The Hidden Mystery Behind Isaac and Jacob That Most Christians Miss - MENSA OTABIL MESSAGES

I try to be very uh very systematic in my approach to the scriptures and uh because the the scriptures is God speaking to us and we have to learn to work with what he's saying to us. And the Bible speaks to us on many levels. Uh first the Bible speaks to us about Why we are here and and so the the theme of the Bible uh speaks about why we are here creation uh how come we are on this planet how come we are human beings we are alive and how come our lives are so

messed up. Uh and so the Bible talks about that. It talks about God creating the earth heaven and earth. God creating human beings and how sin entered into the human race and how things got messed up. That's one level where the Bible speaks To us. So anytime you read the Bible, uh you are having a confrontation with human beings and their condition. The Bible also speaks to us on another level and that has to do with God's plan to redeem us and how that plan has worked out in our lives. So why we are in

a mess and what God has done about the mess. And at the third level, the Bible speaks to us about how everything is going to work out in the end. Um God starts Genesis with creation of heaven and earth and in Revelation with a creation of a new heaven and a new earth. So the Bible comes full cycle from Genesis to Revelation. How God starts it and how God is going to end it in between how he's dealing with us. And that in a sense is the total story of the Bible. But apart from these

major themes of the Bible, the Bible also speaks to us about how to live our lives. And so as we read the Bible, we see stories in the Bible About how to live our lives. But the Bible does not teach us how to do live our lives the way we do it now. If if you want to know how to do something, you go and buy a how-to book and it's a manual and it says step number one, step number two, step number three, do this, do that, do that. The Bible doesn't have step number

one, step number two, step number three. And and so when you read the Bible and and you want to live a a fruitful Life and you want to saw on wings of faith and you want to live and and rise above circumstances, there is no passage in the Bible that gives you the itemized system for doing that. So sometimes it's difficult to find out how do I get it done because you don't go to any chapter and see a systematic way for living anything in your life. However, the Bible speaks to us in the stories

of people. In the stories of people and in the Stories of the people in the Bible, uh there there are two things that we're looking out for. The first is what the Bible is describing about the situation. We say that the Bible is descriptive. And we say is descriptive because it's telling describing something to us. And it doesn't tell us whether it's good or bad. It's just describing a story. And then sometimes the Bible is prescriptive in the sense that it is telling us do this or don't do that. And so when you read the

Bible, especially when you're reading the stories of the Bible, it's difficult to tell whether God is just describing something to me or he's telling me something I must do. For example, if you read Genesis chapter 13, when uh Abraham goes to the land of Egypt and he thinks his wife is very beautiful and and somebody's going to take his wife from him, he makes a scheme with his wife Sarah and says, "When we get to uh Egypt, tell people that you are my sis you I'm you are my sister. I'm your brother. Now, when you

read a story like that in the Bible, the question is, how do you deal with it? Is it just describing a situation that happened or is telling you how to Are you getting me? Now people sometimes get uh confused because when they read the Bible they don't know whether the Bible is describing something and telling it as it happened or it is recommending something. So is is when we read that is is the Bible then telling us that you know when you are in tough situation you don't know what to do manufacture your own truth

uh and and save your skin. uh is that what he's telling us and somebody can take off and say Abraham is the father of faith and this is what he did and we walk in the faith of Abraham and And and therefore when you are tied in a corner uh just invent your own story. So, so, so when you're confronted with that, I'm just giving you an introduction to what I'm going to preach just because I need to give you a background before I go into the text and teach on the restless ones. Uh so

when you confront such a thing uh like Abraham telling a lie uh or like Noah getting drunk or like David taking somebody's wife and Killing the man. You see the description of a human event but then you have to find out what is God prescribing? What is God's view about that? The fact that it's in the Bible and described in the Bible does not mean God prescribes it as how we should live our lives. And generally for you to know whether how to what is prescribed you you don't just look at the incident. You look

at the Totality of scripture to then determine what is God's attitude about lie. What is God's attitude about adultery? What is God's attitude about taking somebody's wife? Whether you are a king, you are anointed, you a man of God, a woman of God, a superman of God, a minor man of God, do you have a right to take somebody's wife from them? Is there a grace on you that enables you to take wives? So, uh, so I'm going to go into a a Story in the Bible, and that's why I had to talk about all

that I've talked about and and what we can learn from the story. And it's a very ancient story in the Bible, the story of Jacob and Esau. And and there is a descriptive part of the story where God is telling us the story of conflict between two boys, twins, uh and who is going to be the leader and who's going to be seven and under that the other person. And as you read Through the scriptures and and and how Jacob uh dealt with Esau and and all of that, at a certain point you wonder between

Jacob and Esau who is right, who is doing the right thing? Um and you cannot tell it just from the story. You have to look at the larger uh scriptural position in order to determine what happens because later on in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews chapter 12, uh Esau's actions are described as profane, profane and and adulterous. So then you get to know that what is happening between the two boys there is a prescriptive view of it. That means there is one of the ways that is more preferable to the other one. So

what happens between Jacob and Esau is very simple. Rebecca is married to Isaac. For 20 years they have no child. Then she gets pregnant and she feels uncomfortable in her tummy. We always say women are pregnant in their tummy. Although the tummy is where food goes to but what you know that's normal in her tummy. She's feeling some way. And so she she she she goes to God. She and her husband go to God and say, "What's happening?" And God say, "Something deep is happening inside of You. You have two boys inside of you." But

the two boys are not just two boys, they are two kind of people. And not only are they two kind of people, they are two kinds of nations. So there are three things happening. individuals, people and nations are represented inside of you and they are struggling. And he says one is going to Be head over the other and he says uh that the older one is going to end up serving the younger one. And then they are born. They live their lives and so on and so forth. Go about their business. I don't know whether

anybody told them this is how your future is going to be uh in the in in in life that one of you is going to be head. But a time comes when Uh Jacob and Esau have a negotiation and uh Esau sells his birthight to Jacob for a bowl of meal and they forget about it. It looks like nothing has happened until the time when Isaac is about to pass on the blessing. And in Isaac's mind, the blessing must go to Esau. And so he gets ready to pray for Esau, But he says, "Go and

prepare a meal for me." I don't know why he said that. He could have blessed him straight forward. Complicated the issue, you know. Uh but you know, I can't blame him. So he says, "Go and prepare a meal for me." So whilst he's going out to the bush to prepare a meal, uh his wife heard the instruction and went to tell Jacob says, "Your father is about to turn the Birthight over to your brother who sold the birthight to you 20 years ago. Your father is blind. He doesn't have a clue that things have changed.

So I want you to go and prepare a meal or I will prepare the meal for you because I know how to please your father. Prepare the right meal. Go and give it to your father uh and and and receive the blessing and you know how the story goes. He receives the blessing. Jacob re receives the Blessing. Now if you're watching it, you say, "What kind of character is this?" That's another story. That's not where I'm going. But after all of this happens, the blessing is gone to Jacob. Esau has no blessing. He's lived his

life believing that he will be blessed, that it will be well with him, that God will favor him. And all of a sudden, in This moment of destiny, he loses everything. So he comes back to his father having obeyed his father's instruction and he's told that the blessing is gone. And that's where I start my story. Genesis chapter 27 verse 30 to 34. Now it happened as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had scarcely gone out From the presence of Isaac his father that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He

also had made savory food and brought it to his father and said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's game that your soul may bless me." And his father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" So he said to him, "I'm your firstborn, Esau." Then Isaac trembled exceedingly and said, "Who?" You can imagine what is going on here. WHO? WHERE IS THE ONE who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came and I have blessed him AND INDEED HE SHALL be blessed. I have

blessed him and indeed he shall be blessed. These guys took blessing seriously. They are not like men of God who bless you and take back the blessing And put it on another one. They understood spiritual authority and they understood the irrevocableness of that authority that when you pronounced it, you don't change it. You don't bless a person today and curse him tomorrow. Sailor because you know there are all kinds of people who bless people and curse them and they say that they are fathers and they have their authority to bless and And and just remove

the blessing and put it in another one. But Isaac understood the spirituality of blessing that it's not just about me saying something is about God doing something and God does not change his mind. So if I make God or I ask God to do something, I cannot go back to HIM AND SAY, GOD, BY THE WAY, I ate the wrong meal. So he says, I HAVE BLESSED HIM AND HE WILL BE BLESSED. Verse 34. Then Esau, when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to

his father, "Bless me also, oh my father." IN OTHER WORDS, YOU HAVE THE ANOINTING. YOU CAN BLESS at will. You can do it. But his father told him, "That's not how it's done. I can't just bless at will. I have blessed him and that's it. And Esau cried, "Bless me too." Now we jump to verse 37. Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Indeed I have made him your master." What a what a word to hear. I have made your m your your master and all his brethren I have given to him as servants with

grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you my son? And Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing my father? Bless me also, oh my father." And he lifted up his voice and wept. Do you have only one blessing? Not two blessings, not three blessings, not four blessings. Do you have any left over, dilapidated, discredited, antiquated, overlooked blessing, WHATEVER it is, give it to me. Now, I want you to watch something. This Is a man who had the birth right and took it for granted and thought his

life was going to be blessed and now gets to the point where he's ready for anything. Just anything just any kind of blessing. So far as it's a blessing, I can take it and I can use it. Jacob has taken the blessing. Esau Has nothing. He understood the agony of missed opportunities. When you wish you had something and you don't have it, he lifted up his voice. He cried. You can sense passion and hunger for a new opportunity. For the first time in his life, he had respect for little things. He had moved from abundance

and now he's ready for the littlest Thing he can have. Sometimes abundance is a curse. Abundance is not always a blessing. That's why in the cycle of life, people who have little create much, give much to their children and their children waste it and create little and the cycle starts all over again. The greatest or the people who achieve the most in life most of the time come from extreme deprivation. And the children of those who have achieved much don't achieve much because there has to be hunger in you to desire to be. When that

hunger dies, you have nothing else left. And Esau moved from a person accustomed to abundance to a person who is ready to work with little. And I want you to listen to the blessing that his father pronounced on him. And the father had to pronounce a blessing on him that he's not pronounced on Jacob. He cannot tell him you will be great because he's he has already told uh Jacob your brother WILL SAVE YOU. HE CANNOT TELL HIM TOO you will be great. He cannot tell him you will be master. HE CANNOT TELL HIM THAT

because these blessings are not just uttered At will. So he has to carve out a blessing that he didn't give to Jacob. And so I want you to listen to the blessing. Verse 39 to 40. Genesis chapter 27. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, your blessing shall be with the fatness of the earth, And the dw of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. And it shall come to pass when you become restless that you shall break his yoke from your neck. This is

the blessing he blessed him with. The restless ones. the blessing of restlessness. The Amplified Bible says, "Then Isaac His father answered, your your blessing and dwelling shall all come from the fruitfulness of the earth and from the dew of the heavens above. By your sword you shall live and serve your brother. But the time shall come when you will grow restive and break loose and you shall tear his yoke from off your neck. There are two parts to this blessing. The first part talks about his dwelling and what he would live by. When the Bible

talks About your dwelling, it has to be the environment he would live in. He says your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven. Basically what he says you will survive from the natural resources available to you. You will survive by the natural resources available to you. So wherever you are, whatever grows on the ground, it will be a blessing to you. If corn is growing, you live by the corn. H if if It's wheat, you live by the wheat. Whatever is available, you can gather it. Because remember, he said,

