YOUR FUTURE AND YOUR POSSIBILITIES Part 6 of 7
Revelation 3:7-13
Tonight I am going to continue with my series of messages from the Book of Revelation chapter 2-3 on the seven churches of Asia.
The title of this seven part series has been “Getting Ready For Your Future.” The title of my message tonight is, “Your Future And Your Possibilities” and our text is found in Revelation 3:7-13.
As we beginning this New Year, this New Century and this New Millennium, God is going to present us with some new and wonderful possibilities. When it comes to the future different people see different possibilities. Walter Cronkite once said, “When I go, I’d like to go like Errol Flynn - on the deck of my 70-foot yacht with a 20-year-old mistress.” To which his wife replied, “You’re going to go on a 20-foot boat with your 70-year-old mistress.”
Revelation 3:7, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:”
3 Descriptions For Jesus
His ATTRIBUTES - You can count on Him.
His AUTHORITY - He is the key man.
At Grace Fellowship Church you don’t have to know the key men if you know the man who holds the keys.
Revelation 1:18, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (NIV)
His ACTIVITY - He gives you opportunities.
Every opportunity for salvation, every opportunity for service, every opportunity for witnessing is made possible by Jesus Christ. He is the one who opens the door. He is the one who unlocks the door. And you can count on Him to do it.
Along with every possibility there is also a risk. While God shows us the possibilities we need to be willing to take the risk. Great successes never come without risks. All accomplishments come from daring to begin. Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second and at the same time keep your foot on first base.
In the December 24, 1999 issue of USA Today there was an article about the New Millennium. In it the question was asked, “What does the future hold?” One thing we know for sure about the future is that it is going to be filled with possibilities. This article went on to describe what some people in the past thought about the possibilities they faced in the future.
Before Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful U.S. oil well near Titusville, Pa in 1859 some workers said to him, “Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try to find oil? You’re crazy!”
In 1865 the Boston Post reported, “Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value.”
Charles H. Duell, Director of the U.S. Patents Office in 1899 said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Robert Milliken said in 1923, “There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.”
H.M. Warner, of Warner Brothers said in 1927, “Who the (blank) wants to hear actors talk?”
In 1936 The New York Times reported, “A rocket will never be able to leave the earth’s atmosphere.”
Thomas Watson the president of IBM in 1943 said, “I think there is a world market for maybe 5 computers?”
Darryl Zanuck, the famous Twentieth Century Fox producer and director said in 1946, “Television won’t last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”
Grand Ole Opry’s Jim Denny told Elvis Presley in 1954, “You ain't going nowhere son. You ought to go back to driving a truck.” Recently Elvis was named the top entertainer of the entire 20th century.
In 1966 visionary and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller said, “By the year 2000, politics will simply fade away. We will not see any political parties.”
Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corporation said in 1977, “There is no need for any individual to have a computer in their home.”
In 1981 Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft said, “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” Today his computers offer more than 500 times that much space for memory in computers.
The question is, “What are you going to do with the possibilities that God gives you?”
An eighty-year old man decided to take a risk and tell his doctor, "I'm going to marry a twenty-five-year-old girl." "That’s pretty risky, it could be fatal," said the physician. "Well, so be it," replied the old man. "If she dies, she dies."
There are a lot of ways to become a failure, but never taking a chance is the most successful.
Tonight I would like us to learn four lessons from the church in Philadelphia on how to take a risk for God.