THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Let me use this opportunity to invite you to our special end-of-year church service on Monday, 31st December 2018. It will hold from 9pm to 12:30am on the 1st of January 2019. I will be announcing to all the message I have received from the LORD for 2019. The LORD has even confirmed the message. When you clock into this prophetic direction your life will cruise on GOD’s purpose in 2019. The venue is, The Headquarter of The Master’s Vessel Ministry, 73 Azikiwe Road Umuahia. GOD bless you.
We shall take our reading today from Luke 2:1-7
Luke 2:1-7
1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Because there was no room for tem in the inn
Our topic today is, The Missed Opportunity.
THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Let us pray.
PRAYER
Our Heavenly FATHER, thank YOU for the gift of your SON: our LORD JESUS CHRIST. This year’s celebration affords us another opportunity to reconsider our relationship with HIM, and access if we have actually benefited from the gift of a SON. May we never again miss this opportunity…in JESUS Name. Amen!
The missed opportunity
Friends, life is full of opportunities. Unfortunately many miss the opportunities sometimes due to attitude or inability to recognize the golden opportunity that can turn situations around. That is why the proverb of the white man says, Opportunity Comes but Once. This may not be true always. However, our bible portion lays credence to this proverb. The reason is that our LORD JESUS will not be born as a baby again. Of all the dramatic personnel of the Christmas story, the most pitiable is the innkeeper or the owner of the inn or the inn manager. He missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And unlike Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who seized the golden opportunity of the death of our LORD JESUS CHRIST to have their names enshrined in the Holy Book, the innkeeper missed the opportunity, and therefore became inconsequential. His name was not mentioned. What a great miss. As he missed the opportunity he also missed being a carrier of generational blessings.
Friends, I will press upon you to sit down and meditate over your life what opportunities you have missed in life. May you not miss the opportunity presented to you this Christmas…in JESUS Name. Amen!
Do you know you are born for a purpose? Until you find the purpose you are on the wrong course. It does not matter whether you are rich or poor. It is your purpose that counts. And who will help you fulfill your purpose? Only JESUS The SON of GOD – The Savior of the World. The government is upon HIS shoulders. HE is not yet ruling in your life because you have missed many opportunities of acknowledging HIM as LORD and receiving HIM into your life as Savior.
Friends, notice in verse 7 that the bible says, There was no room for them in the inn. There was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn. If there was no room was there no other option for the innkeeper to explore?
Let us consider:
- The role of attitude in missing opportunities.
The role of attitude in missing opportunity. The dictionary defines attitude as a settled way of thinking and feeling about something: a settled way of thinking and feeling about something. In Northern America it is truculent or caustic or harsh or uncooperative behavior. Some of its synonyms are: point of view, frame of mind or way of looking at things.
The innkeeper treated Mary as any other customer; but Mary was a customer with a special need. She was pregnant and of course due for delivery. She needed the attention of the innkeeper. The inn manager would have appealed to other lodgers to vacate a room for Mary. I believe some effort would have paid off: an extra effort in solving a problem instead of indifference or apathy or that’s-your-problem type of attitude. Yes: how many people display such indifferent attitude in the offices and public places – no extra effort to solve a problem, no extra effort to the physically challenged citizens, no help to the elderly persons? Why is our culture being eroded while we are busy imbibing foreign cultural attitude?
Friend, your attitude can cost you an opportunity to be counted in the Kingdom of GOD. The bible presents us with models of behavior. We are the salt of the world and the light of the world. We are to preserve and further goodness and illuminate our immediate environment with the truth of the Word of GOD. Our LORD JESUS teaches us to love our enemies, love our neighbors, pray for them – not praying on them. We should take care of the downtrodden, show concern for the poor and display sympathy and concern to all. The innkeeper missed it. He would have at least raised concern for the pregnant woman. Someone would have seen the need to create an appropriate room.
Someone said, but it was prophesied that HE will be born in a manger. Yes! Was it prophesied that you will be the one to facilitate the birth in a manger. Right attitude stems from the personal transformation of the mind. The bible calls us to be transformed by the renewal of mind and not to be conformed to the world system. Beloved friends, check your attitude. Does it conform to the biblical morality we profess? Remember the story of the Good Samaritan: it bothers on attitude. The priest passed; the Levite was in a hurry. It was only the Samaritan that showed pity and spared time for the wounded traveller.
2. No room for JESUS.
No room for JESUS. Does it sound incredible that in many lives today and many homes there is no room for the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
The hymn writer, Ira D Sankey, captured this scenario in one of the hymns where he asked, and I quote,
“Have you any room for JESUS,
HE who bore your load of sin?
As he knocks and asks admission,
Sinners, will you let him in?
Room for JESUS, King of Glory!
Hasten now HIS Word obey;
Swing the heart’s door widely open.
Bid HIM enter while you may.
Room for pleasure,
room for business,
But for CHRIST the Crucified,
Not a place that HE can enter,
In the heart for which HE died.
The hymn write went on to appeal to all. I repeat the same appeal today, trusting that you will not again miss the opportunity to give our LORD JESUS a space in your life. Hear HIM and hear me beloved.
“Room and time now give to JESUS,
Soon will pass GOD’s day and grace,
Soon thy heart left cold and silent,
And thy Savior’s pleading cease.
In another song the hymn writer wrote as if he was dramatizing the scenario. He says,
“Yet there is room: the Lamb’s bright hall of song,
With its fair glory, beckons thee along;
Room, room, still room! O enter, enter now.
But I wish to draw your attention to the fact that it will not always be open for you. That gate of salvation may close and seal your doom.
Then the last low, long cry, “No room, no room!”
No room, no room! O woeful cry, “No room!
I want to refer you, friends, you will not miss it this time around. Open your heart and confess that you have room for school, you have room for pleasure, you have room for business but no room for the Savior. Ask GOD to forgive you. With all sincerity invite HIM into your life.
Let me pray for you.
PRAYER
Gracious FATHER, YOU gave us YOUR SON JESUS CHRIST to be our LORD and Savior. These our people who have opened the door of their heart to invite YOU, kindly occupy their lives. By YOUR Spirit, transform their lives. By the HOLY SPIRIT, fill them with joy of salvation. Thank YOU, LORD JESUS, for the room they have created for YOU…in JESUS Mighty Name I pray. Amen!
I remain your friend, Pastor Amara Uwaeziozi. Once again I say, Happy Christmas to ALL.