Doors Of Opportunity
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Dr Cho, Senior Pastor of the Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, the largest church thus far in Christendom, says that:
“Dreams and visions are the language of the spirit.”
If you would like to get ahead, I will be reading from the book of 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 later on this morning.
Joel 2:28 ¶ "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
Joel the prophet who lived 800 years before Christ, prophesied that one day God would pour out His Spirit on all kinds and types of people who would then begin to dream God inspired dreams, see heavenly visions and speak of things not yet seen.
Acts 2:16 "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel
On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the Apostle Peter declared that the prophecy of Joel had begun.
From that day to this every man, woman, boy and girl who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, without respect to their station or status of life, has resident within themselves a spiritual awakening just waiting to break forth and be released.
God has always, throughout history, found holy men and women with whom He could commune and share His plans. Now however, He has made all who come to Christ holy reservoirs of His purpose and plans.
God has a plan. He will succeed. We have an opportunity to participate.
Don’t be presumptuous, however, … our opportunity is just and only that - an opportunity.
We possess the potential to reach our highest calling and do our greatest good for God’s Kingdom.
Lest we get too complacent, remember - better candidates than we have failed in their attempts by getting sidetracked, disheartened, disillusioned, detoured, derailed and destroyed along the way.
It was God who first gave His dream to Adam and Eve.
Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth …
God had a plan
He will succeed
Adam and Eve had an opportunity to participate.
But in part, they failed! (They did fill the earth)
Sin can shut the doors on opportunity.
So God chose another … not another plan but another people.
Over 1600 years later, when Noah came out of the ark, God chose him and his family:
Genesis 9:1 ¶ So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
I think of Moses. Given a dream by God of going down into Egypt, delivering the children of Israel and bringing them into a land flowing with milk and honey.
God had a plan.
He did succeed
Moses had an opportunity to participate.
But he only got it half right before he became frustrated with God’s people and stubbornly disobeyed and angered God so that God chose someone else.
Stubbornness can shut the doors on opportunity.
God did not choose another plan but another people. He also chose Joshua who embraced the dream and picked up where Moses failed.
I think of the four leprous men in the days of Elijah, who were faced with famine and would have died if they had not taken the inspired opportunity God gave them, saving themselves and the whole city of Samaria. This passage should inspire every Christian.
2 Kings 7:3 ¶ Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate: and they said one to another, “Why sit we here until we die?”
Complacency can shut the doors of opportunity.
I think of Ester, given the opportunity to participate in God’s plan and to save the Jews in her city from certain death. She did not think she could do it. Facing execution herself, she nonetheless found the courage to rise to her opportunity and speak out for her people.
The famous quote is read from the book of Ester which was sent to her by her guardian cousin, Mordecai:
"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Ester 4:14
Fear can shut the doors of opportunity.
We see in this scripture that God is determined to succeed.
His plan will go forward with the one He chooses or with the next one He chooses.
In the Old Testament the Spirit of God came upon Holy men and women in times, when necessary, to advance the Kingdom cause.
Joel prophesied that one day God would share His Spirit with mortal man, baptizing them with dreams, visions and utterances, detailing the plans of God.
Now, since the day of Pentecost, those who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior have received that Spirit which makes us one with God.
No longer does the Holy Spirit of God have to come upon us in times of need, but rather, the Holy Spirit of God lives within us and comes out from us, illuminating our hearts and refreshing our minds, giving us glorious glimpses of things yet in the dreams of God.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
Oh but dear saint, don’t stop there --- keep reading:
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
My friend, I am here to tell you this morning that God is no respecter of persons. He has a plan for this world, He will succeed and you have an opportunity to participate.