"I've blessed your brother with a grain and with a wine. I can't bless you with grain, but I can bless you with survival. I can bless you with the fatness of the earth. I can bless you with natural resources and wherever you are whether is oil in the land or gold in the land or diamond In the land whatever you find in the earth you can live by it. In other words, Esau has to be mindful of the environment he lives in because his survival is linked with the resources available in the land he lives

in. And he will live by the due of heaven. On one level, the due of heaven simply means just natural rainfall patterns. But at another level, it all also means God's spiritual favor, The due of heaven. Now, you would think that if a person is so going to be so blessed with the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven, that should be enough. But he also told him, you will live by the sword. In other words, you're going to learn to be a fighter. You're going to learn to fight. But he says, "With

the fatness of the earth, the dew of the earth, of the Heavens, and your sword, you still will serve your brother." In other words, the fatness of the earth, the dew of heaven, and being able to FIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH TO give you the victory. You're coming from behind. Sometimes, you know, when when I look at the African condition, we think if we find more resources, we'll do well. We didn't do well with gold, didn't do Well with diamonds, didn't do well with oil, but if we find titanium, we will prosper. Oh, yeah. Lord, give

us titanium. Just look at your history. The fatness of the earth still makes you a servant. You're still heaven. You're still in bondage. Rainfall patterns are good. You're still poor. Still can't feed yourself. You're still the lowest of the low. You are boxers. You box and beat Everybody. You stand in the boxing ring, a black man meets anybody else, they beat the person up. And still it's not working. So, so, so what Isaac is selling Jacob is this is the only blessing I give you that doesn't conflict with Jacob. The fatness of the earth, the

dew of heaven, the sword. I didn't bless him with Sword. I didn't bless him with the dew of heaven. I didn't bless him with the fatness of the day. I bless him with grain and wine. He would live well. You will be a hustler. He would live well. Hustle is a blessing. Don't underestimate your hustle. It's a blessing to hustle. I say hustle is a blessing. You know why I said that? You see, I understand there is fruitless labor. There is fruitless labor. But there is fruitful labor. When God, Adam and Eve sinned. And God

is pronouncing a curse. He did not curse Adam. Adam was not cursed. He said, "I cursed the earth for your sake. You did bad, but I'm punishing the earth. What is the curse of the earth? It will produce thorns and thistles. In other words, the earth will not be fruitful for you. But he said, with the sweat of your face and toil you will eat. So sweat and toil was not a curse. Sweat and toll is an antidote to the curse so that you can take an earth that is cursed and eat from it. God

blessed labor. God blessed hard work. God Blessed sweat. God bless your effort. When you go out in the morning and you are sweating, you are not under a curse. You are working yourself out of a curse because out of your sweat you shall eat. It is called the blessing of work. Fruitful labor does not just comes about when you are sitting for things to happen. They come about when you work and God blesses the work of your hand. So that the earth which would naturally be a disaster for you now becomes a Place of abundance

for you because you put in work and labor into the earth. So now that is what he's telling Jac uh Esau your sword your subsistence those are the things I will bless you with. But even even if you use all of those to the maximum, you will still be a servant. So in reality, the only thing he blessed him with was In the last statement he made. And when you become restless, you will break his yoke from your neck. When you become restless, to be restless is to be troubled, to be agitated, not to settle,

not to sit. The image that Isaac is painting is like that of a bull that has been chained around the neck. And instead of sitting dosilely because It has been chained and yokeked, the bull turns its neck and turns and works and works and works and works and there is blood coming out but it works and works and breaks the yoke so it can be free. He says when you become like that where you don't just settle where life deposited you then you will break the yoke of Jacob from your neck. It didn't say I

will take Jacob's blessing from him. Jacob will still be blessed, but his Blessing will not overrule you because you will also have an equal blessing to match the blessing of Jacob. So let's break down what he said. When you become when speaks about a time frame when means there's going to come a time when you outgrow your emotions because the natural emotion of Esau was look for Jacob and kill him. Just kill him. And some people think if You can kill your enemy you will prosper. There's nothing more disast disastrous than somebody you have killed

who still controls you. You manage to destroy him, but he still rules over you. You are still living in a dead man's house. Just eliminating an enemy does not eliminate his power. Hallelujah. >> What God is telling or what Isaac is telling Esau is I don't want you to just Use the saw to go after Jacob. You have to use it to go after yourself. You are where you are because of your bad decisions. For a bowl of food, you sold your future to your brother. And unless you realize that where you are is a

result of your own mistakes in life, you will always be a servant. It's like when we say the white man came into company and the white man did this and the white man did this and Colonialism did this and white people did this and the white man doesn't like it and d you haven't even found your part in selling your birthight. How you going to break the yoke? When you become restless, the you there means it depends on you. It's your responsibility. God is not going to do it for you. The great Thomas Edison said,

"Restlessness is discontent, and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure." I believe in God giving us rest. But I don't know about you, I don't want God to give me full rest because you must find something to fight every day of your life. You can have rest from one problem, but you will Still have to fight another problem. You can have rest from something and still be battling other things. Life is about continuous restlessness. When you become restless, check through the Bible. Moses

was a restless man. He was born a prince. He had status. a guaranteed future. One day he decides, I don't like this. I have to fight and fight for my brothers. And it got Him into trouble and then made him who he is. Esther was settled in the palace of the king, but she was restless and it brought deliverance to his people. Look at the great Apostle Paul, a restless man who never settled and kept moving on with God. God wants us to have a restless spirit. So, did Esau break the yoke? You have to

