WEBVTT 00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:27.794 Well. 00:00:27.794 --> 00:00:29.896 Good morning, Valley View. 00:00:29.896 --> 00:00:34.433 It's great to be with you while we continue our study in the book of Esther. 00:00:34.433 --> 00:00:37.270 And this chapter reminded me of an experience I had. 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:47.847 I've shared this before, but when we were living in Little Rock, I was serving with a marriage and family ministry, and one morning in particular, I had a meeting to go to, and it was an important meeting we'd been building up to. 00:00:47.847 --> 00:00:52.218 I was going to make a big proposal for a new ministry resource we were going to launch. 00:00:52.218 --> 00:00:56.890 So I was cleaned up, had on a tie even, I was ready for this meeting. 00:00:56.890 --> 00:01:05.697 I go out on the carport to the house we were living in at the time, and then I just had this strange feeling something didn't feel right and I looked around. 00:01:05.697 --> 00:01:08.501 I was trying to figure out what is off here. 00:01:08.501 --> 00:01:13.873 Well, the problem was the truck I was going to drive to the office wasn't there. 00:01:13.873 --> 00:01:17.043 This big empty spot in the middle of the carport. 00:01:17.043 --> 00:01:20.680 And so I immediately racking my brain, wondering, where did I leave it? 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:22.515 What, did I leave it somewhere else? 00:01:22.515 --> 00:01:24.549 Did a family member or friend borrow it? 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:26.753 Did Julie have somewhere to go this morning? 00:01:26.753 --> 00:01:28.421 An early morning mulch run or something? 00:01:28.421 --> 00:01:30.188 Who knows? 00:01:30.188 --> 00:01:38.930 But then I saw some broken plastic on the ground, door handle busted or something, and I knew, oh no, no, someone else I didn't know decided to borrow it today. 00:01:38.930 --> 00:01:45.605 They had a need for it, didn't share with me. And in that moment, everything kind of shifted. 00:01:45.605 --> 00:01:48.441 My whole day, my whole plan, everything changed. 00:01:48.441 --> 00:01:52.611 In fact, I would call this an unexpected turn iIn the day. 00:01:52.611 --> 00:01:54.881 I had my plans, I had what I was going to do. 00:01:54.881 --> 00:02:02.188 I had everything sorted out, and then all of a sudden, all that's out the window, we've got to develop a new plan. 00:02:02.188 --> 00:02:07.093 What do you do in life when you're faced with an unexpected turn? 00:02:07.093 --> 00:02:08.693 You've all had this happen. 00:02:08.693 --> 00:02:09.429 You've had some. 00:02:09.429 --> 00:02:13.199 Some are small, some are huge. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:14.734 An unexpected turn. 00:02:14.734 --> 00:02:16.034 How do you handle those? 00:02:16.034 --> 00:02:17.235 How do you deal with those? 00:02:17.235 --> 00:02:19.104 How do you move forward? 00:02:19.104 --> 00:02:27.612 In Esther chapter two, which is what we're looking at today, we're going to see a number of unexpected turns, and we're going to see how people react to those. 00:02:27.612 --> 00:02:30.248 And so if you have a Bible, turn to Esther chapter two. 00:02:30.248 --> 00:02:33.519 If you have a church Bible, that'll be on page 382. 00:02:33.519 --> 00:02:37.088 We're working through the book of Esther leading up to the summer. 00:02:38.123 --> 00:02:46.164 We're going to see specifically six unexpected turns in life that happened in Esther chapter two. 00:02:46.731 --> 00:02:51.403 So let's start by reading the first few verses in Esther chapter two. 00:02:51.403 --> 00:02:53.705 Get our bearings for the story today. 00:02:53.705 --> 00:02:56.709 Esther chapter two, verse one. 00:02:56.908 --> 00:03:09.989 After these things, when the anger of King Ahaseurus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 00:03:10.156 --> 00:03:33.878 Then the king's young men who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem and Susa the citadel under custody of Haggai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women, let their cosmetics be given them. 00:03:33.878 --> 00:03:39.818 Let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:43.989 This pleased the king, and he did so. 00:03:44.757 --> 00:03:57.969 If you remember last week in chapter one, Queen Vashti would not come out to make an appearance at the pinnacle of 187 days of feasting, all building up to her royal appearance. 