Acts 25:1-27 - The Right Place, at the Right Time

I wonder if you could reflect back on your life and think of moments in your life where you were at the right place at the right time. Maybe they were small things, maybe they were big things, but you think back and said, wow, there was this moment in time I just happened to be at the right place at exactly the right time and something really cool came out of that. Sometimes in retrospect, we might find there were times in our lives where we didn't realize we were in the right place at the right time in the moment. Maybe you even thought you were in a place you didn't want to be. And in the moment, it felt like I'm in the exact wrong place at the exact wrong time. This is not at all where I want to be. But then things unfolded, you said, you know what, actually, I was in the right place after all. That unfolded just perfectly. Maybe that's happened in your life. Here's a guy that happened too. There's a picture of a guy named Mickey Flegler. Mickey Flegler was a photographer for the NFL and on November 12th, 2000., almost 25 years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs were playing at Candlestick Park. Tony Gonzalez caught a pass on the sideline. He was hit out of bounds by a defensive player and it shoved Tony Gonzales right into Mickey Flagler, knocking him unconscious. He laid there unconscious on the sidelines, had a seizure on the sidelines there at Kendlestick Park. They loaded him in an ambulance to transport in the hospital, and when he woke up, he had to think I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The last place you want to be is in the path of an NFL tight end running at full speed. and now he's found himself in the back of an ambulance. took him to the hospital to examine him further. They did a CT of his brain and they discovered a cancerous tumor that they would not have discovered, had he not been knocked unconscious by Tony Gonzale on the sidelines of Candlestick Park. They removed the tomor and he lived 10 more years, ultimately died when the cancer returned, but bought 10 extra years of life by being at the right place at the right time. Maybe you've had a moment like that. Maybe today, you're in a place in your life you'd rather not be. Some circumstances have unfolded that have puts you in an undesirable situation and doesn' feel like a place you want to be at this time in your life? Maybe like Mickey Flgler or maybe like the Apostle Paul, you're actually in the right place at the right time. We're picking up our study of the book of Acts in chapter 25 today. We're looking in this particular part of the book as we're nearing the end of our study of this book, we have been following for some time now, the path of a man named Paul, who was a missionary of the earlier church. He finds himself in prison Now he's been in prison for the past two years, and today we're going to see the next step in his journey in his legal situation, and what we're gonna discover is while he's in a place he might not rather be, he's in the perfect place where God wanted him to be to pick up the the story where about 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus came preaching that he was the Messiah, the son of God, that through faith in him, we could have our sins forgiven, have a relation with God. He was crucified on a cross. We know now looking back on his story, he was crucified on that cross for our sins to be our sacrifice, so we can be right right with God. He was resurrected from the dead, and in that moment, what we call today, the church began to expand out from Jerusalem around the world and two thousand years later, we are passing the baton of his good news message in our generation. Well, who passed it early in those days, two thousand years ago, one of those people was the apostle Paul, the apostle Paul was an enemy of Christianity in the beginning that had an encounter with Jesus that radically transformed his life. You might say in in common terms today, he went from being Osama bin Laden to Billy Graham overnight. Life was radically transformed. He began to preach the good news of Jesus when he once set out to kill the followers of Jesus. And as a result, he made a lot of enemies along the way who disagreed with this message. And on one occasion, back in chapter 21 of the book of Acts, there was a riot in the temple caused by some people who disagreed with the preaching of Paul. Roman soldiers rushed in to apprehend him to calm things down. He was put on trial by the Jewish leadership was found sort of inconclusive results of that trial. Rome took over and said, we're gonna keep him in our custody. There was a plot by Jewish leaders to kill Paul. Paul's nephew learned of that plot. We heard about this last week, told the Roman leadership about the plot to kill Paul, and they took him under heavy guard from Jerusalem to Caesarea, and now he's been held in Caesarea for two years. Emperor Felix is trying to decide during this time what to do with him and all along the way visits him often to hear what he has to say. And there Paul sits two years in a Roman prison in the city of Caesarea, his future uncertain, unclear. Other than one night, the lord came in and said, it's not gonna end here, you're ultimately going to get to Rome. And so with the hope that he's not gonna die in Caesarea because God promised he'd eventually get to Rome, he waits to see how things will enfold. Maybe you find yourself today in a similar situation, not in a Roman prison under guard, your hands shackled, but you find yourself at a place you'd rather not be. You find yourself looking at undesirable circumstances. Life is not going the way you had planned. Your life is not going the way you had hoped. You're unhappy with your current circumstances. You find yourself facing some uncertainty. You find yourself facing a future that is unclear. I think today you can find some hope in the story that unfolds before us in acts chapter 25. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to run through this entire chapter quickly, and we're going to try to find within it some truths that help us out today. And you might ask yourself, what in the world does the interaction between a Roman governor, a Jewish king and a Christian prisoner have to do with my life? But I think there's a timeless principle at work here that I think can encourage us today in what we're facing. Then we're going to end our time with three action steps we can take in times of difficulty in times of uncertainty in undesirable circumstances, three steps we can take when we find out, we might find out that while we weren't where we wanted to be, God had us in the right time at the right place for what he wanted to do in our life. Let's jump in verse one. Now, three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea, who is Festus. Festus is now taken over. Felix is no longer the governor of the region. Emperor Nero has appointed Festus to be governor of this region the years around 60 AD.. We'll put a map up here, just for a point of reference on how expansive the Roman empire was. Maybe you might have be good with geography, or maybe you remember back to high school geography, you can find Italy about in the middle of that map there, the city of Rome. and from the city of Rome, Rome is now controlling an expansive part of the region all around the shores of the Mediterranean sea and beyond. and they would appoint Roman governors in the parts of the empire they controlled. They would let local governors run things for the most part, as long as you paid your taxes to Rome and you kept the peace, we'll pretty much let you do what you want, but Rome was always gonna keep an eye on things. And now Festus has been appointed governor over the region where Paul is imprisoned And shortly after assuming his new role, he makes the 60 mile trip from Jerus from Caesarea to Jerusalem to check on the status of things in this city within his new territory. Caesarea would have been the political center for Rome in that region. Jerusalem would have been the religious center and kind of the center of religious worship and religious r rule for the Jewish people in that region. And so you want to have a good relationship between Roman leadership and Jewish leadership, and so he makes the journey to see how things are going. He arrives in verse two, the chief priests, and the principle of the men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, asking as a favor against Paul that he summoned him to Jerusalem, because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. So he arrives in a Jerusalem and he quickly learns of a prisoner that he has inherited from Felix, a man named Paul. This is not unlike our current situation just a few weeks ago, you saw an outgoing president issue a flurry of pardons and an incoming president issue a flurry of pardons. and we have what are you going to do with these people as the transition of power is taking place, and that's similar what's happening here. He learns that there's a guy he's inherited here. Two years have gone by, but the hatred of the Jews toward Paul has not subsided, and they're just as committed as ever to silencing him to taking his life, and they they want to transport him. Will you do a a favor, Felix? You have a prisoneresarea. He's broken our laws. will you transfer him here and the real motive behind the transfer was not to try him again, but to kill him along the way. The similar plot two years ago, we're gonna have a similar plot here. And you see this city in movies, right? How many times you've seen a movie and they're transferring a prisoner from one location to another location? Any time in a movie, you see a prisoner get in the back of a van to go from one spot to another, someone's gonna either try to kill him or they're gonna try to break them out. Those are the two things are gonna happen. And so when you're moving from Cesory to Jerusalem, it's not to rescue him. It's gonna be to kill him. So verse four, Festus replied that Paul was being kept in Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. So he said, let the minimum authority among you go down with me, and if there's anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him. So I have a compromise. Paul is in prison in Caesarea, you guys want him in Jerusalem. I don't know what any of this is about. I just took this new role as governor, but here's the deal. I'm headed back to Caesarea in a few days. Why don't you come with him? We'll set up the court there in Caesarea, you guys come in and make your case, and we'll figure out what to do with this man named Paul. Ver six, after he stayed among them, not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. The next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought in. When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, neither against the laws of the Jews nor against the temple nor against Caesar have I committed any offense. So a few days later, they make the journey to Caesarea, Felix takes his place in the court there The case is Opestus rather. It takes a seat that the Jews make their accusations. They're unable to prove them once again, no evidence, no witnesses to support their case. Paul, again, as he has before, insists, I've not broken Jewish laws, I've not broken Roman laws. You got to let me go first nine. Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, do you wish to go to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me? but Paul said, I'm standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. The Jews I've done no wrong, as you yourself know very well, if then I am a wrong doer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death, but if there's nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them, and I want you to catch this phrase I appeal to Caesar. That's key. That phrase right there is going to become key for the we're almost done with the book of actually a few more weeks left. That phrase right there sets the course for the rest of the book, that one sentence, I appeal to season. What's he saying? He says, I'm not done anything wrong. Now, Festus, Festus is stuck here. He he knows he doesn't find any wrongdoing in Paul. He doesn't feel like legally he can do anything, but he's in a tough spot because he's the brand new governor and letting this guy go or send him on to Jerusalem would really make the Jewish people happy. And so he has an idea. What if I got I changed the venue? And if I can shift it from my venue, it'll shift it from my jurisdiction and it won't be my problem anymore to be their problem. So you ask Paul a question. anybody ever ask you a stupid question? why would you such a dumb question? Well, asked Paul a really dumb question. He said, hey, you wanna go to Jerusalem with these guys and face trial? But it was the dumbest thing you could ask me. I'm like to be killed on the way and if they don't kill me on the way, I knew I won't get a fair trial when I get there. I'm not gonna go with these people. I'm gonna put my fate in the hands of Nero. Now, you might know from his history, Nero was a pretty bad dude, not the kind of guy Christian to want to put their fate in the hands up, but this is early in Nero's rule. In the early in Nero's reign, he was actually a very fair and peaceful ruler. Something happens later in his rule where he starts setting Christians on fire. But at this point, you might have a decent shot of putting your fate in the hands of Nero. And so he says, listen, I haven't broken Jewish laws. If you think I've broken Roman laws, let's go to Rome and we see here a god's plan unfold. What's really cool about this is this was Paul's desire all along. If you go back to chapter 19, Paul said in chapter 19, I really hope to get to Rome one day. and in chapter 21, God chapter excuse me, chapter 23, God comes to Paul and says, you're going to go to Rome one day. And so with the phrase, I appeal to Caesar, Paul's going to get his desire in God's will at the expense of Rome and they're going to take him there. We see God's plan unfolding. Versuel fested in when he conferred with his counsel answer to Caesar, you have appealed to Caesar, you will go. He consults his legal advisors. They say, yep, this is the right thing. He's a Roman citizen. He wants to appeal to Caesar. He has that right as a Roman citizen, and so off he goes to Rome, Festus happy to rid himself of the problem. verse 13. He's waiting now for his transfer to Rome, when, a few days later, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and greeted Festus things have called should be calmed down a little bit. Paul's awaiting his transfer to Rome, and in the meantime, King Agrippa and his sister, Bernice, arrive to pay a courtesy call to the new governor. So what's going on here? Who is Agrippa? Herod Agrippa the second is the Jewish king at the time. I consult a variety of sources when I'm preparing to preach. I've recently started asking questions to chat GPT to see what it would give me, and I hit the little microphone button and I said, what can you tell me about Herod Agrippa? It misunderstood me and it typed out what can you tell me about Herod the Gripper? and it came back and said, Herodripper is a famous wrestler, known for his moves in the ring. I don't think that's true, but I don't know the name is taken, Rust, so if you decide to leave the ministry for wrestling career, you could be Herod the Gripper. and so you mask and everything. and so it's not not Herod theripper. This is Herod Agrippa, Herod Agrippa, the second son of Herod Agrippa. Now now you think your family is full of a lot of bad people? It may don't raise your hand, but you look back to your family. I got a lot of just bad people in my family. You're not you don't have it as bad as the Herods. Herod Herod's dad was the one who persecuted the church and killed the apostle James in acts chapter 12. His grandfather ruled during Jesus' birth and killed all the babies, and his great uncle is the Herod you see during the