Excellent Opportunities

Well, good morning, church. Welcome. We're so happy to see you. Why don't you go ahead and stand up with us. Put your coffee down. Put your hands together. This is the day you make. So I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. I'll rejoice. This is the day you make, so I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it. This is where I believe, you are, you are more than enough, more than enough for me. You are faithful to your promise, you are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. Come on, you know it! The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. You know my soul, hold my soul, bless His name. All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength.

Yes! Jesus, come what may, you are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise, yes. You are faithful to your promise, you are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything, everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. You know my soul, hold my soul, bless His name. All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Yes you are, yes you are God. Yes you are, yes you are God. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Let it rise up like a river. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Let it pour out with no limit. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Let it rise up like a river. Overflowing God's Holy Spirit. Let it pour out with no limit. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. It's your joy. It's your strength God. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. You sustain me Lord. You sustain me God. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Everybody sing, yeah. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, it's more than a feeling.

The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Sing oh my soul. Oh my soul. Bless His name. All that is within me sing. Oh my soul. I will bless His name. All that is within me sing. Oh my soul. Bless His name. All that is within me sing. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, Oh, Oh You are my strength, God Your grace toward me I remember how you provided How you held me through the night And I remember how you sustained me When you stepped in to save my life If I knew then what I know now I would be still and let you work it out Jesus, I was tossed in the water But I never went under You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You arrived there beside me You were always on time You were always, always, always on time You were always, always, always on time And I remember how you cared

When I couldn't take a step And I remember how you loved me When I couldn't love myself Jesus, I was tossed in the water But I never went under You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You arrived there beside me You were always on time You were always, always, always on time You were always, always, always on time You were always, always, always on time You were always, always, always on time You have always been there You have always been There's never been a day There's never been a minute There's never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time That you didn't see me through, God So, I worship you There's never been a day There's never been a minute There's never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time That you didn't see me through, God So, I worship you There's never been a day

There's never been a minute There's never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time That you didn't see me through, God So, I worship you There's never been a day There's never been a minute There's never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time That you didn't see me through, God So, I worship You Jesus, I was tossed in the water But I never went under You were always on time Jesus, when I went through the fire You were right there beside me You were always on top You were always, always, always on top You were always, always Always on top You were always, always Always on top You were always, always on top With me all There's never been a day There's never been a minute There's never been a moment That you weren't in it

There's never been a time That you didn't see me through God I worship you There's never been a day There's never been a minute There's never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time That you didn't see me through God I worship you You're so faithful So kind So kind to God You never miss a thing You see everything You know what we're waiting on And your timing is perfect You know you're worth it Jesus I was tossed in the water But I never went under You were always on time Jesus When I went through the fire You were right there beside me You were always on time Yes, you were Thank you Jesus Give Him a hand clap of praise today Thank you Jesus

For an on time God Thank you Lord You may be seated if you're able If not, run around Thank you Jesus I love it Amen brother Whoo Awesome Bring the heat I love the new series we're on And it is awesome Our worship team is bringing the heat today It's also a privilege to serve with you To worship the Lord with you I love the song that says You know it was rough Waters all through the week for me All through the week I'm trying to do things Control things Instead letting go God is right there beside me Get to come into church And worship with you today And just let it go And let God fill us with His presence And get ready for the next week Because He's there every day of the week Not just Sunday

Awesome I love it And welcome first time visitors If you are here today And it's your first time We'd love to connect with you We have a card in the seat back pocket in front of you We'd love for you to fill that out Drop it in the buckets on the way out as you leave We also have a table That's labeled first time visitors If you need prayer, put it on there You want to know about baptism You want to know about making Jesus the Lord of your life Put that on there too Because we want to walk with you In that adventure And as we always say The best decision of your life Is to make Jesus the Lord of your life So if you do that We want to know and engage with you There is a table on the left that says new believers Just come on by We got a free Bible for you Somebody will be there to answer any questions that you have And just be prepared for the best adventure of your life Come on somebody Awesome We love it

We got a lot going on this time of year Sometimes January is a slow time of year But not a revolution, right? God's got a lot of stuff going on We are busy We are excited And so one of the things we're excited about Is see some steel beams tomorrow going up In front of this building, somebody That's awesome Awesome So you have all been patient with the construction We got a little bit more to go, right? Pastor, a little bit more But it's awesome to see some progress I love to see the chaos of a construction site And then all of a sudden something beautiful happens So that's powerful It reminds me of some other stuff in our lives, right? But Awake 21 has been amazing Tonight we have a service at 7 o'clock At Forest Hills Baptist Church 7 o'clock tonight, Forest Hills Baptist Church Tomorrow, Pastor Pacer has given the word At Broadway Baptist Church at 7 o'clock So come on out, support our pastor Thank you, Jesus Awake 21, Devin told me this morning Has reached 60,000 people in presence Or online in 49 countries

