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November 3, 2021 12:00 am
Welcome to the intensified cancer tile stand for Wednesday, November 3 sensitive to what God is doing in and around day witness to begin a series that brings encouragement to take advantage and passing opportunity ever walked away from the situation and thought all of a sudden missed it. I just missed it. Usually missed what this the wonderful opportunity to get my testimony a wonderful opportunity to give a word of encouragement to somebody that you knew were going through a very difficult time. A wonderful opportunity to reassure someone who is a great doubt an opportunity to be of specific help to someone who needed you at that moment.
Oftentimes we let opportunities just go by not recognizing that an opportunity is a gift from God that it's a privilege we have that in some moment in time and circumstances in which we are able to make a decision that impacts our life, or maybe impacts someone else's life and oftentimes we just ignore wonderful godly opportunities because you see the truth is, an opportunity is a gift from God. That doesn't mean that every opportunity is always a joy.
Some opportunities are real challenges some of them testers and trials, and some of them bring great advantage to us, but some of them are sacrificial, that is, you give yourself to the Lord in response to an opportunity gives you, you poor at your life in the somebody else other people's lives in God blesses and encourages them and strengthens them and in the process you get blessed when I think about opportunities you say well how would you define that is a favorable time or occasion.
Those special moments when we are in a position to make a decision that will impact our lives in a positive way and God is giving us opportunities every single day.
Well some opportunities, and some go so don't stay very long. Remember this opportunities don't last forever.
Some opportunities are very short-lived.
That's why you and I need to be very very sensitive to what God is doing in our life. And sometimes God may challenge you do something you sell.
I don't want to do that.
Forget that that may be a very specific challenge from God. That is an opportunity for you to serve in a way that will bring blessing to others as well as yourself. So we have to be sensitive to that. Everything that comes our way is not an opportunity. For example, when I think of opportunism as we said here that have a positive impact on our life, you say well what about those bad opportunity little think in terms of a bad opportunity but a bad opportunity is more clearly described as a temptation as an enticement to the evil that is God's opportunities for good positive impact the devil you give you an opportunity to rebel against God sending against God and wreck your life. That's a temptation to snare and Satan is always active to do so, but what I want to think about in this message.
Is this what about the opportunities that God gives you the truth is that you are where you are right now.
Today in your life.
As a result of what as a result of responding to opportunities that God is giving, which means that many of you are walking in the Lord, trusting him, obeying him. Then if you refuse to trust Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
You've heard the gospel.
You had many opportunities to be saved, yet you said no time. At the time I want to remind you and wanted to accommodate when you will hear it for the last time this because you've heard it over and over again is that that's all the stuff all had I've heard that was sure you have it. Every time you've heard it was a divine specific deliberate opportunity. God has given you that you hold eternal destiny might be change. Don't forsake, don't overlook the opportunities of God and to be able to spot them.
The recognizing the best thing you can do is get the word of God, start reading God's word.
As you begin to read the word of God, you begin to listen to God speak your heart, here's whatever's he uses his word to show us what opportunities are there. He uses his word to open our heart to what he wants us to do so. I want us to look at a passage Scripture is a brief passage and you wouldn't think about this in term of opportunity. But when you realize what really happens in this particular passage than you realize the same thing could happen to you and me is reset opportunities do not come and stay, they come and they go for a very short time. There are times in your life and mine, when opportunities will passes by. That's why we need to be sensitive as children of God. So turn if you will to mark chapter 10 and I want us to look at these verses about this particular person because it's a simple but a wonderful example of what we are talking about when it comes opportunity. So let's talk about the setting for a moment. It's Jericho Indiana Jericho the gates there, and so forth, and the so here's this man who sitting there beginning in verse 46 of this 10th chapter. Then they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd.
