SHARING THE GOSPEL-PART 2: DR. MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 13TH MARCH, 2022.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: SHARING THE GOSPEL – PART 2
DATE: 13TH MARCH, 2022
TEXT: 1 John 1:1-2
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!
PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO ARE BURDENED.
I just want to Pray a little bit for those who are carrying Burdens.
If you came to Church this Morning or reading now on the Label of DMC with Sickness, Challenge, Burdens overwhelming you;
The Breakthrough you need, the Divine Intervention; you need God set you free and Provide for you.
This morning God wants to take your Burdens, and God wants to show Himself Strong on your behalf, and wants to lift your Pain from you.
…. So if you need a touch from the Lord just lift up your hands to the Lord.
Fathwr we Thank You that You are the Great Deliverer; that You are the Great Physician; that You are the Provider; You are the Glory and the Lifter up of our Head.
And so this Morning we come before You as Your Children and we Place every Burden before You, and we ask Lord for a Divine Intervention. That in this Place, in this Atmosphere; your Power, your Presence would move every burden.
And Father we Pray for Supernatural Activity in the Life of Your People. That Your People would experience Supernatural Intervention beginning from this moment.
Beginning from now, Healing take Place. Beginning from now, Deliverance take Place. Beginning from now, Burdens are lifted. Beginning from now, Angels are on Assignment for the Children of God!
Beginning from now, Testimonies are coming up, Good News is coming to us! Beginning from now, there is a Shift and there is a turning; we receive the Supernatural Intervention of the Lord in our lives.
In Jesus’ Name – And everybody shout HALLELUJAH!!!! Amen and Amen!
Please be seated!
I believed God is working on your behalf, and there is a Miracle Packaged for you, with your name written on it. Nothing can stop it and nothing can delay it, in Jesus’ Name – Amen.
I am doing Part 2 of my Message – SHARING THE GOSPEL.
Last week I talked about the Great Commission – Jesus told us to go into all the world, and to Preach the Gospel.
DMC NOTES: We can get to access the Full Text of the Part 1 of the Series on this Link:
And today I will just focus on: HOW WE DO IT – How we share the Gospel, how we make Christ known.
… So this is Part 2 of Sharing the Gospel.
Kindly go with me to 1 John 1:1-2 (NKJV):
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—
2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
God had called us to be Witnesses.
And a Witness is Somebody who gives Evidence to a case and talks about what they know about that Particular case.
And what God has called us to do is to give Evidence of Him to the world.
And there are four (4) things that the Passage says we can give Evidence to:
- First, it says we can give Evidence to what we have SEEN.
What we have seen Christ doing in our lives; what we have seen Christ do in other People’s lives.
So, if you are going to testify of Christ, you are going to share the Gospel – You are talking about what you have seen. You can’t talk about what you have not seen.
So you can tell People – Listen, I know this Person in the Church, or I know this Person gave his Life to Christ, and Christ Changed them. I have seen it! Or I have seen it in my own Life.
… First, we talk about what we have seen.
- Secondly, we talk about what we have HEARD.
What we have heard is basically what we have read from the Bible. What we have heard People testify about. What we have heard Preached from the Pulpit.
And that’s what we talk about.
… So, we have heard it, and so we give Witness of it.
- And Thirdly, we can Witness to what we have EXAMINED – What we have handled, what we have come to settle.
The Christian Faith is examined and Verified. It has stood the Test of time for over two thousand (2,000) Years.
There are People who have tried so hard to overthrow Christianity for the last two thousand (2,000) Years – Some Violently, some with Knowledge, some with Information, some with Education, with signs. And Christianity has always stood still.
You don’t have Faith is fragile and can easily be overthrown.
You have a Faith that is firm and has stood the test of time.
And you can also say – I have Proven my Faith in Christ, I have handled it, I have examined it, it is true. And you can testify about it.
So we have talked about:
- What we have Seen.
- What we have Heard.
- What we have Examined;
- And finally, we can talk about what we have EXPERIENCED.
When you have an experience, no one can do otherwise.
