HOW TO INCREASE IN WHAT WE DO – PART 2: DR MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 22ND MAY, 2022.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: HOW TO INCREASE IN WHAT WE DO – PART 2.
DATE: 22ND MAY, 2022
TEXT: PROVERBS 27:23-27
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!
Last week I started talking about: HOW TO INCREASE IN WHAT WE DO – PART 1. So we are going to continue from there.
DMC NOTES: We can get to read the Full Text of Part 1 of this Series on this Link:
And in my Introduction I noted that the Text (Proverbs 27:23-27) is a Passage of Scripture that helped me very early in my life as a Minister – Especially when I started Pastoring and leading the flock God.
And this was one of the critical Verses that helped me understand what my work was, and what I was supposed to do with the flock that God has given to me. And I trust that as I share it with you, you will apply it to your own life.
You are not to be a Pastor like me but in every areas of your life, these Principles can be applicable.
So, we will go back to the Bible Text which we started with last week, which is: Proverbs 27:23-27.
23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, And attend to your herds;
24 For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
25 When the hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,
26 The lambs will provide your clothing, And the goats the price of a field;
27 You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food, For the food of your household, And the nourishment of your maidservants.
And I noted Last week (15th November, 2022) that we don’t deal in flocks and herds this time. Many of us have chickens that we rear in our homes. Many of us have jobs that take is out of Agriculture. We are not Goat Herders – We are Bankers, Teachers, Carpenters, Lawyers, Doctors, etc.
In Part 1, I said the flocks and herds there applies to:
I. First and foremost our Vocation.
II. Secondly it applies to our Company or the Organization we work for.
III. And thirdly it applies to our Reputation.
So the Three (3) Important things we must take care of is our Vocation, our Company and our Reputation.
Last week I dealt with Verses 23 and 24.
And so toady I am going to move from Verses 25 to 27 – Those are the three (3) Verses I will be focusing on today.
So let’s look at Verse 25 again. It says: When the hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,
What is it talking about? And if you pay attention to this Verse 25, all of it is talking about grass. But grass in different form.
It is basically talking about how to feed your flocks and herds – Feeding your flocks and herds.
So, I will take those three 3 categories of feeding our flocks and herds;
- The first one is the Hay – “When the hay is removed…”
The hay is grass that is cut and stored.
If you are a Goat Herder.or a Cattle farmer, you will know that sometimes you have to cut some.of the grass and store them for a time when it will be needed.
That grass that is stored is called hay.
So, the Proverbs is saying – There is a time to feed your flock with what you have – The hay that you cut is what you have!
So basically it is saying’feed your flock with what you have. Use what you have!
The hay is what the farmer has.
You use the Knowledge you have, the Skills you have!
And that is very important, because many times when we are building something – Whether it’s our vocation or a company or a reputation; we constantly look for what other People have. And we are constantly complaining of what we don’t have. And we are constantly yawning for what we need.
But whilst you are talking about what you need and complaining about what you don’t have; there is always something that you have!
… There is something that is already available for you to use.
When we started this Church (ICGC, in Ghana); we didn’t have many things – We didn’t have a building of our own, we didn’t have a microphone, loud speakers, nice lights. Of course we didn’t have screens.
Screens had not been invented at that time!
We didn’t have anything but we had something! – We had the Bible. We had the Word of God and you can Preach the Word of God – Microphone or no Microphone.
And you can Preach the Word of God whether under a tree or in a building. You can Preach the Word of God to ten (10) People or to a thousand People.
So, although you don’t have so many things, you have something – That is your hay and that’s how we start building everything.
Don’t think about what you don’t have, think about what you have and use what you have. That is the starting Point for everything.
For me the starting Point as a Pastor was just, read the Bible, make my Notes and Preach from it.
I didn’t have a car – I had feet and I could walk.
I didn’t complain about: “Oh, I don’t have a car.”
Those days I could walk long distance daily – I walked all over Accra Preaching because that’s what I had.
I don’t have a car, I have feet. I don’t have a Microphone, I have a Bible.
The hay is what you have – You have to stop complaining about what you don’t have and consider what you have. And use what you have to the highest extent.
So, that is the first way that the Passage says you take care of your flock.
But that is not the only way – it says something else:
- It says the Hay must be removed.
You cannot live on hay forever! You cannot only use what you have and say this is all I have; and live with what you have and die with what you have.
It says something – It ways you have to feed them with tender grass.
“The tender grass shows itself.”
So what is Tender Grass? – Tender Grass is freshly growing grass.