So let's give God a hand clap of praise for that That is a miracle And it is awesome, awesome Next Sunday, we also have our Connect Luncheon In the pavilion in the back At 11 o'clock next Sunday We will have food We will have child care So your needs are taken care of as a lot of money and I'm gonna tell you the truth and I'm gonna tell you why it's so important in this particular I'll tell you how because for me money in my life has been security and I put too much hope and faith in finances and money and I had to let go of that and I knew it was based off of fear that I had for my whole life and God has healed me of that and changed my heart and that freedom is awesome I just want you to know that so it's amazing how impactful giving can be to us and the people around us and the ministries in this church so I encourage you to do that it is a miracle work in power just being obedient to the call so let's get go to the go to the Lord in prayer before our word today he has some exciting words for us today so dear Jesus we love you so much we're so excited to be here in your presence Lord and just share that presence with each other Lord and just lift up your name and glorify you and everything we do Lord bless our pastor as he comes to deliver the word today anoint him helping to speak clearly on your message Lord speak through him what the Holy Spirit has for us because we know you have amazing things in store for our church all those in the correctional facilities online all over the world Lord we love you so much in your name amen welcome to revolution if today is your first time with us be sure to stop by the new attendee to after service we'd love to say hello and give you a special gift if you're joining us online give us a shout in the comments we'd love to connect with you there I'm Amy and here's a look at what's going on at revolution hey revolution church family our connect one luncheon is happening next Sunday during third service in the pavilion if you're new or ready to get connected this is your first step you'll enjoy lunch meet some of our leaders and hear from pastor Pacer about the heart and vision of our church to join us just sign up on the Church Center app or through our website we'd love to see you

there spring soccer registration is now open visit the Church Center app to register your child or to volunteer we weren't meant to face life alone and we believe in the power of prayer if you are in need of prayer today we'd love to stand with you if you're here in person you can meet with a member of our prayer team after service you can always write your prayer request on a connect card and drop it off in the offering bucket as you leave if you're watching online feel free to share your prayer requests in the comments we're here for you stay connected with us throughout the week by following revolution on social media you can find us on Facebook Instagram YouTube and Twitter looking for more details about upcoming events and what's happening at revolution visit our website at Rio revolution comm or download our church app for all the latest updates thank you so much for being with us today we hope you enjoyed the rest of the service well good morning how's everybody doing today you got to be in God's house I know you are you wouldn't be here it's good to see all of you welcome to Revolution Church hey I've asked two of our worship team members to come up on stage real quick because I was watching them from the audience today and worshiping and my mind went back 19 years ago 19 years ago when God called us to pastor this church we we had no clue okay we had no clue where we were going to preach at we had no clue where we're going to get equipment at we had no clue who the worship team would be the only thing we knew for certain is I was probably gonna be the pastor and that was about it okay but but anyway we had a little mini tryout at our church that planted us and we invited musicians to come that would want to be part of this team and so 19 years ago come on let's give it up mr. Paul Delosier and Jesse Williams they said come on let's yeah do they not do a great job every Sunday morning leading us in worship yeah you know these these guys are tremendous and there's a lot to say about longevity faithfulness and there there there is there's there's tons to say about that there's a lot of people that come and go but when you see people come and get

planted and flourish and thrive what was you saying Jesse and you say in four years your daughter is gonna be the age that you were when you first came in how old would she be she'll be 17 and that's when we started the church Jesse was 17 when he started playing and how are you now 36 okay see so okay come on let's give it up for these guys again we love appreciate man that is that I just love that you know people that are committed you know that that is so awesome anyway Revolution Church we're a multi-site campus streaming in to listen now seven hundred and forty three correctional facilities spanning across thirty nine different states come on let's give it up for all those that are joining us online today and all of that is is accomplished through your giving so thank you for your generosity and your giving today we're in week three of this sermon series the New Year series called bring the heat and we bring a did pastor David not bring the heat last Sunday come on let's appreciate him thank you so much Connie and I were down in Florida we were live-streaming and we're like yeah come on you go I like that one punchline he said if if you don't have one of those cousins then you're probably the cousin I love it I love that was awesome that was I was trying to sit here think of maybe I don't know if I have one of those cousins then he said you you are so great great job but also he his message was an excellent spirit and I want to reshare his quote a great quote I love it his quote was this he said an excellent spirit produces excellent behavior or excellent thoughts excellent thoughts produce excellent behavior excellent behavior produces excellent achievement in excellent achievement God is glorified I love that that was a good word and and and so we know God wants us to have an excellent spirit so notice how having an excellent spirit creates positive ripple effects right you just continue to see one positive thing after another well I want to add another ripple to that today and and the next thing I want to add is an excellent spirit creates excellent opportunities today the title of the message is excellent opportunities and we're gonna be talking about that Webster's definition for opportunity is this it's a favorable combination of circumstances time and place opportunity