So if you have experienced Christ, then you testify of Him.
If you have these Four (4) Evidenves – you have Seen something, you have Heard something, you have Proven something and you have Experienced something; then talk about it!
Every Believers, every Child of God, not just Preachers, but every Child of God. Every person who gave his Life to Jesus only today, can testify because, they have Seen something, they have Heard something, they have Examined something and they have Experienced something.
If you qualify and you have these Four 4 Evidences, then you have no excuse not to share the Gospel with another Person.
Each one of us can share the Gospel.
Well I know sometimes People say – I don’t know too many Scriptures, I don’t know what to say. What if what I say is wrong?
Well, if you have seen it, it won’t be wrong. If you have heard it, it won’t be wrong. If you have examined it, it won’t be wrong. And if you have experienced it, it cannot be wrong.
…. So be Bold, Confident,and share your Faith with Somebody else.
There may be questions you cannot answer but talk about what you have seen, you have heard, you have examined and what you have experienced. Alright!
So, Evangelism or Soul Winning is more like a Lifestyle, than even an Activity we involved in. Because many times when we talk about going to win Souls, we imagine things:
I. Maybe going to People’s houses to knock on their door. And what if the dog barks? Or what if I knock on the door and the Person comes and insult me?
II. Or what if when I am trying to talk to Somebody on the Street and the Person just rebuishs me.
III. Oh, what if I try to Witness the Gospel and People insults me? I will feel embarrassed, I will feel ashamed! And that’s why People find it difficult to share the Gospel.
FOUR (4) STEPS TO SHARING THE GOSPEL.
So I am going to talk about Four (4) Important Things you should be doing to share the Gospel.
And I will talk about the Testimony that happened in my own Life.
- First Step to Sharing the Gospel is: LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 – Let your Light so Shine before Men, that they may see your Good Works and Glorify your Father in Heaven.
Just Shine the Light! You are the Light, Shine it!
And that’s the first way we make Christ known. Or the first way we share the Gospel is letting our Light Shine.
And what does it mean to Let Your Light Shine? – It means we must live out our Faith.
Before People hear us Preaching the Gospel, they must see us living the Gospel – The Life we live, the lives we lead.
The biggest turnoff of the Unbelievers is a Christian who does not live out his or her Faith.
Somebody who talks about one thing, but everything they do is very different.
And when you go out just talking, talking, talking; but not living it; you will put People off!
So first and foremost, to share the Gospel, our Light must Shine! We must be Doers of our Faith.
I. If we say ‘God is Good!’ we must be Good.
II. If we say ‘God is Love’ we must show Love.
III. If we say ‘God is Kind” we must show Kindness.
We cannot believe one thing and live totally opposite what we believe in! So let your Light shine, live out your Faith.
And the other way to Shine your Light is: do Act of Kindness.
Jesus Christ said that our Good Works must be seen – So that People would give Glory to God.
Wherever we are – In our Office, in our Neighbourhood, in our families, we must live out our Faith and our Good Works must be seen.
Be Generous, do things to help Others; Volunteer a bit of your time for a Neighbour; Share a Meal; Help out a family in distress; Open doors for People.
Good Works would not save the Sinner; but Good Works would open the Sinner’s heart to the Message of Salvation.
So do something in your Neighbourhood, in your Office that makes People know you are different!
… Your Good Works helps.
Because sometimes, unfortunately, Christians can be very mean and very, very wicked. And sometimes we can destroy People with gossip. We can be People who just put other People down.
But what will happen if in your Neighbourhood, you are the one who doesn’t gossip?
When People come to you to gossip, you say – You know what you are saying about this Man is not Good. I think you are destroying his name, you are destroying his Reputation.
Don’t you think People will see you as a Good Person? And that when you come Preaching the Good News they will listen to you?
But if you are the one spreading gossip about everybody, destroying everybody. You are fighting everybody – You fight in the Neighbourhood, you fight over where to sweep and not to sweep. And you are going through with all of these – In the office you are fighting over tea, fighting over bonus and you are fighting everybody.
And then you come and say – Jesus loves you! Who is going to listen to that?
