AS MUCH AS THEY WANTED – PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 31ST DECEMBER 2023

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

TOPIC: AS MUCH AS THEY WANTED

DATE: 31ST DECEMBER 2023

BIBLE TEXT: JOHN 6: 11-13

Let us rise up together as we make our “DECLARATION OF GATHERING” in this “YEAR OF GATHERING”.

Are you ready? Say with me:

I Proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. The Lord is the Shepherd of my Soul, my Shelter by Day, my Light by Night.

In His Name, we Plough our fields, by His Spirit we gather the Harvest, in His Light we seek and find.

In this Year of Gathering, the Lord of the Harvest has commanded: Launch Out into the Deep. At His Words, we cast our Nets, we gather in Souls and Substance for God’s Kingdom.

The Lord is our Reward; in this Season I received God’s Portion set aside for me: Full Measure, Pressed down, Shaking together and running over.

Nothing is Lost and Nothing is wasted in Jesus Name – Amen!

Well this is the Last Day of the Year 2023 (31st December 2023) – God has been Good to us.

But as you know, every Year; there will be things left undone – Things that you wanted to do but you couldn’t do it or you started but you didn’t Complete.

There will always be unfinished business – Thjngs you wanted to do but didn’t get to do.

And as much as this is the end of the Year, Life is not ending – Life goes on.

And there is always Continuity – There is an end and then there is Continuity.

So, we are ending this Year but God is not ending with you. And there are things that I believed that God will continue to do to cause you to gather and cause you to harvest in the Coming Year.

We are not saying that because this is a Year of Gathering (2023) and so there will be no Gathering.

About ten (10) years ago – 2014; I Launched what is called twenty (20) years Plan. I said that everybody should set a twenty (20) Goal and most of you set it.

So in the tenth (10th) Year Anniversary of the twenty (20) years Life Plan, which will be January 2024; I will revisit it and encourage each one of you to have the next ten (10)) years Life Plan of your twenty (20) years Life Plan. So that you can Plan your Life well and works towards it.

Because many times, we think that things just happen – That things are Magical. You are just there and then things just happen.

And so sometimes, things happen that way.

But most things in our Life happen Intentionally – They happened because we work towards them and we Planned towards them.

Even God who can make all things at all times without anybody Counsel or Plans – God tells the End from the Beginning.

I mean you look at the Plan of Salvation and how He came about the Lord Jesus Christ; I mean you see all the Steps God took in the Scriptures to ensure that Christ will come at the time He came.

God who can create out of Nothing, still works with something.

So, we have to also determine in our lives that although God can create out of Nothing and out of nowhere, things can happen – We still have to ensure that our lives are laid on things that are working on, based on our Actions, Plans, Intentional Steps. And we have to be Mindful of the way we live our lives.

So, I’m going to end the Year the same way we began it by going to the Scriptures that has been our Guidance throughout the Year – And that is John Chapter 6:12

And the background is the Multiplication of five (5) Loaves of Bread and two (2) Fish and then the Gathering that took Place when Jesus Christ fed the five thousand (5,000).

So, I will read from Verses 11 to 13 of John Chapter 6 to give us what Preceeds and what happened afterwards:

John 6: 11-13

11. And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given Thanks, He distributed to the Disciples, and the Disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
12. When they were filled, he said unto His Disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that Nothing be lost.
13. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

Now, I was going through my Messages and Sermons that I didn’t Preached and I discovered something that I didn’t Preach and I decided to squeeze it in before the Year End.

But in the looking at the Passage, in Verse 11, something just struck me there – And I will go back to it and read it again and show you what I noticed:

John 6:11 – And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given Thanks, He distributed to the Disciples, and the Disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

… As much as they wanted!

So, Jesus is working a Miracle for His People – The People are hungry and He got five loaves of Bread and two fish and He Multiplies them; told His Disciples to gather the People, let them sit down and give it to them.

And the Passage says:: “As much as they wanted!

That means that the scope and the extent of the Miracle that Jesus was working on was based on their want.

If they have Appetite, Multiplication will Increase; if they lost Appetite, Multiplication will end.

… God bless them as much as they wanted.

You know many times we think that: Oh, God can do anything but God does things about our Capacity to handle them.

And if you are not Prepared for it, He doesn’t waste His Resources!

And so in this Passage (DMC NOTES: John 6:: 11-13); He gave it to them as much as they wanted.

So the Question that you have to ask yourself is – How much have I wanted this Year (2023)?

Because God’s Blessings is linked to what you want – God is not going to force you or me.

And I noticed that as long as the People wanted, the loaves and fish kept on being Multiplied – The Miracle only stopped when the wanting stopped.

So, the Passage says that at a Point Jesus said gather all the Fragments because He Probably noticed that the People are not making Good use of what I’m doing now and they are not using the Fragments. And so this Miracle has to stop – Gather the Fragments.

Why? Because the People are not utilising what is being given to them.

The Scriptures has a very interesting way of looking at how God deal with us.

Jesus spoke of the Parable of the Minas – Which is close to the Parable of the Talents.

DMC NOTES: You can get to read the Story of the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19: 11-27.

And then He said that he who has, more will be given to him and he who has not, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.

That Phrase many times don’t sound like Jesus – Because we feel that Jssus Christ even the little you have, He will give you more.

But then the Passage says that the little you have, we take it from you.

And if you do little with what He gave you, He is going to take that little from you and if you do much with what He gave you, He is going to give you much more.

Because you know our tendency is to always look for those who don’t have and to try to give to them.

God tendency is to look for those who have and give more to them because what People have is based on how they utilised what I gave them.

If they make good use of it, I will give them more; if they didn’t make good use of it, I am not going to Give them any more.

Do you think that if God blesses you with so much and you waste it and He will continue to Pour more into your Life!

Because many times, we think that People who don’t have, they don’t have because they have been cheated, they didn’t get Opportunities or Life has been unkind to them.

Well there is some Truth in that – That sometimes People don’t have because of the unfair System, Injustice etc.

But it is not the Total Truth – The reality is that many times, People don’t have because they wasted what was given to them.

But let us look at it from a National Point of view – In Ghana/Nigeria/Mali/Senegal/Zimbabwe.

Why are we Poor? Why is it that the little we have, we are even losing it?

Is it because the whole world hate us – Our Colonial Master hate us, Economist hate us, Conspirators trying to destroy us.

No, that is one aspect of it.

But God; look at Ghana:

I. He gave us Land that when we Plant things on it, it will grow. Even when you don’t Plant, it grows.

And then the People come out and say that we are hungry.

And you think that God will give us food?

He will say that I have given you Lands, you can spit on it and it will grow Mangoes.

II. And He will say that in addition to the Land, I gave then Water/Rivers all over the Land.

What do you need the Rivers for? To water the Land.

III. And in addition to the Land and Water/Rivers; I gave them Gold, Diamond, Iron, Basalt (DMC NOTES: Basalt is an Aphanitic Extrusive Igneous Rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in Magnesium and Iron exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky Planet or Moon. More than 90% of all Volcanic Rock on Earth is basalt) and whatever they want.

And yet, the People are Poor.

So, you think that God will sit in Heaven and say: Let me give them more? Or let me bless Ghana more and more or let them discover more Oil, Diamond because the more I give them, the better they will become?

I think not!

Because there is a Point where the Miracle of Multiplication ends – And it ends at the Point where People are mismanaging what has been given to them.

So the Fragments that we read about in this Passage, where are they? – The Fragments were in three (3) Points:

POINT NO 1: There were Fragments in the hands of the Disciples.

So, these are things they have taken from the hands of Jesus – They are supposed to go and give it to the People but they can’t give it to the People because the People are Full and they don’t have any Needs.

And this shows the things that God wants to give you that are still in His Hands because you have not used what is in your hands.

POINT NO 2: There are Fragments in the hands of the Multitudes themselves.

They received it but couldn’t utilised it.

POINT NO 3: There are Fragments on the Ground.

They received it, couldn’t utilised it and dumped it on the Ground.

One of the things I tried to Practice as a Person is never to waste foods.

When I was growing up, my mother told all of us not to waste food because there is no food. So, I develop the habit of emptying my Plate – Normally, when I finished eating, there will be Nothing on the Plate.

So, I learnt to always take what I can eat and finishes it so that the Plate is empty.

Fragments in the hands of the Disciples never get to the People.

Are there Blessings that God wanted to give you in Year 2023 but He never got to give you because you have not utilised the Previous ones?

Fragments in the hands of the Multitudes – They had it but they felt so full.

You know, I don’t know about you – But if I am one of those People; just a while I’m empty but now I have to Overflow. I would have gathered all the Fragments in a bag, got up and go home.

Because my Cousin don’t come to the Party to receive, my Brother didn’t come, my Mother didn’t come, my Grandmother didn’t come.

I’m going to take what I got here and if I can’t utilise it, I will give it to Somebody who can utilise it.

But they didn’t do that – Hungry People who has no respect for food. They eat and throw the rest away. They didn’t even think of keeping and warming it next time – Let me save this and give it to Somebody else.

In a Country like Ghana, our dustbins should be empty – Because Part of Gathering is to save. Nothing is wasted.

So, we may not have Practiced it in Year 2023, but in Year 2024, in our God’s Year, Nothing will be wasted!

• If God blesses me with Money, I won’t waste it.
• If God blesses me with food,, I won’t waste it.
• If God blesses me with Time, I won’t waste it.
• If God blesses me with Life, I won’t waste it.

Because that Miracle went as far as they wanted it – But once the desire and utilisation is gone, the Miracle stopped.

Have you noticed in your Life that there is a Time that you have Abundance of something and another Tiime you don’t have it?

I. One of the easiest of such thing is Time.

When I was Young, we could just sit and not know what to do with Time; there could be a Time, Time is not going at all and then you grow up and you say: Where is all the Time going?

II. Sometimes it is Money.

There was a time you used to have Money, go to Parties and spray them. And now, you have Nothing.

So, let us determine that we are not going to waste what God gave us!

This is the Final Lesson on Gathering – Let’s not waste it in the New Year 2024 because there will be many Good Things that will come your way but don’t waste it but rather make Good use of it.

Even if you have Abundance and you think that it’s not Valuable, then let Somebody else have it

Don’t ever be a Waster of the Resources that God gives you!

Thank you so much for staying all through to read.

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