THE HOLY SPIRIT’S LEADING: DR MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 3RD JULY, 2022.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: THE HOLY SPIRIT’S LEADING.
DATE: 3RD JULY, 2022
TEXT: ROMANS 8:14-16
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 teaching briefly today on The Holy Spirit’s Leading.
We just want to make time to hear from God – The Leading of the Holy Spirit; How God guides us.
One of the Challenges that we all have as Christians is, Knowing the Will of God – What does God want me to do? I am going to make a Decision – What is the Right Decision?
And especially when it comes into areas like Marriage; People want to be sure – Is he (she) the Right Person? Should I be married to him (her)? Between these two (2), whom should I Choose?
And beyond that we make Choices of, where should I work? Should I travel? Should I stay in my home Country? What is God’s Will for my Life? What is God’s Purpose for my Life?
We are always Struggling with that. And everybody Struggles with that because we need to be certain that God is leading us.
So, the Scriptures give us some Clues, and there is no Power Point – I’ll just throw in a couple of Scriptures and we will Pray.
Romans 8:14-16 says:
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Now remember, when the Bible says ‘Sons’ it is not in a Gender sense. It is in a Generic word to mean “Children of God”.
- Firstly, the Bible teaches us that God’s Children are led by the Spirit of God.
- The Second thing we learn is that the Holy Spirit’s Leading does not create bondage.
And so, when the Holy Spirit is leading a Person, He doesn’t create fear in us; He doesn’t create apprehension, bondage; He doesn’t make you feel like something terrible is going to happen to you.
Because the Spirit’s Leading does not create bondage – We are led by the Spirit of God. And the leading of the Spirit of God does not create bondage.
- And thirdly, when we are led by the Spirit of God, the Bible says our Spirit bears Witness with the Spirit of God.
So, God leads us by His Spirit, His leading does not create bondage and everytime God leads us, our Spirit would bear Witness to it.
What does that mean – That our Spirit would bear Witness?
It means that when God is leading you, you would sense it; or you would feel it in your Spirit.
Even if somebody told you, “I saw a Vision about you”. First of all, whatever they saw about you must not create bondage.
Because sometimes, People are in the habit of telling us things to put us under bondage, put fear into you – “Oh I saw a coffin and you were lying in it. God says if you don’t Pray this is your end.”
And by the time you hear those words, you are so afraid, that you don’t even know how to Pray again.
But if it’s the Spirit of God leading you, the Witness will be different!
It will not be “I saw a coffin and you were lying in it.”
God will Promise you Life, and walk in the Life. It’s the same thing: I give you Life, walk in it, you are not going to die. Because the Spirit of God doesn’t lead us into bondage.
Any leading that puts you into bondage is not of God.
If you are given any Prophecy, ask yourself – Does it create fear in me? Or does it create Liberty in me?
If it’s of the Spirit of God, it creates Liberty. Why? Because God wants us to walk by Faith, and not by Fear.
Anything that inspires Fear is not of God. If it’s of God, it would inspire Faith.
Because it is only by Faith that we overcome – By Fear, we succumb, by Faith, we overcome!
So, if it is of God, it will not create bondage.
And then He says, if it is of God, your Spirit would bear Witness with it.
Every Child of God, every Believer, no matter their level of Spiritual Maturity; if a Person is a Believer, just got Born Again today or last night; they can hear from God, as well as a Believer for fifty (50) years.
Both of them have the same Father!
God does not treat His Children differently. He does not say, “I will only speak to my Older Children, I don’t speak to the Younger Children.”
No, He speaks to all – The Older, the Younger and the Teens. He speaks to all of us.
And so, even if you are not an Old Christian: you haven’t known the Lord for a very long time, God speaks to you! And He speaks to you by His Spirit living inside of you.
This is how Jesus puts it, in John 16:12-15 – He says: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all Truth; for He will not speak on His own Authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will Glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
Remember, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth – Not the Spirit of lies; Not the spirit of Deception.
There is a Spirit of Deception, and there is the Spirit of Truth.
Anything that leads to Deception is not of God.
How am I going to know whether it’s of God or Not?
I. Is it true or it’s Deception?
II. Is it creating bondage and fear? Or it’s creating Faith in me?
And not only is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth, He leads into all Truth. And Jesus says that, He speaks for Christ and He Glorifies Christ.
HOW DO WE HEAR FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT?
I will talk about Four (4) Things, and we will start Praying.
- You have to Respect the Holy Spirit and His Person.
You cannot dishonour the Holy Spirit and hear from Him.
If you are going to hear from anybody, you have to respect the Person.
If you don’t respect me, you wouldn’t listen to me or be reading now on the Label of DMC.
I suppose you are in Church today listening to me or reading now on the Label of DMC because you respect me!
So, when I say something, you pay attention – You would consider it; you would give it a thought. You would say, okay it did make sense, let me think it through.
That is respect!
If you don’t respect me, then no matter what I say, you will say, “Oh, let him go! Who does he think he is?”
If you have the same treatment about the Holy Spirit, then you can’t hear Him! For you to hear His voice, then you have to respect the Holy Spirit:
You don’t have to speak evil of the Holy Spirit, you don’t have to criticise the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to live a Life that shuns the Holy Spirit.
