INCREASING SPIRITUALLY- PART 2: DR. MENSA OTABIL- SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICEE, 30TH JANUARY, 2022.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: INCREASING SPIRITUALLY – PART 2
DATE: 30TH JANUARY, 2022
TEXT: John 3:25-30
Let’s rise up together as we take our DECLARATION OF INCREASE in this Year of Increase:
Are you ready? Say with me:
I confess today that Jesus Christ is my LORD and Saviour. In Him I have life, His Abundant Life.
The Lord is my Light and Strength. As He is, so has He made me. By His Spirit I Increase in Word and in Wisdom. In Faith and in Favour.
The Lord has said: “In Blessing, I will bless you. In multiplying I will Multiply your Seed.”
So, I can boldly say: My God shall Increase me more and more. What I Place in God’s Hands grows into Overflow.
Though I begin small, my end shall Greatly Increase.
In this Year of Increase, I grow in Grace and in Strength. To be all that God wants me to be.
In Jesus’ Name – AMEN!
I am doing Part 2 of my Message – INCREASING SPIRITUALLY.
As we desire to Increase, we have to desire to Increase Spiritually. That is where everything starts from; from our Spiritual Relationship with God.
DMC NOTES: You can access the Full Text of the Part 1 of the Series – Increasing Spiritually (Part 1) on this Link:
Bible Text: John 3:25-30
And I will base all my Message today on the Verses we are reading.
John 3:25-30 (NKJV):
25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s Disciples and the Jews about Purification.
26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”
27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from Heaven.
28 You yourselves bear me Witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’
29 He who has the Bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom’s Voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
30 He must Increase, but I must Decrease.
Please note the Verse 30, because that is the heart of what I am Preaching on: “He must Increase, but I must Decrease.”
There are two words there (I believe you know the meaning) which I much define:
- The first word is INCREASE.
And it is the a word that John used, regarding Jesus Christ.
… He said Jesus must INCREASE.
It means to become More Significant or to Grow in Size
So when John says “He MUST Increase” that is what he had in Mind – He must become More Significant and He must Grow in Size.
That means His followers must become more.than my fellowers – He must Increase!
- The Second word is the word DECREASE – It is the opposite of Increase.
It means to become Less Significant and to reduce in Size.
The Verse 30 (which I said you should Pay attention to) – “He must INCREASE, but I must DECREASE.” is the last recorded Message of John Baptist in the Bible.
It is very interesting! Because John the Baptist had said many things – He was a very fiery Preacher. But this is the last recorded Message that he gave.
… This is how John the Baptist ended his Ministry.
John the Baptist was a Unique Messenger with a Unique Message – Jesus Christ called him “The Greatest of all Men”.
And when you look into the Bible you will see John’s Uniqueness – He was the last Old Testament Prophet.
If you know your Bible well, you would know that in the Old Testament there were many Prophets. And most of the Prophets spoke about the Coming Messiah. And John was the last one of those Prophets. So he was a very Significant Person.
And his Mission was to Prepare the Way for Christ – He was the one sent to Prepare a Way for Christ.
And in Playing this role of Preparing People for the Christ, John Baptist became very Popular. And he became a well known Prophet in Israel at that time because for many years there had been no Prophet.
Since the Old Testament ended, no Prophet had arisen in Israel. And then John the Baptist shows up!
So everybody is drawn to him – He is bold, Righteous, Eloquent and the People loved him. He could confront a very Powerful People.
And his Ministry became so big; that People actually thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah. And so frequently they would go to him and ask him: “Are you really the Messiah or we should be looking for another one?”
He would tell them I’m not!
And they would still go to him and ask: “Are you the Messiah?” Because so much of what John the Baptist was doing was so Good that People felt “he must be the Messiah.”
Now if John didn’t know who he was, he would Probably have accepted the role that had been given to him.
But one day, Jesus Christ approached John the Baptist to be baptised. And John Pointed to Him and said: “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.”
And when he did that, his Disciples left him to follow Jesus.
And those who had stayed were very unhappy. And they are the ones who came to John the Baptist.
They said: “The Guy who came to you at the River Jordan, Whom you said is the Lamb of God, everybody is going to Him.”