God has a way of helping us so that even though we start with little, we are able to grow what we have.
Even though we start with hay; that is dry, that is old grass, that is something we stored – God wants us to also look for freshly growing tender grass.
And freshly growing tender grass represents coming up with something New.
The idea is – You don’t only rely on what you had in the Past to take care of the flock, you must Plant or look for fresh grass for them.
You have to look for New things! You have to desire New things. You have to learn, you have to expand your knowledge.
… Fresh grass!
I remembered when this Church (ICGC, Ghana) was Young and we had moved from the classroom we were in and we went to a Cinema Hall. And we had our first Public Address System (Loud Speaker).
… Because when I was in a classroom I didn’t need a Loud Speaker – My voice was enough for the classroom.
But the Cinema Hall was a bit bigger. So we had a two-in-one Combo. And the Combo was a box, which was the Loud Speaker. And the Microphone was Plugged into the box.
And we were so excited about it!
And not only could we Preach with the Microphone into the Combo; the Combo also could record.
So this thing was Advanced Technology (laughs)!
That I could Preach into the Combo, it will magnify my Voice and then it could record the Message while I was Preaching.
… That’s fresh grass for me! – That’s something New.
I wouldn’t say: “Oh God; I started only Preaching with my Voice; with my Voice I will end Preaching.” Because God always wants us to go the next Step Higher!
It may not be the next ten (10) Steps; it’s just the next Step.
It was not a big Public Address System, it was a small Combo.
But for us, it was the Pride of our Church (back then).
For other People, it would be nothing but for us, it was fresh grass.
So, when God starts with you, whatever you are building – Whether you are building a Vocation, a Company; you are going to start with what you have but in addition to what you have, you have to look for fresh things: fresh ideas, fresh concepts.
I will never forget the first chairs we got as a Church and we got some old boards and constructed our first Church pews. And I was there, Painting the Church Pews.
We painted them nicely, People came to Church they were so excited that the Church now has Board Pews (Laugher)!
… We had moved from benches to Pews – And it was so exciting.
The only thing is that the wood quality was so bad that weavers were always eating this board. So we were constantly repairing them, constantly trying to kill weavers.
… But it was better than where we were!
For other People, they will see that as nothing – For us it is fresh grass.
When God is taking you higher, not everybody would see that you are going higher because your high may be Somebody’s low.
But just because your high is Somebody’s low doesn’t mean you should be embarrassed by your high. You have to go for your high and you have to build it up.
Because you will never get to the height unless you start trusting God for the little things that He is giving to you.
… So the Passage says, you start with the hay, you go for the fresh grass.
- And the third thing that He says you would do is: “The herbs of the Mountains are gathered in.”
What are they talking about? – It is widely growing grass.
The Mountains refer to the higher Plains of the land where there is rain and the grass is the best!
So what does it mean? – It means, go and search for the best!
So if you look at it there is a Progression – You start with the hay, you go to the freshly growing grass and then you go for the grass of the Mountains – The best
Every Organization starts with something old, begins with something fresh but you must end with always going forr the best – Seeking for the best!
I. Making sure that wherever a fresh, best, good idea is, you would get it for your Organization.
II. Wherever good Talent is, good information is, great ideas are; you are going to get it to build your Vocation, to build your Company and to build your Reputation.
The challenge most of us have is that we are okay with the hay: we came to meet it, this is how I am. We are okay with the fresh ideas. But when it comes to looking for Mountain grass, we are not okay because many of us find it difficult to move to gather New ideas.
Even if somebody is doing better than us, we would not go and visit him to find out what he is doing better than us.
If somebody can do something better than us, all we do is just knock down the Person – Just downplay the Person’s Success.
We will never learn!
And if you never learn from People who are higher than you on the Mountain, you would never get to the Mountain yourself.
So, He says: You go to the Mountain and get grass! – This is Superior, Higher and Better.
Most of us are stuck in the Valley and we never get to the Mountain because ‘climbing a Mountain is too hard!’ – ‘It is too difficult and tough.’ So we stay where we are, in whatever Vocation.
Do you know one of the reasons why we are where we are – Not as individuals, but as a Nation, as a Continent? – It is because we like the hay.
We like what we used to have:
I. This is what our fathers used to do, this is how our Tradition is, this is our Culture.
II. And then sometimes we get some fresh ideas.
III. But when we have to move from those two (2) and move higher, it is so difficult for us – It is so tough for us!
And if you find it so difficult to get to a higher level, your Progression will be limited by what you feed your flocks with.
When God gives us flocks, Vocation, gives us a Company, and a Reputation, we must feed it with hay, with fresh grass, and with the grass of the Mountain.
Every well-fed flock does Two (2) Things:
- First, they Reproduce – They don’t die out.
Everything is well fed, well managed, well led, will reproduce.
Reproduction is the means by which we replace what we lose. Because nothing in life remains the same!
Everything goes through a Circle of death. But Reproduction is what replaces what is lost.
Consider this – Every morning when you wake up (for those of you who have hair on your head) when you comb your hair some hair drops every morning!
And sometimes it can be very scary, when you see the hair dropping from your head. But you still have hair.
Why do you have hair? – Because just as hair is dripping off, the head is Producing new hair. So, some would drop off, new ones will be Produced.
The day new ones stopped being Produced, you would go bald – It’s as simple as that!
So, whatever is lost must be reproduced. You cut your finger nails, they grow back. You lose and then you gain.
That is how God has designed it.
You donate blood and you get New blood back.
In the Natural flocks and herds; they also reproduce to replace themselves. And when you stop reproduction you go extinct!
When a Vocation, Business or a Reputation is well taken care of, they will be Self Sustaining.
And listen to this – Each one of us loses at a Point.
There is Nobody who says: ‘Oh since I started working I have never lost.’ – We lose People.
This Church (ICGC, in Ghana) started with Probably twenty (20) to thirty (30) People. Only a few of those twenty (20) to thirty (30) People are still here. Over the Years, many People have come here and many People have left.
No Pastor, Church, Organization is able to sustain everybody they have – People would leave you, money would leave you, opportunity would leave you. Something would be lost.
But the good thing is – There is something called Reproduction. If the thing is being taken care of, then as People are being lost New People are also coming in.
And when your rate of replacement is good, then you don’t feel your lost.
But everybody is going to lose something.
There would come a time you would lose your job – I am not cursing you, I am telling you Life!
You would lose your job, lose an investment, money, your reputation. Your Company would make loses. Sometimes even a Company you start may be lost! – That is Natural.
But God has given you the ability to also reproduce.
So it’s also like your hair – Some are falling off, some new ones are growing.
There are People who are in this Church – They just joined us, Probably few Months ago.
There are some People who left this Church Permanently few Months ago – “I am tired, I won’t go to that Church again.”
They went somewhere else. I can’t spend my Life running and chasing after them – ‘Please, come back!’
That’s not how it works – That’s the hair that has been combed out.
But I have to make sure my hair follicles are healthy – They are well fed; I am using the right Nutrition. And if I am using the right Nutrition, then I will grow back hair.
The Problem with most of us is that we can’t stand loss.
Somebody works with you and leaves, you feel like all hope is lost – Just like the Person came and left, another Person would come!
Don’t live your Life as if People are irreplaceable – People are very, very replaceable; especially if God is with you.
You would lose money, some of your Investments would go bad; no matter how well you Plan it, it would go bad! But, if you are feeding your System very well; you will reproduce and you will fill-in what you are losing.
Everybody who has achieved anything in Life, goes through loss and reproduction.
Every Single Church goes through that!
Some of you sitting here – Nice Church Members, you would leave!
And I am not saying that as if you are bad People – No, you would leave!
I. Some of you would marry People in other Churches and leave.
II. Some of you would get tired of coming to Church here and leave.
III. Some of you would be offended by an Usher and leave.
IV. Some of you would hear me Preach something once and then say: ‘Pastor is talking about me, I won’t go to that Church again.’ And you would leave.
V. And some of you would leave without letting me know you have left. Just like People join without letting me know they have joined.
It’s a Circle – All you have to do is get the hay, the fresh grass, the Mountain grass, feed the flock well: some would go, but some would come in. And if you do it very well, then you would not just reproduce, but you would Increase.
Because your rate of reproduction would be greater than your rate of loss.
Infact that is all that everybody wants. That’s why People have busy hair. They call it afro hair in our time. People had big afros. Why? Every morning they lose hair but Every morning too, they grow hair.
… And the rate of growth is always greater than the rate of loss.
And that’s how you must look at your Life, your business, at everything you do – That you are going to lose something.
And Please, when you lose, don’t spend your Life crying about what you have Lost – Oh Life is unfair, People are so disloyal, People are so whatever. If there is anything you have to understand – People are People!
The great Apostle Peter said to Jesus – “I would die with You, I would not leave You.” He is a nice man!
Sir, he mean it when he said he would die with Jesus? Yes! Did he think he would stay? Yes!
Did he think he would betray Jesus? – NEVER! Until a little girl asked him: “Are you one of His Disciples?” He said No, I have never met this guy before.
People are People! – It’s just Human Nature. They are not evil People, they are not bad People. They are just People – They are fragile, they are weak!
People would disappoint you; People would let you down. Some people you trust would leave you. And when they leave you, if you are feeding your System well, New People would come. And may times they would be better than what left!
And because they are better than what left, you will not just reproduce, you will increase.
So for everybody here today or reading this Message now on the Label of DMC, who has lost something, may God cause you to reproduce, to fill-in and to get Greater – Amen.
If you lose money you will reproduce more than what you have lost – Amen.
If you lose one Company, you will gain Greater Company than what you lost – Amen.
… Because if you build it well, it would grow.
These are Principles I have lived with as a Pastor – Because over these Thirty-eight (38) Years Pastoring this Church, I have seen People come, People go; while some stay!
And for those who stay, you are the hardcore People. You are the head that is at the root – You don’t stay, you move! Others too come, they make a lot of noise and then you don’t see them again.
And you try to guide your heart from Human failures and Human disappointments; because Humans are Humans – They will fail and they will disappoint.
And when something is leaving (that must leave) and you try to keep it, you are just Prolonging your Pain because it would leave. As for going, it would go!
But you just trust God that He would replace what has been lost!
And that is what the Proverbs is saying: If you take good care of your flock and you feed the flock well, there would always be replacements.
If you take care of your Vocation, Gifts, Talents, your Ability; if you lose another chore, there will be ten (10) other businesses looking for you! Because your talent is needed by Somebody else. You were laid off by another one but you will be called by another.
So build your Vocation well, be the best at what you do. Make yourself needed, so that at every Point in time, there will Somebody who needs your Services, your Skills, your Ability, your Grace, your Anointing and whatever God has blessed you with.
… And what happens if we do all of these things?
The last two Verses (Proverbs 27: 26-27) talks about the Benefits you get from your flocks and your herds.
The first three Verses (Proverbs 27: 23-25) talks about the flocks and herds – Taking care of them.
Proverbs 27:26-27 says: The lambs will Provide your Clothing, And the goats the Price of a field; You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food, For the food of your household,
And the nourishment of your maidservants.
WHAT DO THEY DO?
- They Provide for your Sustenance.
To be sustained is to be kept alive and well for a long time.
When you invest in your Occupation, your Company, your Reputation; they will in turn feed you and keep you.
If you help your Company to succeed – Whether you own the Company or not. It will feed you!
You know there are People who work as if they want to collapse their own Company – It would not feed you!
But if you help the Company to survive; it would feed you. If you help the Institution to do well; it would feed you.
The Passage tells us how we would be fed – In Space, in Medicines, Milk (Goat’s Milk).
Milk is a byproduct of the goat. You don’t kill a goat to Produce Milk. A goat must be alive and healthy to Produce Milk. You don’t sell a goat to get Milk.
So what it is saying is – You are going to keep what you have. And what you have will Produce for you what you need.
You don’t kill what you have; you don’t sell what you have; and what you have Produces for you what you need.
And it says it is going to Produce so much for you that it will take care of you and your household.
… That’s common sense to it!
And for those of you who work for other People; make that Business succeed, let it do well. Because when it does well; it would take care of you, it would feed you.
You say – Well Pastor, my salary is small. Make the Company so big that it cannot afford to pay you a small salary. It would feed you.
And it it’s your own Company, take good care of the Company and don’t kill it.
Whether it’s a Church or whatever you are running, don’t kill it to get Milk, keep it alive.
… And if it stays alive, it would take care of you. It would Provide for your Nourishment.
- It will Provide for your Adornment – Clothing.
Adornment means they would cover and beautify you.
And why did they Provide for the Clothing? The Passage says: “Your lambs will Provide your Clothing.”
How does the lambs Provide the Clothing? – By Providing Wool.
So you don’t kill a lamb to get its wool. When it’s still alive, buy you shear the wool and the wool clothes you. And if it stays alive for a long time, it’s going to give you wool for a very long time.
Basically, when God gives you something don’t destroy it to have instant Gratification from it.
It’s like you start a business and you put your hand into the money of the business as if it is your own money. In the end you will kill the business – It dies and you die.
From the beginning of this Church, I think we have one of the strictest rules for Financial Management. Even when we were a small Church, I have never kept Church money, I don’t Sign Church Cheques, I don’t ask Church for money – because the Church must survive! The Church must grow, the Church must take care of itself.
If you kill what you have began by making excessive demands on it, it will die and you will die.
