Missed Opportunities

One of the things that Debbie and I don't do much is go to movies or watch movies. It used to be when we were much younger, it would be kind of fun to go out to the movie theater and see movies, but back 20 and 30 and 40 years ago, there were a lot more movies to go out and see that had some kind of meaning to them. More or less anymore, if we turn on a movie, we get half an hour into it and think it's a waste of time.

I don't watch many movies, and I don't remember many of the movies that I do see, even if they are worth watching. It goes in one ear and out the other. It's entertainment. But there's a few over the years that I have remembered and have caught my attention. Every once in a while, they'll pop into my mind when something comes up in life. Some movies are good when they teach you some life lessons. That's usually the movies that I remember of. It usually has to do with something of when I was younger, how people act, the situations you get yourself in, and things like that, and just things that can improve your life.

One of the movies that I remember well, and it popped into my mind a few weeks ago, was a story about I think this movie was out sometime in the 80s, a story about a boarding school. It was an all-male boarding school. The characters were high school seniors looking to find their way in life. They had a teacher come in to that. He was kind of an unusual teacher. You probably will remember when I give you the catch line what this movie is. He came in there and he was working with the kids to help them realize what their potential was and to find their dream and live it.

He was very much into poetry and what poetry could unleash in people's lives and the truths in it. One of the things he taught them was the phrase, carpe diem. I hadn't heard that phrase before, but carpe diem loosely translated means seize the day. If you look back at the actual poet who put that phrase in a poem back whenever it was, it can have some other meanings. It always says seize the day, but it's a seize the day in a different way than the movie had it. The seize the day that he was talking about was, you know what?

You find your potential and you make every day count. You find what your potential is and you work for it. You go for it and you don't let time slip by. Of course, back in those days, some of the kids had personality problems. They were very shy. They were afraid to get up and talk in front of people. Others, their parents, were making them be in a field that they didn't want to be. He had all these things to talk to him about. They were away from the parents.

As the movie went on, it taught them all some lessons. They became different people when they began to seize the day. But, of course, as humans do, sometimes they took it to an nth degree in the movie and did tragically. The teacher got fired. But the concept is still there of carpe diem. Seize the day. The Bible doesn't say it in exactly that word, but the Bible would tell us seize the day.

The apostle Peter said, make your calling and election sure. God calls you and you respond to that call. Make it sure. Seize that calling. Seize that day. Make it your life purpose. Make it what you want it or what it needs to be. John, in Revelation, under inspiration, said, hold fast to your crown. God's given you the crown. Hold fast to it. Seize it. Seize it. And don't let anyone take it from you. That means you have to put effort into it. You have to seize the day in order to do that. In the Bible, back in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10, he said, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

I remember my dad telling me that over and over again when I was growing up. Be the best you can be in school. Be the best you can be at work. Always go above and beyond. Be a blessing to your employer. Be a blessing to the people around you. And do the best you can do in everything you do.

And we apply that in our physical lives. How much more should we apply it in our spiritual lives when God gives us a tremendous opportunity and he says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Seize the day. Make it real. Don't sleep on it. Don't discount it. Don't disregard it. Make it real. And make it your purpose. You know, Paul uses another term that's very similar. Let's turn back to Ephesians. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 and verse 15. He says, See then that you walk circumspectly. That's an interesting word, circumspectly. It means diligently. It means perfectly. See then that you walk diligently.

See that you walk perfectly. Not as fools. It's interesting when the Bible uses the word fools, especially when it says, not as fools but as wise. You know, God has called you and I and given us wisdom. If we don't use that wisdom, we're fools. If we don't use the secrets of life, God would look at us as, you know, what are you doing? You're ignorant of the things that I've opened your mind to.

See that you walk circumspectly. Not as fools but as wise. Redeeming the time. Redeem the time. I've given you time in your calling. I've given you time to become perfect. I've given you time to grow and develop into who I want you to. See then that you walk circumspectly. Not as fools but as wise. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Well, the days are evil. The days can consume our time. The days can chew it all up. And at the end of the day, we can think, what have I really accomplished? What have I really done? I might have done a lot of little busy work that means nothing.

I might have spent a lot of time on the internet that maybe didn't have a lot to do with what I needed to do. Maybe spent a lot of time on Facebook. Maybe did a lot of things that are good. But what did I accomplish with the major goal in my life?

And that is making my calling and election sure. Do we redeem the time? Paul says, redeem it. The days are evil. The days will take our attention away from the thing that's most important. Carpe diem. Seize the time. Make it happen. Make the opportunity to do what God has told us to do. Not always easy. There's got to be choices that we make and things that we do.

