Sunday Sermon

Date: January 30, 2022

Speaker: Pastor Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe

Today’s Message: Success Never Happens By Accident: Consider The Ant!

Time: 8am-11am

Scripture References

·Proverbs 6:6-9 ERV

“You lazy people, you should watch what the ants do and learn from them. Ants have no ruler, no boss, and no leader. But in the summer, ants gather all of their food and save it. So, when winter comes, there is plenty to eat. You lazy people, how long are you going to lie there? When will you get up?”

·Proverbs 30:25

“The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.”

· 1 Corinthians 15:46 (ERVersion)

“The spiritual man did not come first. It was the physical man that came first; then came the spiritual.”

· Proverbs 24:33-34 (ASV)

“Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep; So, shall thy poverty come as a robber, and thy want as an armed man.”

· Proverbs 24:34 MSG

“You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!”

·         Ecclesiastes 9:10

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”

·         Colossians 3:17

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

·         Colossians 3:21

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”

·         Prov. 6:6-11 (Amplified Bible)

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her food in the summer, and gathers her supplies in the harvest. How long will you sleep, 0 sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down and sleep; So, will your poverty come like a robber or one who travels [with slow but surely approaching steps] and you walk like an armed man [making you helpless].”

Sermon Notes:

I had a dream about ants on Monday the 24th of January 2022 at around 5:00 am. Ants are often associated with hard work and diligence.

In Sesotho culture, if you dream about ants, they say it is bad luck. I know this because my mother is Mosotho. However, in the Bible, ants are generally a symbol of persistence and hard work.

During my schooling years at Sekano-Ntoane Secondary School, Soweto, Gauteng, I did and passed Biology but I remember that I saw ants in my dream. In that dream, tried to spray them with an insecticide but they never died.

Whatever that might mean, I believe in the meaning that is associated with the context of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the Word of God, the source of truth.

The Truth Will Set You Free John 8:31-32. So, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Success Never Happens By Accident. Success happens because someone has done what is required in order to succeed, be it in the natural or the spiritual. There are fifteen ways of the ant for us to consider:

15 Lessons from an ANT

1. First of all, the ant is the most laborious insect in existence. Laborious means that the ant gives more hard effort in its existence. Look at this not just in the natural. What’s true in the natural is also true in the world of the spirit.

One of the hardest working people I have ever met is Rev Kgositsile Montoedi Kotu, Bishop Mosa Sono and my brother Neville Ramaobane Mogagabe.

When I was staying in Neville Ramaobane Mogagabe’s house, I had to get up with Neville Ramaobane Mogagabe at the crack of dawn. He doesn’t force you to wake up at that time, but if you don’t, you feel bad.

When Neville gets up, I have to get up with him. He works hard and he starts off every morning with grit each and every day.

In the Spirit world, if you don’t pray and make confessions every day, you don’t reap what you sow.

Remember that in the natural world, we pour water on the seeds in the ground so that they can germinate and grow. This also applies to the seeds that we plant in the spiritual realm in that they need watering through prayer and confessions.

Confessions Over Your Financial Seed.

It’s not enough to just sow seed, but we must water our seed with our confession.

Are you watering the seed you’ve sown? Most Christians don’t have a sowing problem, they have a watering problem.

How do you water your seed? By confession! Isaiah 55:10-11 “As  the rain and snow fall to the earth and cause it to bud and flourish, so are my words that go forth from my mouth.” Our words water the seed of the Word which cause it to grow!

Have you watered your seed today?

Genesis 8:22 – “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night Shall not cease.”

Confession: Therefore, I sow my seeds in faith knowing that the law of seedtime and harvest

are working for me. Seed, you are supposed to harvest. I’m expecting a harvest

Genesis 1:11 – Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.

Confession: Therefore, I have sown financial seeds, so I am expecting them to produce after their kind in the form of financial blessings.

Mark: 4:26-27 – And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.”

Confession: Therefore, I am expecting every seed that I have sown to grow, to spring up and to produce an abundant harvest.

Job 36:11 – If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasure.

