WHAT IS RUNNING AFTER YOU?: DR. MENSAH OTABIL, SUNDAY SERVICE MESSAGE SEPTEMBER 6TH, 2020

ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE MESSAGE BY DR. MENSAH OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) ACCRA, GHANA)

TOPIC: “WHAT IS RUNNING AFTER YOU?

DATE: 6TH SEPTEMBER, 2020

TEXT: GENESIS 16:6-8

Amen and Amen and Amen!

Let’s keep standing, as we make our DECLARATIONS OF EXCELLENCE in this very Special Year of Excellence.

… Are you ready? – SAY WITH ME:

Out of Zion, the Perfection of Beauty, God shines forth. The Lord my God causes the Righteous to shine forth as the Sun.

His Awesome Hands has formed me; His Creative Spirit inspires my mind. He Skillfully guides my hands.

Therefore, I boldly declare: I am Set Apart for Excellence. The Ruler of the Universe has exalted my horn among the Nations. He sets my feet on high! In His Strength, I rise!

By Faith, I Press forward towards the Prize of my Highest Calling.

I believe in my heart, and confess with my mouth: that Jesus is Lord! He is the Vine, I am the Branch; in Him I abide, in Him I Blossom.

As it is written: God, who commanded Light out of darkness, has Shone His Light in our hearts.

We have His Treasure in Earthen Vessels. That the Excellence of the Power may be of God, and not of us!

In this Year, I commit to EXCELLENCE, I commit to EXCEPTIONALISM, I commit to do the EXTRAORDINARY.

In Jesus’ Name – Amen and Amen and Amen and Amen.

Today, and next week, I will be doing a two (2) Part Message.

There are two (2) different Forces and Factors, that enable each one us, to make Progress.

They are usually called: The PULL and the PUSH Factors – One Pushes you from behind; the other Pulls you from ahead.

One is what is running away from you, the other is what you are running after.

So, I am going to talk about these Two (2) Factors of life – that help us to make Progress.

And I trust that for each one of us, we can make Progress in our lives and we can move forward.

You have Probably heard of: “The LEGEND of the Lion and the Gazelle.”

And for those of you who don’t know what a Gazelle is: A Gazelle is a kind of Antelope.

And it READS:

“Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up and knows that it must run faster than the fastest Lion, or it will be KILLED.

Every morning a Lion wakes up, and knows that it must run faster than the slowest Gazelle, or it will STARVE to death.”

It doesn’t matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle; */when the sun comes up, you better start RUNNING.

And that is what I am going to allude to, or what I am going to address in my Message for this week and next week.

Whether you are a Lion – Pursuing something; or you are a Gazelle – running away from something: Everybody has to run in other to make Movement and Progress.

So, I have Titled my Message today: “WHAT IS RUNNING AFTER YOU?”

In other words: What are you running from? What are you fleeing from?

Do you feel the Pulse of a Lion trying to get you? Do you have any sense of need to avoid been caught by something negative?

Is there something negative or destructive in your Past, in your family, in your own life; that you feel: if you don’t make Progress, it will catch up with you and destroy you?

Each one of us has a sense of danger – It could be something in your family, it could be something that you have seen happen to other People.

People who have nothing RUNNING after them, usually live life without a sense of Urgency.

They could be very good academically, and yet they have no sense of urgency to do anything significant.

They can come from a Good family, from a Good home, but never do anything significant; because they don’t have anything that is PUSHING them from behind, to cause them to MOVE!

But I trust God, that He will help you to Position yourself; even the DANGERS of your life, can become the MOTIVATION of your life.

What you HATE can become your INSPIRATION; What you have seen NEGATIVELY in your family, can be the DRIVING FORCE of your family.

To move in life, you must do something that you are so DETERMINED, to run away from.

And so today, my question is: What are you running FROM? Or what is running AFTER you?

I am going to talk about FOUR (4) RUNNERS in the Bible – Four (4) People who ran in the Bible.

And I hope u can finish all four (4) today. If I don’t, I will continue next week.

1. The first (1st) one is a Lady, and she is called HAGAR.

And she was a woman running away from CONSEQUENCES.

