Take Your Spiritual Opportunities(From Our 10-13-24 Worship)

West Side Church of Christ - Elkton Ky

Watch the Video version Here: https://youtu.be/rwSqRlh8I2s

Transcript:
You know, some opportunities, some opportunities come once in a lifetime. I'll give you an example. 1978, in the fall of the year, Paul Picard, not Captain Picard, but Paul Picard, was a TV producer and he got assigned to a new television show. Now, some people thought it wasn't going to be much. It wasn't.

The first season was actually only green light or approved for a half a season. And I'm sure some people thought, you know, whatever. So he was driving to work one day in a, in a van, they were going to film on set. And as he drove to work, Mr. Paul passed an automobile on the road. And out of this automobile come a sound that Paul had never heard before in his life.

And it shocked him. To the point to where he jerked the van off the side of the road. And he turned it around. And he went and chased that car down that had just passed him. He flashed his lights and flagged them over. And when he got them pulled over on the side of the road, he began to ask questions after questions, after questions.

And then, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and says, I want to buy it. And the owner of the car says, I'm not selling you that. And he offered him, again, more money. No. And he offered him some more money, and eventually the owner of the car gets out of the car, Rips the horn off the car that he's driving and hands it to Mr.

Picard and goes on his way. Now, he's ecstatic. Paul is. He can't wait to get to the set and to show people what he has just purchased. And it turns out, because Paul wasn't a car guy at the time, he didn't know this, but what he had just purchased was called a Dixie horn. And he got to talking to the people on the set and he found out that basically he had just paid this man about five times more than what you could have went and bought one off an auto parts store shelf.

He basically got a bad deal, it would seem like. Except for the fact that the amount of money Paul was going to make with this Dixie horn was going to be unimaginable. Because that is how the famous General Lee got that famous horn. Alright Morgan, scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you that we're talking about Stukes and Hazard from the

Can you imagine that car without that horn? I mean, the show might not ever got renewed for a second season without it. It was one of the defining characteristics, all because Mr. Paul took an opportunity. Now, listen, I love a good all as good as anybody else. But I didn't come here today to talk to you about Dukes of Hazard.

I come here today to talk to you about opportunities and specifically what I want to talk to you about is something that I want to call spiritual opportunities. No, that's not a word you'll find in the Bible. No, that's that's I don't think I made it up, but that's the nomenclature that I created to, to go along with this idea about the opportunities that God gives us and what those can turn into.

Now, to show you that I'm not crazy, if you've got your Bibles, go with me to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25 here, Jesus, Jesus is going to tell, about what's gonna happen at the end of time when the judgment scene occurs and beginning verse 31 when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit with on his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will place the sheep on his right.

But the goats on his left Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now, as we continue on here, I want you to notice what he tells them, the reason why they're on the right side. Why are they sheep?

Why are they not goats? Verse 35. For I was hungry. And you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcome me. I was naked and you called me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when do we see you hungry and feeds you are thirsty and give you drink.

And when do we see you a stranger and welcome you are naked and close you. And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? and the king will answer them. Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.

You see, you look at that, that question. Why? Why are the sheep the sheep? And why are the goats the goats? You understand Jesus didn't tell them. Well, you know what? You got the right doctrine. Doctrine is just another word for teaching. You got the right information. You figured it out. Yay, rah, good for you.

Now, is doctrine important? Is teaching important? Yes, it is. But you understand, the reason for truth and the reason for information is not simply to, to have the information to hang on to it. God did not give us this book that we hold in our hands and we hold dear to us just so that we could pass some eternal pop quiz when we stand outside the gates.

The pursuit of knowledge has never been about the knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge. The pursuit of truth is about what the truth does to us, how the truth changes us. Why did these people? Let's back up here. Why did they feed the hungry? Why did they give them something to drink? Why did they welcome in a stranger?

Why did they clothe the naked? Why did they visit those who were sick and in prison? Because they learned the truth about their God. They obeyed that truth and they did what God wanted them to do. You understand Jesus here is not talking about the first step in the process. He's talking about the results of the process.

That is how he divides the sheep from the goats You could almost look at this passage and I thought about entitling this sermon. How do I get to heaven? Because if you look at this text and say how did they get to heaven they got to heaven by Helping what the least of these? You ever you ever thought about that As much as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you did it to me You know, we live in a day and time in a culture society where we strive to be the best of these.

We want to be the best preacher, the best plumber, the best salesman, or the best whatever. And there's nothing wrong with working hard and having ambitions and goals. The Bible says in Galatians 6 4 that a man can look at his own work and have pride in that work. There's nothing wrong with trying to be the best of these.

But If we try to be the best of these while forgetting the least of these, that's a problem. You see, these people that Jesus describes, they had opportunities. They come across these people who were poor and neglected and dejected and beat down. And what did they do? They reached out their hand and they loved them.

They, they took these physical opportunities, right? They took these physical opportunities and they helped someone. And you know what I see in my Bible? I see Jesus helping people with physical problems and then turn around and talking them about their spiritual problems. ...