A PLACE TO BE FRUITFUL [PART 1]: PASTOR MENSA OTABIL – SUNDAY SERVICE, 10TH OCTOBER, 2021
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSAH OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: A PLACE TO BE FRUITFUL – PART 1.
DATE: 10TH OCTOBER, 2021
TEXT: GENESIS 26:18-22
Amen and Amen! Let’s keep Standing, as we make our DECLARATION OF FRUITFULNESS in this Year of Fruitfulness:
Are you ready? Well say with me:
The Eternal God is our Refuge. He opens Rivers in desolate Heights.The Lord makes the wilderness a Pool of water.
The LORD God is my Sun and Shield; The LORD gives Grace and Glory.
Therefore, I delight myself in Him. Those who are Planted in the House of the LORD shall be Fresh and Flourishing.
Though the Earth be shaken; the Name of the Lord is my Strong Tower. By Faith I affirm that: In Christ alone is my Salvation. In Him I live, and move and have my Being.
It is written: The Righteous are like trees Planted by the waters; bearing Fruits in its Season.
So I boldly declare: As for me, my God has made me Exceedingly Fruitful.
In this Season, my Spirit bears Fruits of Righteousness, my Talents make Way for me. With my hands, I will Plant, I will Build, I will Harvest – Day by Day, Step by Step.
In Jesus’ Name – Amen!
I am going to do a three (3) Parts Message this week and the next two (2) weeks; and I have titled my Message: A PLACE TO BE FRUITFUL.
For us to be Fruitful in our endeavours, we need to operate in the right atmosphere and in the right Place because there are Places that can limit our Fruitfulness.
In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus Christ showed us that the Place we are Planted can determine whether we are Fruitful or not – Because the Seed that fell by the wayside and the Seed that fell on Stony Ground and among thorns did not Produce Fruits.
So, the Place we find ourselves and the Place we are Planted is important for our Fruitfulness.
Today, we are going to look at an Old Testament Story – And the Story is about Isaac.
This Story illustrates the Point about the Place of Fruitfulness.
It is important (before I read the Scripture) to note that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all those People in the Bible who did what we read about lived in the Part of the world that today we call the Middle East.
The Geography of that Part of the world (the Middle East) is very different from where we live.
We live in the Tropics and where we live in the Tropics, rainfall is very normal.
But in the Middle East, it is dry most of the time and so rain is very, very scarce – It was so in the days of Abraham and it is so in the days now in most of the Middle East.
And that is why when you read the Bible, you find that many of God’s Promises to Israel referred to water – He Provided water!
Even God said He was going to open the Heavens – It means He was going to give them rain.
And He spoke about the Righteous Man who is Planted by the rivers of water.
So, water and the Promise of water is very central to God’s Grace under the Old Testament because the Geography of the Place where the People lived.
The Story we are about to consider is recorded in Genesis 26; and it talks about Isaac living in the land of the Philistines, in a land that is called Gerar. And Isaac moved to another land, because there was drought where he lived.
And that was a very normal Practice in those days – When it didn’t rain in your area, you go to another area. Or when the Wells dry in your Part of the world, you go to another Place where you can find water.
So that is what Isaac is doing – He moved to the land of Gerar.
It is interesting also to note that ninety (90) Years before Isaac moved to the land of Gerar, his father Abraham had also gone to the same land of Gerar to build Wells.
So, this circle of draught and looking for water was not new to Isaac – Abraham had gone through the same situation. Isaac went to another land looking for water.
And the reading I am going to focus on is from Genesis 26:18-22 – And it reads:
18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.
19 Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.
20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah.
22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be Fruitful in the land.”
When Isaac went to another land, he went searching for Wells that Abraham had dug. Ninety (90) Years before, Wells that had Provided water for his father Abraham.
Then he realised that the Philistines had stopped those Wells and they were not Producing water. He dug those Wells again, but there is no report that he found water from those Wells.
…. So that which has Produced water in the days of Abraham was not Producing water in the days of Isaac.
Sometimes, things that worked in another Season may not work in another Season; Something that worked for somebody may not work for you.
It Provided water for Abraham. And for Isaac, he dug but there was no water.
So, Isaac moved from there.
And in Genesis 26:7; Isaac moved further down the Valley and started digging.
These were not Abraham’s Wells – These were New Wells that Isaac was digging.
He moved further from where Abraham’s Wells had been and started digging.
This time, Isaac servants found water!
And you can imagined how they might have felt when they found water. Water was so scarce! It was more Precious than oil.
Of course, there was no Crude Oil at that time but water was so scarce.
It was so important and they dug; there was a gush of water. And they were so excited! But that is when opposition arose.
So, Isaac faced opposition with his first water well.
And so he called the first well Esek – And the word Esek means to fight or struggle.
It is a word that is used to describe those who fight over what you have and struggle with you over it.
… They can’t Stand it when you find water!
And Isaac was a Stranger in the land of Gerar – That was not his Natural Place of abode. He wasn’t a Citizen there. It was a Philistines’ land.
And if you know much about the Bible, the Philistines and Hebrews were always having conflicts.
This is more or less the enemy’s Territory. and so the People came and fought over it with him – They knew the King, they had connections.
And when they rose against Isaac, Isaac was no match for them. And Isaac lost this fight! He lost it and he called the Well ‘Struggle and fight.’
But you know, Isaac was not discouraged; he moved further and dug another well. And he lost the Second well too.
So he called the name of the second well Sitnah – Sitnah means to lie in wait; to attack.
These People were waiting for him to find water and they Pounced on him and attacked him.
It is very interesting that the “Root Word” for Sitnah is the same “Root Word” for Satan – And it means an Adversary, an Opponent or somebody who opposes you.
… And that is the meaning of Satan – An Adversary.
So, we can say then that this was a satanic attack – They waited for Isaac to do all the hard work and then the Pounced on him, took his wells from him.
So, if you were Isaac, by this time you are beginning to see a Pattern emerged: that you work hard and dig hard, find water, People fight over it and you lose it!
Then you did again and there is water; People fight over it and you lose it.
The Source of it is Satanic attack.
It would seems as if Satan has a Place to frustrate your Success. And he inspires People to contend with you over the things that God open for you.
So far, Isaaac is not making success – He is working hard but there is nothing to show for it. He is digging, he is finding water; but he cannot hold on to the water.
But he is not discouraged.
And Isaac moved further and start the game again.
And my own imagination would tell me: Either he moved to a Place that Probably was very dangerous for the Philistines to follow.
That means that he moved deeper into the valley – Further down to a Virgin Territory.
And he dug for water, and this time he found water! – He found a breakthrough.
When Isaac dug for the water, the Place had no name – The Place that he went to dig for water and he got water, had no name!
And he waited for the Philistines to come but no one came. Nobody fought over him with it.
Probably he waited a day, and expected that there will be an attack and there was no attack. He waited for a week, he waited for a month and there was no attack!
So he finally concluded: this is different!
This is not like the two (2) other Wells, this one is different.
So, he called the name of the Place REHOBOTH – And Rehoboth means: “A Wide and Open Place”.
It is a very Powerful word – “A Wide and Open Place.” – No enemies around, no contention, no Struggle.
God has given us a Wide and Open Place – Because Isaac said: “The Lord has made room for us.”
That word that is translated as Rehoboth in the Old Testament, does not only occur in this Passage, it occurs in several other Passages in the Bible.
In Genesis 19: 2, there is a Story there:
When two (2) Angels went to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy it, Lot was sitting at the Gate of the City. He saw these two (2) Angels, they looked like Human Beings and he said: “Come and abide with me.”
The Angels said No! We will not come in, we will dwell in the Open Space.
The word Open Space is Rehoboth – So, Rehoboth means Open Space.
When God told Abraham to walk the Length and the Breadth of the land, the word that is translated the ‘Breadth’ is the same word that is translated Rehoboth.
Rehoboth is a word that means an Open Space – A Place that has width (It is wide) and It doesn’t have Limitations.
Usually in the Bible, that word is used to describe Open Square.
And many times in the Old Testament, that word Rehoboth is used to describe a Place that is Open, a Place that has no Limitation. It is also used to describe the Street – A Place of Access.
When God makes room for you, it is as if He has made a way for you. He has made a Path for you. A Street takes you from one Place to the other. It connects you from one Point to the other.
DR. MENSA OTABIL
… So Rehoboth is when God makes a way for you and gives you Access.
What Isaac is saying is: Now, God has given me Access. God has made a way for me.
It is similar so when God makes a way for you and links you to the Right Person; or God gives you Access to something desirable.
The word Rehoboth also means a Street; a Pathway, God’s Way!
Secondly, Rehoboth also means a Plaza.
A Plaza is an Open Square. It is a Place of opportunity. It is a Market Square.
We find out in most of the Modern world we go to a town and there will always be the Open Square.
The Market Square – This is where People gather.
If you go to our Villages, there is always an Open Square.
That is where the Village functions take Place – Chieftaincy Coronation, Church Crusade, Political Rally.
That is Rehoboth. It is an Open Square, it is a Public Space. It is a Place for Trading, a Place where you are able to take what you have to the Market.
And when you find yourself in an Open Space, you can say: “I have found my Rehoboth”. It is a watered to Land. It is a land of Opportunity.
And may the lord bring you to your Open-space – Amen.
I am here to talk to somebody: It would seems as if you have struggled and struggled and People have fought you and your Life has been so tight – So much close marking.
But God is bringing you to an Open Field – Amen.
And in that Open Field, He is making a way for you – Amen. And in that Open Space, He is giving you Access to the Marketplace – Amen; to the Place where you can take your Goods to the market and sell it.
Where you have been held back, God is releasing you to the Marketplace – Amen.
Somebody say: I have my Open Space!
When God makes a way for us, He gives us two (2) Things – Access and Opportunity.
Somebody say: Access and Opportunity!.
Now I want you to listen to what Isaac said. Isaac did not say: “The Lord has made room for us therefore we are Fruitful”.
… That is not what he said!
He said: “The Lord has made room for us and we shall be Fruitful.”
Rehoboth is not the Fruitfulness; Rehoboth gives you the Capacity to be Fruitful.
“WE SHALL BE” – Is in the future Tense.
So Isaac is saying: Previously, I didn’t have Access, I didn’t have Opportunity; but now God has given me a Space where I can be Fruitful, showcase what I have, where I can put together the things that are in my heart.
Many times in Life, you find out that you have so much Potentials; but no Access, no Opportunity. You have so much capacity, but you can’t find the Place to flourish.
May the Lord bring you to the Place where Struggles would cease; fighting would cease; opposition would cease; contenders would cease – Amen
And this time, your wells will remain, to Produce water for you – Amen.
Nobody is going to show up, fighting to take your Wells from you because God is making room for you.
… If you look at what Isaac spoke about, there are two (2) things:
- First, there is WHAT GOD DOES- He makes room for us.
How did Isaac know God had made Room for him?
Because he looked left, and he looked to the right and he looked ahead, and he looked backwards and he sends spies around; and no Philistines could touch this Well.
Maybe the Philistines looked at this Particular Well and said: Yes, it is water. Where it is, it cannot Produce anything. Maybe they dispersed it, maybe they said: ‘It is not even worth fighting over him for it.’
I don’t know why but one of these days, God would bring you to a Place; and nobody would be there to fight – Amen.
It could be because they think it has no Potential; it had no Promise. It is nothing. It cannot Produce a thing.
But when God makes room for you, He has made room for you! It may be in a Valley, it may be in the Lowest Part of the Valley, it may be in a Point where you yourself can’t even see anybody around.
But God is about to draw the City to you wherever you are instead of you going to the City.
I said – God is about to draw the City to you, instead of you going to where the People are – Amen.
The People are about to follow you to where you are – Amen.
In your Rehoboth, God will make you Fruitful – Amen.
Isaac said: “The Lord has made room for us.”
May God make room for you – Amen.
- The Second thing is: WHAT WE DO.
Isaac said: “We will be Fruitful in the Land.”
Rehoboth is an empty space God gives you – It is not a Planted field, it is just Wells of water.
And wells of water is Fruitful. It is not a flourishing field, it is an Empty field.
When God makes room for you, you must be careful not to interpret it as you becoming Fruitful – It is not an Open field.
It is like having an Irrigated Land – Having an Irrigated Land does not mean you have a Fruitful Land.
… It just means that you have a Land that can support Agriculture.
A Rehoboth is Opportunity and Access.
When God gives it to you, you don’t fold your hands and say: “God has made room for us; it is finished.”
Isaac said: “The Lord has made room for us, and we shall..”
… It is in the future tense. But we will work towards it – “We shall be Fruitful.”
So God does something; and we do something. God’s favour requires Man’s labour.
When God favours me, I must labour.
You know, I have heard People say: “Favour, not Labour!”
But that is not the Pattern of the Bible – It is ‘Favour and Labour”.
When God favours you, you don’t fold your hands; work like crazy!
When God opens a Door for you, you don’t just sing and rejoice. You RUN like crazy through the Open Door!
When God gives you access, you don’t become lazy!
Many of us, God gives us Rehoboth, we are not Fruitful because we thought that Rehoboth was Fruitfulness.
You Prayed and Prayed to go to School and then you were lazy not to learn.
You Prayed: “God give me a job”. He gave you a job, and you were lazy on the job and so you were fired.
You had your Rehoboth, but you were not Fruitful.
God’s Favour is a Rehoboth; but to be Fruitful is a Labour – I have to Labour, you have to Labour.
As a Pastor I must Labour in the Scriptures – I can’t Pray and say: “God give me a Word and not dig the Scriptures. I have to labour in the Scriptures and I have to Study like crazy;
… Because the Anointing without Labour is frustration.
There are many Annointed Lazy People – They have Rehoboth, but they are not Fruitful because they think Rehoboth is Fruitfulness. It is not Fruitfulness; because that is not the end. You must RUN into it
Somebody say: I will Labour, I will work with Diligence, Persistence, Perseverance, Respirational.
… You must sweat!
Oh yes! I don’t believe in Sweatless Victory – I don’t see it anywhere in Scripture. You must sweat for it. It is Sweat Equity.
By the time you are successful, you should be Painting that – Thanks be to God that my Labour was not in vain; because God favoured my Labour.
May God give you Rehoboth. And when He gives you Rehoboth, may you Labour like crazy. Work hard to see the Victory that He has given to you.
When God gives us a Rehoboth, we must Plant on the land, God’s Presence must be established.
The First thing Isaac did when he saw that nobody was contending with him over the well it that: HE PLANTED AN ALTAR ON THE LAND.
By Planting an Altar on the land, he was planting himself on the land – He was saying because my God has Planted me!
So, he Planted an Altar; Planted himself and then Planted Seed.
And when we Plant, we must Protect what we have Planted because they may not contend with your water; but they may contend with your Fruits.
You must always be on the lookout for Contenders – People who would say: “Leave him alone, we will wait; just when he is about to Harvest, we will go and steal his Harvest”.
So, don’t just Plant, keep watching. Protect what you have Planted so that your Rehoboth would Produce fruits for you.
I am going to conclude with the Promises that God made to the children of Israel in Zechariah 8:3-5. And this is what God said to them:
“Thus says the Lord: ‘I will return to Zion, And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, The Mountain of the Lord of Hosts, The Holy Mountain.’ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Old Men and old Women shall again sit In the Streets of Jerusalem, Each one with his Staff in his hand. Because of great age. The streets of the City Shall be full of boys and girls Playing in its streets.’
Why did He choose these Verses? – Because the Word that is translated ‘Street’ is Rehoboth.
God says: I am going to give Jerusalem Open spaces. But then He says – The Streets will be filled with old Men, old Women, boys, girls.
There are two (2) things about these Promises of God!
- First, is the Promise of: A RETURN.
God says: ‘I will return.’
There will be a return!
Isaac went to Gerar to dig wells of water. The wells of Abraham did not give him water but God gave him water.
Because, sometimes, what you expect to give you water may not be what will give you water. Because God wants to open something Fresh, something New in your Life.
… Somebody say: THERE WILL BE A RETURN!
- And the Second thing is: FULLNESS.
He says, the Streets shall be full. Rehoboth is an empty Space. But God folks the empty space with Substance.
DECREES:
May the Lord fill your opportunity!
You will not just have opportunity, but you will have opportunity that is fulfilled.
You will not just have an Open Streets; you will have Open Streets full of People. Empty space – but the Empty space that will be occupied with Products, favour and the Abundance of the Lord.
And I speak that over your Life this Morning; by the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ; whose you are and whom you serve; you are not in this battle alone; the Lord your God fights for you!
They may contend and win some, they may contend and win here and there but you are entering into a New Season. They will not even show up, because the Lord will make room for you.
And for everybody who has been in contention all these times and everything you have is taking away from you, I decree a Season of Open Fields for you, Open spaces for you, Access for you.
Enter your Plaza. Enter your Market Place. Enter your Open Fields.
In the Name of Jesus, you will return and that which used to be empty would now Produce for you.
And I Decree over your Life, a Season of Fullness. Your Open Spaces shall be full. You will not just be a Person of Potentials; but a Person of Fullness.
I Decree it over your Life, by the Authority of Jehovah God Almighty; He Who opened the door will also fill the Place.
May the Lord cause your Streets to be full of People, may the Lord cause that your Business to be full, may the Lord cause that your Shop to be full, may the Lord cause that your Home to be full, may the Lord cause that your Enterprise to be full.
In the Name of Jesus, you will not live and die with Potentials but you will see fulfillment of Potentials in Life.
And this day, may the Lord Arise on your behalf, and contend with those who contend against you.
May He build a Wall of fire around you – They will not go through the fire.
Even if they imagine to Pursue you, the Lord would hold them back because, this Land is not for them, this Season is not for them, this Place is not for them.
They have done what they could do but thus far they would go and no further; because God would make room for me!
Just lift your hands to God and Pray: LORD, MAKE ROOM FOR ME. Lord, give me Access. May a way for me, bring me to my Open spaces, to my Open Plaza, to my Open Market, to my Open Place Lord.
Make a Way for me Lord! Take me to the Place where I can flourish. Open up Opportunity to flourish, a New Idea that will flourish: Fresh water, fresh Wells, fresh Open Fields are coming to you, in the Name of Jesus.
And Father, we recognise this Season of Open Fields. You have Planted us in a Place of Fruitfulness – Our Rehoboth is come!
In Jesus’ Name – ÀMEN.
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