Ignored Doors of Opportunity

 

    Opportunities come in moments of time to take action.  Sometimes you miss opportunities due to lack of discernment, not wanting to take action, or not being open to change.  The saying if it's not broken works for somethings.  Don't change things just to make a name for yourself, to be noticed, in control, or just for the sake of "progress".  That is a waste of time and energy that will affect a lot of people.  Change things not matter how hard it is if it needs to be changed or if God directs it directly to you.

    You will miss doors of opportunity if you do not have a Biblical imagination.  Satan can twist imagination into something wicked.  However, if you keep your imagination influenced by God's Word and in prayer, then it can become a road map to may different opportunities in life.

    When you do want to change things, you can't force people to follow.  You have to compel or allow the Holy Spirit to compel them to follow or help.  If you are going to lead a movement then you have to push aside all excuses or you will lose the people following.

    What you do with the opportunities that life provides depends on your heart.  You will ignore, make it all about you, or flourish.  You can use opportunities to show the world Jesus, teach things, or move forward in a pursuit.  No matter where an opportunity is leading you you need to help people understand along the way to gain support.

    The number one opportunity that is given to everyone in the world and still ignored is salvation.  So many people ignore the personalized invitation to have a relationship with God.  Christians ignore the opportunity to help people find Jesus or get acclimated into a Christian church.  They ignore opportunities to forgive, give hope, or show holy love.   

    Church is about living life together.  You are the one missing out if you ignore that opportunity.  If it is done right, then people will have others when in need.  They will have fellowship and close relationships.  They will have a family even if they have no one.  The bonds you make in church are what helps make you a stronger Christian.  Every one of us will have to answer to God one day for all these ignored opportunities. 

Genesis 16:7-12, Matthew 7:7-11, Luke 15:11-32, & 1 Corinthians 16:5-9

New Doors for the Church

    Churches in general know how to go about inviting people to come visit their church. Most know to be warm and inviting once they are there to try to keep them coming and maybe become a member.  However, no church knows every way.  Many church are blind to ways to attract people or unwilling to try new things.  It needs to be handled with discernment, but we need to adapt to our times.

    One door of opportunity not utilized well, if at all, is the digital world.  It is far more than just putting the songs on the screen or the sermon highlights.  Websites need to be active, easy to use, and not boring.  It is about getting on t/v, pod cast, making church online.  We want people in church, but it is far more important to get people listening to God's message.  

    Using social media and the digital world are only tools.  It still depends on the people to attract and keep people in the church.  We are in a super independent world where people don't feel the need to go to church to connect with God.  We have to show them more than tell them how that just is not true.

    Like it or not each denomination has a brand in Christianity.  It should not be that way.  We should be united, but it is how the world sees Christianity and church.  Each church has a brand.  Most focus on the family unit.  It is a huge door that would draw in hundreds of people if churches would also find a way to focus on singles of all ages, seniors, and events outside of the church.  

    Church is about living life together.  If you exclude half the population, then how can you reach them?  If you understand you hold a brand, then learn how to market to the world that brand.  You should want your brand to be all welcome, but under the standards of the Bible.  That means all welcome, but we do uphold church discipline.

    In the world today, if you can't find a place on google, then it does not exist.  If your church is not in the cyberworld, then it does not exist to the world.  The attitude that I have always been here is the death door.  People see the building, but do they see you?  A building is rarely inviting without the human element.  Don't let your church die a slow death due to blind spots or not wanting to change.  The Bible challenges us all to not get too comfortable with our salvation, but to always try to bring more people to Jesus.

Isaiah 60:10-12, Luke 15:20-32, 1 Corinthians 16:5-11, & Revelations 3:7-13

 

Doors of Opportunity in Church

 

    A great door of opportunity in the church is small groups and children's ministry.  They are the back doors for connecting and getting people involved.  If the children get involved, then the parents are likely to start coming too.  Ministry and service for God don't have to be hard.  We are the ones that make it hard.

    Small groups are a great way to make connections with people in the church.  It is easier to live life with people that are going through the same things as you are.  Small groups are normally well organized.  If they are not at your church, then that may just be a door of opportunity for you to go in and give structure or organization for things to run smoother.  Either way, small groups is where 80% of church goers are that are involved in church.

    Children and youth ministry is the next generation door of opportunity to keep God alive in the home.  The target are from birth to 18.  Larger churches have a children's and a youth pastor, so that there is a God abiding adult focused just on the upcoming generations.

    If you want a family in church, statistics show that 94% start attending before the age 18.  Reaching people after 18 is much harder.  This means that the door of opportunity is small in this aspect of the church.  It is getting harder every year to get younger people into church.

    Doors of opportunity in the church that people do not think about is tithing.  It is an investment into God and Heaven.  It is a sign of obedience and genuine Christian heart.  You put your money where your heart is.  If your heart is not into God, then you will not tithe.  The gospel has a much harder time going out into the world without money invested into it.  People's tithes is also the only hope for the survival of a church building.

    Church may be built all around the family dynamic, but that does not mean that singles, widows, elderly, or the vulnerable do not have a place.  The church needs to make efforts to become a place where the non-family unit feel welcome and not just a worker.  If you are involved in your church, this could be a door of opportunity for you.  The need for ministry outside the family unit is growing.  The doors of opportunity are standing wide open for anyone who wants to enter them.

Luke 15:17-24, 1 Corinthians 16:1-9, 2 Corinthians 2:12-13, & Revelations 3:8-9

Doors of Opportunity

 

    The Bible is strategic, practical, real, map to life, and a love letter.  It shows you doors that God opens and closes.  It teaches hospitality, grace, love, and more things to help you with the opportunities that God provides.  It is relational.  The Bible teaches you how to have a relationship with God and other people.

    To have doors open in life, you need to understand the simple concept that you need to put other people before yourself.  It is your responsibility to know your part as a Christian to you can help other people.  Do make excuses where you fall short because no one cares and God will not accept them.  Acknowledge your shortcomings, repent to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to show you how to move forward in that area.

    Church is important.  It can open a lot of doors in every aspect of life.  However, your personal walk with God is more important.  If you can't honor God in private, then you are not honoring God in public.  It is every Christian's responsibility to reach out to other people to make it where they don't feel alone in the world, bring people into the Christian family, and equip them to do the same.

    If you want opportunities in life, then you need to be in your Bible with intent and looking for content.  Once you realize that life is not all about you, but about God, then you can really start to worship Him.  Worship looks at the big picture and you understand just how magnificent God really is.  It opens your eyes in how to love other people like Jesus.  Worshipping while reading the Bible shows you how to plan in a way that honors God.

    Once worship becomes a part of who you are, you will do it differently.  It affects your emotions, mental intent, and spiritual awareness by changing your heart.  It makes your relationships with people deeper.  Even new people can tell if you are being genuine or not.  You will want to help others without thinking about what you will get out of it.  Your become welcoming as you embrace God's truth and seek understanding in all situations.  The truth will compel you to try to love people like Jesus.

Exodus 15:1-5, Luke 15:11-32, & Revelations 3:8-9

Family Unity Restored

 

    God hates sin, so Christians should hate sin.  We should love sinners, but hate the sin.  Sin is the destruction of everything good in this world.  Why would we not hate sin?  Why would sin not make us angry?

    It can be difficult to see the difference between the sinner and sin.  That is why we should confront sin.  Face sin head on and deal with it.  Repent and turn away when it is you who sinned.  Embrace humility to forgive and be able to pray over people that need forgiving and for you to be forgiven.  It is the only way to uphold worship in your heart instead of becoming a Pharisee.

    When people sin against you it causes pain and separation.  Christians need to learn how to let go of the wrongs done unto them or they will dominate their lives.  Satan doesn't care if you rip each other apart or families break up.  God does.  God wants to give you healing.

    Family is a group of relationships bound by blood.  That is the only unity family has unless people work at it.  Salvation brings unity of love, forgiveness, and opportunities.  It enables you to forgive in a new way.  Relationships are based on how well people can forgive one another.  We all get hurt and we all hurt other people, so we all need forgiveness.

    The motivator of forgiveness is love.  We have to choose love over hate.  We have to choose to act in love instead of our sinful nature.  Love enables forgiveness.  Hate seeks revenge.  It is harder to seek reconciliation, but it rebuilds trust and makes relationships deeper.  You may never get to the point where you forget, but the sting of the memory can disappear with true forgiveness.    

    Reconciliation is restoration of a relationship.  When your sin hurts people, then genuinely apologize.  Do not allow anger to turn into hate.  If you are the one hurt, then you actually have more control over reconciliation.  

    You can harbor hate or you can choose to forgive.  Even if you do forgive, you don't have to stay in an unhealthy relationship.  Pray for them and give them over to God.  Reconciliation can happen later after God deals with them.  Do your part and let God take care of everything else.

Genesis 27:41-46, Psalm 5:4-6, Proverbs 8:12-16, & Romans 12:9-13

Family Unity Destruction

 

    No family is perfectly functional.  There are healthy families and unhealthy families, but they all have issues that they either work through or do not.  You can allow division in the family by allowing sin to be in the center.  Or you can work toward family unity by holding each other accountable and talking about issues.

    Sin is grievous to God, but it also causes pain in the family.  A family that ignores the sins live in conflict and contempt.  There is favoritism and jealousy.  There is greed and deceit because no one wants to confront uncomfortable issues.  It is easier to pretend than to call out the dysfunction in the family.  However, the family unit will never heal until the sins are brought to light and they decide to work together to change them.

    I think we all want a good and pleasantly united family.  God created the family to work together in unity.  We need each other.  Family needs to be more than blood.  We need to choose each other and be blood to be strong.

    There are some things that happen in the family that will break unity.  Hatred is the biggest and most destructive.  It can look different according to the sin, but basically once you decide you or certain sin strongholds are more important than other people in the family you have given life to hatred which is a lingering death.  Don't hold onto your anger or resentment, but confront it so you can let it go before it turns into hatred.

    A strong and united family wait on God's timing instead of insisting on taking control themselves.  Patience is not easy.  If you insist on doing things your own way or you will have the final say, then you you become a slave to your own thoughts and feelings.

    Wrath is the worst version of hatred.  It is when you allow your anger to control you instead of controlling your anger.  Wrath defiles a person by twisting them into something God never intended.  It brings the absolute worst out in a person.  In the family it will destroy the heart and peace of the family unit.

    Contempt is a dangerous sin for the family.  It is when you basically declare I am going to live the way I want to and no one will stop me.  You put whatever you want over the good of the family.  You basically emotionally abandon your family.  Family is a gift not to be ignored.

    Choose forgiveness over a hard or selfish heart.  It is the only way you can be gentle, merciful, kind, humble, and patient.  It takes loving like Jesus to be able able to live in perfect harmony.  If you are a Christian, then you are God's representative in life.  That can also mean in your family.

Genesis 27:41-46, Leviticus 19:17, Psalm 133, Mark 10:1-12, Galatians 6:1-2, & Colossians 3:12-17

Attitude Like Jesus

 

    All Christians need to strive to have an attitude like Jesus, but where do you start?  You can't just decide to change your attitude.  It takes steps.  To step toward a new attitude means you have to change your thought process and heart condition.  It is not natural to be like Jesus.  It takes determination.

    You start changing your attitude by renewing your mind everyday.  You need to be intentional or you will never make time for Jesus every single day.  The day will get away from you and leave you exhausted, so you actually have to schedule alone time with God.  

    As you start renewing your mind, you motivations begin to shift.  You will become more faithful.  For some this can happen quickly and for others it will happen slowly over time.  No one's relationship with God is exactly like another.  The only thing that can be the same is how you view your alone time with Jesus as an opportunity to grow that relationship.

    For your attitude to change into something you don't know or fully understand it takes trust.  Once you really trust your salvation, God, and listen to the Holy Spirit you can really delight in God and your time with Him.  

    How do you become intentional about your alone time when you don't know how to do it?  Or maybe you don't understand what it is?  You start small and simple: prayer.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to start a real relationship.  Then open your Bible.  Allow the Holy Spirit to guide your way of learning and studying the Bible.  I started with the Concordance and chose subjects that attracted me.  It grew from there.  At some point I learned a way to study deeper that worked for me.  

    As your attitude becomes more like Jesus, you begin to have a winning attitude.  That means you start giving your best in what you do.  You invest more into your relationships.  You may not see people often, but when you do you are present.  The stagnation of life becomes a things of the past even if nothing has changed other than your attitude.  You start looking for opportunities to serve instead of being served.

    If your life is stagnant then there is a possibility that Satan has gotten a grip on your life in one area or another.  Your attitude may have reverted back to what it once was.  You may find yourself in a state of ingratitude.  The quickest way out of this funk is to start counting all your blessings and thanking God for each one.

    A Christlike attitude is able to show affection.  You choose to show God's love to the world.  Life is not about you.  It is about Jesus.  The quicker you can accept that, the better off you are.  It is a sobering realization, but faith is not about what you can do.  It is believing and allow God to work in all the areas that you can't do.  

    That is why faith is a heart condition.  We naturally turn everything back to us because we can never escape ourselves.  Once your give your heart to Jesus to transform, then it is not just you in your mind or the toxicity of Satan's manipulations.  You have the life giving whispers of the Holy Spirit that make your mind and heart better.

    Life will always have issues.  However, with an attitude like Jesus they are a lot easier to put in a healthy perspective, deal, and work through.  That is why you have to carefully guard your heart.  Forgive to combat bitterness.  Be generous to combat greediness.  Be pure to combat lust.  Whatever your issues may be, do the counterpart in Jesus' name and you will find healing in time.

Psalm 137, Proverbs 24:1-4, Romans 15:5-6, & Philippians 2:5-11