Mist Opportunities (Kenya)

INTRODUCTION

A “missed opportunity” is when you have “a chance to do something,

but that chance is gone because you waited too long or didn’t take it.”

If someone offers you a job, and you wait too long to accept it before it is offered to someone else. That is a “missed opportunity.”

If you need to get to a shop to buy something important, but it closes before you get there. That is a “missed opportunity.”

A friend of mine, Eric, was 31 years old when he ended his life.

For a period of time in his life, Eric battled deep depression.

Though he had this struggle in his life, he loved the gospel.

He loved seeing people commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

Eric served for 7 years as a pastor.

This note, that he wrote a few days before he died,

was found by his wife after his death:

It has been quite a journey for me these last few years. I have hit the lowest of lows. I have battled cancer, drug addiction, job loss,

worthlessness, deep depression, confusion, anger, and hate. There have been days of complete darkness and hopelessness. But there is one thing I will not do… I will not give up.

Yes, I have struggled with what to believe about God. I have had thoughts that God made a mistake on me. But every time my thoughts go there I am reminded of this:

Although I am not active in my addiction,

I will always be active in my recovery.

The mistakes and sinful choices of my past will be used by God to impact my future.

I am thankful that when God looks at me he sees a forgiven man that He created and loves.

And while I sometimes lack in my faith,

He holds me up and reminds me that He is with me.

I am Eric Garland.

A person of worth because of what Jesus says,

not because of what society labels me.

While Eric was a Christian, he was also a man in need of support.

Christians are not excluded from the trials that plague our world.

And we are commanded by Jesus to “love one another,” as He has loved us.

Life is not about loving ourselves above everyone else.

It is about loving others more than ourselves.

READ: JAMES 4:13-17

James 4:13–17 (NASB95)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,

and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Life does not last long.

Most, if not all of us, have experienced the death of someone we know.

James says that our life is a vapor that vanishes away.

Just like steam rising from a boiling pot,

Or smoke rising from a fire,

Our lives are seen only for a little while before we die.

And since our lives are like a mist of vapor that vanishes,

the opportunities we have to do the right thing are limited.

James 4:13-17 shows 3 ways we must think in order to take advantage of our “Mist Opportunities”

those opportunities that appear only for a little while before they are gone.

DON’T ASSUME TOMORROW WILL COME (v. 13-14a)

James says, “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

The truth is that we don’t even know if we will be alive tomorrow.

Jesus told a parable about a rich man who had a farm that produced a lot of crops.

He planned to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, and take it easy.

Luke 12:18-21

Then [the rich man] said, “This is what I will do:

I will tear down my barns and build larger ones,

and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And I will say to my soul,

‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come;

take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’”

But God said to him, “You fool!

This very night your soul is required of you;

and now who will own what you have prepared?”

So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

That rich man had a lot of pride.

He was very foolish.

He was only thinking about himself and what would make him happy.

But God tells us to think about others.

Sometimes, a doctor tells someone they have a disease that will end their earthly lives.

It is only then that they begin to take seriously how they spend their time.

Why wait for someone else to tell us how long we have to live?

Why should we live our lives so selfishly on a day to day basis?

Instead, let’s ask God to help us number our days rightly,

to give us the wisdom on how we are to live, knowing that one day we will die.

When we truly seek God and pray for His help to do this,

those things we thought we needed

[possessions, control, pleasures]

will decrease in importance,

while the things of God will increase in their importance to us.

Therefore, we need to ask God to give us wisdom to live our lives for His glory.

OUR TIME IS LIMITED (v. 14b)

Psalm 102:3

my days are consumed like smoke...

Job 7:7

my life is but a breath

During the War for Independence in America,

An urgent letter was delivered to a British Colonel

concerning a coming attack by the Americans.

Instead of reading the letter, he put it in his pocket

and finished the game he was playing first.

When he finally read it,

it was too late to get his troops ready for the attack.

His delay to read the letter

caused many of his men to be killed,

and the rest to be captured.

Only a few minutes delay cost him his life,

his honor,

and the liberty of his soldiers.

Earth's history is filled with the wrecks of half-finished plans.

‘Tomorrow’ is the excuse of the lazy, and the refuge of the incompetent!

The Bible says, “now is “the day of salvation”

And “God is now declaring to men

that all people everywhere should repent.”

WE MUST DO THE RIGHT THING (v. 17)

My friend, Eric, wanted to share about how God healed him of cancer

and delivered him from his drug addiction.

However, it wasn’t easy.

He was shamed and rejected for his past mistakes.

He often felt abandoned and hopeless.

He was hired by a church where the pastors made him feel worthless,

and asked him to keep his past a secret,

and bullied him and rejected him.

The pastors acted despicably toward Eric.

Rather than be supportive, encouraging, and loving,

they shamed him for his mistakes.

They believed Eric’s past sin would be bad for the body of Christ.

But in reality, it would have encouraged others to come forward with their own sin.

People would see that there is hope in the gospel,

And love and support in the church for hurting people.

Our time is short to do the right thing.

And you never know how your wrong actions

will negatively affect others.

We must recognize the opportunities presented every day

to encourage and love others

and to share the love of Jesus and hope that is in the gospel message.

CONCLUSION

In many churches, there is a spirit of indifference in the pulpit,

the preacher is concerned only for himself.

Even Christians are living in a way that does not care for others.

Don’t Assume Tomorrow Will Come

Our Time is Limited

We Must Do The Right Thing