read your Bible, the book of Genesis, And go further to Genesis chapter 32. When Jacob is about to meet Esau, this is 20 years after the event. Jacob is coming back blessed from Laban's house. He's blessed, but the last thing he remembers, Esau lives by the sword. and he's looking for me to kill me. So, Jacob decides, I have to appease Esau. In his mind, he's still thinking, "This guy is very hungry. If you give him a little food, he'll be fine." Genesis 32:3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the

land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, "Speak thus to my Lord Esau." Thus your servant Jacob says, something has happened. The one who is supposed to be calling the other person servant is now calling the one he should call servant Lord. And he says, "I have dealt with Laban and stayed there until night. I have Oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female servants, and I've sent to tell my lord that I might find favor in your sight." Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother, Esau. He's also

coming to meet you, and 400 men are with him." Chapter 33:1. Now Jacob lifted it up his eyes and looked, and there Esau was coming, and with him 400 men. So he divided the children. This guy is a character. Divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maid servants. And he put the maid servants and their children in front. All of you who go and have children with other people's husbands, they put you in front. All right. I didn't say that. And he put the maid servants and their children in front and Leah

and her children behind and Rachel and David and and and Joseph last. Then he crossed Over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. Then Esau ran TO MEET HIM AND EMBRACED HIM, FELL ON HIS NECK, KISSED HIM AND THEN WEPT. What happened, Mr. Esau? He lifted out his eyes and saw the women and children said, "Who are these with you?" So he said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." >> Then the maid servants came near and their children and bowed down. Leah also

Came near with her children. They bowed down. Afterward, Joseph and Rachel came near and they bowed down. There's so much bowing down going on. But where I want to get you is this. Then Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" And he said, "They are to find favor in the sight of my Lord." But Esau answered and said, "I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself." Something has happened to Esau. He is not the same man who 40 years earlier negotiated his birthright for lunch. He is

not the same man who was angry to discover that his birthight was lost. In between the loss of his birthright to this time 20 years after he's meeting Jacob, something dramatic has happened. And I want to suggest it happened first in his mind. When his father told him, the only Blessing I bless you with is restlessness. And if you will be restless, if you will toil hard, if you will work hard, if you not sit and complain that you have no blessing, nobody bless me, everybody has stolen my blessing, people pass me by, nobody cares

for me, nobody loves me, nobody is interested in me, nobody gives me a job, nobody does this, nobody does it. He says, "If you will be restless AND STOP COMPLAINING about what YOU LOST, THEN YOU WILL BREAK THE YOKE OF YOUR brother from you. HE WILL BE RICH, BUT YOU WILL ALSO BE RICH. HE WILL PROSPER, but you will also prosper." So, Esau returns. There is no bitterness. There's no anger. There's no revenge. There's no I want to kill him. There's no this is the man who destroyed my destiny. He embraced him. He kissed him.

He Welcomed him. I'm sure Jacob is thinking, "What what kind of assassination plan is this? What kind of mafia tactics is this? Is is is he just taking me off my guard so he can kill me quietly? No. The man has become whom his father said he must become and in becoming that he has understood that even though nobody lays hands on me I can be blessed. Even if nobody pours oil on my head, I Can be blessed. Even if nobody favors me, I can be blessed. Even if nobody opens the door for me, I

can be blessed. Even if people take away my business from me, I can still be blessed. Somebody stole my contract from me. I will still be blessed because I have determined I would not be restless. I would I would not settle. I will be Restless. I will fight. I will move on. I will struggle. And I will keep going. If nobody prays for me, I will keep going. Nobody pours oil on my head, I will still keep going. If nobody comes and says, I'm giving you opportunity, I will steep keep going. Yes, sir. >> Because

we have come into a generation of people who think until somebody lays Hands on them, they cannot make it. Until somebody pours oil on them, until you have a spiritual father who brings you exposure, you can never have it. But Esau teaches us even when we have the bottom of the barrel blessing or no blessing at all, we can still with restlessness, not settling, not sitting and folding our arms, we can break the yoke of bondage To become what God wants us to become. If you're going to soar on the wings of faith, you're going

to rise in faith and do some crazy things for God. And sometimes when you start, you will stumble and fall. Sometimes you will lose all your capital. You will lose all your investment. You will lose every effort. You're going to meet people who will Shut the door in your face. When you think it was going to happen, somebody will steal it from you. What do you do after that? You can decide to have a ministry of prayer and cursing. Well, you get up in the morning, pick up anointing oil, go around and and littering your

house with olive oil so that people will slip and and fall and break their head. and mentioning your your enemies and speaking curses upon them, they will Not prosper. Have you ever noticed that sometimes you say they will not and they do? >> There's nothing more frustrating than seeing the person who's your number one prayer point for defeat on television receiving an award. All this prayer of targeting your enemy. If you invested the prayer in targeting your purpose, you will achieve something Great for your life. God says leave your enemy to me. Vengeance is mine.

They cheated you. Leave it to God. Focus on your assignment. Focus on your purpose. Focus on where God is taking you. You be restless. You have to come to the point where you say nothing will make me quit. >> Nothing is going to make me settle. I may not have it, but I'm going to keep moving on. So, in the end, we can say Esau learned the ways of Jacob. He understood that blessing and cursing is based on my actions. It's based on my actions. A man who lost everything ended up gaining. Of course, he

didn't regain the promise of the Messiah because the Messiah is going to come from Jacob's line, but the physical blessings, He got it all back. He got it all back. So tonight, my message is very simple to you. God is not finished with you. >> Even if everybody is finished with you, >> God is not finished with you. Even if you are finished with yourself, God is not finished with you. If you think you have nothing to work with and start with, he still can take The bottom of the barrel and bless you. The interesting