Her Story is in: Genesis 16:6-8 (NKJV)

6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said: “I am fleeing from the Presence of my mistress Sarai.”

HAGAR was Running! – And what was she running from? She was running from CONSEQUENCES

… Somebody say: CONSEQUENCES!

CONSEQUENCES are the results of things you have done.

Hagar accepted to be Part of an arrangement that backfired!

She slept with her Boss’ husband, and she became Pregnant!

It seemed like a Good deal from the beginning, because it seemed like everybody was same the same page: Sarah was on the Page, Abraham was on the Page.

And it seemed like, this is an arrangement that would work!

So they said: Go ahead and do it.

So she slept with her Boss’ husband.

And after that, it changed the whole dynamic of the relationship.

She moved from being the “Most Favoured Staff”, to the “Most Despised and Persecuted Staff”.

… And CONSEQUENCES caught up on her.

Now, Hagar thought that she was only a victim of what she was asked to do – You know, she thought: I was asked to do it.

So, she couldn’t understand why? You asked me to do something, now you are Punishing me from it.

.. It is called CONSEQUENCES.

Even if you had the Permission to do it; if it was wrong, it would catch up on you some time!

And so here, she starts running!

And this is her life Mission – Run away as far away from the Consequences of your Past as you can.

And when she ran, she ended up in a dry Place.

There are People who are running in life – They try very HARD, but all they are doing is: Something happened in the Past that they want to leave behind in the Past. And that is making them to RUN.

The driving force of their life, is to move as far away from the Past, as Possible.

It could be something you did in school, that keeps haunting you. It could be something that happened in your childhood, that you are running away from. It could actually be the home that you came out from that you are so ashamed of.

And every waking morning, you want to keep a distance between your Past and where you are!

… And that is what Hagar was running FROM.

Eventually, she ended up in a Good Place. But her whole life was full of a journey of ending up in desert, in dry Places, near Mercies, almost dying.

It ended up well, but it was DIFFICULT JOURNEY!

She was running from the Consequences of her Past.

There are many of us who are like Hagar – something in the Past is trying to catch up with you. And you are determined: I am not going to let this thing catch up with me.

So, all you are doing is RUN! And running from Consequences.

So, my question to you (if you are Hagar): What is running after you? What are you running from?

Is it something from Secondary School? Something from Primary School? Something from your home? Something from your family? Something from your Past that you did?

And you just want to make sure that it doesn’t CATCH UP with you!

It keeps you running; it may get you to a desert, but it keeps you running.

So Hagar is the first (1st) we encounter in the Bible – Running in life. And what she is running from is CONSEQUENCES.

2. The Second (2nd) Runner that I want to Introduce you to is a man we all JEPHTHAH.

Jephthah was running from REJECTION.

He felt the Poison of family coming against him, and he started running.

His story is in the Book of Judges 11:1-3.

And this is what it says:

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a Mighty man of Valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.

2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.

3 Then Jephthah fled from his Brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.

Interestingly, JEPHTHAH means OPENER – Somebody who opens things.

But it looks like his life was closed. He was born out of the wrong circumstances – He didn’t choose it!

He wasn’t like Hagar, who was a Participant in the Process.

Jephthah was not a Participant, it was a decision made by his father. He had no clue of it. His father was a married man, and his father went out of his Marriage and went to a Prostitute!

… I am not sure whether there was any form of Protection at that time!

But the deviance with the Prostitute ended up in Pregnancy. And out of that came JEPHTHAH.

So, he gets born, and one day he realizes: I am born from a MISTAKE.

My father made a mistake; went to the wrong kind of woman and gave birth to me.

And there are People who are born, out of such circumstances.

You are NOT a mistake, but the circumstances were a MISTAKE.

Because God never makes MISTAKE with People He creates; but the circumstances are a mistake!

So, as the children grew up, the other sons (the Mrs’ Children) said to Jephthah: Listen, you have no inheritance in this family. You are not Part of this family.

You don’t belong to us, because our father made a mistake – Went to a Prostitute. Your mother is the wrong kind of woman to give birth to a child. So you have no inheritance here.