a favorable combination combination of circumstances time and place now we see this word opportunity used throughout the Bible Old Testament in Hebrew you'll see it in the New Testament in the Greek as a matter of fact the Greek word for opportunity is Kairos now you've heard me talk about Kairos and preach on Kairos Kairos actually the definition is an opportune time and it's God's timing and so when we're talking about this I'm believing that 2026 is going to be the year of opportunities for you and for this church can I hear an amen how many of you are expecting opportunities to come your way in 2026 a year of divine appointments now Connie and I are strong believers in divine appointments and so so on my calendar if you looked at my calendar today you would notice that every Friday my calendar is blocked off okay other days of the week they'll see you'll see sections but all day on Friday it's blocked off and you want to guess what it says on that particular appointment divine appointment no it's close it says Connie okay it says Connie Friday is Connie's day so you know super busy through the week lots of things going on so that day on Friday we call it our date day and so but here's what's crazy guys is on Fridays it's like every single Friday we experience at least one divine appointment and we've got to where we we're looking for it now we're expecting it's like okay what's gonna happen today and it's late in the evening it's not happened yet and then something happens well Fridays we do different things some days we'll hike back in the mountains we'll we'll travel we'll do whatever but we're always doing something together and we just think that's healthy for for our marriage and healthy for even even our church but but anyway Connie and I had the opportunity to take a vacation it's been a while since just the two of us have taken a vacation and so we just took a vacation to Florida had a great time it was awesome and any anyway In saying that, we were out at McGee Tyson Airport. We're preparing to get on our plane. And so we're sitting there. We're waiting on them to call our zone.

And they do. And we get in line. We're going through the check-in there. And we're walking in. We get into the plane. Now, we have a center seat and a window seat assigned to us. And that's almost always what we get. And so we have a system determining who gets the window and who gets the center. OK, this is our little system. You might want to try it, maybe not. I don't know, but here it is. So if we walk back to our role and there's a female that's sitting on the aisle seat, then I get the window. Connie gets the center. OK, just the opposite. If there's a male out on the aisle, then I get the center. Squished in there. And then Connie gets the window. So we're walking back. And we're kind of looking back, trying to find our role to see if anyone's there yet. And by the way, if no one's sitting there yet, we'll stand until somebody comes. We're going to wait. We're not going to prematurely sit down there until we know who gets who. So anyway, we're walking back. We're looking for our role.

We get back there. And it's crazy. We get back there. And it's a female. Yeah. I get the window all the way to Florida. I got two hours over by the window by myself and ready for vacation. And so the young lady lets us in. We come in. Connie sits down in the center. And they immediately start a conversation like she always does. She's talking. And I'm over here kind of being quiet. And then they stop talking. And I started talking with Connie. And I mentioned her name. I mentioned Connie. And when I did, the young lady sitting over beside of us, she said, would by chance you be a pastor? It's like, how did you know that? And she said, I was at church Sunday. And I heard you mention your wife's name, Connie. She didn't recognize me. But she heard the name. And I said, yeah, we pastor the church, Revolution Church. She said, yeah, I was there. Now, check this out. She's from Florida.

She's moved into Maryville. She's attending the university. And she was looking for a church and happened to be at our church that Sunday. What's the chances of that? Come on, somebody help me, OK? They're very slim. So what we did is we had two hours for me to share the vision and values of our church. And she had so many questions. We talked. We had a great time. Right now, I want you to help me formally welcome Tracy to Revolution Church. We have a picture of her. Tracy, come on, let's give it up for Tracy. It's crazy. That's not a coincidence. That's a God appointment. And so I believe that opportunities are something that God places in our life. He places them there. And then they also come in a variety of different ways. But I want to say this. I don't think they're random. I don't think they just happen. I also believe that you and I play a role in experiencing these opportunities. How many of you today would like to see a God-size opportunity come your way in 2026?

Come on, you would like to see it, a God-size. I'm talking about something that only God gets the credit for. It was an opportunity. The only way that it could have happened was God placed it in your life. Well, there's many people in the Bible for whom God placed opportunities in their life. People like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. You see opportunities come their way. What about Joseph? He had a hard time, but continued to see opportunities. Moses, Joshua, even Rahab and Esther. And then we've got David. There's many more. Lots of opportunities came their way. But something I wanted to share with you, after studying these individuals and thinking about the opportunities, basically what I've found is several things that these people did to set in motion these opportune times in their life. And I want to take the next few minutes to share these things, because I believe that you and I can apply them in our life. And that may help us to experience these great opportunities. So if you're taking notes, the first thing, I'm going to title it, or I'm going to call it, Seeding Opportunities. Seeding Opportunities. This is planting seeds for future opportunities. Now, we see this in the life of David.