thing about that passage, when Isaac said those words to Esau, he didn't lay hands on him. He laid hands on Jacob. He says, "I've done that. I can't lay I don't lay my hands just at will. He's got it. You don't have it. So he just spoke to him. You will your dwelling Shall be the fatness of the earth and the dw of heaven. And your living your livelihood will be by the sword. If you choose those, you'll still be a servant. But son, the day you become restless, you will reverse everything that has happened

to you. May God bless everyone here >> with restlessness. May you never get to the point where you sleep and say, "I have made it. >> I have arrived. >> There is nothing more to do." May that never ever be the word of your mouth. >> May you never be so pleased that you become lazy. May you never find life so easy that there is no hunger to go any further. >> May you wake up every morning hungry for more. >> Every morning rise up restless. >> Every morning get up from your bed and say

where is the next target? Where is the next assignment? Where is the next challenge? I have to conquer it. May every moment and waking moment of your life be a day of fight. >> You will fight. >> Don't surrender to sickness when the enemy attacks your body. Don't just LIE DOWN AND DIE. YOU HAVE TO BE restless and you have to Tell yourself, I will overcome this. I will conquer this. I will live. I will live. I will live. You have to be restless in your spirit. Don't let age tell you it's too late. Because

it is not too late. A thousand years are like a day before God. It's not too late. IN ONE DAY, HE CAN change everything in your life. You are 70 and so what? You are 60 and so what? You are 50 and so what? You are 80 and SO WHAT? YOU ARE 90 and so what? >> GET UP. YOUR HUSBAND LEFT YOU AND SO WHAT? Get up. Move on. BE RESTLESS. DON'T SIT DOWN AND DIE. DON'T LIE DOWN AND LET THE ENEMY RIDE OVER YOU. I BLESS YOU WITH RESTLESSNESS. May the Lord stir your spirit.

MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT STIR YOUR SPIRIT. MAY YOU have nights where you cannot sleep BECAUSE YOUR SPIRIT IS STIRRED UP WITH A NEW IDEA, WITH A SPIRIT OF A FIGHTER, WITH A SPIRIT OF A WARRIOR. MAY YOU SIT UP IN YOUR BED, PICK UP YOUR NOTEBOOK AND WRITE DOWN THE IDEAS GOD HAS GIVEN TO YOU. May your life be exciting. May your life be energized. May your life be quickened. MAY YOU BE ALIVE EVERY DAY, ALIVE EVERY MORNING. Because even if nobody blesses you, God has released you. He has released you to do extraordinary exploits

For him. And in 2025, you will be like Esau. You will look at Jacob and said, "I also have mine. I am also blessed. I have enough, brother. I have enough, sister. I am also blessed. I USED TO BEG YOU. I HAVE ENOUGH NOW. I USED TO COME TO YOU FOR HELP. I HAVE ENOUGH NOW. YOU USED TO BE MY HELPER. I HAVE ENOUGH NOW. >> May God bring you to that place where you would look at people who used to Mock you because they were your helpers and you would say, "I have enough." >>

God has blessed me too. >> He's not only your God, he's my God, too. He blessed you. He has blessed me, too. He lifted you, he has lifted me, too. And may 2025 be that year when you return with Esau and you say 20 years ago I had nothing but now I have enough. 40 years ago I made a terrible mistake. It cost me almost everything. But I have enough now. I have enough now. God has blessed me now. God has increased me now. God has lifted me now. God has blessed me. Now you will

have a testimony. YOU WILL HAVE A TESTIMONY. You will make a declaration before 31st December 2025. I have enough. I have enough. I have more than enough. I am blessed. I didn't sit down. I moved and God moved with me. May the Lord bless you with abundance. >> May the Lord bless your hustle. >> May he bless your sweat. May he bless your toil. MAY HE BLESS YOUR FIGHT. MAY HE BLESS YOUR STRUGGLE. MAY HE BLESS YOUR INDUSTRY. MAY HE BLESS YOUR labor >> so that the earth will be fruitful for you in Jesus name.

Amen. What kind of a person are you going to Be? And a lot can happen in 10 years. A lot can happen if you look globally at all the things that have happened in the last 10 years. The technology, political changes, and all of that. So much can happen in a 10year lifespan. So don't take for granted what God can accomplish with your life and through your life in the next 10 years. I'm going to start with uh a reading from the book of Philippians chapter 3 uh and verses 12-4. And in in this passage

the apostle Paul speaks about his mindset. Uh if you read the book of Philippians uh if you're familiar with the New Testament in chapter 2 uh Paul talks about the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. And now based on the mindset of Christ, Paul is telling us about his own mindset and how he lives his life and how uh he works with his life. And I want us to uh to listen to the reading uh from Philippians 2:12-14. Not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected, but

I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And later on he says Everybody who is mature must have the same mindset. Now I will try to summarize what Paul is saying here um with two sentences. Basically that's what he's saying.

The first thing Paul is saying is that God has a place he wants me to be. God has a place he wants me to be. There is God has a plan for my life. There is a place that God wants me to get to. And and that's the first mindset we have to have if we're going to have a life plan for ourselves. That God has a place he wants us to be. Everybody say, "God has a place." >> He wants me to be. Paul uses different words. He says uh that for which I have

been apprehended and so and so forth. And he calls it the high the upward call of God or the high calling of God. God has a place he wants me to be if we're going to have a plan for our lives. That is the first mind we must have. That we're not just trying to figure out something for ourselves, but God already Has something he wants to do with our lives. He has a place he wants me to be. The second thing that Paul is saying is that because God has a place he wants me

to be, I must do everything I can to get there. So he talks about pressing on. He talks about forgiving the thing, forgetting the things that are behind so that I get to the place God wants me to be. So every plan we have in life as Christians is premised on this mindset First that God has a place he wants me to be or you can say God has a plan for my life. And I like the way Paul describes uh the plan of God for his life. He calls it the upward call. I uh

