Responding to Our Opportunities - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, November 5th. Opportunities come our way every day, but how often do we miss them because we're just too busy? Stay with us now for help in prioritizing what's most important. Life is full of opportunities. In fact, the truth is God's will and purpose for your life and mine is expressed through the opportunities that He gives us. Because it is His will, for example, that you are saved, and so He provides you the opportunity to be saved. It may be His will to call you into some area of service, so He gives you the opportunity.

He gives you the opportunity to go to school and get educated. So, on and on and on we go, and there are many people today who, in this country, who would love this opportunity. If somebody said, I have a job for you, they'd love that opportunity. And sometimes we sort of think that opportunities are not all that significant. They are very significant because an opportunity is an occasion.

That is, it's an occasion, a time in our life when we are in a position to make a decision that has a very positive impact on our life. And that's why you and I need to be very discerning about being able to spot what is an opportunity and what is an obstruction in our life. There are oftentimes ways that God offers opportunities that we overlook them.

We don't see them that way. We talk about our responsibilities, and sometimes we don't even want to fulfill our responsibilities. I want you to think about life as being this awesome, continuous series of opportunities, which is exactly what it is. I have the opportunity to obey Him or not to obey Him. I have the opportunity to go this place, that place, or not.

Most important, I have the opportunity to be able to share the Lord Jesus Christ with somebody. And not just once, but every single opportunity that God gives us, we should take advantage of it. So, when you think about your life, do you think about it as a series of responsibilities, things that you have to carry out? Or do you see it as a series of opportunities that God gives you? What do you do with the opportunities that come your way? Do you just let them pass by and say, well, you know, I'll always have another chance? Not necessarily. So, the Scripture is about one man and then two others who had the same opportunity, but two of them decided, no, no, no, no, no.

Not going to do that. The other one decided that he would. And Jesus gives us a great lesson in opportunities in this tenth chapter of Luke. So, I want you to turn there, if you will, and let's begin in the twenty-fifth verse of this tenth chapter. Jesus gives us a parable here.

After He introduces the conversation, He gives us a parable here. And so, beginning in this twenty-fifth verse, He said, And a lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And He said to him, What is written in the law?

How does it read to you? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And He said to him, You have answered correctly.

Do this and you will live. But wishing to justify himself, He said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And he said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And so, this conversation went on. And so, Jesus, to answer that question, gives this parable, which you know well, but I want us to read it. He says, Jesus replied and said, And they stripped Him and beat Him, and went away, leaving Him half dead. And when He saw Him, He passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite also, when He came to the place, and saw Him pass by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon Him, and when He saw Him, He felt compassion. And He came to Him and bandaged up His wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. And He put Him on His own donkey and brought Him to an inn and took care of Him. And He took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, Take care of Him, and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.

Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands? And He said, The one who showed mercy toward Him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do the same.

You say, Well, now what's that got to do with opportunity? Well, He said to him, Go and do the same. Now, you've got to remember, how did He answer?

Well, He did answer this. That on the one hand, it's interesting the people whom Jesus chose to tell the story about. One of them, He said, a priest came by and then a Levite. Now, the priest and the Levite were serving in the temple in Jerusalem, and they probably lived down in Jericho about a fifteen-mile little hike, through the mountains, And so, the man walked by, and first of all, the priest who'd been at the temple doing his job, he came by and he looked and went by on the other side, ignored him. Now, this was a Jew that was robbed, now lying there half dead, and then the Levite comes by and he does the same thing and he walks by on the other side. So, you would say without a doubt that neither of these men took the opportunity to help a brother who had been robbed, he was left to die. And what would you say about them? You'd say, well, they didn't take advantage of the opportunity they had to help him.

Why? Because, first of all, they weren't practicing what they'd been preaching up in the temple because the law, and that is, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is this, that you love your neighbors yourself. So, this is what they taught in the temple. And Jesus said, love your neighbors yourself. When you put this together, this is the sum total of the law. So, instead of practicing that, they just ignored the law, walked by on the other side, and left the brother dying.

So, neither of them took the opportunity that was presented to them to save this man's life. Then comes along a Samaritan, and Jesus used this on purpose because Samaritans and Jews hated each other. And so, there was always conflict. And you remember, for example, the woman at the well, when Jesus was talking to her and He began the conversation, she said, now, wait a minute, what are you doing carrying on a conversation with me when you are a Jew and I'm a Samaritan? And of course, Jesus just overlooked that, took advantage of the opportunity, and led her to believe in Him as the Savior. And you remember, she went back and just about evangelized the whole town.

