Acts 26:32- Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.
There is one thing about missed opportunities. You can't go back and get what you miss.
In this passage is a confession that had the Apostle Paul not appealed to Caesar, the end of the book of Acts might have been different. The truth is, things are not predestinated or foreordained to follow a specific plan. We are all faced with choices everyday and will have to live with the consequences of those choices. (Good or bad, wise or stupid).
Esther 4:13-14- Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Mordecai knew God would deliver the Jews, he just didn't know how the big picture would effect them! He recognized the importance of Esther's position at a critical time in history.
Proverbs 3:5-6- Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
This is what separates the Davids from the Jonathans. The Timothys from the Demases. God never forced these people to go. It was their choice. They just made the wrong choice.
With Gideon's group He whittled them down from 32,300 to 300. There were 32,000 who missed out on a glorious deal!
What if Samson would've done right by God?
What if Lot had deferred to Uncle Abraham?
The rich young ruler who had an opportunity to follow Christ didn't like the cost and he missed out. What might he have been?
What about Nicodemus? Could he have been the Apostle to the Gentiles instead of Paul?
What might have been if Adam had trusted and obeyed the Lord instead of listening to Eve?
Didn't Israel pick King Saul to go to battle for them? Wasn't he head and shoulders taller than everyone else? Didn't he put his armor on David? And then he was upset when people sang that David had killed his ten thousands?
There are many people who wish they were in school again. You better apply yourself now. You better do your best now.
Proverbs 5:11-13- And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
You say, “It's hard!” No, it isn't hard yet. Hard is when you have no more choice. Hard is when you've made your bed and now you have to sleep in it.
I'm not saying that education is the ultimate thing, because it isn't. The world by wisdom knew not God. There are scores of successful, happy people who didn't graduate high school. There are a whole lot more miserable, unsuccessful people who didn't. There are many people who were not prepared when they made their choices and it cost them dearly.
Hebrews 12:16-17- Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
How many times have you heard, “Boy, if I knew then what I know now!”
There are many people who wish they were single again. And not necessarily who you might think. There may not be any evidences of marital trouble, or any specifics that you could put your finger on, but because it was a major decision which was made carnally twenty / thirty years ago, they are plagued with misgivings and doubts. They have to do their best in the present situation. Thank God for Romans 8:28! But you who are still single have an opportunity to learn and benefit from their circumstance. To begin with a spiritually enlightened choice.
For most of us, the time for raising children is coming to a rapid conclusion. There are some things that I consider now that I was oblivious to (or maybe willfully ignorant of ) then. I thank God for Romans 8:28, but I also am acutely aware of “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.”
What if the Jews had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and King? Things would have turned out different.
Matthew 11:14-15- And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
I think that when it is all said and done, the winners will be those who knew God and served Him.
Luke 19:41-44- And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Deuteronomy 32:28-29- For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
1st Chronicles 21:11-13- So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.
“How can I see tomorrow??” You can't, but you can walk with the Lord who is the same yesterday, today and forever!
I have the advantage of knowing how He thinks by virtue of the history of this Book.
I have the advantage of exceeding great and precious promises that make me a partaker of His divine nature today. And I have the advantage of prophecy that will help me take steps to avoid major mess ups.
John 11:9-10- Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
John 12:35-36- Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
Ephesians 5:8- For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
1 John 1:5-7- This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The only way to get through is to walk in the light of His word.
-Pastor Adam Trosclair
King James Bible Baptist Church
19399 Helenbirg Rd, Ste 103
Covington, LA 70433