and in in in other versions it is said the high calling and uh I was struck by it as I was studying the text that he he doesn't even call it a forward call but he calls it upward. There's a big difference between forward And upward. Both are in the future. But when something is simply forward, it it simply means you are moving on the same level and moving from one place to the other. It is difficult but not too difficult. But when something is upward, it means not only are you moving forward, but you

are moving against gravity. You're trying to go up and it is more difficult to go up than to go at the same level. Those of you who have been Exercising, especially on the treadmill, you you can appreciate that if you're walking on the treadmill or running on the treadmill, and it's the same level, uh it's easy. But when you go on on an incline, then it becomes very difficult. Those of you who jog, uh you know, it's very easy for you to walk on plain land. But if you go on the ibri hills that that

then you're doing an upward call, it becomes more intense. So Paul is saying what God has for me is not just Forward, it's upward. In other words, I have to push extra hard to get to where God wants me to be. If I'm going to have a meaningful 10year plan, it's not going to be a 10year plan based on doing what is easy, but it's going to be a 10ear plan doing something that is against the force of gravity. The force of gravity is trying to pull you down, but you are going to push against

it. You're going to press against it in order to get to that upward place. One of the reasons Why most of us live life and sometimes uh we we stay where we are in years time doesn't change our lives positively is because we not ready to put in the hard work that will take us from where we are on an upward call. So get that in mind and frame that as your mindset because your 10-year plan is going to be an anti-gravity movement. You're going to go against the forces that want to bring you down.

Now, having said that, having framed uh from Paul's mindset, we're going to go to the Old Testament and we're going to look at uh something that God said to the prophet Elijah. In first kings chapter 17 verses 1 to4 first kings chapter 17 verses 1 to 4 and it reads and Elijah the tisbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand there shall not be Due nor rain these years except at my word. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Get away

from here. Turn eastward what? Hide by the brook of Cherith, which flows into the Jordan, and it will be that you shall drink from the brook. and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. I want you to look at the first sentence in verse three. Get away from here. Everybody say, get away from here. >> I'll come back to it later at my at the end of my message. Everybody say, get away from here. >> And then the last phrase of verse seven, he says, "Feed you there." Everybody say, "Feed you there." So

there are two locations that God is talking to Elijah about. Here and there. Here and there. Now at the time God is speaking to Elijah, there is a famine in the land. There is crisis. And the Farming uh is because there's no rain. Elijah says there's not going to be rain. Now the fact that he has said there's not going to be rain does not mean he will be exempted. that he will have private rain. If there's not going to be rain, the economy will be ruined and he will suffer. So if he stayed in

the place where there is no rain, he's going to be poor. He's going to suffer. He will be hungry. He will starve to death. So God says to Elijah, I'm going To move you from here to there. Everybody say, from here >> to there. >> Now, when you make a plan for your life, that is what you're doing. You are moving from here to there. You're moving from here to there. And each one of us are going to move from here to there. So I'm going to start by first defining what it means when he

says here. What is here? Here is simply where I am. My present life. It is where you are right Now. That's my here. And everybody has got a here. You say, "Pastor, where's my here?" That's that's that's what you have. You are here. That's where you are at this material point in 2024. In your spiritual life, in your social life, in your physical life, in your health, in your marriage, wherever you are, that's your here. Now, some people's here is good. They are in a good place at this time. And some of you can look

at the year 2024, look at your life now and say it's never been better. That's your here. Some people too will look at their lives here and say, "Wow, it's a mixed bag. It's good and bad." That's your here. Some people's here is not good. They look at here and say, "Oh, God, how did I get here?" So whether it's good, it's bad, it's ugly, You are here. But you cannot stay here forever. And the reason why nobody can stay at one place forever is because time is moving. And when time moves, a place that

is good for you can be corrupted in the next year. So many things will happen. Times will change. People will change. Factors will change and all of a sudden you were here. Everything was good. Time changes and here is no longer great. So that is why whether it's good For you, it's bad for you or it's ugly for you, you cannot stay here because time requires that you don't let only uh things to happen to you. You must plan for things before they happen to you. That's why having a plan is so critical. Whether your

life is happy or not, you still have to make a plan for the future. So God says to Elijah, you're going to get out from here where you are presently. So how do we get out from here? If we're going to get Out from here, there's a big question we have to ask ourselves. How did I get here? What brought me here? Now many of us are not happy with our lives but we're not asking what brought me here. Many many times we are asking who brought me here but what brought me here? What are

the factors? What are the things that got me To where I am? Why am I where I am? And where you are could be many things. I mean, you look at your your own professional life and you you probably have to look at yourself, you say, I've accumul I've gone to school. I've gotten degrees, but but I'm not happy with my life. So, how did I get here? Or I've grown. I I am mature. I'm not happy with my life. I'm in my 40s. I'm in my 50s. I'm not happy with my life. How did

I get here? What got me here? And normally to answer that question, you have to look at it from an external point of view and an internal point of view. If because there are things that got you to where you are that are external to you. And when we say external, we are talking about things that have been done for you or to you. You didn't do it. It was done for you or to you. It's external to you. It's not within your power. And things within our power uh outside of our power can get

us into places. It's like uh uh if you are uh water is flowing in a certain direction and and you are put a boat is put into the water, the water is going to move the boat. So this is external. The boat is not the one moving. The water is moving or the river is moving the boat. So many times you find your life is like something is moving you beyond your control. It's external to you. And there Are many things that are external to us like the country you are born into. I didn't choose

