Face the Problem and Be a Doer of the Word, Not a Hearer Only – Pastor Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe

Sunday Sermon

Date: November 14, 2021

Speaker: Pastor Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe

Today’s Message: Face the Problem and Be a Doer of the

Word, Not a Hearer Only, Deceiving Yourselves.  

Time: 9am – 11 am

Scripture references

 

·         Psalm 55:5-6 NKJV)

“My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. So, I said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.”

·         Colossians 3:8 (NIV)

“Now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

·         Psalm 119:71-72 (Msg)

“My troubles turned out all for the best. They forced me to learn from your textbook. Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine.”

·         James 1:22-25

 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

 

·         John 8:31

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”

Sermon Notes:

God has kept me, no matter what the situation looked like, He was there. Mercy said did you know that I slept in my car for two months? here’s what happened to me, I used to spend the night in garage parking lots, new show house’s. I would ask the security just to park the car because I didn’t have nowhere to stay, so I lived in the car. I’m still alive and well enough to speak about it today. I was homelessness for two months, I remembered to stretch my hips, shoulders, legs, arms, neck, face and spine every morning or over time, to avoid stiffness.

God is always on time, he’s never too late. The Lord said to me “If you get up, I am going take you places you have never been. I will open doors for you that no man can close. “Don’t quit”.  Tears just came down my face. See, in your life, everyone has a turn back moment. You have a moment where you could go forward or you can give up, but the thing you have to keep in mind, before you give up is that, if you give up, the guarantee is it will never happen. That’s the guarantee of quitting. That it will never happen, no way under the sun. The only way the possibility remains that it can happen is if you never give up no matter what. Because Jesus is always coming. He’s never too late, He’s never too early, He is always right on time. At your worst moments, look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, Hebrews 12:2. That was my moment to face the problem of never giving up. That’s when I first learned that faith was everything and that you have to remain faithful. Lord, I thank you for how you brought me;

How you brought me through the night.

Lord, you kept me and you never left me,

You stood by my side.

God’s grace I’m still standing. 

How did I make it all these years?

How did I make it this far?

Through the valleys and over the hills,

I know it had to be God.

How did I make it through the storm?

How did I make it through the rain?

If you want to know, just how I got here, it’s so easy to explain.

It was God’s grace

I made it this far.

You must however remember that even in your breakthrough, the devil still wants to bring you down and so you must always be vigilant and faithful. During the time of my homelessness, a certain pastor and his wife took me in to live with them. I was treated very well. I ate well, I slept well and everything was just amazing. It was a great relief from the trouble that I was facing.

However, while I was still staying with this couple, my integrity was put to a test because of a temptation through their daughter. One night, she came naked into the room that I was given to sleep in. When I looked at her, I rebuked and ordered her out of the room. Later on, I spoke about the incident to her parents who were very understanding and they reprimanded her.

If I had succumbed to that temptation, I would not have become a pastor that I have come to be. God doesn’t want you to run away from any situation in defeat. Victory is always His plan for you.

Running away from problems and troubles is always society’s mentality: “Oh, if I could just leave this place. If I could just get in the car and go.” Looking for the easy way out of trouble and misery doesn’t work. Running from the problem that causes those feelings won’t do any good. If you avoid dealing with the issue now, it will be even more difficult to stand and face it later.

People often quit their job because of someone they work with, only to end up working with someone worse at their next place of employment. God wants you to learn to face your problems and overcome them by applying His Word. He wants you to learn to work with unpleasant coworkers by overcoming evil with good. When they blame you for something you didn’t do, bless them and help them.

 

Being a doer of the Word isn’t always easy, but it always works.

“Although David wanted to fly away and be at rest, he changed his speech and declared a few lines later “As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me” Psalm 55:16

God doesn’t want you to leave any situation in defeat. If it is God’s time to move you on, He won’t use negative circumstances to lead you. Instead of running from the problem, overcome it. And then move on.

Fix the Problem, Not the Blame

You only have a certain amount of emotional energy. When you’re trying to resolve conflict, you can use that energy either to fix the blame or to fix the problem. You don’t have enough energy to do both. So, you need to ask yourself what’s more important to blame the other person or to resolve the conflict.

Choose to fix the problem, not the blame.

When it comes to solving problems, you should decide ahead of time that you’re going to fight fair. Within your marriage or family, set ground rules for words you’ll never use words that serve as weapons of mass destruction.

Relationships often have weapons of mass destruction too. When you use those weapons, you fix blame—but you never fix problems. In marriages, for example, those weapons include things like threatening divorce or bringing up each other’s parents. You have to agree, no matter how upset you are, those words are off limits. Those are words of mutually assured destruction they destroy a relationship by tearing down trust.

The Bible is very specific about what’s out of bounds in a relationship. Colossians 3:8 says, “Now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (NIV).

Those are the weapons of mass destruction. They’re used to fix blame. And when you fix blame, you’re judging and only God has the right to judge. Instead, set aside destructive weapons and use your energy for what matters. Fix the problem.

God’s Purpose Behind Your Problems

Life is a series of problem-solving opportunities. The problems you face will either defeat you or develop you – depending on how you respond to them. Unfortunately, most people fail to see how God wants to use problems for good in their lives. They react foolishly and resent their problems rather than pausing to consider what benefit they might bring.

 

Here are five ways God wants to use the problems in your life:

1. God uses problems to DIRECT you – Sometimes God must light a fire under you to get you moving. Problems often point us in a new direction and motivate us to change. Is God trying to get your attention? “Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways.” Pr. 20:30

2. God uses problems to INSPECT you – People are like teabags if you want to know what’s inside them, just drop them into hot water! Has God ever tested your faith with a problem? What do problems reveal about you?

When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. James 1:2-3,

3. God uses problems to CORRECT you – Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It’s likely that as a child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove. But you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something – health, money, a relationship – by losing it.

It was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws. Ps. 119:71-72,

4. God uses problems to PROTECT you – A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being harmed by something more serious. Last year a friend of mine was fired for refusing to do something unethical that his boss asked him to do. His unemployment was a problem – but it saved him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later when his boss actions were uncovered.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. Genesis 50:20

5. God uses problems to PERFECT you. – Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. God is far more interested in your character than your comfort. Your relationship to God and your character are the only two things you’re going to take with you into eternity.

We can rejoice when we run into problems, they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. Rom. 5:3-4,

Confession: I choose to face the problems before me today. I will apply the Word of God to them, and I will overcome them. I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me.

Many Thanks, I love you and I’m praying for you!

CREDITS
Sermon Script Writer: Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe
Church Editor: Ms Bawinile Mahlangu
Ministry: IHPMI
Address :Chiawelo Ext3, Soweto
© 2021 Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe