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Do You Know How Many Times I’ve Wanted to Resign As A Pastor? – Pastor Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe

Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe

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In His Presence Ministry International
Sunday: Sermon
Today’s Message: Do You Know How Many Times I’ve Wanted to Resign As A Pastor?
Date: Sunday, 13 February 2022
Speaker: Pastor Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe
Time: 8am till 11:00am
 
Scripture Reference
 
Acts 20:24
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
This is the testimony of Paul, a great man of faith: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT, second edition).
Isaiah 66:9 – Easy-to-Read Version
9 In the same way, I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born.”
The Lord says this: “I promise that if I cause you the pain of birth, I will not stop you from having your new nation.” Your God said this.
John 8:31 – New American Standard Bible
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples;
The Psalmist proclaimed, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
 Job had worms in his skin during his trial (Job 7:5).
Sermon Notes:
I know that this year has been challenging for many people, but God is faithful, and I can assure you that your victory is ahead. You’re still standing, and God is still on the throne. As we begin the new season in the month of February 2022, there are qualities that you must develop to overcome the hardships in life, and these are resilience and tenacity.
Before surrendering to the Lord, I was a quitter. I quit two jobs without Notice and resigned at Edgars Southgate and MILO – Nestlé working along with the late Bali as Sports Commentator and Milo-Nestle promoter.
I looked for the path of least resistance. When the pressure was on, I would simply quit. Maybe you can relate. When times get tough, are you tempted to give up?
Right now, many people are facing some of the toughest challenges in their lifetime. There is so much turmoil in our world. There are still shutdowns, restrictions, and negative economic effects from the Covid-19 Corona virus.
How are you going to respond when hardships arise?
Today, I want to talk to you about the need for resilience and tenacity, which is the ability to continue when things look impossible.
In the Bible, there are many examples of people demonstrating unusual resilience in the face of seemingly impossible odds. As such, whatever hardship you’re facing this week, we pray you may have the tenacity to keep going and the resilience to get up again and again.
1. Tenacity (noun) – the ability to keep on keeping on when you feel like giving up. 
2. Resilience (noun) – the ability to bounce back when you’ve been put down.
Do you want to finish successful in life? Then keep your purpose firm – this will give you the resilience and tenacity you need to succeed.
God’s goal for you is that you endure and survive the tough times, and that you make it to the finish line.
Following Christ is a long adventure. We pray that you anchor yourself in God’s purpose for your life and receive the tenacity and resilience necessary to succeed!
Keep your focus on God’s purposes, you’ll overcome this!
“God’s plans endure forever and his purposes last eternally.” Psalm 33:11
Moses is one of those people who faced tremendous adversity, but he never surrendered to it. He continued his mission regardless of what he endured and fulfilled the assignment that God had given him.
Joseph is another such individual who demonstrated unusual resilience. His brothers sold him into slavery. He was also thrown into prison because of the lies talked about him by Potiphar’s wife. Despite all this, he never gave up on the dream that God had given him and eventually, he became second in command over all of Egypt!
Joseph’s story reminds us to never give up and to always trust God to turn negative situations into something positive.
Have you developed an unmovable faith? Like the Apostle Paul, you must never stop PRESSING. Writing from prison, Paul shows his resilience saying, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
You’re not going to be able to avoid hardships. The apostle Paul said that trouble and persecution were waiting for him in every city, and I love his response in Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me…”
We can read the account in Acts 14:19-20 where even though he was stoned and dragged out of town by an angry mob and left for dead, he got up and continued his journey of faith and was determined to finish his course.
If you refuse to quit and become unmoved by hardships, God will bring you to a place of victory. Jesus tells us in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We all face setbacks and failures, but never forget that failure is not final.  If God turned it around for Moses, then He can turn it around for you too. If God rescued Joseph, He will rescue you too. If God delivered Paul, He will deliver you too.
God hasn’t let go of you or turned His back on you. He’s brought you this far, and He is still working behind the scenes on your behalf. He’s the same God that saved you before, and He can do it again.
Let me remind you that resilience is the ability to keep getting up and continuing to go forward regardless of how many setbacks you’ve experienced.
I love the no-quit attitude in Micah 7:8 which says, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.”
Refuse to stay down. Throw off the discouragement and shame of falling. God’s mercy is new for you today. You can get back up and get back in the fight.
I’ve heard people say, “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.” Tough times never last, but tough people do. Resilient people have developed the faith to praise God in the middle of life’s storms.
They have the same attitude as the Prophet Habakkuk who declared, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
The Psalmist proclaimed, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
