Last week, we started our Pursuit Series for 2022 sharing about seeking first God’s Kingdom for our lives.  I mentioned that the greatest tragedy of life is so many are willing to settle for less than the best. To accept mediocrity, insignificance, the petty when life could have purpose and fulfillment and that what you receive depends on your priorities.  One’s priorities will affect one’s personal life, business life, spiritual life, and social life. One’s priorities will dominate one’s life. When they are right, your life will be fulfilled, confident, and rewarded. When they're wrong, your life will result in that which is meaningless. The fun will go out of your life. You will feel flat and empty.  So, I asked the question, what is it, that is very important to us?

You and I will have our priorities, but we have options when it comes to those priorities.  We can allow the world to set our priorities by what is popular and important.  It is the ambition to pursue everything that appeals to you, to the flesh.  (1 John 2:15 – 17). The second option is to allow God to set your priorities.  This is the priority that takes the pressure and anxiety out of life.  This priority is the key to a life that is lived in harmony with the will and purposes of God.  Whatever the option may be, the bottom line is the choice is yours to make and initiate!  So, we looked at two incredible invitations that God gave to us.  One is found in Isaiah 55 and the other is given in Matthew 6 by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount about seeking God and His Kingdom.

This morning, I want us, to look at something that God gives to us daily – OPPORTUNITIES!  Do you realize that there are a lot of open doors spoken of in the Bible and that they almost always refer to some type of opportunity?  For example, the open-door idea is used to describe the opportunity to speak freely about Christ in Colossians 4:3, "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains."  And in 2 Corinthians 2:12 when Paul journeyed to Troas to preach, he "found that the Lord had opened a door" for him.   And near the end of Revelation 3:20, there’s an open-door imagery that speaks of entering a meaningful intimate relationship with Jesus. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” 

In Revelation 3:7, 8, we find Jesus speaking to the first century church of Philadelphia concerning an open door.  "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.”  He is in essence saying, “I want you to make the most of the opportunities I’m giving you.” And what Jesus wanted for them back then He wants for us today---Rather than miss out on the opportunities He places before us, he wants us to make the most of them. 

Opportunities are missed either because they aren’t recognized or because they are rejected. Thomas Edison pretty much said the same thing, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  Zig Zigler tells a story of a boy that went with his mother to the old general store. He liked to sneak away from his mother and when no one was looking he would dip his finger into the large barrel of molasses.  The storekeeper caught him and decided to teach the boy a lesson. He picked up the boy by his britches and dunked him head-first into the barrel of molasses and then set him out on the front porch of the store. But instead of crying the boy was out there praying, “God, give me the tongue to equal this opportunity.”  What a great attitude! What resiliency! That young boy wasn’t about to miss out on what he recognized as an extraordinary opportunity.

The opportunities God gives us seem to fall into one of two categories.   God gives us opportunities to show our love for Him and He gives us opportunities to show our love for others.  Think for a moment about the countless opportunities God gives us to show our love for Him.  Every day, from the time we wake up in the morning until that time we go back to sleep at night, the opportunities flow before us. At practically any moment we can whisper a prayer. We can sing to Him, if not with our voices at least in our hearts. We can take a moment and listen to what he would like to say as we read from His word or listen to His indwelling Holy Spiritr.  We can admire His handiwork. We can with gratitude focus in on the blessing of the moment. We can give of our time, our energy, and our resources in our worship of him.  We can walk in obedience to him. On and on we could go listing ways to show our love for God.

The same thing holds true when we’re talking about showing love to others. The Roman philosopher Seneca taught “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.” And that is so true.  Kirk Nowery in his book, “The Stewardship of Life” writes “As I look back on the opportunities God has already given me (and for which I must one day answer to Him), I see that the majority fall into three categories: Opportunities to Evangelize, Opportunities to Empathize and Opportunities to Energize.” As Kirk goes into greater detail, he explains that opportunities to evangelize are opportunities to talk to unbelievers about Jesus---opportunities to empathize are opportunities to react to people’s hardships; to feel for and care for the hurting---and opportunities to energize are opportunities to proactively and intentionally set out to bring about good in the lives of other people---to build others up.  Jesus says to every one of us here, “I’ve opened the doors for you to show your love to me and for you to show your love to others.” 

Ephesians 5:15, 16NIV “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 5:16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  We must be very careful how we live because our time on this earth is limited. Psalms 39:4 “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.” Psalms 90:10 “The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”  Now, I realize that for some of you, young people, 70 or 80 years sounds like a long, long time. In fact, I can remember when I thought anyone over 40 was old. But not now!  It is all rather relative, isn’t it?  In fact, the Bible tells us not to count on tomorrow because tomorrow may not come for you or for me. All we have is right now. So, our time on this earth is valuable because it is very limited.

Paul is saying to these believers, “Pay attention to how you live.” There is a right way to proceed in life and there is a wrong way to proceed in life. How many of us have discovered that you don’t accidentally do it right? You can accidentally do it wrong. You can drift with the current of society and mess up your life without much planning. But if our lives are going to be meaningful, wholesome, and rewarding we will have to exercise some thought and diligence. “Be very careful, then, how you live…” So, how should we live our lives in the year 2022?

