WILL YOU SURVIVE THE SPIRITUAL RETIREMENTS? (PART 2)
WILL YOU SURVIVE THE SPIRITUAL
RETIREMENTS? (PART 2)
Sermon
by Pastor William Boachie-Ansah
TEXTS: Ezek 34:1-10, 1KINGS 19:1-16
'Thus says the Lord GOD:
"Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I WILL REQUIRE MY FLOCK AT THEIR HAND; I WILL CAUSE THEM TO CEASE
FEEDING THE SHEEP, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I WILL DELIVER MY FLOCK FROM THEIR MOUTHS,
that they may no longer be food for them." (Ezek 34:10)
Introduction
This is a continuation
of our previous message as promised. Last time, we discussed why God retired
Elijah prematurely. We paused on the reflection that no matter what God would
use you to accomplish as a leader, He demands that you show constant and
unwavering faithfulness in all matters to the end, or else, He may no longer be
interested in using you. Today, we explore signs which show that somebody is
being retired. If you have not read the previous message, please visit http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/blogs/blog.article.php?blog=139845&ID=1000211963
and read it first. In fact God may not just retire you without showing you some
signs so if you see any of these in your ministry, wake up….
WHAT SHOWS THAT YOU ARE BEING RETIRED
1.
God may not use you again. Elijah did not perform much miracles after this
incident! He was no longer asked to see the king. Neither was he asked to speak
on God’s behalf. There are so many people in ministry today who are going
through such blackouts because God is in the process of retiring them.
2.
God may not grant your prayer requests. God told Moses bluntly that any prayer requests
about his entry into the Promised Land will never be granted. Deut 3:23-26, “Then
I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying: 'O Lord GOD, You have begun to
show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in
heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? 'I pray, let me cross over and see the good
land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.'But the LORD
was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the LORD said
to me: 'Enough of that! Speak no more to
Me of this matter”.
3.
God will appoint others to replace you. That is, He will bring up people who can do all the
things you do better. Compare David and Saul. Saul was the king but God used
David to conquer Goliath. Women of Israel composed praise songs for David.
1Sa 18:7-8 “So
the women sang as they danced, and said: "Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands." Then Saul was very angry, and the saying
displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands,
and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the
kingdom?
This
happened because God had retired Saul, even though he still held himself as
king.4. God will refuse to reveal himself to you. He did that to Eli, 1Sam 3:1-17. God chose to speak to Samuel who was naïve about things of God even though Eli was around.
5.
God may withhold some of His common grace and
favours from you. You will never
find anything easy. People will oppose you, your subordinates may disregard
your instructions, your programmes may be thwarted by natural occurrences, etc.
God did that to Solomon in his last days. 1Ki
11:14-23…. Now the LORD raised up an adversary against
Solomon, Hadad the Edomite…. And God raised up another adversary against him,
Rezon the son of Eliadah, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer king of Zobah….
He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon ….. Then Solomon's
servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother's
name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.
6.
You may be afflicted with incurable diseases. Simply put, you will become incapacitated. Disease
and pestilence defeat in wars were visited upon the Israelites whenever they
failed to do what God expected of them. God may literally club down any leaders
who fails to heed his commands. Miriam and king Azariah were struck with
leprosy, Num 12:10 And when the cloud
departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as
snow. 2Ki 15:5 Then the LORD struck
the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his death; so he dwelt in an
isolated house.
King
Ahab was hit by a stray bullet. 1Ki 22:34
Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between
the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn
around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded."
7.
In some cases He may choose to call you home
unexpectedly. That is what God did
to Elijah. God expected him to properly hand over his office to Elisha but he
didn’t do that. He only called him to be his ‘follower’. But when he refused to
hand over, God had to take him away ‘by force’. In the same way, God will never
allow any person to obstruct His will for the church; if you become a stumbling
block, He will deal with you through some ‘elimination tactics’. May the Lord God Almighty have mercy up us. May He never allow any stray bullet of the enemy to hit us. May HE never call any of us home unexpectedly as He did to Elijah, may He not withdraw His grace and favours from us. Amen!!!!
CONTACTS: PASTOR
WILLIAM BOACHIE-ANSAH
THE
CHURCH OF PENTECOST (ADOAGYIRI DISTRICT)
P.O. BOX 203 NSAWAM
WILL YOU SURVIVE THE SPIRITUAL RETIREMENTS? (PART 2)
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