"There Are No Victories At Bargain Prices"

“There are no victories at bargain prices.”

Pastor Glenn Newton 12-26-99

Text: Acts 24:24-27

The title of my message this morning is a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower,

“There are no victories at bargain prices.”

This morning this message is for me as much as it is for anyone here, Let’s make

up our minds this morning that we will allow God to move and to direct in our hearts this

morning as He sees fit.

Every year at this time, it seems that we begin to reflect over the year that has just

past, for me at this time, I get the double and triple whammy. Not only do we enter a new

year, and this year, a new Millennium, but I also have a birthday and realize I’m a year

older, plus Nola and I celebrate our Wedding Anniversary and realize how Old We are

Getting. With all these things .......... it forces you to reflect and to take inventory of your

life.

This week I also attended a funeral for a man who died at the age of 37 years of

age, Bro. Ed Bridgewaters son-in-law, Roger Smith. When you attend a funeral for

someone your age or younger, it forces you to realize that this life is very fragile, and our

time is precious and fleeting. I believe God has called us to be good stewards of our time.

So all of these things have come crashing down in these last few days, and I hope

this morning I can communicate to you What God Wants Us To Hear Today.

God’s Word has allot to teach us about our use of Time, and how we are to live

our lives.

Psalms 90:12 “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of

wisdom.”

Ephesians 5: 15-16 “Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as

wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Colossians 4:5 “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of

every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so

that you may know how to answer everyone.”

If you will turn in your Bibles with me, we will look at our text this morning, ACTS 24:

24-25 . Read.

Let me give you a little of the background in which we read this passage. The

Apostle Paul is in trouble again with the Jews. They have been trying to find a way to kill

him, they have tried to influence the Roman Government to execute him for blasphemy,

and to be honest the Romans wouldn’t have minded much caring out this death sentence

for the Jews, except for one thing. Paul was a Roman Citizen by birth, so he was afforded

some protection by the Roman legal system, he was at least going to get a fair trial. So

we find Paul being transferred and now brought in front of the Governor Felix. We find in

Verse 22 that Gov. Felix is well acquainted with the Way, or the Christian Faith as he had

dealt with the conflicts between the Jews and this New Christian group that were

followers of Jesus, he had come to understand the conflict and the beliefs and claims of the

Christians.

As we read this scripture and we understand what’s going on between God’s Man

Paul, and this Roman official, Felix, I want you to notice there are two distinct

philosophies at work.

We notice over and over again in Paul’s life, There’s no time like the Present to

get things done. When I look at Paul’s life, when I read about him and how he lived,

There seemed to be a constant flow of God through Him to others. Where ever he was,

whatever he was doing, whatever was being done to him, God was using him. Paul’s

testimony and effectiveness was not determined by his circumstances, they were constant

in spite of his circumstances. Paul’s Philosophy of Life was lined up with the Scriptures

that read that instruct us to , “Make the most of every opportunity.”

In this same passage, we are going to notice a second philosophy at work, we will

see this in the life of Felix, the Governor. Now you need to remember this man has been

confronted with the claims of Christianity in the past, he understood. In fact, his wife

Drusilla was a Jew. So there’s little doubt that Felix not only knew of the Jews history,

and the prophecies, but now was aware of the claims of the Christians. We notice that

Felix employees another Philosophy when faced with the gospel. Read v.25

In verse 25 it says, “As Paul discoursed.......You can read that, As Paul was

Preaching, Paul was preaching boldly and with great courage before this Roman ruler.