She said, I've met a man who told me everything, and they wouldn't know, is this the Messiah? And of course, he was. So, when he comes along, a Samaritan, and he sees this Jew who hated him, they hated each other.

And so, when he comes along, he had the same opportunity. And the Scripture says deliberately that he was on a journey. Now, the Levite and the priest were going home from work. So, they weren't on a journey.

They were just going home. This man was on a journey. He was going somewhere specifically to do whatever the business was. But when he saw him, Scripture says he went over, he looked at him, he saw his condition, he took some bandages, and he took wine, and he took oil and bandaged him up well. And then he put him on his donkey and took him to an inn, paid his fare for that night, and also said, I'm giving you enough to denier it, which would have taken care of several days. And he says, now, if you spend more than this on him, when I come back, I will repay you. Now, would you say that he took advantage of an opportunity?

Yes, he did. So, I want you to watch this. I either look at things as an opportunity or an obstruction in my life. Is this something that God has placed here?

Is this an opportunity He's given me? Or is this something that just obstructs my journey, my path, where I'm going, what I want to do, and when I want to do it? And the Levite and the priest would probably say, I don't have time to do that.

I'm on my way home, and it's a pretty good ways to go there. I wonder how many times you and I explain away our opportunities, excuse ourselves from our opportunities by rationalizing the fact I'm too busy, this, that, and the other, and so forth. So, what I want us to look at here is this. Here's a perfect example of a choice we have. We can act like the priest and the Levite, the real religious people, and then this Samaritan who was hated by the man that was lying there.

They despised each other. And yet, he stooped, banished him up, took him to an end, and said, look, if there's more than you can trust me, I'll pay you for it. Now, what I want us to note in this message is this. What is it that opportunities reveal about us? When you have an opportunity, do you think opportunity or obstruction? Do you think in terms of the fact that God is giving you the privilege of doing something that will honor Him, as well as helping somebody else? And so, how would you define an opportunity? Would it have to be something that's truly tremendous, or would it be something so simple that you sat down beside someone, and you could feel that they were trouble in their heart, and you said to them, could I help you? Could I pray for you?

Is there something I can do for you? You take advantage of an opportunity. Opportunities come in small sizes, and opportunities come in major sizes.

And when I think about that, and I think about how we respond, the way we respond is we are revealing whether we have the discernment to distinguish when something is an opportunity and when it's not. And I got this phone call. I was home studying, all in the middle of what I was doing. And I got this phone call, and I picked it up without thinking. And this voice began. He called my name, and he didn't tell me who he was at first, and he told me about what kind of condition he was in with drugs and alcohol and with the law and all the things that were going on, and he just kept on, and I'm thinking, first of all, I'm working on the message, and I'm thinking, I don't think I have time for, to listen to all this.

And then all of a sudden it dawned on me. He said, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you. And I said, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you. He said, is this an obstruction to your message, or is this an opportunity to help somebody who is desperately in need? Straightened me up. I said, okay, keep talking.

And to show you what an opportunity I would have missed. He kept telling me what was going on in his life, and then he said, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you. I said, I'm going to tell you what you know.

I'm going to tell you what I know. He said, I've been hearing this since then. So, I said, well, give me your telephone number. So, I took his telephone number, and I called his daddy, because I knew his daddy.

I didn't even know he had this son. And I checked with his dad and said, how you doing, and so forth, but I didn't tell his father why I called him. I believe, and boy, call me back. He said, Do you know where I am? I said, No, just bless me.

He said, I'm sitting about six feet from my father. And I think, Now, Lord, suppose I had said to Him, Now, look, I thank You very much, but I don't have time to talk to You this morning because I'm, this sounds just like a priest in Levite, because I'm working on a sermon. I don't have time to talk to You about Your drugs and Your alcohol and Your bad family. Thank God I didn't feel that way and I wouldn't have said it. I'm simply saying that opportunities come sometimes as a surprise. You're not ready for it. But God knows when you're ready.

And we have to be discerning because there are people all around us who are hurting for different reasons. And all of us are busy. If I should ask anybody in here, do you have a busy time in your life?

Oh, yes. Everybody's busy. But here's the issue, if I'm really following Jesus, I'm not too busy for a God-given opportunity. It may not have been what I wanted to do at the moment, but when all of a sudden it dawned on me, this isn't just a strange caller, though I'd never heard of him before, didn't even know he existed. Suddenly it's like the Spirit of God said, This is an opportunity.