If you are living in sin, walking in sin, walking in total disobedience against God; then you don’t respect the Holy Spirit.
So it’s going to be difficult hearing His Voice.
It doesn’t mean that He is not speaking – He is speaking, but your disrespect shut your ears from Him!
… You have to Respect the Holy Spirit.
- You have to Recognize His Presence.
You have to recognize when He is in a Place, when He is talking to you
You have to recognize moments when the Holy Spirit indicates something to you.
Especially when you are in a Service and you want to hear from the Holy Spirit, you have to recognize His Presence.
I. You can’t be in Church and texting with a friend and still hear from God.
II. You can’t be Praying and your Mind is still imagining something else, and you hear from God.
It can’t work!
So, you don’t even recognize that this moment is for God. Because this moment, which is supposed to be for God, your Mind is at home! Or your Mind is in the office; but you are Praying.
And many times, People are Praying, but their Mind is not there – You have to recognize Him!
- You have to Respond to His Promptings.
The Holy Spirit leads us in many, many ways, in little, little things!
Some time you are talking, and you just feel a Prompting within you – Stop talking, you are talking too much!
And when that comes, stop talking. Because if you keep taking, you don’t show respect to His Prompting.
The Holy Spirit Prompts us so many times – Sometimes He says, “Talk to that Person, Pray for that Person, Intercede for that Person, Give to that Person!”
… And it doesn’t have to be a very loud instruction – It is a Prompting.
When we say something is a Prompting, it is Subtle.
You know, my wife and I, we Prompt each other in many, many ways. Nobody would know we are Prompting each other. Just a little twinkling of the eye I will know what she’s saying.
All of you husbands (wives) you do that! – A little Sign, you get the beat.
And that’s how the Holy Spirit is – You have to get the beat. He’s not coming to shake you, “I am talking to you oooo.”
No, it’s a little Prompting, it’s a little Notch, it’s a little discomfort in your Heart, it’s a little “Shut Up, don’t do it”, “Sit Down, do it”!”
You know, maybe you are driving your car and you are just zooming and you just hear, “Slow Down!”
That’s a Prompting – He is not going to hit your head “Hey, slow down.”
No, No, No! He is not going to say so. It’s a Notch, it’s a Prompting. And if you respect Him, you will slow down.
As you learn to respect the Holy Spirit, with these little, little things; He begins to lead you in big, big things.
Because if you can’t Recognize Him and Respect Him in the “Little Things” He is leading you into; you cannot recognize when the Life and death matters are coming.
I believe that God never does anything without telling us about it. The thing is, most times we don’t listen.
Nothing happens to the Believer that God doesn’t tell us about it – He Prompts us, He Notches us, He tells you “Don’t do it!” He tells us, Pray a little bit more.
Sometimes He can wake you in the Night – You just wake up at 2am.and you don’t know what to do. And you just feel, I should Pray.
Pray for what? – Pray!
All you’ll do is Pray because that’s all He says you should do – Pray. Sometimes it can be a Prayer for Somebody else – Pray for that person!
Or you can be in your car and you just feel a Prompting, “Park! Wait and Pray.”
Do it! Because that’s how we obey the Holy Spirit.
… Are you here with me?
Many of us think the only time the Holy Spirit is going to speak to us is when a Prophet tells us something. As a matter of fact, that should not be the way which the Believer hears from God.
The way the Believer hears from God Primarily, is that, the Spirit of God living inside of him Prompts him all the time.
And then when a Prophet or Somebody comes and say, “Oh, God said this about you.” The Spirit of God in you must bear Witness.
Sometimes even what they say may be true, but something inside of you says, be careful.
Although what he is saying seems to be true, but the Prompting inside of you says, be careful.
Please, obey what is inside you. We are led from the inside out; not from the outside in.
… The Spirit within us leads us.
So this Morning, we are going to Pray. And one of the things we want to Pray for is:
- God, help me to Honour the Holy Spirit and Respect His Presence;
- Lord, help me not to grieve the Holy Spirit;
- Father, Help me not to turn the Holy Spirit away when He is Present in my Life.
We want to welcome Him and His work in our lives – Amen!
Let’s rise up together as we Pray!
Lift up Holy Hands to the Lord!
Somebody says: Pastor, why do we have to lift up Holy Hands?
It is a Physical Symbol of a Spiritual Condition.
When we lift up Holy hands we say: Lord, we surrender; it’s all for You. We give it all to You.
So, let’s begin to talk to the Lord on the above Prayer Points.
CLOSING PRAYER
We Thank You Father, for Your Presence is like a “Sweet Fragrance”; like a “Sweet Aroma” in this Place.
We Thank You for Your Presence – Holy Spirit, we know You are here.
Thank You for Your Promptings;
Thank You for Your Leading;
Thank You for touching our Minds, guiding our Prayers.
Thank You that You deliver us from all harms, by ordering our Steps.
“The Steps of a Righteous Person are Ordered by the Lord.”
We Thank You Lord that our Steps are Ordered by Your Spirit.
This week, we walk in “Ordered Steps”!
Oh, things are going to break out in your Life Powerfully this week!
Ordered Steps, Ordered Steps, Ordered Steps!
We give You Praise, we give You Glory, and we give You Adoration Father.
In Jesus’ Name we Pray – Amen!
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