How Obstacles Become Opportunities

work at 2 am in the morning saw the blazes and knocked on our door, saving our lives.

Now here’s the interesting thing. That same hero had to pull the widow from her apartment as she was kicking and screaming. She was either so drunk she misunderstood his motives or she wanted to die in the fire. I don’t know. But I do know that man didn’t pay any attention to her and saved her in spite of her objections.

That hero illustrates what we need in the church today. People who will not only overcome their fear, but also overcome the objections of others who do not want to be saved.

According to Paul - God has given us the power to do just that!

2. The Apollos Principle - Don’t pout just because you don’t get your way.

1 Corinthians 16:12 - "Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren, but he was quite unwilling to come at this time; however, he will come when he has a convenient time."

Notice that there’s no apparent bitterness on Paul’s part because another well-known preacher of the day didn’t go to Corinth when Paul requested.

How could Paul respond like this when he didn’t get his way? Look at verse 14: "Let all that you do be done with love."

When you don’t get your way in life, don’t pout. Instead, love others and give them the same level of respect you desire when you don’t think you should do what they want you to do.

A lot of times followers of Christ get in a huff when they don’t get their way. Sometimes they won’t even talk to each other.

Like the man who had a fight with his wife so they were giving one another the silent treatment.

Problem was the man realized his wife would have to wake him at 5:00 am for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me up at 5:00 am."

The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 am, and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go let his anger out on his wife when he noticed a piece of paper by his bed...it said, "It is 5:00 am, wake up."

Now Paul didn’t give Apollos the silent treatment just because Apollos didn’t do what he wanted him to. Instead he respected the decision of Apollos.

Do you respect the opinions and decisions of others in the church when they disagree with you? You should.

Some of the obstacles that bring opportunity happen right in the church. You don’t have to go out into the unchurched world to see obstacles. We create a lot of obstacles for ourselves!

Satan will try to get us discombobulated over something someone else in the church says or does. It’s up to us to follow the admonition, "Resist the devil and he will flee." (James 4:7b)

Our problem is that we think the devil doesn’t operate inside the church walls. It’s almost as if we believe there is a "force field" around the church property that doesn’t allow the devil in. Boy are we naive.

Satan even attended Jesus’ staff meetings. He had to say to Simon Peter, "Get thee behind me Satan" (Matthew 16:23), because Simon opposed Christ’s announcement that he was going to suffer and die.

Now I’m not suggesting we handle our disagreements with one another by saying "get thee behind me Satan", because we’re not the Lord. But I am suggesting that Satan will try to make obstacles out of