We see David as a young man. He's out in the shepherd's field. He's doing what God's called him to do. He's obeying his father. He's serving the sheep. He's taking care of the animals and he's being obedient To do that, but he's also we can read that David was really good on the harp He played the harp. He he worshipped God and all the time while he was doing these things I believe he was seeding opportunities in his life. He was planting seeds for future opportunities whether he was writing a song or You know praying to God all the time. He's planting seeds in the ground for opportunities To be produced in his life or even when he was protecting the sheep, you know from the bear and the lions He was seeding opportunities. Now today. I want to give you three ways that you and I can seed opportunities Again, a first thing we do is we can pray. Amen Matthew 633 says but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and what? all these other things Everything else in life Will be added unto you. So we're going to seek God. We're going to seek his righteous We're going to pray and as we seek the Lord in prayer and fasting He's going to answer and provide great opportunities. Just like I believe he's going to do for this church During our time of prayer and fasting look at Colossians 4 to he said devote yourselves to what? devote yourselves to prayer make it intentional be intentional about your prayer life spend time with the Lord do it daily and he says to do it with an alert mind and with a Thankful heart so prayers important prayer will seed opportunities. The next thing that will seed opportunities is giving Giving will provide opportunities look at Proverbs 11 25 says the generous will prosper and those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed and so giving creates opportunities by Enabling God's blessings to flow into our life You see if I just hang on to what I've got and I'm never generous then then God can't really bless me in return But when I open up my hand and I give to God see now my hands open to receive and it creates these opportunities It generates a cycle of blessings or open doors in our life and opportunities

See the next thing we can do to seed opportunities is serving. I want you to look at this verse It's the vision six seven and eight Paul said serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord and not people Because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do Whether they are slave or free serve Wholeheartedly and so these are things that we can do pray we can pray and as we pray and seek God We know it's going to seed opportunities give and serve Prayer giving and serving are the seeds that will produce a harvest Okay So so now that we've done this now that you have planted seeds and as a church I've watched you you've planted a lot of seeds Over the years and and so as we have done this we've planted we've prayed we've done done these things now What what's next the next thing that we want to do is be on the lookout? What are you looking for? I'm looking for an opportunity because those opportunities will come our way and so this leads to point number two Not only seeding opportunities now, we're seeing we're seeing opportunities See David had an unusual ability to see Opportunities when when other people didn't other people just didn't see it They just were oblivious to it, but David would see it look at while leadership in Israel saw Goliath as a massive threat David saw Goliath as an opportunity are you guys with me now? I want you to think about it the entire leadership of Israel Saul and all the army and all the people they were afraid They were scared of Goliath 40 days Goliath had stepped out on the battlefield he had defied Israel He had made fun of God and Saul in the army. They were paralyzed. They couldn't move forward They were paralyzed by fear, but David was seeing this as an opportune time to glorify God Okay, so seeing is important So today is day 15 of our prayer and fasting as a church and for you that don't know the first of the year every Year, we'll do 21 days of prayer and fasting and we believe that just sets up the year for this church And and allows us to align with the heart of God and allows God to bring opportunities our way Today is day 15 And the key word every day we have a key word that we pray about the key word today is reveal Okay, it's revealed and how many of you guys know Heidi and appreciate miss Heidi that leads our groups Amen is she not amazing woman of God. She's a powerful prayer warrior and intercession enters

She intercedes for the body well God gave her these these words for us to pray pray over and so today it's reveal and this again is it's what we're talking about is God my prayer is that you would reveal to our church the opportunities that you've placed in front of us that you would open up our eyes and let us see those opportunities so what are some things that that God will give you the ability to see a I want you to notice this when we're talking about seeing opportunities this is something to watch for pay attention to problems most people say avoid the problem don't think about it but I'm going to say something a little different today I'm going to say when it comes to seeing opportunities that you should pay attention to problems the next time you are facing a problem and you might be in the middle of a problem right now instead of panicking I want you to focus on the opportunity that lies within the problem are you guys with me now I want you to I want you to look into it because again usually we're so flustered and so upset about the problem that we miss the opportunity and God puts these opportunities right in the middle of our problems and we see that again with Israel we see that with David it was a problem what they were dealing with but there was an opportunity that was placed right in front of them the next thing be is listen to those people that God places in your life God God places people in our life to help us there's there's different ways that the Lord will speak to you speak to me he'll speak to us through his word he'll speak to us through the Holy Spirit and he also speaks to us through people amen so I want to encourage you to listen to those people that God places around you because he'll speak to us through them and we should be attentive because many times God will let those people around you see the opportunity before you can and and it's like I can see that God's placed an opportunity right in front of you and we can't see it many times for the problem so listen to those people that God places around you look at Philippians 119 he said understand this my dear brothers and sisters you must all be and I've highlighted I want you to know as close to what he says next be quick to listen let that sink in for a

second be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to get angry be quick to listen you understand communication and communication skills a lot of it is speaking behalf of its listening to be a good communicator we've got to be good listeners listen to what people are saying we the opportunity might be there what someone else is saying the opportunity might be hidden right there so listen to what they say be quick to listen and then see I'm going to say that another way that you and I can can see the these opportunities is reflect regularly reflect regularly there's a business saying that says this that what you don't manage or what you don't measure you don't manage let that sink in for a second what you don't measure you don't manage and so years ago when I was at the city of Maryville and in management we did this thing on a regular basis we reviewed this process it's it was called KP eyes key performance indicators anybody ever heard of that or been a bit a part of it a lot a lot of you have some of you probably still do it and you hate that process but but here's here here's the deal with KP eyes it's revealing whether you're you're productive or not okay it's it's going to tell the truth you may have an intuition that hey we're doing pretty good the KP eyes may say something different and so I think this is important that all of us are measuring the things that God's placed for us to manage that'll allow us to get better and and again when we talk about this self-evaluation is biblical did you know that self-evaluation is biblical and it's also beneficial let me give you a verse 2nd Corinthians 13 5 he said examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine test yourselves surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you if not you have failed the test of genuine faith so right here we see self-examination and self-testing is very important looking inside God is there some things in my life that I can improve on do I have blind spots and if you're not sure what they are ask your your wife or ask your husband or ask those people closest to you because usually we're not as good as we think we are okay come on somebody so so so this is important he said examine yourselves test yourselves and now now when we look

at this we've seeded the opportunity we have seen the opportunity and this next part is extremely important the last part is seizing the opportunity okay so and I think honestly this is what separates a lot of Christians from those who are experiencing opportunities and they're growing and developing from those who just stay stagnant or never move forward you know I think every I think most of us are seeding opportunities we most most of us pray most of us do those things that most of us are serving we're doing that and then most of us you know we probably see when opportunities come but how many of you have ever struggled seizing the opportunity come on let's just be real hold up your hand if you've ever struggled seizing it you knew God placed it there you knew it was that but but for some reason there there was maybe just a struggle in seizing it you know several years ago like probably 20 plus years ago Connie and I had opened a business and we had opened it here on East Lamar Alexander Parkway we built a building we bought property we built a building and when we were ready to open the business we had some of our closest friends to come over and and pray with us and and so it's crazy because one of our friends is here today and she's in Florida a lot of the time I think that's miss Sherry back there is that you miss Sherry yep awesome I'm glad you're in the service so we had these friends to come in and pray over our dedication of our business I'm not pastoring we're just opening up a business okay and we're we're wanting God to bless it we're looking for an opportunity for God to bless it so we gather in in the in the building and as we gather we start praying we're just all holding hands and we're praying God blesses this business and somewhere in the middle of that prayer God gave miss Sherry a prophetic word and she was obedient and she spoke it that day and I and I'll never forget what she said she said I see a net cast across East Lamar Alexander Parkway and this net is full of fish it's bursting forth it's got so many fish in it and the whole time that I'm listening to that prophecy I'll never forget it I thought that sounds like a church I kid you not I that was the thought in my mind that sounds that don't sound like a business that sounds like a church but it whatever it is God I probably don't

understand it what I didn't understand was several years later about three miles down East Lamar Alexander Parkway God was going to cast a net and it was going to be filled up with fish and lost people were going to be saved every single weekend come on somebody that's the way God moves did you hear me that's not a lot of it comes from disobedience what if what if you weren't obedient that day I would have heard that word and knew years later that that's my that's part of my confirmation see God places those people in our lives and it's important that we listen to him this is pretty random but I'm going to give you another story okay so so before we built this building we needed 90 tandem loads of field dirt brought in Sam you're an excavator you know how much that is okay and I went to the city of Maryville the city of Alcoa Blount County CNC trucking if they had a dump truck I went knocked on their door and I said if you have any extra fielder will you bring it to us we need 90 tandem loads and we're praying we're fasting we're trusting God because we don't really have the resources at this point a new business startup to purchase 90 tandem loads but we did find an option Pellissippi Parkway was was being built out next to Clayton Holmes during this time there was a lot of dirt out there and and they were giving it away the only thing you had to pay was the haul bill but the haul bill in its for 90 tandem loads was going to be very expensive and we didn't want to do that so we're praying God we're praying but I'm going to tell you something for weeks and months and months we get a pile of dirt here and a pile of dirt there and and it's just not it's not coming in as a matter of fact I hired a local guy to level it out when it come in he didn't there he never had to come by he didn't we didn't need us we didn't need his help because there was no dirt coming in and of course I'm I'm lack of faith, little me, now I want to tell you something. During this time, we set a date, and if I'm not mistaken, it was like August 16th or something like that, that if the dirt is not in by this date, then we're going to purchase. We're going to pull the trigger, and we're going to purchase that dirt from, or pay for the haul bill to get that dirt brought in.

