if she would have shown no honor, there would have been no favor.

You see, there's a law of the harvest that says you will only receive what you are willing to give away. If you don't give honor, you won't receive any honor because the Bible says give and it shall be given unto you.

“Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your lap. For with the same measure that you measure, it shall be measured to you again.”

If you're generous with honor, God will be generous with His blessings.

Now, the Bible is not just saying to just go and flatter somebody. Romans chapter 12 says, “Give preference to one another in honor.” What does that mean? When you give preference to one another, you want them to be first, not you. It's not about you; right?

Did you know that when we show gratefulness to one another, that God actually commands a blessing to happen? Now, remember, the oil of gratefulness is the baseline. When people do something, we need to say thank you.

But, you know, people will be just amazed if you'll show gratefulness. That's the customary baseline. But then something goes beyond that, and that's the oil that's perfumed. Now, gratefulness, we all need to be grateful. I want to be a part of that this year. Will you be a part of that? Yeah. We're going be a people of gratefulness. But let me give you the next step beyond that. It's the perfumed oil of honor.

Now, remember, gratefulness is just like an oil. But I want to show you the difference. When you have gratefulness, that's nice. It just kind of greases the wheels. But perfumed oil is when we pour the oil of honor on one another. It's not waiting for them to do something good and then you say something because some people say, well, when someone ?? you know, when my wife does something deserving of my gratefulness, I'll let her know. You can't wait that long. You can't delay God's favor waiting for someone else's behavior when in actuality God's favor could have been determined by your behavior, not theirs. And so instead of waiting for someone to do good, you just look for someone to honor, a co?worker, a boss, or someone that just needs honoring, and when you do, there is a scent that goes around. It's not just the oil of gratefulness. And when you honor someone, everyone going by that house, when they smell the perfume of oil given to that person, they'll know someone is being honored.

You can't give away something that God will not return to you in abundance. When you give honor, God's going to give back to you not the same amount, but he's going to enlarge you. That's just the law of the harvest. For example, if you plant one corn seed, you don't get one corn seed back. You get a ton of corn seeds.

So the same is true, when you give honor away, you create a space, because you just gave some honor away, that God will always fill because give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. In other words, when you give honor, God returns that and enlarges it even more. That's just how God enlarges you. It activates God's blessings, and would you write down number two, it activates God's favor.

Hebrews:

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is still called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Now, read it again. But encourage one another daily, while it's still called today. So until midnight, it's still called today, so you got a lot of chances. But encourage one another daily, and as long as it's still called today. Why? Read it. So that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Now, listen very carefully. Even in a Christian marriage it is natural for our love to get hardened a little bit. In a church, people can still come to church every Sunday, but their hearts naturally can get a bit hardened. It's not as supple as it used to be. It's not as excitable as it used to be. It's not as sensitive to worship as it used to be. I still come, but just a little harder. There's a little crust.

The way to break that crust and keep hearts supple, keep love fresh in a marriage, is to pour out the oil of encouragement. We've got to encourage one another daily while it's still called today so that none of us will be hardened.

Think of it this way: God's going give you a supply of encouragement, gratefulness, and honor that is not for you. It's for you to give away so that the hardness which is natural does not set in, but everyone's heart stays supple, that the love in a marriage is refreshed. How? By encouraging and honoring one another.

Now, there's a supply of honor, an honor supply, there is a supply of encouragement or an encouragement supply that God has given to every single one of us, and it's not for you. It's for you to give away. Now, when you give it away, it creates a space. God is going give it back to you and enlarge you. Now, when you give that away, what does it do? It softens everybody's hearts in your family, in your children, in your parents. It softens people in the church against the hardening of sin. Now, their hearts get soft when you give it away, and now there's space God returns to you and enlarges you. Do you see how cool that is? God enlarges you and keeps people around you soft towards God because of a gift of understanding how to pour out the oil of gratefulness and the oil of honor. If we reserve or we never release that supply of honor, people's hearts get hard.

So where do you start?