II) Make the Most of Every Opportunity

Paul tells us that we must make "the most of every opportunity." and he gives a reason, "because the days are evil."  I wonder what good things God has planned for us in the year 2022!  Looking back over the past year has made me realize some real important things.  Life is short.  We are not promised tomorrow so I need to make sure every day counts and not to miss the opportunities that God is going to offer to me.  Once they are gone, I may never get them back.  I believe God has some great opportunities outlined for us in 2022.  In Ephesians 2:10 the Bible says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  God already knows the opportunities He is going to give us in 2022. He’s made all the preparations for it to happen. He is preparing us as well. We are His workmanship. He has prepared the opportunities. And what is our part? Ephesians 5:16 “…making the most of every opportunity…”

There are three Greek words used in the New Testament to refer to time. First, Hora is usually translated “hour.”  Second, Chrono from which we get our English Chronological refers to time in general, a period or measured time. The word used here is not hora or chrono but kairos, which refers to an appointed time, a fixed or special occasion—those moments or seasons when opportunity knocks! When opportunity knocks, don’t let those occasions pass you by. We must seize the opportunities that God has planned for you in the days ahead.

Will we recognize the opportunity when it comes? Notice the events surrounding the birth of Christ. The wise men from the east experienced a “kairos” in their lives. The star appeared and they recognized it as an opportunity to see the One, born King of the Jews. They made the most of that opportunity. In contrast, priests and teachers in Jerusalem also experienced a “kairos” when asked where this Messiah would be born. In their preoccupation with other things, in their deep-seated indifference to the will of God, they missed their opportunity. It went straight by them without any significant impact.

Israel missed an opportunity for a generation when they spied out the Promised Land and decided it was too risky to go in.  God provides the opportunity. It is our responsibility to be alert, watchful, to see it for what it is and step out into it. I don’t want to miss any God-given opportunities in 2022. I want to be alert spiritually.  I want to grab the opportunity while it is still an opportunity!

Martha missed an opportunity.  Jesus went to the home of Mary and Martha. He sat down to teach, and Mary was sitting at His feet just soaking in every word. Meanwhile, Martha was out in the kitchen preparing dinner.  Now, you know the story. Martha gets upset because Mary is not in the kitchen, too. So, she complains to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40b – 42

Now was Martha committing a sin by fixing a meal in the kitchen? No, of course not! But here’s the problem. She was so preoccupied with what she was doing that she didn’t realize that God was in her living room. 

It is interesting that the Bible tells us to seize the opportunity “…because the days are evil.”  There are evil influences at work in the world we live. If we’re not careful we can be turned aside, derailed, from our true purpose. Spiritual apathy is dangerous in the world we live. If we are not careful, we can miss the will of God for our life. We can miss out on important opportunities to do good.

Some people never see opportunities. Everything is a calamity; everything is an obstacle. For them the days are evil—and that’s why there are no opportunities.  In the journey of life, they find excuses instead of opportunities. “I can’t serve God where I work. Nobody’s a Christian. It’s a horrible environment. I wish God would let me quit.” A different person in the same set of circumstances says, “Wow, what an opportunity. None of them know the Lord. Just think, I might get to lead every one of them to the Lord.” One person says, “Isn’t it awful how so many people are calling psychics and studying the occult. Nobody wants to hear the truth anymore.” Another says, “Yes the days are evil but what an opportunity. Those people just may be very, very hungry for spiritual reality. They may be fed up with the inadequacy of humanism and rationalism. They may be ripe for a real encounter with the risen Christ. In your circumstances do you see an excuse or an opportunity? 

Every season of life is an opportunity or an excuse depending upon what a person is looking for. You will find what you’re looking for. The teen says, “I’m too young, there’s too much peer pressure. I can’t serve God.” Another teen says, “All my friends are wondering what life is really about. They want a cause. They want something worth living for. What an opportunity to tell them about God’s plan for their lives.”

A single person says, “I’m so lonely. I want to serve God. I would really serve Him if He would just give me a husband. I just can’t wait until God answers my prayer.” Another single says, “How can I help at the body of Christ. I’ve got some time available, and I would love to serve the Lord with you.”

The young married couple says, “Our kids are too demanding. I’m lucky if I can just get to church, let alone serve.” Another family says, “Can our family serve in some capacity at church?  It would be something we could do together, and our kids would learn ministry in the process.”

The middle-aged person says, “You have no idea the weight of responsibility I feel—family expectations, work expectations—I have nothing left to give.” Another person the same age says, “I am at the peak of my strength. If I order my priorities right, I can make a real difference!”

The retired couple says, “I’m tired. Let the younger generation do it. I’ve served my time.”  Another couple in the same life season says, “We have our retirement income. We don’t need money. We have time. What can we do for the kingdom of God in our golden years?” 

Esther found herself in an evil day. Haman had gotten a decree from the king, which authorized genocide of all the Jews. That included Esther. It looked like a disaster but in all reality, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. God had prepared her for such a time as this.

What has God been preparing you for?  How will you respond in the moment of truth?  Make the most of your opportunities in 2022!!!!!