Opportunity

Our theme this Year is “Fruitfulness” this means not just bearing fruits but sharing them. And the fruit we are talking about here is “the fruit of the spirit” we are talking about the qualities of character. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). This fruits are not for show, they are to be shared with others. We cannot bear fruits if we are not connected with him…Jesus says, abide in me and I in you and you will bear fruit….Ones we are connected with him and are bearing fruits, God will then give us opportunities to share this fruits. In sharing them is hidden all of our miracles and breakthroughs both to the kingdom of God and our personal lives.

It’s not enough to bear fruits, we should share them.

So, the title of my message this morning is OPPORTUNITY.

Opportunity is a set of circumstances that makes something possible. You are not going to have just one opportunity in life, you are going to have so many opportunities.

Eccl. 9:11: I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

In this passage we are introduces to things we consider to be very good factors. Factors such as Strength, swift, scholarly, skilful. In fact if you ask anybody the factors they consider one needs to be successful you will hear something like, you have to be smart, you have to be skilful, you have to go to school, these are factors that all of us aim for. We want to be strong, wise, smart etc. and because of this we do a lot. We go to School, we train ourselves, however the writer of Eccl. Is saying that as great as all this factors are they don’t always produce the result. That is to say the battle doesn’t always go to the strong, there are strong people who lose the battle, and there are swift people who lose the race of life. Eccl. Says Time and Chance happens to them all. In other words how you appropriate time and chance will determine whether the things you have as an advantage will work for your advantage ultimately.

That word Chance means a situation in life that you cannot control. Something is going to hit you in life that you didn’t plan for. Something is going to come your way that you are not ready for. Whether you are swift, strong, scholarly, wise, whatever you are, when those things hit you, you are going to learn to respond well. Because if you don’t, the outcome will not be very wonderful. I summarize what this passage is saying to mean that: our natural abilities and professional trainings are not enough to guarantee success. I think that is true, if we think right now we will see we have stories. Maybe we are the stories ourselves.

TIME AND CHANCE.

Our lives as Christians and as a Church are about opportunities.

Understand this, God is at work with us in every season of life. Through trials, through tragedy, through triumph, God is always with us.

So how does opportunity factor in all of this? Let’s look at the phases of opportunity.

PHASES OF OPPRTUNITY

1. Purpose-made

When life has prepared you to play a suitable role. This is the opportunity most people are familiar with when you are ready for something and it happens. When readiness meets opportunity. That is recognising your calling in a time in history. Knowing I have come to the kingdom for such a time and this.

2. CHAOS

When things are thrown out of the normal order.

Many time we want to see the power of GOD and that power of GOD needs chaos to manifest.

Opportunity doesn`t always come when we are ready, when we are expecting it and when we are prepared sometimes it is chaos that brings the opportunity.

PETER and His friends were in a boat and then they looked afar and saw a figure, ordinarily they were not supposed to see a figure in that kind of place, so they thought it was a ghost, so as the figure got closer , the figure spoke , said don’t be afraid then PETER saw an opportunity.

HE says lord if it is you, bid me to come to you and JESUS said come. Peter stepped on water, you want the opportunity to step on water, you want to experience the power of GOD, you want to have testimony this year, there is going to be tests. When things get chaotic, don’t despair because opportunity might just be knocking on your door.