Confession: Therefore, because I have been obedient to God and have sown my seeds, I fully expect my days to be filled with prosperity and my years with pleasure.

Psalm 115: 12-14 – The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children.

Confession: Therefore, because God has seen my sowing and His mind is on me continually, I’m expecting more and more financial blessings, more and more financial increase to come into my life.

Luke 6:38 – Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Confession: Therefore, I am expecting good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over on every seed that I’ve sown.

2 Corinthians 9:6 – But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Confession: Therefore, I’m entitled to and I’m expecting a bountiful harvest because I am a bountiful sower.

2 Corinthians 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Confession: Therefore, I am expecting to have all sufficiency, more than enough, abounding in financial blessings, so that I am able to sow into every good work as the Holy Spirit impresses upon me.

2 Chronicles 20:20 – So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”

Confession: Therefore, since I do believe in the Lord my God, and I believe what His prophet has spoken regarding 2022 being my year of the abundant harvest, I am expecting this each and every day through this year to come to pass in my life in the name of Jesus. So be it!

The depth of your praise will determine the magnitude of your harvest!

This is true in the natural and it is also true in the Spiritual.

1. Ants are successful. They are successful because they are hardworking insects.

• They are highly industrialized insects. In other words, they are company-oriented. Ants are not selfish individuals who go their own way. Ants are company-oriented. They all operate together. The ant goes and gets his piece of food so that the whole community can be blessed by his efforts.

• Ants collect food in the proper season. When it’s time to take care of business, you will find the ant taking care of business. The ant will “make hay while the sun shines,” so that when the time comes to eat, they can do it during their rest.

Unfortunately, most people don’t do that. Most people I know operate from a crisis management situation. They only do stuff when the heat is on. They pray only when tests and trials hit them.

They exercise only when the doctor says that they are going to have a heart attack if they don’t exercise. They start to save only when they come to find out that in five years they have  to retire, and they don’t have a dime.

These individuals are not like the ant and that is why the Bible said, “Consider the ant, you sluggard.”

You are not going to be able to get up and have an anointing when you only minister, sing, preach, do ushering or anything else if you only pray when you get to church.

• Ants are fondly attached to the young. Ants always protect the young ones. If there is a younger ant, the older ant is going to look out for him. The young are important.

• Ants have keen foresight. Foresight means looking forward. Ants are always looking out for other ants in the community. They are looking down the road to find what another ant would need. He said, consider the ant. Consider her ways.

• Ants work quietly without trying to show off. They do their work, and don’t try to do it so that someone else can see them. Ants don’t need other ants to come and clap and say ‘Good job. They don’t need someone to come and say that “I see what you are doing. I’m giving you some praise in order to keep working”. They are internally motivated. They have self-motivation.

• Ants work unwittingly until the work gets done. In other words, ants don’t get tired. They don’t give up and quit. They keep going.

The time to believe in God and learn how to use your faith is while everything is going well. The time to believe God for healing is while you are well. The time to believe in God for finances and sow seed is while things are going well. The time to walk in love is when everything is going well. Do it now, so that when the time comes, you can draw on the reserve you have already laid back there.

• Ants work together in astonishing systems of organization for the good of the whole community. Ants are organized. Ants work for the good of all.

Aren’t you glad God is organized? If God wasn’t organized, some of us would be lopsided – your nose might be in the middle of your chest. There’s no telling where the rest of you would be.

God is mighty organized. Is He not? The sun is placed in its proper place. If that sun gets too close to us, we will burn up. If that sun gets too far away, this planet would be too cold for anything to live on it. God is organized – and the ant works in great organization for everyone’s benefit.

That’s what took away the breath of the queen of Sheba. She came and looked at Solomon and she looked at the order of his men, how they stood, how they offered sacrifice, how they walked, how they smiled when they worked, and that took her breath away.

Organization is not organizing the Spirit. Part of why things don’t happen as you wish is that your own house isn’t organized. Some of you can’t tell me where your socks are, but then say, “God, give me this great responsibility.”