You sacrifice for what you have given birth to, so that what you have given birth to will live and survive.
… And that is what it is saying – It Provides Milk and Wool for you.
- They will help you expand in your area of Operation.
The Passage says the goat would Provide the Price of a field.
That means that if you keep your flocks well, they will help you to expand the field you operate in – Expand your work, your business, your Vocation. Whatever you do it expands it.
And that is the Benefits you get! – You get expansion, you are adorned, it beautifies you.
Can you imagine how People feel – You talk to Somebody he says: “Oh, I work for Apple Computer.” You know the moment Somebody says, I work for Apple (not Apple fruits) Computer!
Immediately he says that, your attitude towards the Person would Change. Is that not so?
Somebody says ‘I work for Goggle’ you sit upright because somehow you confer Wisdom to the Person.
What is happening?
The Business is adorning him especially if the Person says: “I was there when it started! I started with Steve Jobs. We were in the garage together.
All of a sudden, this Person’s Reputation changes before you.
What has happened is that – The Company he helps to build is now decorating him. The Company is now honouring him.
It’s like Somebody who goes on and say: I am Pastor! Which Church? ICGC. Oh, ICGC, which one? The one Pastor Mensah Otabil Pastors!
All of a sudden, if you are a Pastor, your value shoot up.
Isn’t it true Young Pastors? They were not there when we started, but they say ‘I work for ICGC.’
You can mention other Church and they simply respond with ‘is that so?’ Because it doesn’t adorn you, it doesn’t beautify you.
That’s why some People hide where they work because where they work doesn’t add Value to them.
But how can it add Value to you if you are inside it to let it down? It can only add Value to you if you add value to it. Then you can talk like that Person from Apple – You can say: ‘I work for Apple Computers’ and everybody feel you are Somebody.
They think you are a “Tech Guru”, you are Smart, while you may not know anything (Laugher)! Maybe you work there as a Sweeper.
But they think you are a Techy! That say woow, he understands computer! But you are just a Sweeper – It confers honour to you.
Proverbs 27:23-27 is the Foundation Philosophy I have lived my Life with for the last thirty (30) Years.
This is how I started, this is how I thought, how I Pastor, lead this Church.
This is why we can have nice grass at Christ Temple West. But we have to go to the Mountain and get fresh grass. We have to do something different – We have to Venture into New Areas.
You cannot keep doing the same thing and still grow – You have to do things differently; you have to always Venture to do something New.
That’s why we started a University. We had to take a bold step – Because until you take those steps you would be stuck in the Valley.
And I recommend the same Verses to you – In your Life, business, reputation, in every areas; build yourself to such an extent that you will not be ignored by anyone. And nobody would ignore you!
And you do that by taking care of your Vocation, taking care of your Company or Organization, your Business. Making sure that you feed these three (3) very well. You improve on them, build in them and whatever you need to do to become the best in these three (3) areas.
And when these three (3) work out well, you will lose some sometimes, but you will always reproduce to fill-in. You will always have and you will increase. And in the end you will never lack.
Because what you have been doing will take care of you, increase and expand you in all that you do,in Jesus’ Name – Amen.
Just lift up your hands to the Lord! And I want you to commit your Vocation, your Company – Whatever Company you work for. If you work for even Government, commit it to the Lord;
You work for the Civil Service, you have a Small Business; commit it to the Lord.
Just commit yourself, your Vocation, your Company and Reputation to the Lord.
And ask the Lord to grow up Extraordinarily, to contribute Value to the Place you work, to be the best; so that where you work will adorn you, feed you and help you to expand your fields.
CLOSING PRAYER
Father, I Pray for this Church and for every Members of this Church and all those reading this Message on the Label of DMC:
Let them be Wise Men and Wise Women – Men and Women who love You, who serve You, and who Excel in their Fields.
And I Pray Lord, that Greatness would be bath out or these ones. That You would raise a Generation of People who would make a difference wherever they are.
And I Pray for every Business here represented, every Business owned by our Members and those reading this Message now on the Label of DMC:
I Pray Lord that your Blessing rest upon those businesses – Whatever form of business they are, may Your Blessing be on it. If it’s a Consultancy, Building and Real Estate, Health Delivery System; Father whatever it is may You bless it, increase it,
Grant them Wisdom to feed their Companies until it becomes a Mighty Giant that is able to take care of them.
And bless the work of their hands Lord, that each of them would Prosper and will bring Glory to Your Name.
In Jesus’ Name – Amen and Amen!
Somebody say: I am going to be the best for the Lord Jesus Christ – Amen!
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