Ghana. Did you? Did you choose Ghana? Did you choose Nigeria? I'm sure that if if God had asked you before you were born, by the way, which country do you want to go to? I know which country most of you will go to. You may not choose Ghana because you look at this country and say are we crazy in this country but whether you Like it or not you were born here. So that's external. It's not it's not you didn't choose to be uh born in this country. You didn't choose your parents. You grow up

and find oh wow that's my father. Oh wow that's my mother. And sometimes you like them. Sometimes you don't like them. Sometimes they are good. Sometimes they are bad. Sometimes they are irresponsible because I tell people the drunkard has children. >> The arm robber has children. >> The prostitute has children. >> All kinds of people have children. >> And can you imagine what does it mean for their children? >> Because this is external. Did he choose an arm robber SHOULD BE MY FATHER? NO. A PROSTITUTE SHOULD BE MY MOTHER? NO. BUT THEY ARE BORN. SO

THAT'S EXTERNAL. Something beyond your control that has moved you and it continues to move you. And if you don't do anything about it, it's going to be the most Important thing that drives your life. But that's not the only way to look at what got you here. You have to look at the internal. That is things you also did. what you did for yourself or you did to yourself. Now sometimes we reinforce the external or sometimes we go against the external. So for example, if a boat is on a river and the river is moving

one way eastward, uh the the the rider of the Boat can take a a paddle and actually turn the boat to go the opposite direction. That's internal. The external is driving them one way but they can take choice make choices that shift them. So the question is where you are what are the external forces that brought you to where you are and what are the things you yourself did to bring you where you are. Your life is not an accident and nobody's life is an accident. There is always a logic behind everybody's life. Even when

you think, "Oh, my life doesn't make sense." It makes sense perfectly. Everybody's life makes sense. If you take time to analyze, you can simply and easily see all the things that have brought you to where you are. It's not magic. It's not a mystery. It's all logical. It makes sense. So where am I? Here am I. This is what my Life is. What got me here? What are the external factors? What are the internal factors? But that's not all. God says to Elijah, you're going to move from here and you're going to move there. Everybody

say there. There. >> Everybody say, I'm going there. >> I'm going there. So where is there? There is my future Is where I'm going. So to Elijah when God says you're going to move from here to there, there is physical. But sometimes there is not a physical place. It's a spiritual place. Sometimes there is a mental place. Sometimes there is a social place. It's not a physical place. So, you don't have to physically move to get there. You have to do something in your mind to get there. So, I know where I am. And when

we we do the uh uh 20 10 year plan, You're going to have to learn to take a snapshot, a picture of your life today. I don't mean go and get a camera and take a picture of yourself. That's one way. But you have to do a snapshot. Look at size up your life and ask your question. What got me here? What are the external forces that got me here? What are the internal things I did to get me here? Now God says, now you know where you Are. I'm taking you somewhere else. There is

there. Everyone say there is there. >> There is there >> and I'm going to go there. question you ask, how do I get there? How do I get there? How do I get there? As usual, we're going to look at it externally and internally. Externally, what are the things pushing against me, Preventing me from getting there? I want to make it, but something is stopping me from making it. I want to serve God, something is pushing me from serving God. I want to be more spiritual, but I'm getting more and more carnal. I want to

overcome this habit, but it's getting stronger in my life. What are the things pushing against me? Now some of the things pushing against us are things we don't have too much control about. For for example uh If you look at technology if you were trained you went to school analog and the world becomes digital. Uh you may find that you know you went to school but you are still an illiterate. There are a lot of educated illiterates because they went to analog school and the world has become digital and they don't know how to work.

So if you work in a place you find everybody's passing you by, everybody's p because you're Using old school and old ideas and and you believe this is how it was done in my day. Thank god your day was then. It's not even here. is then now we are going there and there has become digital and in the world we live in now from what we're reading I mean there's a lot we can't control there is artificial intelligence I may not like it but I can control it >> very soon a lot of people's jobs

will be taken over by programs >> things that you went to university to study before. Somebody will just ask a question on an app and it will give an answer that is 10 times better than all that your lecturers taught you. All right? So that's external. It's coming against you. It's coming against your career. It's coming against your business. It's coming against everything. Is even coming against your marriage. So you have to figure out what are the Things coming against me. what are the extent things I don't control that are making sure I don't get

there then you have to look internally and when you look internally you ask yourself what should I do to overcome these external things that are against me what should I do to overcome them. One of the good things about life and what we have learned over life that almost every situation can be overcome In life. Almost every situation can be overcome. Look at the kinds of things we have overcome in our world. Human beings being able to fly. You know, if you lived in the days a thousand years ago, nobody would think that was possible.

We take it for granted. Look at what has happened in the last 20 years in this uh from when we enter this Millennium. All the technology, look at the businesses that have come up and how they've radically changed the way we communicate. These days it's very easy to take a phone if you have data to use WhatsApp and in real time have a face-to-face conversation with somebody living thousands of miles away from you. Somebody's in Japan and you be chatting with them That it it see it's a technology that almost everybody is using. But you

know when I was growing up that was not even a thought. It was not even an idea we were contemplating because having a telephone to make A CALL WAS A BIG DEAL. One person in your neighborhood has a telephone AND EVERYBODY goes to take their call from that one person's house. At least from my community that in my community nobody had a telephone. We had To go to the post office to make a telephone call. And when you are even calling a crowd to second D, it's a trunk call. >> It means the call has

to be tranked. But now you look at how we have overcome time and distance and people can live in GHANA AND WORK ALL OVER the world. Who thought that was possible? That you don't need to take a plane to go to America to be employed in America. You can live in Ghana and earn American Dollars. is you can actually live in Ghana and participate in the American economy or other economies. There are ways to overcome the things coming against you. But it's not going to come by you folding your arms and hoping that things will

change. It's going to be you coming against the force of gravity. You're going to go go against the force of gravity. So all of us, myself, you, each one of us is moving from here to there. But that movement is not a smooth movement because it's an upward movement and there are forces trying to keep you from getting there. But if you are able to define here and there, at least you've done something very concrete and now we can learn the steps we should take to get there. So, let me just go back to the