You know, as he goes on here in verse 17, he says, redeem the time. Don't be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. We talked about that last week, what the will of God is. Don't be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And don't be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. When you read drunk with wine, the Bible often will use that phrase. And it's talking about wine in the Bible is a good thing.

At places it says, take a little wine, it's good for your stomach, but people abuse wine. If you do many things that are good, people will abuse, and all of a sudden people are drinking and they have no one, they've lost their way, they've let time go by. And so often God will say, they're drunk with wine. They're drunk with wine. They've given their time to that. Maybe today there's not so much wine that we have to deal with, but maybe it is the things that chew up our time and that distract us from what we should be doing. Maybe it is too much internet. Maybe it is too much TV. Maybe it is too much whatever it is that takes us away and that prevents us from redeeming the time for Carpe Diem.

To seize the day and to make something happen. Every single day of our life, whether we're very young or whether we're very old, we should accomplish something.

I know sometimes I go to bed at night and I feel uneasy and I realize, what did I really accomplish that day? But when it's been a good productive day in all areas, most importantly in relationship with God and what you do, you sleep well. Seize the day. And so we can look at these verses and we can say, Paul says, redeem the time. If we go back to verse 15, he says there, he's wrapping up a section.

He says, see then. You know, when we might be making a point to someone. At the end of a sermon, you might hear several points and be like, see then. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Paul is wrapping up some thoughts and he concludes it with, redeem the time. See then that you walk circumspectly, redeeming the time.

Well, let's go back because he's got a theme that runs through two chapters here in Ephesians. Let's go back up a chapter to chapter 4. And he explains how we can redeem the time, what we should be doing with our lives. Let's go back to chapter 4 and verse 1 and see a theme that's running through chapter 4 and chapter 5 here. In verse 1, verse 1 says, Well, there's that word walk that he finishes his thought with. Walk worthy. Walk worthy of the calling that God's given you. It's the most important thing in our lives. Walk worthy of it. How do you walk worthy of the calling that God has given? Just by knowing it or is it by the things we do? Let's go forward a couple books to Colossians. Keep your fingers there in Ephesians 4. We'll be back there in a minute.

In Colossians 1, verse 9, Paul writes this. He says, So we can ask ourselves, how do we fully please him? We know the answer. We should know the answer to that.

How do you do that? Fully pleasing him. Being fruitful in every good work. Looking for the opportunities. Seizing those opportunities. Doing the things that God would have you do. Practicing the agape. Propiticing the things that God would have us do. Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Well, that's a pretty good way to walk worthy, right? That's where our attention is. That's what we do with our lives. That's how we live them if we're walking worthy. Strengthen with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and long suffering with joy. And recognizing that it's God's power in us that does it. His Holy Spirit, if we use it. So one way to redeem the time is be cognizant of walking worthy. That we are called to walk worthy. And if we're going to seize, and I'll use the word opportunity, the calling that God has given us, because this is the most important and tremendous opportunity you and I will ever be given. To be called by God to understand the truth of the Bible, the promises that he's given us and what he has in store for us. If we're going to seize that opportunity, we have to walk worthy.

We have to redeem the time. We have to walk worthy. Let's go back to Ephesians.

Ephesians 4. Let's drop down to verse 17 in chapter 4.

In verse 17, Paul writes, This I say, therefore, after he talks about how the church, how he sets up the church, how he's orchestrated it, our training, how it's going to be, the body in which we are trained to become what he wants us to be. In verse 17, he says, This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind.

You don't walk the way you used to walk. You don't walk according to the ways of the world. You've left that behind, is what he's saying, that you no longer walk that way. Revelation says, Come out of her, my people. In 1 Corinthians, it says, Come out of her, to be separate from her. Don't partake of her sins. Don't partake of her ways.

That you, if you're redeeming the time, we live in the world, we work in the world, we have neighbors who are in the world, but you don't walk the way the Gentiles walk. You don't walk the way you used to walk. You make a conscious effort to live your lives differently than you did before.