Two weeks. Listen to me, I want you to listen closely, because I didn't even think about it until I seen Jerry back here. Two weeks before that, Sherry had a dream, and she shared it with my wife, and she said I saw a convoy of trucks pulling into your property and dumping dirt. I was like, Sarah, I've been waiting on, I've talked to everybody I know. And so, okay, sorry Sherry, I just, lack of faith, little faith, it's like, it's like I just don't, I don't, okay, we got two weeks. Will you listen to me for a second? Trucks started pulling into this property from all over this county. They were lining up, and it happened, I promise, it happened within that two week period. I spoke to her, she was obedient, gave the word, I was too stubborn to listen, but I watched it. I said if she ever says anything to you, Connie, write it down, don't let me forget it. Because so much dirt came in in that two week period, the excavator that was leveling, he called me up, and he said, Pacer, tell them to stop. We can't, I can't level anymore, you've got all you need. What are you saying? I'm saying opportune times come in your life, but we've got to recognize, and when we do recognize, seizing it is important, and the Lord said 2026, look for great opportunities to come your way. Come on, God's gonna bring the heat. Now, when it comes to seizing opportunities, here's my philosophy on it. I'd rather swing and miss a ball than stand and watch a strike. Okay, come on, put that up on the screen. I'd rather swing and miss a ball than stand there and watch a strike. You guys ever been watching a baseball game, and it was close, and you got this guy, you got two outs, and just need one hit, and you got this guy up to bat, and he watches a strike come through, and it's end of game? You ever seen that?

That leaves you so frustrated, doesn't it? It's like, at least swing and miss. Here's the word for you guys, listen to me. I'd rather see you swing and miss a ball than stand and watch a strike, and God has been sending strikes your way. You've not seen it, you've not recognized it in many cases, but I promise you, he's been lobbying a man. He's going, right, here's your cherry, just hit it, just hit it. It's a strike, swing, 2026, swing, come on, somebody swing at bat. Trust God, look to God, because I'm convinced that if we start swinging, we're going to see some opportunities. Now, three important things in seizing opportunities, A, be prepared to act quickly, okay? That's important. Ephesians 5, 16, make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. David was prepared to act quickly against Goliath. He didn't say, excuse me, I need to go back and practice with my sling, okay? I'll be back, or I need to go get some counsel. Or he didn't even say, I need to go pray about it. No, his life, his behavior was basically training for this opportunity, and when it came, it's boom, send me in, coach, I'm ready to go. I'm ready, I've been practicing all my life for this, I'm ready. See, delay can result in missed opportunities. I'm going to say it again, delay, God places it in front of you, do not delay, don't hesitate, you've hesitated enough, it's time to take advantage of the opportunities that he's been sending your way for years. Or you're going to wake up one day and say, I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have done that. If I, listen to me, guys, I wasn't going to pastor a church, I was a businessman, and I was. was interested in making some money. Connie and I like to travel, and that was

our interest. But I could not, for the sake of me, see myself standing before God and Him saying, I called you as a young man, and you chose career, and you chose money, and you chose business over this. I couldn't do it. And you can't do it either. Whatever it is God's calling you, listen to me, He's calling some of you today some big things. It's going to produce a massive, mega opportunity. But you got to be willing to step up. That's what separates the majority. See, everybody, when David walked down on the battlefield, David was already anointed king. He was anointed king as a young boy. Are you guys with me now? You see, he was anointed king in private. It was in his own household that Saul anointed him king. He didn't do it in front of the nation. So he knew there's something in there. There's a call in there. There's a purpose in there. And I'm not going to prematurely run after it, but when the opportunity arises, you better believe me, I'm on it. I'm in it. You can count me in. The Bible calls for spiritual readiness as opportune times arise. And so we're urged to prepare to respond to God's call at any moment. B, trust God and take the first step. Trust God and take the first step. True faith isn't just believing, it's acting on that belief even without a clear roadmap. Abraham didn't have a roadmap when God called him to leave from earth. All he had was a promise and a word from the Lord. And he took that step of faith. And how many of you realize he blessed Abraham tremendously because it was important. He trusted God. He took the first step. Proverbs 16.3 says, commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed. Take that first step even though you can't see the entire stairway. Go ahead and take a step. I promise you that God is going to provide a foundation when you step out, when you're stepping out for the Lord. Do it. I promise you he's going to. He'll never let you down. Peter had to step out on the water. And many of us, God's provided opportunities for us to step. Step out by faith. Let this be your opportune time. I want you to understand something that David, he had prepared. He was called by his father. His father said, I need you to bring some bread and some cheese. Very minimal task. Simple, simple question. Simple ask. I need you to bring some bread and cheese to the battle. Sons are needing some food.

They're hungry. And David did just like he was told. Shows up on the battlefield. He's got his bread and his cheese. And he overhears a conversation. And it's this Goliath. And he's, he's cursing his God. He's making fun of the creator of the universe and over the army of Israel. And David hears this and he's like, will somebody not do something? Is everybody just gonna sit here? Will somebody step up and do something? No, they're paralyzed. There's fear. And David said, what's going on here? Somebody tell me what's happening here? Why is everybody sitting back? And somebody said, oh, well the king has already made a promise that if someone goes and fights Goliath, this warrior, this massive warrior, if somebody fights him and destroys him, the king has offered his daughter for marriage. Do you understand what that means? You're getting ready to enter into royalty. Not only that, this is the part I really like, he said tax exemption for life. I could get excited for that. Couldn't you? It's like, what? That wasn't his motivator, motivator though. That wasn't the incentive that, that got his attention. It was something else. It was this spirit, this evil spirit that was calling God's people out and holding them back from from being what God's called them to be. And, and so he asked someone else and they said, oh yeah, this is the deal. If anybody goes and fights him and he said, I'll do it. I'll go. What? This young man said, said he'll go. And they start talking around. And, and the word gets to King Saul. We have some, we have a warrior that's ready to go fight. Goliath he said well bring him to me bring him to me let me let you know let introduce me to him and here comes this young youthful young man and he walks up to Paul and Paul and Saul and Saul looks at him and it's like there's no way you see it wasn't the first time he had been passed over come on somebody he'd been passed over many times but not by God by men see God had a plan and God's plan supersedes all man's plans and he and so it's like you you can't go fight him you're just a you're just a youth and this guy out here he's a warrior from his youth he's probably killed more people than you could count I can't send you out and he said well can I can explain a couple things to you he said

yeah he said I've been in true this is my this is Pacers words paraphrase I've been in training my entire life for this moment and I will not miss this opportunity I will not back down I will not shut up I will not sit still what are you talking about when the bear came out and it took one of my sheep I didn't sit back and jerk on the job and do nothing no I went after it I went after it and I rescued that that sheep out of the bear's mouth and after that I ripped I tore that bear apart killed him well guys I'm an outdoorsman I'm around a lot of animals that's impossible humanly impossible to kill a bear with your bear hands that's impossible I'm just telling you they are so strong but with God all things are possible can I hear an amen to that with God all there's nothing possible he said no I did it but but that that's not all there was a lion and he came out pretty much the same story and I took care of that line I'm see can you imagine the boldness in David's eyes can you imagine the courage and here's this King Saul the warrior it's like this this guy believes what he's saying and he said what I did to the bear in the line I'll do to that uncircumcised giant it's making fun of our God you just send me out send me out I'm in and and so Saul said oh okay he dressed him in his armor and you guys know the story and David puts his armor on and and he tries to walk and it's like he said I can't wear this why can't you wear it I can't wear it because it's not tested I didn't prepare are you guys with me now he said I didn't prepare with this attire let's get rid of the armor and let's just give me the sling I need to be free to move I want you to think about this for a second he walks out on that battlefield and Goliath starts making fun of him who who would Israel send to me just a lad I'm gonna kill you I'm gonna tear your flesh off of your body and the birds of the air is gonna eat you boy a lot of people might may have cowed it's like this guy means what he says but here's David's response and we can learn so much more he said not that's not that's not gonna be the way this all turns out he says a matter of fact I'm not only going to kill you big boy but I'm gonna cut your head off today Goliath had never had anybody talk to him like that

Goliath had never heard anybody ever speak with that kind of faith and boldness and so I believe he immediately got Goliath's attention that caused vulnerability to the enemy you start speaking by faith what God's placed inside of you you start standing up to what God has already said his word and you watch it creates vulnerability from the enemy because David goes out with his five smooth stones he only needed one the Bible says that he he he slung that stone and it not only hit its target but it sunk in the skull of Goliath and he died in front of the entire nation of Israel the Philistines. He walks over to him. He don't have a sword. Let's see, I said I was gonna cut his head off. How am I gonna do that? Well, there's a sword. He uses Goliath's sword. It took the enemy's head off. I'm gonna tell you something guys, listen to me. Whoo, I feel the power of the Holy Spirit moving in this place. God's getting ready to do some things through your life that you never dreamed possible. Some dreams that you've had, some plans that you're making, and for some of you today, it's going to ignite some plans for your future. You're not called to be average or ordinary. You're called to be extraordinary and do extraordinary things for God. Can I hear an amen to that? How many of you believe that? The last thing in seizing these opportunities, the last thing, listen closely, and it's simply three words. They're important that you get them. It's never look back. I want to say it again, never look back. Because every single one of you will have an opportunity, a time in your life where you, where you can look back and say, well I shouldn't have done this, I should have done that, or I'm gonna tell you something, this is important. It's an important word that you hear. Never, never look back from this day forward. I'm not, I'm not looking back. See, see David, he made a lot of mistakes after he was anointed king. He committed the worst sins, some of them seemingly the worst sin that you could imagine. He committed adultery and murder. Seemed like it was over for him. And there's serious consequences for those sins. He lost his son, but during this time, the Bible says that he goes into deep prayer and mourning and praying. And then he gets the word that his son has passed. Now I want you to understand something right