lifetime of Jesus, who killed John the Baptist. So you're in a long line of pretty bad people. and here you are in Caesarea and they've come to greet each other to kind of coming to bring well wishes to the new governor. So you have Agrippa, the Jewish king, Festus the Roman governor, and they're gathered together in the city of Caesarea, and the subject comes up of what to do with the prisoner Paul verse 19. As they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying there is a man left by left a prisoner by Felix, and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. I answered then that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused met the accusers face to face and had the opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him. So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day I took my seat on the tribunal and I ordered the man to be brought. When the accuser stood up, they brought no charges in this case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. So they they're going over probably a lot of issues in the region, political issues, and and just what do we need to work together? How does Rome and and the Jewish leadership need to work together in issues and "Hey we got to deal with this guy named Paul. He says, I tried him. I don't see anything he's done wrong. And you see the summary here ver 19. This is how little Festus knows of the situation. He goes, it seems to be some kind of religious dispute. At the heart of it, there's a guy named Jesus who was dead and Paul says is now alive. That's all I understand. It's like the guiding Jesus, the Jews said he's still dead. Paul says he's now alive. I don't know what to do with this guy. And so that I'm at a kind of a standstill. I'm at a loss verse 20, he continues. I don't know how to investigate these questions. I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and he tried regarding them, but when Paul appealed to be kept in the custody for the decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Rome. So I don't what to do with this. I don't understand it. He's one to go to Caesar, so I'm going to send him to Caesar. The problem is he doesn't know much about Jewish law, anything really about Jewish law, about the Jewish religion, about the conflict between the Christians and the Jews of this time. But Agrippa does. Agrippa is the Jewish king and Agrippa would be well acquainted with the situation. He gets really excited. Look at verse 22. Agrippa said to Festus, I'd like to hear him the man myself. And Theestus says, tomorrow you will hear him. The language here indicates that Agrippa has been hoping for some time to hear from Paul. Christianity by this time has become quite popular. It's rapidly expanding. In fact, just the influence just in 30 years of this sort of like unknown guiding Jesus, and now you're going to see in a minute, he's going to stand before the most powerful people in all the land to tell him his story. Festus Arrippa was well aware of expanding Christianity. He probably would have been aware of Paul. He would have been aware of the tension that was building between Christians and Jews, probably relished the opportunity to hear from Christianity's leading spokesperson in person. And so it's arranged verse 23. The next dayrippa and Bernice come in with great pomp, and they enter the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city, then the command of Festus Paul was brought in. Now this is not a courtroom scene. This is not a trial. This is just a chance for uh Paul to share his side of things because Agrippa wants to shoot me a uh yeah,rippa wants to tends to hear Paul in person and Festus needs to get some more information before he can send him to Rome. And so here they enter with great pomp. Notice it's a who's who of prominent leaders, military tribunes, prominent men of the city. This is the scene that I thought of in our modern day, the state of the Union. You ever watched the state of the Union address? You have prominent, powerful political officials, you have the Supreme Court, you have the commanders, the highest commanders of every branch of the military, and they all gather in one room, not for a trial, but to hear from one man in this case, the president, the United States. Now, picture this scene, the most powerful, prominent leaders of the land gather in one place and then brought before them is not the president of the United States, but a Jewish man in chains. And that's the scene. God sets up for the most prominent people in the world to are in the region of that that part of the world to gather in one place because one little Jewish man was going to be brought in hands shackled. We learned that from the context of chapter 26. You'll see next week. He's he's actually in chains in this moment. It's standing before these people. verse 2 Festus said king Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petition me, both in Jerusalem and here shouting that he ought not to live any longer, but I found that he had done nothing deserving death, and as he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him, but here's the problem. I have nothing definite to write to my lord Caesar about, therefore I brought him before you all, and especially before you, king Agrippa, so that after we have examined him, I may have something to write, for it seems