IT’S TIME TO TAKE ACTION

Open with me to Genesis chapter 11, and we're looking at verses four to eight. I read from the Easy to Read version of the Bible. It says, "Then the people said, 'Let's build ourselves a city and a tower that will reach to the sky. Then we will be famous. This will keep us together so that we will not be scattered all over the earth.'"

So then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower. The Lord said, "These people all speak the same language, and I see that they are joined together to do this work. This is only the beginning of what they can do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. Let's go down and confuse their language, then they will not understand each other."

Verse eight says, "So the people stopped building the city. They stopped building the city, and the Lord scattered them all over the earth. The Lord scattered them all over the earth."

I'm sharing this morning on "It's Time and Messenger," titled "It's Time to Take Action." It's time to take action. Praise you, the Lord. Now, one very principal factor and key that is so fundamental to whatever must happen in different areas of our lives is our ability to take the most effective action towards overcoming whatever challenge you may face in any realm of life, and also towards achieving whatever goal we are set to achieve.

One of the challenges we have with believers, among believers, is the tendency to go into extremes. And one of those manifestations of extremes in the mindset of godly people is a tendency to limit your actions only to spiritual keys, only to spiritual keys. And in different realms of lives, for different challenges we'll face, for different goals that need to be achieved, it's going to take both spiritual keys and physical, intelligent actions, wise actions, in combination, in combination with spiritual keys to solve different problems and to achieve different goals.

When it comes to governance, when it comes to political issues and governance, this is one of the areas where Christians, especially Christian leaders, have missed it. And all we keep on talking about is, "Let us pray, let us pray, let us pray." But there are issues to be solved. Life, prayer alone, it cannot be changed.

Another area where there is this manifestation of extremes and a wrong mindset among believers is in the area of finance, finances and world creation. Finances are where creation. There is a wrong mindset in, you know, in the minds of several believers who, instead of taking intelligent actions to create wealth, to make money, place most of their hopes in the wrong direction. Because in their hearts, you will find that they are actually expecting the money to just come, possibly as a gift, as a favor from somewhere, as a favor or a gift from someone. And as a result, we have seen Christians that God already gave opportunities to make money, and they actually even handed over the opportunity to someone else, sometimes even someone Pharaoh. And also, even when God sometimes blesses some of his children with seed capital, rather than, you know, work out a reasonable budget on how to spend such money, most of the time, everything is spent outright. No savings, there is nothing put aside for investment. And in their minds and heart, they are expecting that same thing to happen again, and even happen in a bigger proportion.

So when it comes to world creation, this is one of the areas. The dependence mentality is hindering a lot of people. Instead of doing something, selling something, most of the time to, to make money, you have to offer a product. You have to offer a product. You have to sell something. You have to offer a service. You have to broker transactions between someone, those who want to sell and those who want to buy, and you can make money through commission from such transactions. You can produce something and sell. You can create something and sell. And even in these present times, the opportunities for world creation have been enlarged because things have changed significantly. A lot of transactions and businesses now can be done over the internet from the comfort, you know, of your, of your home or office. You can now, instead of dealing with just the physical local market, you can now deal with a global audience and market as well. But these opportunities are not being exploited to the optimum because of a wrong mindset, a wrong mindset.

We will need to take action. We will need to take action. Most of the time, where you see outstanding success, something was done. Something was done to achieve the outstanding success you are seeing in that, in that dimension. And what should you do? Find out what were the steps. What were the steps that they took to achieve that testimony of outstanding success? Which we see according to the law of cause and effect. When you replicate these success keys, the success keys of great achievers, and with the grace of God, the blessing of God working together on your, in your favor, you have a great potential of achieving same results in the process of time.

So what do we have on our hands? We have people who are expecting change, but they are doing nothing to bring about the change. People are expecting money every week. They are offering nothing that can bring them money. Just waiting for a lot, just waiting for a transfer, just waiting for a gift from someone. And most times, the people we are expecting gifts from are going through financial challenges themselves.

So you can see, we, we can see some interesting lessons from what happened here in the building of the Tower of Babel. Several notable lessons. One, they had a big dream. They had a big dream and desired to achieve a great project. A lot of people succeed with this first step. So a lot of people have big dreams as well. A lot of people have, they, they have conceived and they have put together a great project insight.