We know that. But that's every day we have to do that, right? If we go to work and everyone around us is, you know, they've got coarse jesting going on, filthy language going on, corrupt language going on, gossiping going on. Boy, it can be tough. We can find ourselves sucked right back into that, if we allow ourselves. Redeem the time. Retime the time. And don't allow that to happen. You don't walk that way anymore. Paul addresses this in collagions again. Let's go to collagions again. Chapter 4 and verse 5. He says, walk in wisdom. You and I have been called to walk in wisdom. Wisdom comes from the fear of the Lord. Wisdom comes from knowing God's way, practicing His way, making the choices to deny self and to follow what He says. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside. Don't be like them. Be different than them. You are called to be different. You are called to do the things that God says. And whether you're with whoever you're with, you're there to redeem the time, to become strengthened, and to seize that opportunity to do God's way and not the way we used to or the way that the world would have us do. Or our families would have us do. Or our children would have us do. Or whoever it is that wants us to do something different than what God's will for us is. So He gives us two steps there. One, if you're going to redeem the time, walk worthy. Number two, don't walk like the Gentiles. Walk in wisdom even toward those who are outside. Don't make it seem like you're one of them and you're just like them.

You need to redeem the time and show that you are different, not cramming anything down their throat, but by the way we act. Okay, back to Ephesians. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5, verse 1. Therefore, Paul says, be imitators of God as dear children. We've got the example of Jesus Christ. Live like Him. Use Him as your pattern. And verse 2, and walk in love. Walk in love. That's agape. Practice that. Jesus Christ was very explicit when He said how people would identify His church. They would be those who have agape, and people would see the difference in how we relate to each other and the oneness that they see in the body as they come into it.

As they did in the Acts 2 church. Walk in love. Walk in agape. Agape doesn't come naturally. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but we have to practice it. We have to make the choices. We have to redeem the time. And when we see a need of someone, we don't say, you know, like the priest in Levite passing by the injured man. I don't have time for that. I don't have time to deal with that today and whatever.

The Good Samaritan took the time. We have to take the time. We have to develop agape. Walk in love, He says. So walk worthy. Walk in wisdom. Walk in love. Verse 2, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, and offering in a sacrifice to God for a sweet-swelling aroma.

Redeem the time. Seize the day. Seize the opportunity to develop that in your life. Drop down to verse 8. Chapter 5, verse 8. He says, Last week we read about God has taken us out of the kingdom of darkness and delivered us into the kingdom of light, or into His marvelous light. Verse 8, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Redeem the time. That's your daily walk. That's the things that you do as you redeem the time. And then He concludes down here in verse 15. See then that you walk diligently. See then that you walked perfectly.

See then that you developed that over the course of your life. That as you walk, you're redeeming the time because the days are evil. The days are evil. The time that we waste, we can waste so much. We can waste so much. But it is the priority God's will. Not to leave other things undone, but to do the things and make sure that we're redeeming the time to do the things that God wants us to do.

Well, Paul had some other things to say to you. Let's go over to Philippians. Philippians 3.

Philippians 3. And let's pick it up in verse 10. And in this series of verses here, you see Him that He has the goal of the kingdom of God in mind.

And we know Paul. We know how He dedicated his life. I mean, he redeemed the time. He seized the opportunity. He put his heart into it. He did it with his might. He made choices, and he sacrificed so much to do God's will. God knew that to Paul, his calling was very important. In verse 10, breaking into the middle of the sentence here, Paul writes that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. And we talked about the resurrection last week, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death. If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. That's where I want to attain. That's where my thought is. Resurrection from the dead. Eternal life. Dying with the Holy Spirit. Dying in Jesus Christ or having Jesus Christ in me. That's where I need to be, and I need to redeem the time and seize what God has given me to be there. And He did it every day from His calling up until the day He died, right to the day He died. There's really no time off for Paul. I mean, every single day until He died, He was working on it. It's a lesson for us. No matter how young we are, no matter how old we are, we keep redeeming the time.

There's never time to rest on our laurels because every day, Paul says, is evil. Every day will steal from us if we allow it to. We have to be diligent about what we're doing and holding, as Peter says, our calling and election sure, and as Christ through John in Revelation says, holding on to that crown, holding on to that crown because, surely, there are forces out there that would like to take that crown from us. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already attained, He says, I'm not there already because I'm walking toward it. That's where I'm walking toward. My goal is the kingdom. That's where my focus is. I'm seizing the opportunity. I'm putting my power, my power might and decisions into it, but it's, of course, by God's power that we will ever attain it. Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Jesus Christ has also laid hold of me.

I press on. I'm seizing that. I'm taking the opportunity. I'm not taking it lightly. I'm pressing on. Brother and I don't count myself to have apprehended. He never sat back and thought, I'm there. I've done enough. What more could God ask of me? Because as long as we live, God expects something of us.

Brother and I don't count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

There are so many things that can hold us back, right? From what God has. We can have fears. Some people have fears of prophecy when they first come into the church. What? That is a lot that God lays on us that could happen between now and the return of Jesus Christ. That's a lot.

That might hold us back. We might have things in our past that we look back and say, this person didn't treat me right. My parents didn't treat me right. This is whatever. We could have all those things happening. We could allow anything to come between us. Paul says, I didn't let any of those. My past was awful, he recognized. I was persecuting the church of God. I was working against Jesus Christ. But he didn't sit there in guilt. He knew that when he repented, God forgave him. Then he went on and pressed toward the kingdom of God. He didn't lose sight of it. He didn't let himself get distracted by fears, by what happened in the past, by things that may come up in life. His goal, first and foremost, was, I will, by God's power and might, attain the kingdom of God. I will attain what God has called me to. And I won't let things, events, or people distract me from what God's will is. Because he says, walk diligently. Walk perfectly. Do the things that God says, exactly what he says, not... Well, we'll talk about that a little bit later. So he says, I pressed toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as you and me, he's talking to today, as many as are mature, have this mind. That we're attaining, that we're working, that we're pressing on toward the kingdom of God. Let us have this in mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal this, even to you. If that isn't your goal, if you look to God, if you listen to what he's saying, if you listen to what he says, he'll reveal that to you. You know, you're not doing the things the way I say. You don't look like you're pressing toward the goal. It looks like you've got these other things that are interfering in it. There's other things that are more important to you. Whatever those things in your life may be or in your background may be. Let them go. Give them to him. Follow him and press on. Nevertheless, verse 16, to the degree that we have already attained, because God does see us as children. God has put his Holy Spirit in us. He does want us in the kingdom. It's us who will give it back to him by our choices or neglect. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind.

One in mind, a body that's at one in accord, coming before God, one in mind, and one in spirit. Brethren, verse 17, join in following my example. And note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. We should all be a pattern for each other. We should all be an inspiration to each other. We should all be following God exactly as he says in setting the example, God first. Not my fears first. Not my will first. His will first.

For many walk, these are interesting verses here in 18, 19, and 20, For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, That they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. That they're enemies. And when you read enemies, you think, oh, these are people who speak against Christ. They're the antichrists. They're the ones who have gone out, and they're the divisive ones. They're the ones who are causing problems. Those are the ones who are trying to take people away from the church. But that isn't what he says when he defines it here. He says, I tell you weeping, they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Whose end is destruction? Well, that should get our attention. Whose end is destruction? Whose God is their belly?

Oh, wow. They pay more attention to the things of the world. The earthly things than the things of God. They're the enemies of the cross of Christ. They put their belly first. They put what's good for them first. They put their physical needs first. Whose end is destruction? Whose God is their belly? And whose glory is in their shame? Who set their mind on earthly things?

Not those that are divisive. Certainly God has an issue with them. Not those who are trying to take others away from the church, but they just have lost their priorities. They're no longer—maybe they began—but no longer seizing the day. No longer attaining and pressing toward the kingdom of God. They've let other things crowd into their lives to take them away from the purpose that God has for them. They are no longer walking circumspectly with diligence and going toward perfection. And he reminds us, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So Paul, you know, and Peter, and John, and Solomon would say, you've been given a great calling. You've been given a great purpose. Seize it. Make the most of it. Work on it. Christ also addressed it. Let's go back to Matthew 13.

Matthew 13, verse 44, in the chapter that talks about—it has a number of parables about the kingdom of God. Verse 44 says again, Christ speaking, he says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found in hid. And for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

He's been looking, or maybe he hasn't been looking, but all of a sudden he sees a treasure and he immediately recognizes it as this is the most valuable thing in my life. And he goes and sells all that he has. All that he has. Where's his heart? It's seizing that opportunity.

I'll give myself up. Christ says, deny yourself. Take up your cross daily. Follow me. Lose your life. Not necessarily just your physical life, but lose your life, the things you used to do. Do the things that God said to do. Be willing to lose that because you found that hidden treasure that you know is the most important thing. What can possibly be more important than the calling that God has given us? Nothing. Nothing. Verse 45, he repeats it twice with another. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Sold it all. This is where my focus is from here on out. This is I will continue to live, I will continue to work, I have to continue to do the things, but this now is my overriding purpose in life. This is the thing I seize. This is the crown that I will hold to. This is the way I will walk. Worthy, in love, in wisdom, redeeming the time, circumspectly.

Well, Jesus Christ certainly set that example. The apostles that Jesus Christ called. You know, you call them and you read in Matthew 3, when he called Peter and John, when he called them, they just dropped what they were doing. And they followed him. Immediately, it says. They recognized. This is where our life needs to be. I need to seize this. I need to be there. I need to drop what I'm doing. And immediately, they did that.

And except for Judas, they followed throughout their lives. Taking that opportunity and not allowing the things and the trials of life to take them away, but not everyone, not everyone, sadly, takes that opportunity and seizes the day.

Let's go back to Luke, Luke 9.

There's others that God will call. And they don't receive the calling as the man who found the pearl of great price, or as apostles heard it and immediately dropped whatever they were doing and followed him.

Some would get the call, and they weren't sure or they didn't respond in the way that God would have us call. Luke 9, verse 59.

Then he said, speaking of Christ, then Christ said to another, follow me. Same thing he said to Peter. Same thing to you when you read back in Acts 3, that he said to those, follow me.

But the man said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. You know I've got this to do beforehand. He may have thought, yeah, you're the Christ, or whatever he thought it was. You're a great teacher, whatever the man thought.

But you know what? I've got these other things to do first. That's somewhere down the road. I'll do that. I need to finish up raising my children. I need to finish up my job. I need to do whatever it is.

But I'll deal with you later. First, let me finish my life.

Ah. Is that the attitude that Christ wants? Is someone that is going to seize the day? Look at the opportunity? Is that going to be someone?

Christ said to him, let the dead bury their own dead. You go and preach the kingdom of God. I called you to this. Do you recognize what you've been given?

Are you seizing that opportunity? Every opportunity. The calling, yes, and even the details in life that we go through as we follow God.

Verse 16, another one also said, Lord, I'll follow you. But let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.

First, let me go home. I've got to deal with this first. I've got company at my home. I've got these things that need to happen. I've got these family members who are putting demands on me.

I've got to deal with that first. That's where I'm going to go. Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back, and those are words that we should look at, is fit for the kingdom of God.

No one looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Now, I hope all of us here today were looking to let God make us fit for the kingdom of God.

To be fit for the kingdom of God, we have to do what God wants. We have to have the attitudes that he expects.

These people, I mean, who can say, oh, you know what? Maybe some of us did that.

And not right now. I get it, but not right now.

You know, it can happen at the beginning of our calling. Looking back can happen well into our calling.

I can be in the church 30, 40, 50 years. I can start looking back.

I can start letting down my guard. I can start letting other things be more important.

I can let my family influence me and take me away from things that I know better to do and make allowances for it.

I can let jobs do that. I can make excuses for myself.

I can look back and become more like the world if I relax and forget the calling that God has called us to.

It's not just when we're first called. God says, you are to look forward to the kingdom every day of your life.

Not looking back. Not doing things the way the Gentiles do it.

Not replacing his will with our will or what we seem to be right, but doing his will.

Whether it's at the beginning of our calling or 20, 30, 40, 50 years into our calling, God says you're not fit for the kingdom of God.

That kind of chills me when I read those words.

I have to think, am I doing the things? Am I telling God, I'm going to put that on hold? I'm going to put that on hold until.

We need to be cognizant of that because God's looking at that. What do we put ahead of him? Are we seizing every day? Or are we letting Sundays go and say, a little bit later? A little bit later, I'll do that.

A little bit later, I'll do that.

I know there's an old saying. It says, don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. That's exactly what these people in verses 59 to 62 do.

That's exactly what maybe some of us are doing. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Seize the day. Hold on to your crown. Make your calling and election sure. Redeem the time.

A few chapters ahead in Luke 14. It's the story of a wedding feast. A wedding feast.

Chapter 14 and verse 16.

Christ giving this parable.

And he says, a certain man gave a great supper and invited many.

When we read the words, invited many, we probably think, many are called, the few are chosen. Right? God calls many. If everyone was sitting, well, we wouldn't be in this room. If God, if God, if everyone that God called or invited, to His truth in Jacksonville came to church, we wouldn't be in this hall. We'd have a much, much bigger hall.

You know? We look around the room. Even today, there were three people this week who said they would be here. They're not here. I'll say that between you and me.

And it's rare that a month would go by that someone doesn't say, I'll be there, I'll be there. And they're not. And I think you're not paying attention to the calling because I talked to them. I think, you're called. You know.

We're here, but we know many are called. Few are chosen. Few are chosen. And Christ says here, as a certain man gave a great supper, invited many, and He sent His servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, that would be you and me. Right? Today we would be called and chosen, others that have been invited as well. But these people accepted the invitation. These people knew the supper was coming. And He said, come. All things are now ready.

But look what they did. Now's the time. Now's the time for the wedding supper. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to Him, I bought a piece of ground and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.

Did He seize the day? Did He get the calling that God had called Him to? This is more important. Forget that wedding supper. I knew I said I'd be there, but you know what? This is, to me right now, more important. I'm not going to follow what you have to say. Another one said, I bought five yolk of oxen and I'm going to test them. I ask you to have me excused. I got this thing going on. I can't do it right now. I can't come right now. Still another said, I've married a wife and therefore I can't come. Excuse after excuse after excuse.

Every single one of us have made excuses in our life, right? When God looks at us, there's some time in our life we've made excuses. I can't do it now because. I can't do this because. What does God think of those excuses? Are we seizing the day when we make excuses? Are we putting him first? Are we letting him make us fit for the kingdom of God? Because that's what our goal should be. The master who has the wedding servant is not at all pleased with the people who had all these issues. So that servant came and reported these things to his master and the master of the house being angry said to a servant, then go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.

You know what? Fill up. If they don't want it, if it's not important to them, find other people who it will be important to. If they don't want to sit at my wedding feast, someone else will. And the servant said, Master, it's done as you commanded and there's still room. They didn't see it either. They didn't see the Pearl of Great Price. They didn't see the hidden treasure. They didn't value it. They didn't seize the day. They had excuses.

And the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges. Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper. Those are tough words, too, right? What? God invited us? We thought we were doing things?

We thought he'd be okay with the excuses we have? Or not now? Not right now. I've got this to do. This is more important than he says, none of those people who are invited shall taste my supper. What is God looking for us to do?

He wants us to seize the calling he's given us. Day by day he wants us to redeem the time. Day by day he wants us to make our calling an election sure. Day by day he wants us to put our hand, what he's called us to do, to do it with our might. To make the choices and sometimes some difficult choices, but to do the things that he wants first.

That's what he wants. And if we want to taste his supper, then we'll do that. You know, we read this parable, and it should affect us because it's obvious in this parable there's a wedding supper, and often in the Bible there's this wedding supper that is the focus of what Jesus Christ is saying.

If we turn back to Revelation 19, Revelation 19, there's that wedding supper that we should all be focused on. A goal that we have as we redeem the time, as we make our calling an election sure, as we walk with wisdom, with love, circumspectly. Chapter 19, verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. Don't discount those words, has made herself ready. God doesn't do it all for us. He gives us everything we need.

His spirit is in us. We have to make the choices. The bride, his wife, has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. It's what they did with their lives. It's how they lived their lives. As the choices they made, I watched what they did. They seized the opportunity. They put everything else. Still had to do all the things of life, all the things that are good, nothing wrong with the things that we do in life.

You know, when they have...they seized the opportunity, though. They saw the vision. They never lost sight of it. When they were young, when they were middle-aged, when they were old, no matter what the circumstance was, because throughout our lives there will always be something. Satan will always find something to take us away from the truth. He'll always find something that we might think is a good excuse. Or we might not even think of an excuse, but God sees it as an excuse for not doing what he says. Verse 9, then he said to me, right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

These are the true sayings of God. We all want to be in that marriage supper. We don't want to happen to us what happened to the people back in Luke 14. God says, none of them are going to taste my supper because they showed me by the choices they made in life. They weren't ready to seize that opportunity. It wasn't the important thing in their life. They weren't ready to give up their will or whatever it is to mine.

The people here in verses 7-9, they took God's call seriously. They, if we can use the term, they carpe diem. They seized the day. They seized the opportunity. They lived their life the way that God wanted them to. Not perfectly. None of us are perfect and certainly not perfect from day one, but grew in that. The way God has called us to do to become more and more and more like him. And when we mess up and when we fall short to determine that's not going to happen to us again, much like Peter, who fell short, how many times with Jesus Christ?

But he didn't go away. He didn't run away. He said, okay, I'm not going to deny you anymore. I'll accept your will no matter what it is, even though I don't understand it, even though I don't get it sometimes. I'll do it, and I won't do these things. He learned just like we have to learn. You know, we have holy days coming up. We certainly have the whole calling of God. We have holy days coming up. Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles.

God's will for us is very clear on those days. You know, they are His holy days. They have significance in His plan. And He says what He wants us to do on those days, where He wants us to be. Do we make excuses for ourselves? Oh, I can't be. I can't come all day on that day. Oh, I can't do this because certainly if we're sick or whatever, you know, that is something that we would...