to me unreasonable in sending a prisoner not to indicate the charges against him. Here's what's happening. Festus says, I don't know what to do. There's no evidence of a crime, certainly not a crime deserving of the death penalty. He's appealed to Caesar, so I'm bound by Roman law to send him to Caesar, but I don't know what in the world to tell Caesar. I'm about to ship a prisoner to him and all I know is about a guiding named Jesus who died and might may or may not be alive now. That's all I know. Festus, king of the Jewish people, help me figure out what's going on. Hear this man and help me write my letter to Caesar to sin with this man when I ship him to Rome. Give me the Jewish perspective on what's going on. And we're going to stop there Ruston gets the fun part next week, where we get to see the trial unfold and not the trial, but the hearing, and get to hear what Paul does. But here's the two things I want us to notice at this point. Two things I want you to see I think there are principles in this that apply to all. There's no direct commands in this. It's kind of hard to find like what's the application for us. Two things. I think are important. Number one, is that God puts us in the right place at the right time for our good. Sometimes God puts us in the right place at the right time for our good, even when it's difficult, even when it's undesirable, even when it's not what we wanted or expected. Paul's imprisonment in this situation was for his own good in two ways. Number one, it was for his protection. God was working all along behind the scenes to protect Paul from the murderous plot of the Jewish leaders. If he were to be released, he would be released right into the hands of those who were plotting to take his life. every turn, every at every turn, everything fell right into God's plan. Not only was it for his protection, it was to get him to Rome. That's what he desired chapter 19, what God desired chapter 23, and now Rome is going to pay for the whole thing by shipping him to be tried before Caesar. Everything fell right into God's plan. It's interesting as you go back to chapter 21 and trace it all the way through 25, his fate seems to shift from different hands. First, his fate was in the hands of the Jews in the riot in the temple, and then it was the hands of Lysias, the commander of the Roman soldiers back to the Sanhedrin, back to Lysias on to Felix, then to Festus, and now to Nero, no, all along his fate was in the hands of his god. There might have been human rulers who thought they were in control, but all along, God was in control for Paul's good. Have you ever had a time in your life? This may happen to you where you you're getting ready to leave the house and there's some delay in getting out of the house. Rustin is busy fixing his hair and has delayed the whole family. and everyone's upset because Rustin took too long to get ready and now we're gonna be late and we get in the car and we're driving to the road and we're frustrated because we got the door in time. and now we're stuck in traffic because the traffic is worse than we thought it was gonna be and and now we're gonna be even later without going be and you come around the corner and there's a terrible accident and you see all the fire trucks and the ambulance and the police cars and you have that thought. You ever had that thought? Man, if we had left the house on time, we might have been in that accident. You know, that's just an example of how often God may be protecting you from something and you don't know what you were frustrated about, what you were aggravated about was actually God delaying for your own protection in your own good? How many times does that happen? That sometimes the our uncir are unfavorable, undesirable circumstances turn out to be divine detours, where God was working all along, no matter how grim the circumstances appeared, God was in control. trust him to accomplish his will for your life as he sovereignly directs your path. Maybe what's going on in your life right now is that God has you in the right place at the right time for your own good. Second, it might be that God has you in the right place at the right time for his glory, for his glory. Sometimes our difficult circumstances are actually God in his sovereign will, by his sovereign will, position you perfectly at the right time, the right place for your good and his glory. Paul's imprisonment allowed him to testify before the most powerful and influential people of the city. Festus was not the one in control. God was in control, and God gave him an audience, and again, Rustin will take us through this next week, but I'll give you a sneak peek of what's going to happen. Paul is going to stand before the most prominent military and political leaders in all of the land, and he's going to share his personal testimony. I thought Jesus Christ changed his life. And he's gonna look at that powerful influential crowd. In verse 18 of the next chapter, he's gonna challenge them. He's gonna tell them how Jesus can help them turn from darkness to light. He's going to tell them about how Jesus brings forgiveness of sin In verse 20 he's gonna call them to repent and turn to God. In verse 218, Agrippa is gonna say in a short and very much longer, you'll try to convince me to be a Christian. Paul's gonna say, no, not just you, Agrippa. I'm