• Ants are ingenious carpenters and masons, building their own systems of homes and underground tunnels. Ants aren’t waiting on the government to give them a welfare check. Ants aren’t fighting for somebody else’s money. Ants are out there doing for themselves what they have to do. If they need a tunnel, they tunnel their own hole and not look for someone else to do it.

That ought to be true with the people of God. The people of God who are standing on the Word of God shouldn’t be wondering whether or not somebody is going to give them something. We ought to be the ones looking to give something to somebody. He said, consider her ways. God said it in the Bible. He said look at the ant. That is your best example.

1. Ants keep their homes scrupulously clean. If I were to invite myself over to dinner at your house tonight, would you have to fly home an hour ahead of me and work like a mad person just so I could get in the door? If you don’t care enough about being clean where you live, how do you expect somebody else to give you responsibility for something else?

We don’t have to go to your home. All we have to do is go to your car. Where’s the trunk? Oh, I can’t put anything in there.

1. No ant exists without a definite job in life to help meet the needs of the community. Every ant has a job and an assignment. No ant is sitting on the pew waiting for God to tell them what to do. No ant is waiting five years to hear the voice of the Lord. “We need workers.” “Well, Lord, I need a voice from heaven.” THIS IS THE LORD – GET UP AND USHER.

Every ant has a definite job — period! No one is sitting down just watching other doing the people work. All the people doing nothing, sitting in church and on the street, they are a burden to the community. If you don’t have a job, that’s one thing. But if you are not looking for a job, that’s another thing. You’re saying, “I’m believing in God by faith. I know the job is going to come.” You are sitting there with your feet up, watching television, talking about a job coming by faith. The Bible says show me your works and I’ll show you your faith.

1. Ant’s fight to the death to protect their homes and young from enemies. Protect your own house. You talk about people in your own family. I don’t get that. Tearing up your own house, and then talking about your own church, and your own people in your church, and it’s your church. Now, if that’s not stupid, I don’t know what is. I said it’s stupid. Why would you talk about someplace you go? If it’s stupid, you are stupid. If you can’t say “Amen,” say “Ouch”.

1. The ant’s social life compares to that of human beings in many respects. In other words, the ant is a social being

1. Ants are intelligent and wise. They are always learning. They are always learning how to do new things. Ants learn lessons. If there is a problem, they learn how to avoid it the next time.

Some people fall into the same sin 50 times, because they don’t consider their ways. They keep falling into sex sin 50 times. I tell you, take the X-rated movie out of the DSTV. Turn off wrong movies from Showmax, etc. Stay away from watching wrong movies that have a negative influence on you. You know what I’m talking about. When you see them, go the other way. Don’t walk, run. Get out of there.

1. Ants carry out their life’s work without being forced to do so by a guide or overseer. Ants are self-motivated. They don’t need the boss over their shoulder. They don’t need the pastor over their shoulder. They don’t need anybody else over their shoulder. Ants will do what is required of them because they have their own motivation. They have GRIT. They are going to just do what is required simply because that’s all they know how to do to get what is required to win.

That’s why there are millions of ants. You can rub out an anthill, come back tomorrow and they will be right back. That hill will be going right back up. They are going to do just what they need to do to win because they have self-motivation. They don’t need the queen ant. They don’t need anybody else. On their own, they have GRIT.

If I could find more people who are like the ant, if there were more people who got up and prayed because there is an internal drive in them and they realize the value of it. People don’t do things because they don’t realize the value of it. If you really understood the value of prayer, you would pray more. You would read the Word more. You would confess the Word more. You would serve more.

Bless God. Guess what? You would have more victory. You would be blessed coming in and be blessed going out. You would be blessed in the basket and blessed in the store. If you would be like the ant, you would win. Consider her ways! They are intelligent, the Bible says. And if you do it God’s way, you are going to get results.

In closing, let me remind you that, your knowledge of the Word and what you do with it has everything to do with whether you win or lose!

I pray that your association with this Ministry continues to help you to flourish your spirit, soul, body and finances. I’m praying for you and believing in God’s best in your life.

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

CREDITS

Author: Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe

Church Editor: Ms Bawinile Mahlangu

Ministry: IHPMI

Address: Chiawelo Extension 3

© 2022 Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe