He had earned the right to be heard, George Sawyer, pastor of the thriving Calvary Assembly of God Church of Decatur, AL. By 2003, he had already pastored the church for many years. That’s when I finally got to hear him speak and take careful notes. He once pastored the tiny, fledgling church when it began on the Beltline Hwy. as a storefront group. The small congregation had a bathroom behind the preacher’s podium and often heard the flushing of a toilet along with the pastor’s sermon. But they grew and grew until they could afford larger and larger facilities with bathrooms down the hall somewhere. (Photo from Google Images)
By 2003 Pastor Sawyer’s flock enjoyed its own campus and was known and respected throughout the county. Today, the church is seen on Facebook, YouTube, and its own website. (https://www.calvaryassembly.org) It serves the surrounding towns of Tanner, Athens, Decatur, Madison, and Huntsville.
As mentioned, in 2003 it was my privilege to hear an excellent sermon from Pastor Sawyer that seems to describe our current generation and the winds of revival and spiritual climate we can now witness through spiritual eyes. On one of the blank pages in the back of one of my Bibles, I still have those notes of 6/16/03. They describe the picture that Pastor Sawyer painted of a life, a generation, or a church experiencing the favor of God, perhaps synonymous with revival.
He says in the notes that there is a time of release of God’s favor. (2 Corinthians 6:2) It is not for the lazy or indifferent. This time is like formerly walking up ten flights of stairs and finding an elevator, and pushing a button.
Check out Abraham. He once said, “If I have found favor….” Isaac was born the next year. (Gen. 18:3 & 14) God speeds up the process.
Other biblical lives giving evidence of God’s favor are those of Esther, David, Joseph, Daniel, and Mary. God was watching for faithfulness. Sawyer explained that God sends a divine current that picks me up in my present season and takes me into my future dream.
In the case of Joseph in Gen. 39:21, he was given favor with the prison foreman while in prison. The favor of God found him. Crisis may be a prelude to promotion.
In the case of the Hebrew slaves of Exodus 3:21, God’s favor was the anointing to get out and to get back. They got back wealth stolen. They plundered the Egyptians. God gets us into our destiny. He is working in an expedited manner.
What used to take years will take only days.
In the case of Mary, Sawyer said that the eve of God’s favor may be the toughest day of our life. The angel told Mary that she was highly favored, but she endured nine months of pregnancy and childbirth in a barn. Favor may be hard to recognize. Joseph, for example, was in a bad situation till the day of favor.
I can’t speak for other countries, but in America I can see this acceleration of divine favor in spite of a decline in the culture. Witness the growth in the number of baptisms, the success of Christian films such as The Jesus Revolution and His Only Son. Many churches have had to add multiple services with small-group attendance that exceeds service participants. The Internet has boosted the numbers of watchers, listeners, and locations. One friend of mine reports that her son in California found an alive church there that led him into a walk with God that he had never known. She was here in Alabama praying. My own church reports that response cards to an Easter service appeal show an approximate double in positive responses. The Church of the Highlands has 24 campuses in Alabama and Georgia, each bursting with enthusiasm. One church in our area had to build a large facility but still has to hold multiple services. It’s amazing.
The growth of Calvary Assembly of God is evidence of exactly what Pastor Sawyer was pointing out in 2003. Now, twenty years later, he and his wife are still leading Calvary. Many others churches are experiencing revival. We have friends in a mainline church who recently witnessed themselves someone leaving a wheelchair behind after prayer in a healing service.
Revival and favor make waking up each day exciting. Why settle for less? Jump in! Use Abraham’s prayer in Gen. 18:3, the year before Isaac was born:
“He said, If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.”