So, let your Light Shine!
… Everybody say: MY LIGHT MUST SHINE!
Jesus say they must see your Good Works! They must see your Good Works!! They must see my Good Works!!!
The first way we Share the Gospel is that we live out our Faith by Shining our Light.
- Second way we Share the Gospel is to LIFT CHRIST UP.
Lift Him up!
John 3:14-15, Jesus said: As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not Perish but have Eternal Life.
When Jesus is lifted up He draws all People to Himself.
We must learn, not only to let our Light Shine, but to lift Jesus up. Lift Jesus up. Lift Him up for the world to see. For He said, if I am lifted up, I will draw all Men unto me.
HOW DO WE LIFT JESUS UP?
… I will show you Two (2) Ways that we can lift Jesus up.
I. First, we must celebrate the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Celebrate the Lord during your Celebrations. God gives each one of us moments when People come around us to celebrate with us, to be Parts of our world. It could be during our Birthdays, our Graduations, Engagements, Weddings, Baby Namings or even the Funeral of a loved one.
There are moments in everybody’s Life when People come around you – People celebrate you.
These days on Social Media, when it’s People’s Birthday they advertise that it is their Birthday. People are very bold these days – It’s my Birthday!
And then they will get about a hundred comments, two (2) hundred comments. And people share their Birthday.
When People celebrate us, we must learn to use that Celebration to Point to Jesus.
So, when you have a Birthday Party, it must be an Occasion for you to show something that you are a Christian.
When it is your Graduation and People come around, there must be something you do to Point to Jesus, to celebrate Him!
Even when you have a Funeral and People come around you; what do you do there to advertise your Faith?
In your home – What is there in your home for anybody to look at your home and say, oh, that is a Christian home? Or this Birthday – That’s a Christian’s Birthday, that’s a Christian’s Funeral.
And I am not going to give you any Rules.
You should know that there are certain kinds of Music that are incompatible with your Christian Faith.
And if you bring People to your Birthday and you Play those Music and People dance to some of those very, very, very dances. And they do it there. And then you come and say: “Oh I am a Christian.” People would say: “Are you really sure?”
Or buzz flow at your Party, and People are drunk and are misbehaving.
How do you then come out to celebrate Jesus?
So, let us be Mindful that our moments are Jesus’ moments, our Celebrations are Jesus’ Celebrations.
And if we want People to come to know Jesus; the moments when we lift up Jesus in our Celebrations; the times when People stay around us.
II. The other way in which we lift up Jesus is to Point People to the Lord.
Point People to Jesus!
You know, I like it when the Footballers and Sportsmen scores a goal; although he may not be the most Perfect Person.
But he scores a goal and then he points to the Heavens.
What he is literally saying is: I scored a goal, but I give Glory to God.
Or Somebody scores a goal and kneeled down; Somebody takes an Award and shares a Testimony – These are very settled ways of making People know Who is the Source of your Success.
… And if you are a Christian, you have to find opportunities when you Point to Jesus.
So, you receive the Great Award and everybody says: Oh you are the best in your Field.
When you were receiving the Prize what did you say about Jesus?
Or you won the Award in your Office and everybody Praised your hard work. When you were giving back your words, what did you say about Jesus?
You may not be the most Perfect Person, but there are sometimes People who hear you talk about Jesus would say – The world is Strange oooh! I didn’t know that Man too talks about Jesus. We must all Change!
Because they know you as rugged; but your talking about Jesus makes People Ponder about their own lives. Especially when you are Greater than People and you Point to Jesus. Then People who are lesser than you are wondering: What are we here Pointing to?
You are the Managing Director, you say I give Glory to Jesus. The Young Bank Teller will begin to wonder Woooow! If the Managing Director says Jesus is the Source of his Greatness, then Jesus must be really good.
So for all of your ‘Big Men and ‘Big Women’ let Jesus resound from your mouth.
And let me say this – Especially for those of you who works for Multinationals and International Organizations, where Jesus is totally off; find a way to sneak in Jesus.