… And he started RUNNING!

What was he running from? From REJECTION – A sense that he doesn’t BELONG!

And there are many Jephthahs in this world – Who are running, because they feel a sense of REJECTION; because feel the world has rejected them, their home has rejected them, People don’t respect them.

… And so they are RUNNING!

And Jephthah started running and he when he ran, the Bible says: He bounded together with WORTHLESS MEN.

In other words: People who were REJECTED as he felt. He made company with them, and they went about raiding.

But the first (1st) description of Jephthah, before his Problem pop up is that: He is a Mighty man of Valor.

In other words: This is a courageous man. He is a man of Potential; but he suffered rejection. And the rejection is driving him to the wrong crowd.

And there are many People running in life: They get up in the morning, they are hustling and they are running. And they are doing all kinds of stuff.

And you ask them: What are you doing? What Problems are you trying to solve?

… Simply because, somewhere in their PAST, is a rejection!

So, sometimes when People who are in the state of Jephthah – And they started running, they go against the expected norms; they develop and cut a BAD BOY image. Or a BAD GIRL Image for themselves.

They only want to go against Society, family, friends, authority figures, who have rejected them.

The only thing is that: For anything they do; although they are doing it against a family. They are always looking to that same Place for Approval.

… They look to the People who rejected them – for Approval.

Now, if you know the story of Jephthah; he became a BAD BOY! And then his People got into trouble. And they called him, to come and LEAD them.

… This is the man they rejected!

“The stone that the builders rejected, has now become the head of the corner!”

But his sense of rejection never stopped – He was still running, he was still trying to achieve something with his life. But he always felt, HE DIDN’T BELONG!

So, when they were going into battle, he made a rash, unexpected, undemanding PROMISE to God: “God, if You give me Victory, I will sacrifice anything that POPS out of my house to You!”

And when he returned with Victory, the first thing that Pops out of his house to come and celebrate him; is his daughter.

He had to sacrifice his daughter (his family) for his achievement because he felt rejected!

The sad thing with People who are running from rejection, is that that end up hurting a lot of People and destroying a lot of People – And destroying even the People they love because they never feel accepted.

… Because it keeps them RUNNING!

Jephthah was a Runner, and he was running away from rejection.

I don’t know whether that is your story. It does not mean you will not become great because some is the People who achieved the greatest in life, are the ‘Insecure People’.

Because, very ‘Insecure People’, DON’T MOVE.

They are happy, they never do anything.

That is why when you look at most families:

I. The first (1st) Generation that came out of HARDSHIP, becomes Successful!

II. Their child, who enjoy the Success, are not able to replicate the success because there is nothing running after them – There is nothing that makes them to stand up, and start running.

… They always feel, life will be good!

Everybody needs something to run after them.

But you have to be careful where it will chase you to.

… Which is what I am going to talk about next week!

HAGAR was running from Consequences. It made her want to achieve something.

JEPHTHAH is running from Rejection – It made him want to do something with his life. But the rejection was a Driving Force of his life.

For People like Jephthah, in any effort they make, they take unnecessary risk. They put everything on the line, just to Succeed.

The Jephthahs of this life end up succeeding, but in the Process, they also destroy People dear to them.

… Like Jephthah destroyed his daughter.

My question to you: What is running after you when you get up in the morning and you go to work; or you go for your Business? What is the thing that is pushing you to do that?

Is it because you are running from the Consequences of your Past? Or you are running from Rejection?

… Quite a number of RUNNERS in the Bible!

Also listen: The Pull and Push Factors of Life – Pastor Mensah Otabil

3. The Third (3rd) Runner was DAVID.

David was not running from Consequences; he was running from EVIL CONSPIRACIES.

He felt the weight of a whole Political System coming against him and it made him RUN.

Anytime David got up, he had to run.

And he was running from an evil trap that has been set for him – People who wanted to get him.

1 Samuel 19:18-19 (NKJV). And we read these words:

18 So David fled and escaped, and went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

19 Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!”

David was thrust into Leadership at a very Young age – Very Talented Young man: Talented Musician, Talented fighter Warrior, a very Passionate man, very Sensitive man.