Number two, in the story of the Tower of Babel, two, they moved beyond just having a dream. They moved beyond just having a desire for a great project. Life is beyond visualizing something big. Life is beyond desires and wishes. It's a starting point, but it can never stop there. It can never end there. They did not stop at just visualizing the great project, visualizing the great project.

Number three, they came up with a realistic and effective strategy to achieve the dream. They came up with a realistic and effective strategy to achieve the dream. We are not going to waste our time further by prompting you to just take action. It is absolutely essential that any teaching in this light must, must be proactive to emphasize that not just action, but well-informed action. Not just action, but well-informed actions. So can we now say that the reason why you are not getting results in what has been committed to you is because it's either because you do not have an effective strategy, or you are not implementing the effective strategy? So it's either you have not been able to discover an effective strategy to achieve that result, or you are not implementing the effective strategy. That is where the problem lies. Between these two steps in the project of the Tower of Babel, they came up with a realistic and effective strategy to achieve the big dream, to achieve the great project.

So, number takeaway number four, they started to execute and implement every detail of the app project plan. They came up with a plan for the project with details of what must be done, week one, week two, week three, week four, at different stages of that, the building, the design for that tower. And obviously, this had a timeline. This also had, you know, details of the resources, the kind of resources required, the kind of specialists they required, you know, for different aspects of the, of the project, the different dimensions of resources that were required. All of these things were captured. Then they started to execute and implement every detail of the project plan.

If you look at verse six, verses over Genesis 11, he said that, "Lord, the Lord said, 'These people all speak the same language, and I see that they are joined together to do.'" Three times, three times in the sixth, the word "do" was mentioned. The only reason God stepped down to stop them was because they were, they were implementing, they were implementing a strategy that had the potential for fulfillment. That was why God. He would not have bothered. He would have said they are pursuing something that is unachievable. God saw potentially what they were attempting to do. And because their plan was contrary to the revealed will of God, because if you look at the preceding chapters of, of Genesis, you see that God had already spoken his mind that he wanted the people to multiply and spread all over the world. But these people here came up with a different agenda that was contradictory to the revealed will of God. That was why it came down to stop them. Otherwise, they would have left them.

In verse six, he said, "The Lord said, 'These people all speak the same language, and I see that they are joined together to do this work.'" To do this work, not to discuss this work. There are many things that has been under, uh, going through discussions and reviews for decades now, and as a result, nothing has come out of the subject of the discussions because it's all about talk and all about reviews. No action. No action follows. It says, "This is only the beginning of what they can do." Not what they can plan. What they can do. Although what you would do, in most cases, begins with a plan. And then what else? It says, "Soon they will be able to do anything they will be able to do anything they want." Anything they want.

Number five, they started to pay the huge price required to achieve the great project. They started to pay the huge price required to achieve the great project. They invested. Somebody say invested. They invested huge resources. Huge resources. It's one thing to have a big project in mind, but whether or not you are serious would be, will be proven by your budget. And not just by what you write in your budget, by the way you implement that budget. When you dedicate substantial resources in your budget for that great project you have in mind, and you actually dedicate funds as planned, then we know you are serious. They invested huge resources. They invested time. They invested men. They invested energy towards the project. How can you get better results when you are not ready to give time? You cannot even make yourself available for something big you want to achieve. Then that means it's all about talk.

And then number six, they were taking every necessary step. Every necessary step to turn their mega project into physical reality. In the, in the, in the study of cause and effect, one of the things you would immediately discover is that in so many activities and realms of life, there will be what we call necessary causes, which is practically things that are absolutely necessary for a particular thing to happen. Without this necessary cause, that thing can, that outcome or result can never happen. It can never be achieved. It may be small, but it's vital. It's absolutely essential. Even though it may be small in size, but it's absolutely essential. When you have a, a project such as that tower, there will be some things that must be done. There must be a foundation. They must, you cannot bypass the foundation stage of this kind of project. There must be a foundation. There are some indispensable keys. There are some indispensable steps you must take. Jesus, our Lord Jesus, was speaking in Mark chapter 9, verse 29. He said, "This kind of spirit cannot go except by prayer and fasting." Not all kinds of spirit, but this spirit is a stubborn and powerful spirit. And Jesus, an authority, at the ultimate authority in the spiritual area, is telling us that certain kinds of spirit will not go except we go into very intensive farming prayers to dislodge them. So in such cases, the key of prayer and fasting is indispensable. It's indispensable.