trying to convince this entire hall of people to become followers of Jesus. Two years in prison set him up for one of the most amazing opportunities of gospel proclamation before the most powerful people in all of the land, everything unfolded just as God had planned. So what do we do with this? Let me give you three steps you might take this week if you feel that you're not in the place you want to be and you find yourself an undesirable circumstances and and you want to see you want to see how your difficult situation could really be the right place at the right time for your good in God's glory. What do we do? Three things? One, trust the process trust the process of what God's doing in your life right now. Two weeks ago, I shared an example of a needle point, how somebody could be making a beautiful picture on one side of the needleoint piece. If you flip it over on the back side, it's just a tangled mess of of frayed strings and knots and the backside looks ugly and messy and chaotic. but on the other side is the beautiful picture that the artist is creating. and so think about that again. I also was thinking this week about Bob Ross, about the fan of Bob Ross back in the watched this Bob Ross, you're a big Bob Ross fan. And I watched Bob Ross and he he's so relaxing to watch, is he and he would paint this. He would start with this beautiful background scene that's like mountains and there's a lake and it's so beautiful. and you say, just stop right here, Bob, just quit right here. No, there's like 12 more minutes left in the in the program and he takes this like one of those metal knives and he gets some dark, like, was it Bert sienna, whatever. There's weird names on him with his knife and he'll just like he was like slice right down the picture and I' go, you've ruined it, Bob. You've ruined it with this beautiful scene and you've put an ugly dark slash down the middle. And then he takes his brushes and out from that ugly dark slash emerges a beautiful tree in the foreground of that picture. He said, oh, trust Bob. He knows what he's doing. I want to tell you, God may be doing something in your life. It feels like he's ruined it. It feels like he's taking something that was headed in the right direction and and just put something ugly right in the middle of it. Trust him. trust that he knows what he's doing. Let me give you a couple of verses if you're struggling right now. Maybe you might want to memorize these. Maybe these would help you in this season of your life as you're striving to trust in proverbs three, five and six trust in the Lord with all your heart. do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your he will make straight your paths, trust him, not your own understanding, not what you'd like to see him do trust his plan, and in time he'll make it straight for you. Romans 828 we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. God might be working out something for your good in the middle of what he's doing trust him trust what he's doing second wait patiently wait patient. What are you waiting for right now? I imagine there's a lot of people in this room who are waiting for something. Friday, Valentine's Day was maybe a dreaded day for you because you're waiting for that special someone for God to bring into your life. By the way, there are a couple of young adult events in the bulletin. would like to help you with that if you're waiting. Some single ladies near the front, even of the room today. You're waiting. You're waiting for God to bring so many life. You're waiting for a baby that you hoped God would bring your family. Maybe your kids are grown and you're waiting for that wayward child to come back home. that one who seems to have wandered from the faith to come back to Jesus. You're waiting in a job that you don't like. You're stuck. And you you won't want to be where you you don't want to go to work tomorrow and you wish God would open up some new door. You're waiting for a dream to be fulfilled that you've had for a long time. You're you've been diagnosed with an illness and you're waiting for healing which God would take it away. You hope that maybe this week the doctors have better news. Maybe you're grieving the loss of someone and people have told you that time will heal it and it hasn't yet. And you wake up every morning thinking this will be the morning that this won't be the first thing on my mind and you're waiting. Let me give you some encouragement from God's word, three scriptures that you might want to memorize this week if this is a struggle for you, Psalm 27, 14 wait for the Lord. wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage wait for the Lord. Psalm 377 be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him be still and wait exodus 14, 14 is a verse that my mind goes to so often over the years. The Lord will fight for you. You need only be still. This is the context there. If you're reading through the Bible, reading through the Bible this year at Northland and if you fall in our plan or probably just about any read the Bible through plan, you've probably read Exodus 14 recently or you're a little behind and you need to hurry and catch up to Exodus 14. But if you just read it or when you get there, it's the story of the Israelites had just left captivity in Egypt. Pharaoh has decided he has changed his mind. I