Start with your family. Make a commitment that I'm going to pour out honor. I'm going to take the lead in pouring out honor on my spouse, on my children, on my family. You know, my wife never gets tired of hearing me say I love you. She just needs to hear it. If she does something good, she just cleaned the house really nicely and if I just think in my mind, well, that was really nice, yeah, she did a good job, I can think about it and think about it and think about it, but it's not going to do her any good until I tell her.

The Bible says, “You husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone who is a weaker vessel, and show her honor as a fellow heir of grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered.”

I wonder if more of our prayers wouldn't get answered if we understood the importance of pouring out the oil of honor. You would get more favor. You would see more doors open. You would experience more promotion. There would be more opportunities if we would only learn how to establish a culture of honor. And as we go into this new year in 2015, it's like the Lord said I want to develop a culture of honor where we excel, we are known for as a church giving honor to one another and showing gratefulness, pouring out the oil of gratefulness and the oil of honor, taking the lead, outdoing one another, delighting in, going first in showing gratefulness and honor. I'm willing to sign up for that challenge. Are you? Will you do that with me? Let's all do that together.

Can I encourage you to honor your parents? The Bible tells us when you honor your parents, everything else starts to get better.

Honor your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise. The promise is, “So that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”

This principle is true in general. When we give away honor, it all goes much better. Start with your family. And then let it flow on to those you contact daily. Romans 12 says, “Give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence.”

In other words, be diligent to set yourself to honor somebody. Give preference. Set your heart to do that every day.

With co?workers, look for ways to honor them. The person at the grocery store, honor them, compliment them, postal delivery person. When you go to work, tell your co?workers it's such a joy to work with them instead of saying they are jerks.

I've been in ministry 40 years now. I have not ever seen dishonoring someone end up in God's favor. It never resulted ever in God's blessings. It never resulted in God's provision never, never, never, even though we think we're right. It never is worth it. And when we demean people behind their backs it will always get back to them.

And Miriam did that with Moses. Consequently, the Bible said, “And God heard the grumblings of Miriam.” Even though we think no one hears us, did you know that God is listening for our grumblings? God called Miriam out, and when He reprimanded her, she was leprous and had to be separated from her family.

You know what the principle is? Don't dishonor especially those in your family because it will cause a separation. Stick up for those in your family.

You understand how God gives back and the principle of the harvest when you understand how to pour out the oil of gratefulness and honor. If you'll learn to honor your parents, honor your leaders, be grateful for your teachers, God will get you to where you want to go. That's the principle of God. And when you pour out the oil of gratefulness and you go first to look for someone to honor that Activates God's provision.

Did you know that when you give, God gives to you? Give and it shall be given unto you. Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce so that your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats overflow with new wine.”

Did you know that when you give, you honor God? When we give in the offering, it honors God. When we give with a heart to bless Him, it honors Him, and it activates God's blessings in return. When I give, it creates a space in my budget, and what does God do? He not only fills that, He enlarges it. That's why He says give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.

We cannot receive anything that I'm unwilling to give away. If I'm going to reserve my compliments, if I'm going to reserve my honor and if I'm going to reserve my encouragement, God says to not do that. You give it away and watch what God is going to do.

If you're not receiving enough favor, if you're not receiving enough honor, I would check up on myself whether or not I'm giving away that supply of honor. How diligent are you in giving away gratefulness? Am I setting myself every day to give honor and thanks, or do I have to be urged to do so? Am I lagging behind in diligence in the opportunities to give honor?

There are nickels under your chair. Now, this nickel is for you to keep, but I don't want you to spend it. I want you to invest it. I want you to plant it like a seed. Well, how do we do that? Here's how you do it. Everyone listen carefully. I want you to take a nickel, and you can start with it in your left pocket. But every day while it's still called today, I want you to do a 30?day challenge of giving honor and gratefulness five times a day, and once you get it done, that 5 cents, you can switch it to your next pocket on this side. Don't spend it. The next day start it on your left, and you set yourself, I'm going to pour out honor on five people today. I am going to be a person of gratefulness. And we're going to do this for a 30?day challenge so that we can develop here in New Hope people excelling in gratefulness and honor. I'm up for that challenge. What about you, are you willing? Let's do it together.