But, you know, are we ready to do that? Are we ready to do what God says? Do we show Him that on His holy days, we're prepared for them? We're looking forward to them? We're going to keep them exactly the way that He said? We're going to focus on them. We're going to learn more about His plan every year as we go through them, whether it's the first time we've kept the fall holy days or the 60th time that we've kept them, because we learn more about His plan every single time we keep them.

If we're focused on them, and if we're looking in the Bible, and if we're doing the things that He wants us to do, have we, if we're still working, have we dutifully saved second tithes? Have we done that the way God said? Because, you know, by doing this festival tithe, the second tithe, every paycheck or every month, whatever period of time you get paid, you're focused on the Kingdom of God.

You're saving for the Feast of Tabernacles and all through the year. It's not just, you know, in April we make our housing reservations, and in October this year we go to the feast. It's all through the year we're preparing for it, just like all through our lives. We're focused on the return of Jesus Christ. That's why God put a second tithe in there.

Do we do that, or do we make excuses for ourselves during the year? Well, I do that. I've got this unexpected expense. I can't do this, and I can't do that, and God understands. When we go to the feast, will we be there all seven days, or think that it's good enough for God if we're just there a couple days? As long as we make an appearance, that's okay. Well, maybe when we first start keeping the feast, we don't have the financial ability to do that, but our goal should be that we will be keeping the feast, all seven days, and then the last great day as well that's there.

That should be our goal. Maybe we can't do it one year, but that should be our goal if we're there. When we're there at the feast, do we plan to go to services every day, or do we make ourselves excuses? Oh, you know what? I've got Disney over here.

I've got this amusement park. We've got to be there in the morning as opposed to church. What's our priority when we go there? Fun? Entertainment? Vacation? Or is it the Feast of Tabernacles and picturing the kingdom of God? Are we paying attention to the spiritual meaning of the feast and enjoying the physical that God wants us to as well?

All those things that we do as we go through all these aspects of our lives, we should be looking. Are we redeeming the time? Are we seizing what God wants us to do? Do we want to taste that supper that God has invited us to? Because we know what we need to do if we want to taste that supper. Let's go back to Matthew 25. There's another bridal party.

This is talked about here after Jesus Christ gives, or is part of actually, the Olivet Prophecy. After he talks about the things that are going to befall the earth leading up to the time of His return, knowing His will that you and I and everyone He's called will be there, He does sound some words of caution. And in chapter 25, He talks about another wedding party that's there. Chapter 25, Matthew 1. The kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. So we could turn, and if you want to, you can keep your finger there in chapter 25 and turn back to Revelation 14, verse 4.

Revelation 14, verse 4, tells us who the virgins are. If we have any doubt, let's just do that. Revelation 14, and verse 4, These are the ones who were not defiled with women. Women of the Bible's other churches, they were not defiled with other churches. They didn't bring their other beliefs in. They didn't allow that to crowd out the truth.

These are the ones who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

That's you and me. That's you and me. If we're following God, if we're leaving behind our past beliefs and embracing the truth of God, that's you and me. As He talks in chapter 25 here, verse 1, He's talking about people who have been called, people who have been in the church, people who are following God, baptized, had His Holy Spirit, The kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were wise. Remember who the wise were? And five of them were foolish. Remember who the foolish were? The ones who didn't pay attention to what they'd been given and the truth. Those who were foolish took their lamps but didn't take any oil with them. Now we hear the call. We hear the call, but we're not really ready. We're not really ready. We're just here and we want to go, but we didn't make the necessary preparations to go meet the bridegroom.

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Over the course of their lives, they were building up that oil. Their light was still on. They'd been preparing themselves. They were making themselves ready. Not knowing the day or the hour, not even maybe knowing the situation in which the bridegroom would say, It's now time. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. Not just five of them, all ten of them.

They all kind of fell asleep. They all kind of got used to the good times. They all kind of got used to the things in life going along pretty easily without any trials, any tribulations, except what God would give us to strengthen us and to develop us into who he wants us to be. But life was good. They kind of fell asleep and forgot what their calling was.

And God saw what was going on. And at midnight a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. And all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. So every's all ten of them. And the foolish said to the wise, Ah, our lights aren't burning. Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.

I can't do it for you. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You've got to have the oil in your lamp. You've got to make it ready. God will give you the opportunity. God will give it to you. But you've got to redeem the time. You've got to seize the day. You've got to make your calling and election sure. You've got to hold fast to your crown until the very end. You've got to have the oil in the lamp when the time comes. No one else can do it for you.