And John then says: Yes, I know! – He must Increase, I must Decrease.
So a Few Things we should know about John the Baptist:
- First, is that he KNEW HIS PLACE.
… John knew his Place! – He was very confident in whom he was.
Yes he was Popular, yes People liked him, yes everybody wanted to hear him. But he also knew Who the “Real Person” was – He knew his Place.
- Secondly, he KNEW CHRIST’S PLACE.
… He knew the Place of Christ
In the Natural, Jesus Christ was John the Baptist’s Younger Cousin. But right from his mother’s womb John the Baptist had always responded to the Words of Jesus Christ. And he leaped when the mother of Jesus Christ (Mary) approached his mother, Elizabeth.
So, Spiritually he knew Jesus Christ was the Son of God.
But that is my Younger Cousin!
John Probably had studied the Old Testament Prophecies, and he knew without any shadow of doubt, that this Cousin of his was the Messiah.
… So he knew! – But People didn’t know.
And there is always a conflict when you know something about yourself and People don’t know it:
- You know you are not that Powerful, but everybody thinks you are the Most Powerful.
- You know you exist by the Grace of God, but everybody thinks they exist by Your Grace.
- You know everything depends on God, but everybody thinks everything depends on you!
They are giving you the Glory that they must give to God. They don’t know your Place; and they don’t know God’s Place.
And that is how it was for John the Baptist.
And so he said: f I am really going to Play my role – That Christ must Increase and I must Decrease (He and I).
It’s always a conflict between us and He; Jesus and us!
It’s always a conflict for Preachers – Between Jesus and us. Because you know, People don’t see Jesus, they see the Preacher.
And Pretty soon like John the Baptist, they are going to try to make you the Jesus; make you the Messiah. And you have to know your Place and you have to know Jesus’ Place.
… Because He must Increase and we must Decrease.
But it goes beyond the Preacher. It affects each one of us.
I like the word that John the Baptist used – He used the word “MUST”.
It’s an Imperative. It is something that is obligatory. It is required – “He MUST Increase; I MUST Decrease”.
Because that is the Foundation of Christianity – In Christianity we do things that are very different from the way the world act. We act opposite to the world.
In Christianity, we love by dying; we gain by loosing; we receive by Giving; we become great by serving and we Increase by decreasing.
When we say (for example) this is the Year of Increase; it doesn’t mean it is a Year to blow your horn; it doesn’t mean it is a Year for you to lift up yourself.
If we are going to follow John’s example; in the Year of Increase, we decrease that Christ may Increase in us. Less of us, more of Him. Less of our Way, more of His Way.
So, the Year of Increase is not our Year of Popularity:
I. It is a Year of God’s Popularity.
II. It is not a Year when we Praise ourselves; but a Year when we Praise God.
III. It is not a Year for us to lift up ourselves, but to lift up the Name of Jesus.
He MUST Increase, and we MUST Decrease!
And in His Increase we rise with Him. Because everything we are, is because of Him.
Somebody say: HE MUST INCREASE!
… And that is what John the Baptist understood.
HOW DOES CHRIST INCREASE IN US?
For Christ to Increase in us, a few things must happen:
I want you to remember what John the Baptist said – John, when he was told that Jesus Christ was Increasing more than him said: “Well, that is how it’s supposed to be!”
And then he used a Story, he says: The friend of the Bridegroom rejoices because of the Bridegroom.
Because in the days of Jesus Christ, the friend of the Bridegroom would be similar to what we call the Best Man now – They call him a friend of the Bridegroom.
But he is a little different from the Best Man because the friend of the Bridegroom was the one who Acts between the Bride and the Bridegroom. And he actually acts between the Bride’s Family and the Groom’s.
So, he is the one who goes to the Bride’s Family and talks to them and does all the Preparations and the negotiations. Until the Bridegroom shows up, the Person that is known is the friend of the Bridegroom – The family knows him, the Bride knows him and everybody knows him
And I can imagine if you are the friend of the Bridegroom, you seem to be the guy! You are the one making all the arrangements, making all the Preparations.