story of Elijah and look at what God told him to do to get there. And there are four things that God spoke to him about between here and there from The text. There are four things. If you look at verse three again, it says, "Get away from here and turn eastward, hide by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan, and it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." I've underlined four important statements, words, and phrases in that. The first is get away. The

second is turn. The next is hide. And the last one is drink. These are the active words, the active words, the commands, the specific actions that God is telling Elijah to take. Can we learn something from Elijah for us to also get there? I'm going to talk about the four very briefly. The first one is get away. Everybody say get away. Get away means make a move. You can't move by staying where you are. That's the first thing God said to Elijah. You have to move. You have to get away. Take a step. Sometimes a

step may simply be talking to somebody, registering for a course, talking to somebody you've postponed talking to, seeking advice, going for an exam, going for a test. But you have to make a move. >> You can't move from here to there by staying here. You have to get away. You have to take a step. And that it may not be a major step, but it can be a small step, one small step that can lead to something great. That's what Neil Armstrong said when he touched the moon. The first man to walk on the moon

and he reported back, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." In other words, sometimes you can take a small step, but that small step can lead to a giant leap. Many times you want to take a giant leap, but all you do is a small step. And the baby Steps you take can lead to big, big, big outcomes in your life. So get away, MOVE OUT. THAT'S WHAT God is saying to Elijah. Second thing he says to Elijah, he says you have to turn, change direction. You always end up in the

place where you are headed. If you're going somewhere, you will get there. What people usually call generational curses are simply people repeating the Same choices and patterns that they've seen in their parents or their elders. It's just repetition. eating the same food your father eats, eating his habits, and then you find his diseases are following you. You may say it's a generational curses. No. Marrying the way your father married, marrying your way your mother married, treating your husband the way your your mother did her husband. You find patterns repeating. It's not a Generational curse. There's

no spiritual FORCE BEHIND IT. IT'S CHOICE. So God says to Elijah, you have to make a move. But not only that, you have to turn and you cannot turn until you are aware of what brought you here. Then you can decide, I will paddle my canoe in the opposite direction. You have to live your life differently from the example you saw from your father's example, your Mother's example, your elders example, Ghanaian example. So that's the second thing, get away, turn. And then the third thing that God says to Elijah, he says, hide. Set yourself apart.

Many of the important things we have to do must be done alone and away from the public. Most of the things done in public are for show. >> Like most of the things people do on Social media these days, it's nothing. It has no significance because it's all for show. The things that really change our lives are done privately. I mean, let's face it. The real prayers you pray to God, would you ever pray them publicly? >> Lord, you know, you know the the way my eyes are. Oh, Lord, you know, you know the you

know my greed. Lord, you I mean when you are talking to God intimately about your life, you don't want anybody To hear But if you want to impress us, then you COME AND SAY, "MY GOD, MY LORD." >> So that's all for show. The things that truly impact you, you hide. >> You are alone. You You go internal and you do them. The things that make people happy, they don't change you. >> So Jes uh God says to Elijah, "You're going to hide. you're going to hide because popularity will not get you Anywhere. >> Progress

is not a popular thing. And if you want everybody to side with you, you're going TO BE VERY SAD in life. >> Cuz some of the decisions you're going to make, people are going to tell you you are a fool and give you every reason why you must not do it. You know when I wanted to be a pastor, my best friend at that time, >> this was somewhere around 1980 81 I Think. And I told this my best friend, we do everything, most things together. I said, "God has called me. I now is now

the time. I'm going to step out from my office. I'm going to go and work full-time for God." And he looked at me with all the kindness he can master and all the compassion he could come up with. And he said to me, "You are a fool. He said it with good intention. >> So if you're going to you're going to Listen to people, you're never going to do anything. >> God says to Elijah, you're going to hide. Going to be quiet. It's an internal thing that must work externally. And the final thing he says

to Elijah, you're going to drink. You're going to drink. You're going to get something fresh in your life. You're going to receive fresh brooks, fresh water. You're going to learn things that Are different from what you have known. You're going TO EXPOSE YOURSELF to new knowledge, new information, new relationships, new concepts. And he says, if you do these four things, then you will get there. and you will escape the scourge of the farming that has ravaged the land. So, we're going to do a 10year plan at the End of what I'm teaching, but I'm giving

you the mindset that must help us to frame our journey from here to there at all levels of our life. Even if you are at the mountain top, you must find another mountain. >> If you are achieved everything, you still want to do something great for God. >> Yes. >> Maybe you said, "Oh, I want to spend the Next 10 years of my life just serving God >> and serving the people of God. I want to be a soul winner. I I want to really lead people to Christ. I have all the money now. Now

I want to serve God." That's something you want to do to get from here to there because each one of us is on a different journey. But I believe that no matter what comes against us, we can move from here to there. >> I don't want the next 10 years to shock any one of us. >> I don't want life to shock us. I don't want to ask 10 years from now and say, "Yay, I've been a fool. Please be a fool now. Not there. Take all the right steps now. So 10 years from now,

you can take your notes and look back and say, "Wow, look at what I have achieved. Look at look at the things I've done. I'm a Better person. My life is better. I'm happier with myself. I'm living better for God. I know the Bible better. I've grown spiritually." I That's That's what we want for each one of us. And I pray that that will be what you do. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word which is life to us. And for each one of us, Lord, there is a place you have for us. There

is a place prepared. There's there is a high calling. There is an upward call you Have for us. And we come and commit ourselves and surrender to that upward call. And we say, Lord, that we will not stay where we are, but we're going to get to where you want us to be. Help us Lord to understand all the factors that have brought us where we are and beyond that help us to take all the right steps to get to where you want us to be in Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> And amen. >>

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