here. This is an opportunity to live the rest of your life in bitterness, in pain, questioning, or always looking back. Here's what separated David. The Bible says that on his knees he repented before God. That's the key. Repented before God. He stood up. He washed his face. Come on, you understand what this is saying? And I love the last part of it. The Bible says he went to the house of the Lord and he worshipped. Who are you worshipping? You committed murder. You committed adultery. You shouldn't be worshipping God. I'm gonna tell you something. He didn't look back and you shouldn't either. There's nothing that should stop you from worshipping the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with all your heart. Amen? David would dance before the Lord. He would praise the Lord not because he was perfect, but because his God had forgiven him. Amen? Let's stand. I'm gonna leave this last verse with you. Philippians 3, 13, 14. Friends, don't get me wrong. By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal where God is beckoning us onward to Jesus. Now, check this out. I'm off and running and I'm not turning back. I'm off and running. How many of you guys are ready to run for Jesus like never before? Where are you going? I don't know. I'm just off and running. Where's he leading you? I'm just trusting that he's leading me to the right spot. What are you doing? I'm off and running. What's going on in college? I'm off and running. What's going on in your marriage? Oh, it's off and doing great. We're bringing the heat. In the first service, I did a slip and I said, David got a new anointing and a new wife. I don't know where that came from or what. I think I just meant new life. But what a better opportunity right now for someone to accept Christ. Maybe someone to be born again. God's placed the best opportunity that you could ever imagine. When Jesus gave his life for all mankind, when he hung on that cross, he was doing it for you because he loved you. And that's your best opportunity ever to accept Christ and turn from your old ways. Save you today. He'll set you free today. He'll deliver you today. Amen. You're just one prayer away one decision away from a bright future We're gonna sing this last song I'm gonna ask everybody if you would stay with us until this song's over because I believe people are gonna be making

Decisions during this time pray team. Would you guys come forward if? today You're looking for a massive opportunity in 2026 come on If You're looking for a massive opportunity in 2026. I don't want you to leave in this place Without praying with someone about that very thing We have a prayer team up here that's willing to pray. There's people beside of you that maybe you know But find someone During this last song and let's agree with the Lord That we are not only going to see the opportunity We're gonna see it and then we're gonna seize it you guys ready to do that today. Amen Let's worship with the prayer team. If you need Jesus, I'm gonna ask you to come forward I see spoke for me Mercy spoke Mercy spoke for me. It was on go gothish tree his death brought liberty his death He is death I never Except the cross of Jesus Christ They are not forget The blood he shed It is by his death. I am Because of Christ I Sacrifice love that wash me clean Love me wash me clean What a blessing mystery, oh his punishment my peace It's punish

He accepts the cross of Jesus Forget The blood he shed It is by his death I am alive Except the cross of jesus It is by his death I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Come on church lift up your hands praise our father praise our lord and savior sing hallelujah with me You praise the one who set me free death has lost its grip on me Jesus rose in victory. He's alive alive in me Me Praise the one who set me free Death has lost its grip on me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Jesus rose in victory He's alive, alive in me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free Death has lost its grip on me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Jesus rose in victory He's alive, alive in me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free Death has lost its grip on me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Jesus rose in victory

He's alive, alive in me May I never boast in anything Except the cross of Jesus Christ May I not forget the blood He shed It is by His death I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Father God, we pray that You continue to bless these people that are coming to the altars, Lord. I pray that You continue to bless the people that didn't come to the altars. Father God, You know us, You know our struggles, You know what we need, Father God, Lord, and we just pray that You continue to help us, to place Your hands on us, Father God. Lord, I pray over this entire congregation, Father God, for the blood of Jesus to wash over everybody. We thank You, Father, and we pray that You continue to bring more and more hurt people to this church, Father God, to any church. Father, we give You all the glory and all the praise, and we thank You. I just ask that as we step out into this week, Father God, Lord, that You bless us and You walk before us. I just pray and the whole church yells, Amen. Amen.