Now while those foolish virgins went out to buy, when they tried, when they tried, when they realized, Oh, the time is now. I've got to hurry up and do this. How do I make this happen? And you can imagine the panic when they realized the time is now. And probably wish. I wish I had redeemed the time. I wish I had seized the day. I wish I had made my calling and election. Sure, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish that I hadn't done the things and made the choices that I need.

I wish I hadn't missed the opportunity that God gave me. We've all missed opportunities in our life, haven't we, when we look at it from a physical standpoint. Probably things in our life we can look at and say, Man, I missed that opportunity. That was a really good job opportunity. Maybe that was a, you know, maybe it was a love interest.

Maybe it was an investment. Maybe whatever it was, you know, maybe we have regrets, a missed opportunity. Boy, missed opportunities hurt at the end of our lives. I hear people, you know, you hear it on TV. People say, I have no regrets. Well, that's a great thing to say at the end of your life. That's no regrets. It should be in the spiritual sense. These virgins, they've got some missed opportunities, and those missed opportunities are going to hurt at that time.

And while they went to Vry, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came. They kind of came back and said, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, I don't know you.

The missed opportunity. The opposite of Carpe Diem. Wow. How did I miss that opportunity? I knew it, but I didn't redeem the time. I did it, and I had all these excuses. God gave it to me, and I just blew it. And he says in verse 13, watch. Be ready. Seize every day. Daily, remember? We talked about that in the model prayer.

Watch therefore, for you don't know the day or the hour which the Son of Man is coming. Let's go back to Luke 12.

Interesting verses. Luke 12.45.

In the end of chapter 24 of Matthew, he talks about the people who are wise, who are doing what God said at the time of his return, and then there's others who kind of sleep and get involved with the world and do all the things the world says and kind of lose their sense of urgency. And I won't take the time to read through all of it, but let's drop down to verse 45. Christ speaking, he says, If that servant says in his heart, My master's delaying is coming, I've got plenty of time. I've got to do these things first. My master's delaying is coming and begins to beat the male and female and male servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, remember drunk doesn't have to be just drunk. I mean, I'm all enamored with the internet, family, Facebook, whatever it is that's taking all my time, to beat the male and female servants, to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a date when he's not looking for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and he will cut him into a notice this, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Now, what is the portion of the unbelievers? What will they go through at the time leading up to Christ's return?

Well, you can read about that. Jeremiah 30 and Matthew 24 and it places, the unbelievers. Not a pleasant thing the unbelievers go through. He doesn't say he's going to kill them. They're going to make choices during that time. They'll have their portion with the unbelievers. Do you want to have your portion with the unbelievers when God has given you the opportunity to be with the believers?

Well, we have to make our calling and election. Sure, we have to seize the day, every day.

Verse 47, and that servant who knew his master's will and didn't prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. Wow! I don't want to be beaten with many stripes. Do you?

Well, we kind of indicate what we intend by the choices we make each day, by whether we make our calling and election. Sure, whether we seize the opportunity or will our lives be marked not by ones who took the opportunity and made our calling and election. Sure, but who missed the opportunity. Who missed the opportunity. You know, in Matthew 24, Christ talks to those who missed that opportunity, who let it slip through their fingers and realized at that time, I blew it. I didn't have my priorities right. I let other things steal my crown. He says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Because they know now they'll have their portion with the unbelievers.

He makes it clear. He makes it clear and he leaves the choice up to us. And the choice is up to us. As we approach each day, do we wake up redeeming the time? At the end of the day, during the day, do we think, oh, I've got to redeem the time? What's my priority? What am I choosing? Am I making excuses to God?

We all do it. None of us are exempt. We kind of have to watch ourselves and see what we're doing when we make allowances for ourselves. As we approach the fall Holy Days, what is the attitude we have toward them? These are really important to God. He commands His people, this is what you do if you're following me. These are my annual festivals, as important as the weekly Sabbath.

Will you be there? Will you be there? Will you embrace them? Will you learn from them? Or will you just go through the motions and think that's good enough for God?

I would say, don't let this fall Holy Day season pass by without you seizing the truth. Seizing the time. And when you go and we're here on trumpets and when we're here on atonement, when we're at the Feast of Tabernacles, seize the time. Seize the day and start the pattern in your life that you show God. I am making my calling and election sure. I will not miss the opportunity that you gave me.