PREPARING FOR INCREASE-PART 3: DR MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 20TH FEBRUARY, 2022.

SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)

TOPIC: PREPARING FOR INCREASE – PART 3

DATE: 20TH FEBRUARY, 2022

TEXT: ISAIAH 54:1-3

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!

Let’s go to the Word of God, as I teach on the Third (3rd) Part of my Message – PREPARING FOR INCREASE.

… And this is Part 3 of PREPARING FOR INCREASE.

DMC NOTES: We can get to read the first two Parts of this Series on these Links:

Part 1: https://discoverymediacrew.com/Preparing-For-Increase-Part-1-Dr-Mensa-Otabil

Part 2: https://discoverymediacrew.com/Preparing-For-Increase-Part-2-Pastor-Mensa-Otabil

Let’s go back to our Opening Bible Text; which is – Isaiah 54:1-3(NKJV):

1 “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords. And strengthen your stakes.

3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.

We have dealt with the first two (2) Verses. And we have focused a lot on Verse 2 – Where God tells His People to get ready for Increase.

And He tells them, that although there situation is very bad and their People have been taken away and their Cities have been ruined; He says there’s going to be Increase.

And I believe that the same Message is being sent to us: Though it seems like things are hard this Season, there is a Season of Increase upon us. And we are going to Increase on every sides – Amen!

And so God tells them to Prepare – And there are Four (4) Things He tells them to Prepare for; and I will go through them because we have covered them.

1. First, He says to them: ENLARGE.

He told them to enlarge the Place of their Tent.

2. Then secondly, He told them to STRETCH.

He told them to Stretch their curtains and allow their curtains to Stretch.

3. And then He told them to LENGTHEN.

He said they should Lengthen their Cords.

4. And then He told them to STRENGTHEN.

So there are Four (4) Things we do to Prepare for Increase – We ENLARGE, we STRETCH, we LENGTHEN, we STRENGTHEN.

*These are the Four (4) Imperatives that God gave to His People – He says if I am going to Increase you: You have to Enlarge the Place of your Tent (The Space you are in).

And that is what we have done as a Church – We have Enlarged the Place of our Tent; we have Stretched our Curtains, we have Lengthen our Cords, we have Strengthen our State.

We say Lord, we are ready! This facility is our Message to God – We are ready for INCREASE. We are ready for Massive Growth. We are ready for us to do Great Things!

Now I want you to note this – That when God tells you to Enlarge, it could be at the “Wrong Time” of your Life.

And for Israel, it was the “Wrong Time”! – It was the time when everything was gone. Nothing was working.

Because sometimes People want to wait for the “Best Time” to believe God for Great Things. And we want Things to look Good, before we believe God for Good Things.

But you believe God for Good Things when everything is looking bad. And you take the step of Faith, you Stretch, and you Expand! And then God fills it up!

God told them that if they did these Four (4) Things – Enlarge, Stretch, Lengthen and Strengthen; then He will do something.

That is what we are looking at in this Part 3 – And it says “For you shall expand to the Right and to the Left, And your Descendants will inherit the Nations, And make the Desolate Cities inhabited.”

… So God makes Three (3) Promises to Israel (in verse 3):

1. The first one is – YOU SHALL EXPAND.

And that is why He says Enlarge.

Why? – Because you are going to Expand, you are going to Breakforth.

The Hebrew word that is translated ‘Expand’ is “PARATS”.

Parats is where you get another word, that some of you may be familiar with, Perez. But that word means to Break through.

So God says Enlarge the Place of your Tent, because you are going to breakthrough – You are are to ‘Parats’, you are going to Expand, you re going to break out from where you are.

I don’t know about you, but I believe God is saying to you – Expansion is coming to you! You are going to Breakthrough on every sides – Amen.

YOU SHALL EXPAND.

Now for us to Expand, Two (2) Things must take Place:

I. First, you have to Step Out.

Stepping out means to “Break Free” from all Restrictions.

You cannot Expand when you are contained in a Limited Place!

The word “Parats” is used to describe when a Dam is broken. Water that has been kept by a Dam is broken. That is it!

Normally the word is a Violent word. And when we say it is a Violent word, it means it takes a Forceful Action. It is not Gentle ‘Parats’, everything opens. No, it is a Forceful Thing.

… So God says for you to Expand, you have to Step Out.

I don’t know what the world has imposed on you – Maybe you are living in a world of Limitation, of Scarcity, of Smallness; you have to Step Out of it.

Maybe you look at Ghana (Nigeria) and you look at our Economy, on how things are, and you watch Television or you listen to Radio and you have allowed everything to make you small and think small; but you serve a “Big God”. And He says you are about to Step Out.

… Somebody say: I AM STEPPING OUT.

II. But “Parats” is not just stepping out. Because when you Step Out, you must go somewhere (laughing). Isn’t it? Because you can’t Step Out and just go nowhere.

So it is Step OUT and Step IN.

For us to Expand, we have to Step In – That means to Breakforth into New Areas.

God is saying to Israel, get Ready, Enlarge the Place of your Tent.

Why? – Because you are going to Step Out. And when you Step Out, you are going to Step In. You are going to Places you have never been before!

In essence, that is what we are doing as a Church this Year (2022). As we seek to Increase, we stepped out from Christ Temple West. We stepped in to Christ Temple East – Into a Place where we have no Membership, into Geographical Area we have not been in the last twenty (20) Years.

But that’s what we are doing; we are Stepping Out! – You Step Out and you Step In.

Every Breakthrough that God wants to bring your Way is going to require you to do something radical.

If you just want to live Life as it is, you will be where you are! But if you want to live Life as God wants you to; then you are going to be Bold, you are going to be Courageous and you going to Step Out on something and Step into something.

And as you see your Local Church take these moves, it’s time for you to make similar moves in your own Private Life, in your Business Life, in your Professional Life.

Because God wants you to Step Out of something and be Bold – Don’t be timid, don’t be condemned, don’t limit yourself. Don’t tell yourself Stories that keep you where you are.

God has big Things for you, God has Mighty Things for you. God wants to show you another side of Himself, don’t make Him Small in your eyes. He is a “Big God”. And He says, Enlarge, because you are going to Expand.

… He wants us to Break Out and Break In.

And if you look at the Passage, it says – “You Expand to the Left hand and to the Right hand.”

It is a Figure of Speech meaning, you will Expand on all sides – Not only in one (1) area, but in every areas.

It will happen in your Family, in your Business, in your Finances, in your Spiritual Life – In all areas: Expansion on all sides!

So that’s the first thing God said to the children of Israel – You are going to expand.

Now, you were Israel, you would not really believe that. Because they have just been conquered by two (2) Nations – The Assyrians had come to conquer them in the North. And Babylonians had conquered them in the South.

Northern kingdom taken by Assyria, Southern kingdom taken by Babylon.. Their King had been taken into Captivity; all the Young Men into Captivity; ttheir City has been ransacked, their Temple has been torn down. And God says, you will expand!

Now the normal thing in such a situation is to say – “Oh woe on me! Oh how miserable my Life is. Oh Life has been so hard.” God say No, No, No! Get ready, Enlarge the Place of your Tent, because you are going to Expand.

So maybe Calamity has hit you, God says, in the midst of the Calamity, you will Expand. Everything is gone, but you will Expand! And that’s why He says it starts with your Mind – Enlarge the Place of your Tent. Enlarge it!

2. Then the Second Thing He says to them – Not only will you Expand;

He says YOU WILL INHERIT.

In the Bible Text (Isaiah 54:2) He says – “Your Descendants (Your children) will inherit the Nations” – Woooow!

Now what does it mean when God says that?

Most times we say that: “The Youth are the Future of our Nation.”

Have you heard that Statement before?

So when you lose the Youth, you have lost the Future.

When God says you shall inherit; He says your Descendants (In other Translation, your Seed).

That Seed there means your children.

Now why did God say: “Your children shall inherit the Nations?

… Because the children had been taken away to the Nations!

So, if you were left back home in Israel you have no child. That is why He starts by calling them barren. You have no child! Every Parents had no child – Daniel’s Parents, Shedrack’s Parents, Abednego’s Parents. All of them – No child.

Why? – Because the Babylonians, the Asylians have taken all the children into their Nations.

So it’s like something happens in Ghana/Nigeria (may it never happen) that we go to war (and we will never go to war, in Jesus’ Name). And one Nation, maybe Togo or Benin conquer us (and it will never happen) – I’m just using it as an example (it will never happen, in Jesus’ Name – Amen)!

You know, and then they take all our children. So, it will leave Parents with no children.

In those days, there was no Instagram, no Facebook where the children could say “Mum, I’m in Lagos.” No! They are gone and Nobody knew anything about them.

So if you are in Jerusalem, you are thinking “my future has been lost, my Seed is lost, my Inheritance is lost – Nothing Good would come to me again.”

But God says to them: “That is not how you should think about it”. He says your Seed, who now look like Slaves in Foreign lands; I will use them to inherit those Nations.

In other words, they have gone to those Nations; but they would take over those Nations and Possess those Nations – Amen.

So God is saying to the children of Israel – Think of it differently; look at the Problems differently. Because you haven’t lost it. It’s not all gone – I’m going to use what you think have been lost, to give you something bigger.

I am going to give the Nations from what you think is lost – Amen.

So He says, think about it differently: your Seed shall Inherit.

Now what does it mean to Inherit?

… Before you can inherit, Two (2) Things must happen:

I. First, you must Dispossess.

You must drive out occupiers from your Inheritance.

God say you are going to Dispossess them!

Though Babylon was a Foreign Land for the Jews, it was God’s Earth!

Psalms 24:1 says: The Earth is the LORD’s, and the Fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

So God says, your children have gone to Babylon – To you it is a Foreign land; to Me, it is Part of my world. And when they go in there, they would Dispossess the Natives.

… And that is exactly what happened!

When Daniel went to Babylon as a Slave; he was selected to go to School – He and his Comrades. And they were tested, they were ten (10) times better. And they were made Governors of the lands they were in. God fulfilled His Word!

Your Seed whom you think have been lost, have gone ahead to inherit the Nations – Amen.

That is what happened to Esther – She was a Slave girl in Persia. But the King threw away his wife Vashti, opened the doors, and this Slave girl (Esther) went in to inherit the Nations. Because God says, it is not all lost – You will Dispossess.

II. And after you Dispossess, you will do the Second Thing:

You will POSSESS.

You will take full Ownership of all that God has given to you – Full Ownership! You will become a Legitimate Owner; an Heir of the Inheritance that is rightfully yours.

… Your Seed shall Inherit.

The things that you think is gone, God says, don’t look at it as if it is gone! Look at it as Seed that has been Planted into your Future to Possess a New Territory for you.

I don’t know what you look at in your Life – Maybe you look about your Life and it’s all regret. God says stop regretting:

“Oh I wished I hadn’t done this, Oh I wished I hadn’t done that” – You did it! “I wished this hadn’t happened” – It has happened!

Wishes will not Change the situation. But God says, if you want the situation to Change look at it differently:

Your Seed which had been carried into Captivity, are going to be Possessors of the Land they are carried into – Amen.

Whosever thinks they have lost anything, there is no Future, there is no Hope for them – There is hope for the Future.

Because what you considered as lost, God is bringing back to you – Good Measure, Pressed down, shaking together and running over. And your seed shall Inherit the Nations – Amen.

That is the Second Promise that God gave to them.

III. Then He gave them a Third Promise.

And in the Third Promise He said to them: “And make the Desolate Cities inhabited.”

He says – You will rebuild: You will “make the Desolate Cities inhabited.”

The construction of this sentence is a very unique one. Because a Desolate City is a contradiction in terms. It is an oxymoron. You cannot have “a Desolate City.”

Why? – Because a City by definition, is a large densely Populated Urban Area.

So for a Place to be a City, there must be Population in it.

Accra (for example) is not a City because of size; we are a City because we are Overpopulated.

But then He says, the Desolate City.

Desolation means Emptiness – Something that has been ruined and is empty.

The Desolate City, the City which is supposed to be Populated has been depopulated.

For a City to become Desolate something radical has happened to the City; something has moved the Population, something has hit the City.

So that’s how God is calling Jerusalem and Israel – You used to be Populated, but you are now empty. Desolate City.

So God says to His Children, in this dispensation, you would make Desolate Cities inhabited.

When you are reading the Bible, it is somewhat important to Pay attention to construction – He didn’t say “Desolate City will be inhabited.” That’s not what He said. He said, you will make Desolate Cities inhabited.

In other words, there is something that you are going to do, that will convert the Desolate City into an inhabitant c6ity. And it is not going to happen Passively.

You are not going to sit and see that happen. But you are going to exert Force.

Fire took away the People, Force is going to bring back the People. You are going to do something about it. “You will make Desolate Cities inhabited.”

Somebody say: I WILL MAKE IT; I WILL BREAKTHROUGH; I WILL OVERCOME!

You have to say it with Force; you have to believe it with Force; you have to enact it with Force – You will make the Desolate City inhabited!

Whether they likes it or not, I will make the Desolate City inhabited – That is God’s Promise to me.

When God says you will make something, it means He is with you. When you take a step, He has taken a step. When you speak He has spoken. When you act He has acted. When you Step Out He has Stepped Out!

Don’t just sit for it to happen. Say, I will make – You will make the Desolate City in habited – Two (2) Things:

I. You will Reverse what the enemy has done.

You will overturn everything the enemy has done. You would reverse it!

Whatever the enemy has done, you would Reverse it – Amen.

Somebody say: I WILL REVERSE IT! It will not reverse by itself; but I WILL REVERSE IT.

I will come to this City that has been made Desolate – I WILL REVERSE THAT SITUATION.

I will look at my Life that has been Perverted, and I will Reverse that situation.

I will make it! I am going to do it.

He says, you will make the Desolate City inhabited!

II. And secondly, it also means to IMPROVE.

… To make everything better it was before.

If the Cities were Big, they would be bigger. If they were Great, they would be greater. If they were Mighty, they would be mightier.

When God causes you to make Desolate Cities inhabited, they become improved, they become better than they were before.

This morning or as you read on the Label of DMC; I came just to announce God’s Good News to you – He says: Get ready! Enlarge the Place of your Tent; Stretch out the Curtains; Lengthen your Cords. Drive your Stakes in Strong because you are about to Expand in a way you have never experienced before.

You are about to inherit Places that you have been denied you.

And you are about to make things that are Negative to become Positive.

… You will Reverse and you will Improve.

And finally, this is the assurance that God gives to them (and then I’m done)!

He says to them in Isaiah 54:4-5: Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your Youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of Hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole Earth.

… Give the God of the whole Earth a mighty clap Offering!

He is the God of the whole Earth. He is your God, He is my God. He is the God of Israel, He is the God of Mensa Otabil, He is the God of The DMC FAMILY Members. He is your God. He is the God in Whom we Trust.

Get ready Year 2022 – God’s People are coming back! They are coming to rebuild; they are coming to make things inhabited, in the Name of Jesus – Amen!

Lift up your hands to the Lord and begin to Thank Him for what He is about to do in your Life – I sense Breakthrough in your Life – Amen.

Oh, just Thank Him!

There is a Release of God’s Spirit in this house – The Bondage is over; the Desolation is over!

We are making a difference, we are Changing the situation. We refuse surrender, we refuse to lie quietly, we refuse to go quietly.

In the Name of Jesus, we take hold of the Promises of God.

CLOSING PRAYER

And so Father as a Church or Family Members of DMC; we receive this Promise.

We bring ourselves into Isaiah 54, and we Position ourselves as the Inhertors of the Promises of God.

We Stand in the Place of Prophecy – Your Divine Word to us. And we take that Word and we make it flesh in our lives.

And we Declare loud that in this Season, in this Church, upon every Members, and their homes, and their families and their Businesses and whatever they touch; that these Blessings would rest on them!

They will be Builders Lord, in the Name of Jesus!

And God would cause you to Reverse and Improve everything that the enemy throw against you. You will Reverse it, you will unwind it, you will turn back – and it is going to be better for you – AMEN.

Somebody Praise the Lord! Celebrate Him this morning. Oh give Him Praise!!!!

Thank you so much for staying all through to read.

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