Because you know, the Unbelievers, they find a way to sneak in confusions, they sneak in everything. But somehow when anyone talks about Jesus, everybody gets uptight.
Talk about Jesus any way because if He is in your Life, then you must let people know
In your moment of Celebrations, you got an Award, you got an Appointment. And they say: “So and So, you got an Appointment.” You come forward and you say: “Thank you for the Award; I want to give all the Glory to God. Thank God for Jesus Who saved my Life.”
People may say it’s inappropriate – Yes! But it will get into Somebody’s ear!
So learn to Point up the Name of Jesus.
… Let your Light Shine, Point People to Jesus;
- Third thing is to Pray for the Harvest of Souls.
Matthew 9:37-38 says: Then He said to His Disciples, “The Harvest truly is Plentiful, but the Labourers are few. Therefore Pray the Lord of the Harvest to send out Labourers into His harvest.”
This is the Power Room of the Gospel – You Pray for People. Because every Soul Winning effort is a Spiritual Warfare.
Satan holds People and he is not going to release them until we wrestle those Souls out of his hand.
And we have to Pray for Souls; and we have to Pray for many People to come to Christ.
MY TESTIMONY
And I will share a little Testimony here:
You know sometimes in early 1978 (when most of you were not born); I used to see a Young Man who would walk Passed our home. I didn’t know where he was going to; I assumed he was going to work.
But in the morning I will see him, sometimes in the evening I will see him walk by. And of all the People who walked, that I saw, something just said I should Pray for this Man – And I used to Pray for him.
I didn’t know his name, I didn’t know where he was going to; but I would Pray for him.
Anytime I see him, I would say – Lord have Mercy, touch him. Lord, open his heart to the Gospel.
I didn’t know if he was a Christian or not; but I just Prayed for him.
And I Prayed for him.
Sometimes even when I hadn’t seen him walking in Town, I would remember the Young Man and Pray for him.
So, sometime in the same 1978; I applied for and got a job. And I remembered that when I was going – My first day at work (it was a Monday); I entered the doorway of our Office (There is a Canopy infront of the Office).
As I just entered under the Canopy going to the doorway, I Prayed a Prayer just at the door of the Office.
And I said: Lord, I claim every Soul in this Office for You. That my Presence here will bring everybody to Jesus Christ and everybody to know You as the Lord and Saviour.
That was my Prayer!
I didn’t Pray for Promotion, I didn’t Pray for favour – I just Prayed that Souls would be won.
And so I entered, I was introduced to my Boss. And the Boss welcome me and said well, let me take you to your Office. So he took me to my Office – There were five (5) spaces in my Office.
And guess who I saw in that Office room? – The Young Man I have been Praying for!
So I just knew God has brought me here for an Assignment.
There were five (5) desks – One (1) was empty; which was mine. They said Mr. Otabil sit here.
And this Young Man was sitting to my right, I’m sitting to his left.
And so you know the Boss introduced all of us and he said well, this is Mr. Duncan. I said, this is Mr. Otabil.
That is it. So I got to know this Young Man – He said: “I’m Joe” I said “I’m Mensa.”
And so we became very good friends. We were both Artist and Designers.
For about two (2) Years I didn’t even Preach the Gospel to him, I didn’t tell him I have been Praying for him.
But after some time he just said to me – You know, you are different!
Of course I was different because this Young Man, I got to know was very bad.
Because on Monday when we come and everybody is talking about his escapes, the kinds of things he talked about, I couldn’t imagine he would be doing that. But the Chief of it was that he would be buzzing and womanizing and doing all kind of things.
And I would say: Weekend, I went for a Crusade, I went to Preach – That’s my escapes!
So we became friends, we did a lot of work together and became very good friends.
Most times when we close from office, we get to a junction (we both walked); I would branched to a Prayer Meeting, he would branch somewhere else. And then we will regather and talk about what happened.
And so one day – Two (2) Years later, he came to the Office and he says: “You need to Pray for me, my Life is miserable.”
I said you don’t need Prayers, you need Jesus. Prayer would not save you, Jesus is the Saviour.