And to think that the Lord allowed me to be able to put a Father and a Son together who hadn't even spoken to each other in so many years, what a wonderful opportunity. And you know what? They're all around you. If you just stop and think, they're all around you. There are people who are hurting all around you, probably people who are hurting more today than ever before. And so many of them are just looking for somebody who'll give them some attention, who will empathize with them in some fashion, to be able to say, I do know how you feel.

I've been there before. And so, the issue is, do I have a discerning spirit to know when it's an opportunity or just somebody who is intruding into my affairs? So, the whole issue here is this. What does it reveal about us? Well, it reveals whether we have that discernment or not.

A second thing it reveals is this, and that is it reveals if Jesus Christ is really the Lord of our life or not. In other words, when God gives me an opportunity and I ignore it, then He's not Lord. I'm still the boss. He gives me an opportunity and I explain it away, rationalize it, don't have time, and it's an opportunity from Him, then He's not Lord of my life.

I'm still in charge. I'm not saying that all the opportunities that come your way are always delightful and pleasant. And I wouldn't say, listen, let's distinguish between an opportunity and a temptation. Because some so-called opportunities are not opportunities, they are enticements to sin.

They are routes that lead you away from God. But we're talking about God-given opportunities and they're all around us. And so, the issue is what does it reveal about us?

It reveals not only whether we have a discerning spirit and can detect one or not, but it also says, is He really and truly the Lord and Master of my life or is He not? If He's Lord and He gives us an opportunity, He'll make us aware of it. And so, if we don't have that opportunity, then we have to decide. And if we don't have that opportunity, then we have to decide whether that's what it is.

Then we have to decide. That's why I say being discerning, the capacity to be able to understand what is really going on at the moment. And what is really going on at the moment is God is offering you an opportunity to change somebody's life by your personal testimony or whatever it might be. But opportunities are there.

There are opportunities that you have you're not even aware of. There are people who look at you as a believer, believe that you know how to pray and talk to God, believe that you know what that God answers prayer, believe that you have some sort of an insight to God, and they would love for you to pray for them if they had the courage to ask you to do it. They may want you to tell them how Jesus is working in your life if they had the courage to ask you, but they don't. And so, what happens? If you and I are discerning, God will bring us together somehow with that person in some way.

He will make the opportunity. I'm simply saying to you that there are people who see you as a possible blessing and a help in their life that you're not even aware of. And so, when I think about all that goes on, I think about it in this light.

He's given us all spiritual gifts and that we have opportunities to utilize those spiritual gifts. And in the process of doing so, we're helping somebody else. And especially, for example, somebody's going through a very difficult time and you can tell on their face they're sad. You work with them, they come to work sad. You see them going about their responsibilities and you know something's not right. You have the opportunity to offer yourself at least as a friend to say, is there something I can help you with? I notice you seem to be sad today. And listen, there are people in such desperate need. You'd almost have to be blind to walk around them and not know.

They're hurting very, very deeply. And they need some encouragement. Well, your willingness to exercise your spiritual gifts. You may have the gift, for example, of exhortation. And God can use you to speak to them. You don't have to speak to them long. But you have the opportunity and the privilege and the know-how and the gift to say to them something that is very comforting, something that is reassuring. And sometimes that may simply be, you know, I've been there.

I know how you feel. And I want you to know I'm going to be praying for you. And if you need me, you call me.

And if I can help you in any way, I'll be happy to. Listen, you can save people's lives. There are people who are hurting deeply and need somebody who is willing to at least give them some attention. Then, of course, one of the things it reveals about us is this, it reveals whether we are willing or not to give to other people, that is, give my time, give my attention, give my money, whatever it might be. The way we respond to opportunity is because there are opportunities to give. And there are people today, and I say it again and again on purpose, who are hurting more deeply for more reasons than ever before. I don't have to, and you don't have to look for an opportunity to help somebody today.

They're everywhere. And there are people who are crying out who've never cried out, people in deeper need that have never been that deeply in need than ever before. And we who are believers, if we believe what we say, to love our neighbors ourself, then listen, our antennas ought to be out.

Not tucked in because we're too busy and don't want to spend the time, but our antennas ought to be out. God has given you a capacity and the ability and the skill and the discernment and the mind and the heart and the compassion to make you a vessel that makes a difference in somebody else's life, and we cannot afford to overlook those opportunities. Thank you for listening to Responding to Our Opportunities. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.