… He had all the ‘Goods’ together!

One moment he was a Shepherd, the next moment he was in King’s Palace – married to King’s daughter – It looked like all of a sudden, he has broken through!

But when you rise up quickly in life and you are that Talented; you are going to have People wanting to destroy you very early.

So, very early in his life; as innocent as he was, he realized he had become the target of the KING, and Palace’ CONSPIRACY.

And he had to run from the King, who is intent on taking his life.

And there are Runners like that!

Many of us are running because we feel somebody is out to get us – You are Talented, you are Gifted, and somebody is determined to KILL YOU before your time.

And I am not talking about witchcraft killing (which is the one you don’t even have to be afraid of) – It is the real killing. When somebody wants to really kill you in. Somebody wants to destroy you. Somebody is fighting against you, somebody is running after you because you are Gifted, you are Talented, you are Rising very high and they want to STOP you from Rising. And they set their eyes on YOU, to destroy you.

… And that is what caused DAVID to run!

And if you read the Passage, he ran to Samuel. And the moment he ran to Samuel, information went to the

Because when the King is running after you, he has everything at his disposal.

He has FBI, he has CIA, if he is American. He has BNI, if he is Ghanaian,. He has KGB, if he is Russian.

He has People everywhere who will spy on you, Report on you, Show them where you are. And they will try to get you.

So, David had nowhere to HIDE: he was running from one cave to the other, from one hiding Place to the other. Everyday of his life was a movement. But he kept going!

Eventually, that RUNNING, made him run to God. And eventually, he ran to his Destiny.

So, you may be HAGAR – who is running because of the Consequences of your Past.

You may JEPHTHAH – Who is running because you are rejected in life.

You may be DAVID – Who is running because there are People out there to GET YOU.

I don’t know whatever it is. But whenever you wake up in the morning: Something is Motivating you to RUN;

You don’t want SARAH to get you; you don’t want your FATHER’S CHILDREN to rejoice over you. And you don’t want KING SAUL to destroy you.

So I ask you today: What is running after you? What are you running from?

If you tell me: “Pastor, nothing is running after me. I am just living my cool life” – Then I will tell you – YOU ARE GOING NOWHERE!

If you don’t feel any sense of Urgency to depart from something, to move from someone; you may be Talented, you may be Gifted but you will make very little Progress.

It is not enough to have Vision, and be driven by Vision – You must also be driven by some Insecurities, something that doesn’t make you rest because you know that: if I REST, it will eat me up!

For some People: It is running away from the Poverty of their family; Running away from the bad Influence of your Parent and you are determined, I am going to be DIFFERENT.

… You are a RUNNER!”

Somebody say: I AM A RUNNER!

4. The Fourth (4th) and final Runner is a man called JONAH.

JONAH was running from RESPONSIBILITY.

He felt: Called to do something he did not want to do – So he was running!

Jonah 1:10-11 (NKJV):

10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.

Sadly, JONAH was running from the RIGHT THING.

He was running from his “True Mission” in life.

He did not like the Assignment God had given to him, so he wanted to run away from it – he wanted to do something else!

And there are People that God has Called and given a Mission to. And they know what their life is about; but they just want to do something else.

So, they wake up in the morning, and they tried to be somebody else; they try to do something else!

Some are running from the responsibility of FATHERHOOD.

Unfortunately, there are People who give birth to children and RUN from their children. Mothers who are running from their children – Responsibility is too hard them.

Others are running from a Calling from God – The hand of God is upon them, God has called them, God wants to use them but they are RUNNING!

And if you running from the Calling of God, like JONAH; you can run, but you can’t HIDE.

Yes, you can run from Saul because he is King only over Israel. You can go to Philistine land or go to other land but where do you go to when you are running from the RULER OF THE UNIVERSE?

If you go to any Island, He is there! If you flee Earth and go to live on the Moon, He will find you! If you go to live on Mars, He will find you! You go to live on Jupiter, He will find you!

Wherever you go, He will find you: if you leave this Galaxy and go to another Galaxy, He will find you! If you go to the ends of the Universe, He will find you!

Because the SPAN of Eternity is before His GAZE – You cannot run from the Presence of GOD.

… BUT, there are People running!

And for some People it is not just a Calling from God; it is something they know they must do.

The weight of Responsibility in on them and they are RUNNING. And they don’t want to be that; they don’t want to take up that responsibility.

Some are firstborns in their family, and there is a WEIGHT of Responsibility as a firstborn. And they feel it is too much – Too much PRESSURE.

So, they are running in the opposite direction.

And that is what they get up in the morning and run after: That is a Lion running after them!

If you are a HAGAR, the Lion you are running away from is the Consequences of the action of the Past.

If you are a JEPHTHAH, the Lion you are running away from is the Rejection you feel all around you.

If you are DAVID, the Lion you are running away from is the Conspiracy of POWERFUL People who determined to destroy you.

If you are JONAH, the Lion you are running away from is your True MISSION and Assignment in life; which you think is too BIG for you!

So, the question I want to ask you today is: What is Running after you? And what are you running away from?

Everybody is running.

Look behind you:

I. What makes you get up in the morning to go hustle?

II. What makes you get up in the morning to want to go and do something great?

III. What makes you get up in the morning to achieve something?

IV. What makes you wake up, to get results?

It is important for each one of us to know what we are running from.

I know what I am running from – It is Personal, I am not going to tell you.

But whatever is RUNNING AFTER YOU, can be the Greatest Motivation for your Progress in life.

I have told the story many times: When I was Young, in our neighbourhood there was a man who had Mango tree. He had quite a number of Mango trees. And normally, he lived alone. He had Mango trees, and the Mangoes would be ripe.

… And the biggest temptation for us kids (at that time) was Ripe Mangoes.

And this man has a hedge around his house and a gate.

And we tried to find a way through the hedge to go to his house; and ‘Deliver him’ from his Mangoes.

And one day, we were there, trying to do our job – Picking Ripe Mangoes. Some of us on the trees yelling at each other. Then, we heard bark of a dog!

We never saw the dog, we just heard the bark. And then, we started running!

… I guess the dog was running after us.

And when we started running, People were calling their Mama, People were calling whatever they were calling.

Some went through the gate, some went through the hedge. And I was one of the last to go!

I was on top of the tree. So, I was one of the last ones to go!

And when I got to the hedge; for some reason (I cannot fathom up till now) – I jumped the hedge!

I was not a High Jumper, I have not jumped anything that high before but that day, what Pursued me, helped me to jump!

So, whatever is Pursuing you, will HELP you to JUMP!

But you don’t jump into danger; you have to jump into SAFETY.

You don’t run into the Wilderness, you have to run into the Pools of water.

You don’t run into your enemies; you have to run to the LORD. Like David, you have to RUN.

You will not become a victim of life – You will become a Victor of life.

You are going to Jump, you are going to Rise, you are going to Fly. You are going to make Progress in your life.

So, when you look at what is running after you, the only thing it must tell you is: I have a Motivation to do.

The only that will make it catch up with you is if you are a JONAH.

Thank God it will catch up with you!

And when it catches up with you; it will redirect your energy, and take you on another Mission.

If you are DAVID, Saul can’t catch up with you – because you will keep going!

If you are HAGAR, your Past will not destroy you!

If you are JEPHTHAH, no matter who hates you and does not believe in you, you will still reach the Goal God had set before you.

Because they run after you not to eat you up, but to INSPIRE you; to help you so you could rise up to soar to Greater Heights and do things that you never thought you could do.

WHAT IS RUNNING AFTER YOU?

… Let’s Pray!

CLOSING PRAYER

Father we Thank You that You are the Source of our Help – You are our Shelter!

You are our Hope, You are our Defense – You are the One in whom we trust!

Some trust in Chariots, but we will trust you; like DAVID – we run to YOU. We run to the Rock that is Higher than us!

And I Pray committing everyone who is running, who is MOVING Lord, into Your hands: May You guide their efforts, may You drive in their direction.

And more than everything else, may You give them a VISION of what to run into.

In JESUS’ Name – Amen and AMEN!

Hallelujah!

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