should not have let them go. They are standing before the Red Sea in front of them and bearing down behind them is all of Pharaoh's army. says Pharaoh sent 600 select chariots and all the other chariots and all the horses and all the horsemen and all of his army. and so before you as the Red Sea behind you is the full force of Pharaoh's army, and Moses said to the people, be still, the lord will fight for us. The Lord's going to get us out of this. and maybe where you're sitting right now, you just don't see a way out and you need to commit ex exodus 14, 14 to memory. The Lord will fight for me. I just need to be still. Finally, leverage opportunities. Leverage the opportunity. How can you use this story for God's glory? I've googled the phrase right place at the right time, and I found some quotes, my famous people. Bill Gates said this in an interview one time. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, but many others were also in the same place at the same time. The difference was I took action. Sometimes God puts us in a moment in time, but we have to take action. How will you leverage this moment for God's glory? We miss opportunities all the time, even this week on the little thing that happened, and I just regretted it all week. I went to the doctor on Monday for a just a regular annual physical. The nurse came in took my blood pressure, she said, how you doing? Any problems, any issues? I now, just getting old, I' 52. You know, new things pop up as you get older and and she goes, well, it beats the alternative and she and she she did a few and walked out. And when she left the band, the alternative to getting old is death and Paul said to die is gain and all these verses hit in my mind, I'm like I blew it all week. I keep thinking of like, what I should have said to the nurse, what my next move should have been when she said dying is worse than getting old. No, it's not, not according to the Bible. The greatest thing that ever gonna happen to us is when we die and go to be with Jesus and God just put the ball on the t and I missed the opportunity. How many times do we missed the opportunity? God puts in front of us. What's the opportunity right now for you? A recent move has put you in a city you may not want to be, but it's a new mission field God's puts you in. There's been a job change that you didn't want, but it's positioned you to impact new people with the gospel. and illness that you didn't want is opening doors of opportunity with doctors and nurses and fellow patients and family members, a current difficulty in your life has opened your heart to something God wants to do. All of a sudden you're sensitive to something that God wants to do in your life and you weren't before this bad thing happened. And now something's happened in your life and you say, I need something in my life and God has caused this in your life to point you to Jesus. God is leveraging. God is wanting you to leverage this moment. Don't waste this moment that I watched our kids, Mason and Cody, how they're leveraging the season with the loss of their daughter, Oakley, how this week this last week was her due date and they took a gift basket of of snacks and gift cards and gifts. They put in their a note sharing the gospel, inviting the recipient of that basket to come to our church, and they took it to the hospital and they gave it to the nurse and they said, give this basket to the first baby born today. Four ladies were in labor at that time. Someone this week got a gift basket with the gospel in memory of Oakley because they said we want to leverage this pain. Yesterday on Facebook, I'm part of these tricing 18 support groups now that I joined and I see a couple sharing how they're headed a KU med this week to get the diagnosis of whether their baby has this. and down below it Mason Mars, if you're in town, look us up. Here's our number. I want to meet with them. I want to share with them the hope I have in Jesus. When I walk through the same thing they're walking through, they're leveraging. Let me encourage you to leverage it. Don't waste this moment. Don't waste this pain. Don't waste this pain leverage it so that your story may be used for God's glory. And then I close with this. The good news is you go back to 19. What is this whole thing about? It about a guy named Jesus that some say was dead and other people said we alive it was alive. And that's what it is. It's about a living savior whose powerful enough. He overcame the grave. He can help you in what you're facing today. He overcame the grave. He can give you hope in the face of whatever you're facing today. Don't waste this pain, leverage it for what God is doing for your good for his glory. Let's pray. God, I pray for the one who's hurting for the one who's waiting for the one who's facing an undesirable circumstance. God, would you show him or her how you want to use this time, this moment for their good and your glory? Help them to trust you, help them to wait on you and help them to leverage this moment for what you want to do through them. God for the one whose heart is being softened by the circumstance of their life, would they turn to you, Jesus, draw them to you, show them that you are the one they're searching for. You are the one who can answer the questions that you've put on their mind. We pray this in Jesus name