Resilience comes when you know deep down inside that God is for you and He will never forsake you. Keep trusting God. Keep speaking faith. Keep rejoicing in the Lord. Satan can’t win if you won’t quit. The truth is, it’s impossible for Satan to defeat you when you refuse to give up!
Over the past 33 years, God has taken this former quitter and transformed me into a person of faith and resilience.
I’ve seen God do the impossible and cause miraculous breakthroughs in my life and I know that He can do the same for you and so that’s why I’m so passionate about teaching you the same Bible truths that have changed my life.
I’m so thankful for God’s calling on my life and that I have the opportunity to speak into your life. I want to see you become resilient in your faith and overcome every hardship you face.  My assignment is to teach people how to become the winners in life, and you can be one of them.
I’m so thankful that God has connected us together.
Faith Produces Resilience and Tenacity
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT, second edition)
Faith unlocks the promises of God, and it shows us the power of God and it turns dreams into reality, and it gives us the power to hold on in tough times.
You must however always remember that faith doesn’t always take you out of the problem but that it often takes you through the problem. Faith doesn’t always take away the pain, but it gives you the ability to handle the pain. Faith doesn’t always take you out of the storm, but it calms you in the midst of the storm.
I remember reading the stories of Corrie Ten Boom, a young Dutch Christian who helped many Jews escape the Holocaust before being sent to the Nazi death camps. She said that the people who lasted in those camps were those who had the deepest faith. Why? Because faith gives you the power to hold on in tough times. It produces persistence.
Study after study has shown that probably the most important characteristic you could teach a child (and that you need in your own life) is resilience which is the ability to bounce back. It’s the ability to keep going.
Nobody goes through life with an unbroken chain of successes. Everybody has failures and mistakes. We all embarrass ourselves. We all have pain. We all have problems. We all have pressures. The people who make it in life have resilience.
Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to resign as pastor at In His Presence Ministry International Church? Just every Monday morning. I go, “God, it’s too big. It’s too many people, too much responsibility. I’m not smart enough. What am I supposed to say to that many people? Get somebody else who can do a better job than this” and yet God says, “Keep going.”
One of my favorite “Faith Heroes” is the Apostle Paul. He is a member of “The Rare Breed Club.” His attitude while facing adversity was always the same, “None of these things move me…” (Acts 20:24). 
Apostle looked beyond his lack of skill in speech. 2 Corinthians 11:6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way (New International Version).
The Message version paraphrase Paul’s statement on resilience which says, “But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started (in me).”
I have dreamed big dreams, and most of the time, they looked as though they would never come to pass. But I’m not a quitter!
In the early days of my walk with God, I found where Paul said, “Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not” (2 Corinthians 4:1). This was about the time I began to describe my life as “Adventures in Faith.” I’ve endeavored to pattern my life after this verse ever since!
When God gives you a big dream, He also gives you the grace and mercy needed to accomplish it. Why would you ever faint when God has given you the mercy to reach it? That’s the attitude it takes to see big dreams come to pass!
I remember looking up the definition for the word adventure and it said, an undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature. Boy, did the Dictionary ever get that one right!
More recently, I’ve enjoyed the way the Message version paraphrases 2 Corinthians 4:1 “We’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times.”
When times get hard, here are six reasons to continue dreaming big dreams:
1) Everything worthwhile begins with a dream
2) A dream from God will take you where you’ve never been before
3) A dream from God will give purpose to your life
4) A dream from God will unlock your potential
5) A fulfilled dream makes you an example to others
6) Fulfilled dreams bring glory and honor to your God
God did not place you here on earth to just waste away, going year after year feeling that your life has no purpose.
He placed you here for His glory. He placed you here to reveal His goodness in and through you to cause others to want to know your God because of it. One of the ways He accomplishes this is by giving you big dreams and by equipping you with what it takes to see them fulfilled.
Your big dreams becoming realities not only blesses your life, but also inspires others to begin to think, “If God can do it for them, then He can do it for me too.”
So, keep on dreaming, because the best days of your life are not behind you, but just ahead! “But none of these things move me” Acts 20:24
Faith is the source of resilience to keep you going. Faith is believing that God can do something any moment to change the direction of your life. All you must do is for you to keep moving forward.
Faith is believing that God will give you exactly what you need when you need it. Learn to rely on God to accomplish his purpose in you.
This is the testimony of Paul, a great man of faith: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT, second edition).
 
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

© 2022 Morgan Lekgetho Mogagabe

Pastor Lekgetho Morgan Mogagabe travels to many countries spreading the word of God. He is a Facilitator of Pastors of Grace under Dr Creflo Dollar Ministries.

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