No Challenges, Only Opportunities

Scripture:
I Samuel 17:14-11 “And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.  5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
7Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. 8Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”

Quotes:
“Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they're supposed to help you discover who you are.   Bernice Johnson Reagon
“Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”   General George S. Patton
“Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch-what make you go beyond the norm.”   Unknown
“Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.”    Stephen R. Covey
“We choose to go...not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
“How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.”    Louis Camuti
“We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity.”   Unknown

I. David saw the opportunity to demonstrate the power of God over the power of the enemy.
A. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine?
B. Is there not a cause.
C. The Lord who delivered me from the lion and bear will deliver me from this Philistine.
D. I Samuel 17:45-47 “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’S, and He will give you into our hands.”

II. The Opportunity to bring heaven to earth.
Luke 10:1-9 “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. 2Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.  3Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 4Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. 5And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. 6And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. 7And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. 8And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: 9And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”
A. The “challenge” of carrying the message outside the walls of the church into the marketplace.
B. The “challenge” of having to depend on one sidekick rather than a house full of fellow believers.
C. The “challenge” of facing wolves with a lamb spirit.
D. The “challenge” of laying hands on the sick and releasing healing (Christ in you) to the sick. This is releasing heaven on earth.

III. An opportunity to mature and overcome all character deficits.
James 1:2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 3You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors 4So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” (Message Bible)
A. These “challenges” are opportunities to grow in the knowledge of who we are in Christ Jesus.
B. Opportunities through the challenges the heroes of faith encountered brought them into the full will of God and their destiny.

IV. An opportunity to capture the crown.
James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
Message Bible “Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.”
A. There is a temptation to stay in our comfort zone and never rise to the opportunity presented by the “challenge”.
B. There is a temptation stay where we are physically, emotionally and spiritually.
C. There is a temptation to stay out of the radar of the enemy. That happens because we don’t know who we are.
D. There is a temptation to hide our heads in the sand and not be the light of the world that Jesus has called us to be.
E. There is a temptation rely upon our own abilities and not to release the “Christ in us the hope of glory”.
F. There is a temptation to believe that we cannot do the works that Jesus Christ did. This is a disbelief in the Word of God.
G. Overcoming these temptations brings us into a place of authority (we win the crown).
Revelation 3:21 “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”
Revelation 21:6-7 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”
H. So there are no challenges, only opportunities.