A blind beggar named bottom as the son of Tim is was sitting by the road when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say Jesus son of David, have mercy on me. Many was sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me and Jesus stop and said call him here so they call the blind man saying to him, take courage standout he's calling for you throwing aside his cloak he jumped up and came to Jesus and answering him. Jesus said what do you want me to do for you and the blind man said to him, rub only I want to regain my site and Jesus said to him go. Your faith has made you well. Immediately he regained his sight and began following him on the road now here is a blind beggar.
One among many linebackers so when you think about the fact that he was blind. That was very prevalent. In fact, I think 31 times. For example, in the Scripture, you will find Jesus dealing with blind people, and of all the things he had to deal with blind and seem to be one of the most prevalent and on one occasion. The ninth chapter. For example, of John, the disciples were sold having a difficult time figuring all this out and so they said to him in this ninth chapter, second verse said they saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who send this man or his parents that he would be born blind. So that was their attitude. The person was blind, had some disease that person to send all their parents and send and this is the judgment. And so Jesus simply Anson said to him, it was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him and what happens here, he heals a man of his blindness and so what happens is there were many many many blind people and the way they made their living is sitting along the roadside and around the gates begging. That's the way they made their living every day that had to drag myself to someplace to sit and asked for alms and hope that someone help not only was he blind but he was a backup because that's all he could do and because in those days they didn't have what we have, but you will blind you were helpless and desolate and you lived in despair and hopelessness because what hope is there for someone who is blind. There may be some family could help used to some degree, but the truth is, your days were all nights in your future was all centered in one thing, how do I get enough today begging sitting by the roadside, hoping to get just enough to eke out an existence no one would want to be healed. But what hope is there, being healed, there was nothing that they could put on their eyes. For example, they can go to a pharmacy. All they could go to a doctor who could say to them why sure I can take care of that for you what you want me to do and so it was a lifeless kind of life that many people today who blind are they something worse than that. There many people today who see with their eyes but they are spiritually blind and when you think about what Paul warns us about in second Corinthians. He simply says this in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. He says the devil. Blind people and therefore they think they see they can physically see but spiritually cannot see, and the truth is there light by the master some degree, and that is they wake up everyday in their spiritual blind.
They go about their work in their spiritual blindness and rebellion toward God and disobedience to God and wondering why life doesn't work out any better because there blind if you tell him there Blanche. They want to fight you better than Ceylon not blonde things is good as you can with your are you me, but with your heart with your spirit. You cannot without Christ. And so here is blonde but MAS a beggar, no hope and no assurance of anything and so here is the needed opportunity. He needs help letters that help come from well those beggars in those days had their own line of communication they can see but they could hear and oftentimes listened much better than you and I would because that's something they could do and they had to remember what they heard and one of the things of course the bottom as it heard about. He'd heard about Jesus.
They didn't know who he was, but he didn't know that he was the Nazarene according this passage of Scripture, and he also heard about of the fact that that he healed blind people that he raise the dead, that he healed the lepers he was performing miracles and more than likely bottom layers which thinking you know I one of the ever be an opportunity for me to meet this person probably not because he only heard about. He can tell you where he was. He heard about them being over here know beyond in back there and so who was he. Did he care. He must've cared for some and so here he was with no hope of anything and yet, a day of opportunity came it was an unexpected opportunity because how long he'd been there. I don't know. But the truth is he wasn't blind from his birth because when he spoke to Jesus. He said that I may regain my site, not just have and so somewhere along the way by disease and he had become a blind person and was his hope. He had no real, genuine, true, little hope no basis for hope. He heard about and of course naturally. On this particular occasion what was happening was the feast of the of the Passover Was Taken Pl. in Jerusalem is about 15 miles from Jericho to Jerusalem. Pretty good size walk and the on this particular day. There were crowds walking by and that Jesus was part of the crowd and his disciples, and all those other folks who were on their way by the throngs on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover and so by the mayor sitting by the wayside.
There was listening as these people were walking by and knowing that it was impassable but having no real assurance that Jesus was anywhere close by. The truth is it was a wonderful time of opportunity for him, but he didn't know it. What's this.
There opportunities that God sends into your life and mine we not aware of it at the time.
This is why we must learn to live with the sensitivity to the work of the Spirit of God in our life because there are lots of times lots of ways God would give you an opportunity for something with this person about situation.
That circumstance, finance, whatever it might be, but if you not listening, you miss it.
On this occasion, but Americans listen to all the things that were going on all the sounds all the talking of people in the process of doing so he must've heard the name of Jesus. And when he did, it became a life changing opportunity for him that there many times you and I face opportunities. We don't realize what they are and I want to go back to say how do you sharpen your spiritual skills to be able to identify what you get in the word of God, you begin to watch how God worked in people's lives in the New Testament. The Old Testament you began to watch how he desires to work in your life and what God does through the Holy Spirit. He makes you sensitive, that is, you become sensitive to the voice of God. If you spend time with and listening to him reading his word watching how he worked in everybody else's life and I say that again and again because that's the way you learn how God operates on this particular occasion, and his mother mass blind baking no hope.
Now there may be a possibility because he's heard them talking about Jesus of Nazareth will he'd heard about this Nazarene and so that he heard enough to believe that this man possibly could be the Messiah.
He possibly could be the son of God. And so the process of thinking through all that looking at himself. He could've made a decision to get a decision well you know that's probably just totally impossible why my sitting here is a poor beggar with no reputation, no influence know know anything and I'm thinking that somehow I'm going to be able to meet this person who's the son of God and that he can do something they will that's totally pathetic to think that since we thought he thought, suppose it is some possibility.
Suppose there's some opportunity that I might have. To meet this man.
So what did he do, he decided he'd find out.
So he began to cry out Jesus son of David, have mercy on me, Jesus son of David, have mercy upon me, will he do enough and heard enough to know that he could cry out and try out those words and what happened was what happened some time do you and that is the Scripture says that the people around him all who were walking back sternly sternly rejected him, and that simply means they said shut up.
Be quiet and their thinking was simply this. This is the son of God.
This is Jesus walking on here talking and sharing with us and helping us to understand and get this poor blind beggar who is absolutely worthless and has no value whatsoever you're interfering with Jesus.
Besides that you may slow up the crowd so he began to holler out again and to call out Jesus son of David, have mercy upon me, they tried to make him be quiet in the more they worked on him, the louder he got. He was blind and he wanted to see and here was an opportunity he did know how much of an opportunity was, but the fact that Jesus must be close by was something that had not happened before and he was not about to let it get by, so he began to call out the crowd and they began to try to shut them up and caught them down and he just kept on calling out and when I come to this next verse, I love it. In the King James version because it says and Jesus stood still love that tell you why, because it says to me if Jesus would stop dead in his tracks on his way to one of the most important journeys of his entire life altering the most important and he'd stop for the cry of a poor blind beggar.
I don't ever have to worry about whether he's willing to listen to me or not he's willing to listen to you. He's willing to listen to anyone who will cry out, so he cries out to Jesus dries out and tries not with a lot of uncertainty, and maybe a little bit of fear but all of a sudden the Bible says that Jesus stopped and can't you imagine when he stopped everything got quiet, what would stop Jesus on his way to the Passover. What would stop him. Well, wasn't some Roman general or was it some Roman Emperor poor blind beggar. There were lots of why were the men who is the Messiah stop for somebody like this to understand who he was and so what happens is now all those people who say shut up and be quiet, don't you know I don't you know who this is O take courage to brother standup.
He's calling you. Come on you know just about to have a great season because they change their attitude.
All of a sudden what's this, by the man's head quiet, don't you know who this is O take courage to brother standup. He's calling you. Come on, you don't just about to have a great season because they change their attitude. All of a sudden what's this about MSN changed he was still a poor blind work this beggar is what happened, Jesus loving, Jesus gave him identity and that identity was what he was a human being in the and Jesus loved, and no matter what thank you for listening to you a passing opportunity. If you'd like to know more about child family for intense ministries intact start alighting back after the presentation of intense ministry, Atlanta, Georgia