He said but you have to Pray for me.
I said, I have been Praying for you for a very long time!
It was on Friday. And Monday he came to work very late. Of course he got drunk throughout the Weekend and had a hangover. He came to work around 11 O’clock and when he got in he said, Pray for me – Today something must Change in my Life.
I said you know we close work at 5pm; we have to finish work.
So we finished work and I said okay let’s go! I took him to a Classroom I used to Pray and I led him to Christ. And there was a Major Deliverance in his Life.
… All kinds of things happened at that Prayer Meeting. But he gave his Life to Jesus Christ in 1980. And he has lived for the Lord Jesus Christ up till now.
Most of us know him as Pastor Edwin Duncan – He is a Member of the Presbytery of the International Gospel Church; now Pastoring in London.
So why did I share this Testimony? – I started Praying for him when I even didn’t know who he was!
Sometimes God is going to lay the burden on you to Pray for People you don’t know. And I do that a lot – I Pray for a lot of People, just as I see them, I Pray for them.
Sometimes as I am driving through the City of Accra (Ghana); I Pray for Neighbourhoods; I Pray for shop and the Shop-Owner. And I don’t know who the Shop-Owner is.
I say Lord, I Pray for the Owner that he will come to know you.
… Constantly Praying! Because Jesus says we must Pray for that, until we win the Spiritual Warfare for People’s Souls – Salvation will be difficult for them.
So, we Pray for People as the Holy Spirit leads – We must open our heart as we Pray.
The Seed of God’s Word only germinates in hearts that are open to the Word of God. And you have to Stand in Faith for the Salvation of loved ones.
Sometimes you Pray for People or you share the Gospel with them and they resist it. But you don’t give up!
This Young Man didn’t know I have been Praying for him, Probably about six (6) Months earlier to when I met him. And I have been Praying for him two (2) Years after I met him – That God will Prepare his heart.
Because when you Preach the Gospel to an Unprepared heart, Jesus says, it is like the Sower who goes to sow the Seed. The syeed is sown but it falls on the Wrong Ground.
Sometimes you have to wait until People’s hearts are truly ready to receive the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And maybe the first time you spoke to them, their heart is not ready; Second time, their heart is not ready; third time, their heart is not ready – Keep Praying because God is working underground, the Seed would one day find Good Soil to fall upon.
And each one of us must Pray! – Pray for your husband, your wife, your children, grandchildren. Pray for your Parents, your Grandparents, your Aunties, your Uncles, your Nephews, your Nieces. Pray for your Cousins, Pray for your In-laws, your School mates, People you like, People you don’t like. Pray for People who bug you, Pray for those who don’t bug you!
Because it is in the Place of Prayer that God opens People’s heart to receive the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this morning, I just want to encourage you – Go out and Preach the Gospel.
And I have told you about Three (3) Things why you have to share the Gospel.
You can do simple things like Inviting People to Church (Using your Church Cards). You may not know what to say. But your Pastor knows what to say. So bring the fellow, your Pastor will say what has to be said for the Person’s heart to be open.
The Person may not receive Christ the first day, or the Second day. But one day, that Seed will fall on Good Ground. And it will bear Fruit of Salvation.
This Morning, I want us all to Pray and ask that God will make us Soul Winners for His Kingdom; that each one of us, in our Circle of Influence would share the Gospel with Somebody.
… Just Pray and ask the Lord to use you to make the Gospel known unto Somebody.
CLOSING PRAYER
Father we Thank You for Your Word which is Life; Your Word which is Light.
Thank You for Your Children who you have Called. Thank You that You delivered us from Darkness into your Precious Light.
And this Morning, we Dedicate ourselves to be the Sharers of the Gospel.
And Father in the ways that we talked about, help us Lord to Shine for You, to live out our Faith, and to lift Jesus up.
And help us Lord to know how to Pray for Souls to be saved. And teach us how to share the Gospel wherever we are.
In Jesus’ Name – Amen and Amen!
Give God Praise Somebody!
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Discovery Media Crew … Reaching out to the World through the Power of the Gospel!!!
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