Number seven, the actions that we are taking, the actions they were taking, the steps they were taking towards realizing the project, we are proven to be effective. We are proven to be effective. We must carry out periodic appraisals. If the approach we are using has now become ineffective due to current realities, we need to make an adjustment. Many things changed from COVID lockdown in 2020. Many things changed. The way business is done, the way transactions and many things are done. Many things changed. A lot of physical meetings are now done online. The actions that we're taking. So it's not about we are going out, is working hard. Is your hard work generating results? Is your hard work generating results? Sometimes it's better to just quit something and rather spend your energy and hard work on something that will actually generate results. The actions that we're taking, we're achieving the desired result. This is very key. It was not because they were active. You can be going to a project site, and that project is not advancing because, you know, it has come to a very technical stage of the project. Very technical stage of the project. And if they don't have the know-how to achieve what needs to be done at that stage of the project, the project cannot advance. The project cannot advance. So the actions that we're taking, we're achieving the desired results. You must evaluate the effectiveness of the actions and steps you are taking.

Now, one great mistake that many believers often make, one great mistake that many believers often make. Millions of Christians never see their dreams and destinies become a reality. Millions because a lot of times, a lot of times, they are just expecting such dreams and destinies to just happen and become a reality without taking necessary and effective action to bring them to pass. There are some, there's some things, you know, there's some prizes. A prize you must pay for certain results to manifest. Many times we shy away, we hesitate, and sometimes for years from paying that price. As a result, what could have changed does not change. What could have happened does not happen. Better results that we could have had do not manifest, and we continue with just average results. But today is a turning point for someone listening to this message. They don't realize that revelations from God, idol dreams, or prophecies, or any of the other channels of revelation, reveal what is supposed to happen. What is supposed to happen, and not necessarily what is bound to happen. He will give you a revelation of prophecy of something you are supposed to have, something you are supposed to have, something you are supposed to achieve or become. It will show you. It is, however, your responsibility to take every necessary and effective action. I'm very emphatic on the words necessary and effective.

So, in closing, how do we achieve this? One, change your mindset. Change your mindset. Proverbs 23, verse 7. And number two, the law of action. The law of action. We spoke about this in the precedent message. The law of action details that you have to take action towards your desires if you want to manifest them. The law states that you must do some effective things, take certain necessary actions in order to achieve whatever you want to achieve. It's going to take some necessary, certain necessary actions. Acting on your thoughts and words is always the most difficult part for many people. And that is why we said self-discipline will help you achieve the optimum of your potentials.

And then the last one, the key number three, talking about the way forward. Take the initiative by doing what is necessary to achieve your goal. Take the initiative. Take the initiative. Initiative is recognizing what needs to be done and going ahead to get it done without being asked to do so. You see something wrong, and you take, you do nothing because you have not been told. But you are supposed to be an officer in that system. You are a paid manager in that system. You are occupying a high position in that system. Must you be told everything that you, that you ought to do, even when you have already seen it for yourself that this thing needs to be quickly done? In Daniel 11, verse 32, Daniel 11, verse 32, the Bible says that "people that know their God shall do exploits." Do exploits. "Do" is the key word there. The people that don't know their God, they shall be strong and they shall do exploits. Can I tell you, these exploits don't happen by accident?

So what should you do now? Stop waiting for that thing to just happen. Stop waiting for God to tell you everything to do. It has never happened that way. God will always allow us to also use our initiative. Go ahead and begin to do something effective towards what you desire. Personally, take a good step of it to make it happen. Be ready to sometimes take a big risk to make it happen. Chapter 4, 15-16. Esther had to take a big risk, big risk to solve the problem. But thank God, her life was preserved. Instead, things got better, even for her and for her people after that. In step of initiative. Then the four lepers in Second Kings chapter 7, three to five, they also took a big risk, big risk. But unknown to them, that it was going to become a major game changer, not only for themselves but for the entire nation and for the entire people. May God use you to open the door of change for your entire family.