And then the Bridegroom shows up! And when he shows up you Stand aside.
So that’s what John the Baptist is saying – He says: I am the friend of the Bridegroom. I came along, you thought I was the the one. I was making the Preparations; you like my Voice, you like what I was saying but the “BIG MAN” Himself has come! And when He comes, I must step aside so that He will take the Bride.
Because the Bride does not belong to the friend of the Bridegroom – The Bride belongs to the Bridegroom.
The Bride in the Bible is the Church. We – Preachers, Christians, we are the friend of the Bridegroom. But the Bridegroom is called JESUS. And He is the Owner of the Church.
And when He has used us, we must step aside, so that His Glory would be seen. Because He is the Bridegroom.
So that’s what John the Baptist is talking about, when he talked about the friend of the Bridegroom. And he says, that’s my joy!
You may think I’m a loser, you may think I don’t have ambition. You may think my life’s work has been destroyed. You may think that I am failure but at the end of my Life, after I have Preached for so long, everybody is following me.
But this is my Joy, this is what I came to do – Not to Promote myself, but to Point to the Bridegroom.
And he says that “In this, my Joy is fulfilled.” What a Man!
… So How do we Increase in Christ, if we are taking John the Baptist as our example?
- WE MUST STAY BY HIS SIDE.
For Christ to Increase in us,we must be by His side.
That’s how John the Baptist Himself; he said: “I am the friend of the Bridegroom, I am with the Bridegroom.”
… We must Stand by His side. We must stay Close to the Lord.
And this Year (2022); if we want to Increase; we must stay Close to the Lord – Spend time with Him, get to know Him better.
- WE MUST LOVE AND HONOUR HIS WORDS.
John the Baptist says: “I Rejoice to hear the Word of the Bridegroom.”
He was not offended that the Bridegroom had replaced him.
- WE MUST SURRENDER ALL TO HIM.
That’s what John the Baptist did – He surrendered everything he had gained to Jesus Christ.
When Jesus Christ increases in us, our Old Nature must step aside, for His New Nature to show forth – Our anger must step aside, our envy must step aside, our unforgivness must step aside, our Immorality must step aside.
Jesus Christ cannot Increase in us when Anger is increasing in us; when Adultery is increasing in us; fornication is increasing in us; gossiping is increasing in us; lying is increasing in us; jealousy, envy is increasing in us.
How can Jesus Christ Increase in us when we have become so large that there is no Vision of Christ in our lives?
So in this Year of Increase, Jesus Christ MUST Increase in our lives!
I said, He MUST Increase in our lives – Amen.
I know you want to Increase.
Most of us, since we said the Year is the Year of Increase, I think you have reduced Increase to Money! So anytime we say it’s the Year of Increase, you are counting the Money.
Yes! There is Increase in money. But it begins Spiritually – Christ increases in us. And for that to happen, we must step aside.
You can’t be who you normally are, and still Increase in Christ.
It reminds me of a Pastor who was quarrelling with another Pastor (Pastors quarrel, by the way)! And this was getting to almost fighting Physically.
So the other Pastor told one of the Pastors – “You, if you don’t stop what you are doing, I will show you my true colours.”
… True Story! – “I will show you my true colours.”
… The question is: All these times what have you been Showing?
You know, some times when we come to Church, People are nice. Oh, Praise the Lord. Until something happens! Then you say: “These Church People.”
Because a Church Member, who you think is a nice brother in Christ would get so angry, you would be shocked – You would open your mouth wide.
Or the Person would cheat you in a way that will make you review your Understanding of a Christian Brother.
Ha! He would cheat you and come and lift up his hand in worship.
Why does that happen?
Because we haven’t stepped aside – We are still the Central of our lives. Our anger is still the Central of our lives; Our jealousy is still the Central of our lives. But if Jesus Christ must Increase in us, we must be like the friend of the Bridegroom. The moment He shows up, we step aside and say Lord, stay in Your Place and grow in Your Place.
When Jesus Christ comes into our lives, He comes into our heart; we must step aside so that He will be Magnified in our lives.
… He MUST Increase as we Decrease!
May we see LESS of ourselves and MORE of Jesus Christ – Amen.
And when we do that, then He becomes More Significant in us.
And that is our Challenge – That Jesus Christ must become More Significant in us! The world must see MORE of Him in us.
So you ask yourself: What do People see when they look at me? Do they see More of Jesus Christ or More of us?
The world must see more of HIM in us. And the world must hear MORE of Him through us.
When we talk, it must be More about Jesus Christ.
We should make it a habit that, every conversation we have, we would find a way to introduce Jesus Christ in the Conversation.
Instead of talking about “me, me, me. I, I, I. What I have done” – Why don’t you talk about what Jesus Christ has done? “How Great I am!” – Why don’t you talk about how great Jesus Christ is?
And for us Preachers, it’s important for us to keep Jesus Christ at the Center of our Preaching!.
We can talk about everything we want to talk about, but it has to always end up with Jesus Christ as the Central of our lives – He must INCREASE, as we Decrease.
Because sometimes you know, we Preachers get into the habit of talking too much about ourselves:
I. About our Grace and not His Grace.
II. About our Anointing and not His Anointing.
III. About our Calling and not His Calling because we didn’t call ourselves.
If Jesus was not in the Picture, there is no way I would be a Preacher – No way!
My father wasn’t a Preacher – No way near that.
I am a Preacher because of the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am Called because of the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is because of Him that I got the Chance to do what I am doing. It is because of Him that you got the Chance to become a Child of God. It is because of Him that you live Life with confidence of a Home in Heaven! Otherwise, Life would be full of fear – He makes all the difference!
Somebody say: CHRIST MUST INCREASE!
And not only His Words; but the world must believe more in Him through us.
These days I get the impression that People believe in their Pastor more than Jesus Christ. I get that funny impression and sometimes I think the Pastors want People to believe in them more than Jesus Christ.
And it is great to believe in your Pastor and love him or her. To Pray for them and be Proud of what God is using them to do!
But they are like John the Baptist – They are only there to introduce People to the Bridegroom.
That is my job! – And if I don’t introduce you to Jesus Christ, I have failed in my job. If I Point you to myself then I have failed.
My job is to ensure that after all is said and done, I Point you to Jesus Christ.
Your job is to ensure that after all is said and done, you give Jesus Christ the Glory – Alright!
I don’t want you to give me the Glory – Give Jesus Christ the Glory!
Don’t even give the Church the Glory – Give Jesus Christ the Glory.
I don’t want People to come to Church and say: “Oh, since I came to this Church, my Life has Changed.” – It’s Great! I understand the context in which you are saying it.
But I want you to say: “Since I gave my Life to Jesus Christ, my Life has never been the same again.”
That’s the Testimony we want to hear – Since I gave my Life to Jesus Christ, since I gave my heart to Jesus Christ; Thank God for His Words, which has made me so and so! Instead of just saying “Thank God for my Pastor words which has made me so and so”.
… Because, what is your Pastor’s word if God has not given His Word?
Let’s bring Jesus back to the Center – He must INCREASE, and we Decrease!
And when we do that, that is when we see the Magnifience of the Power of God and the Glory of God in all that we do!
And we must do it as a Church, we must do it as Preachers, and we must do it as Church Members.
And be careful not to give God’s Glory to a Human b Being because God does not share His Glory with anybody.
Be careful not to give God’s Glory to another Human Being – You must give all your Highest Honour, your Highest Worship, your Highest Appreciation to the Lord.
And when we make Him INCREASE, then whilst He increases, He will lift us up with Him. And cause His Light to Shine on us.
We are like the Moon, we are not the Sun – The Moon only reflects the Light that the Sun gives! We have no Light of our own.
Every reflection of Light People see of us is because the Sun is Shining through us. And in us, His Glory touches the rest of the world.
When He Increases, then He causes us to be effective in all that we do!
Today or as we read now on the Label of DMC – I just want us to make a decision that in all that we do; in all that we desire; that Jesus Christ will have the Preeminence; that He will Increase in us, His Glory would be seen in our jobs, in our Marriages.
That wherever we are: let Jesus Christ be seen, let His Glory be seen. He must INCREASE as we Decrease – AMEN!
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