00:03:57.969 --> 00:04:02.040 She wouldn't come out, and that infuriated, he burned with anger. 00:04:02.040 --> 00:04:05.377 The king Ahaseurus burned with anger in that moment. 00:04:05.377 --> 00:04:08.681 He consulted some of the wise men, the men who knew the times. 00:04:08.681 --> 00:04:11.750 And they said, according to the law she needs to be replaced. 00:04:11.750 --> 00:04:14.752 This could be devastating to your reign. 00:04:15.354 --> 00:04:19.190 And so here we have the situation unfolding. 00:04:19.190 --> 00:04:22.862 Now that they've decided this is what needs to happen, how do we go about it? 00:04:24.430 --> 00:04:40.913 And I love this just opening few words here where it says when the anger of the king had abated or subsided, his anger, his rage had come down a bit. 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:45.250 And then there's one key word he remembered Vashti. 00:04:46.050 --> 00:04:56.528 To me, there's just a hint of regret there, just a hint of-- Actually, I kind of liked her, but I've already decided she's out. 00:04:56.528 --> 00:04:58.129 We've already put this in place. 00:04:58.129 --> 00:04:58.663 We've. 00:04:58.663 --> 00:05:01.666 We've told the whole world. 00:05:01.733 --> 00:05:03.569 And so he's backed in a corner. 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:04.670 I mean, his pride's in the way. 00:05:04.670 --> 00:05:06.538 There's no getting out of this. 00:05:06.538 --> 00:05:12.043 He remembered her, but yet now this plan, it has to move forward. 00:05:12.043 --> 00:05:14.379 I don't have a choice. 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:17.583 Now, notice who he consults in this moment. 00:05:17.583 --> 00:05:25.156 In chapter one and verse 13, he consulted the wise men, those who were versed in the law is what it says. 00:05:25.156 --> 00:05:27.059 Men who understood the times. 00:05:28.627 --> 00:05:34.298 And here it says the king's young men come to give him advice. 00:05:35.067 --> 00:05:53.918 Now there's a pattern in Scripture, one in particular instance where when the advice of the older, wiser sage men was ignored and the advice of the young men was taken, we saw that with Jeroboam, Rehoboam, right after Solomon's reign, Rehoboam was put in place. 00:05:53.918 --> 00:06:02.961 Jeroboam, representing a number of the tribes of Israel, come to him and say, hey, look! Solomon laid a heavy yoke upon us, and it's time to lighten that up a bit. 00:06:02.961 --> 00:06:08.567 If you lighten that up, we will gladly follow along with your reign. 00:06:08.567 --> 00:06:12.336 And so Rehoboam says, let me consider that, he consults the old men. 00:06:12.336 --> 00:06:13.538 They say, yes, that's true. 00:06:13.538 --> 00:06:15.274 You should be serving them. 00:06:16.975 --> 00:06:21.980 The leader should be the one who best serves his people, not places a heavy yoke upon them. 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:29.620 He takes their advice, turns to his friends, his peers, the young men, and they say, oh, you thought Solomon was hard. 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:32.324 You thought his yoke was heavy. 00:06:32.324 --> 00:06:34.225 You haven't seen anything yet. 00:06:34.225 --> 00:06:37.228 We're going to add to what he did. 00:06:37.562 --> 00:06:39.197 And that led to a split. 00:06:39.197 --> 00:06:42.134 Jeroboam said, we're out of here. 00:06:42.134 --> 00:06:56.148 So there is this imagery of taking the young man's advice only separate from the wise, the experienced, the sage leads to maybe not the best choices. 00:06:56.747 --> 00:07:00.918 And so here the emphasis is from the young men. 00:07:00.918 --> 00:07:02.821 Hey, look, you didn't like Vashti. 00:07:02.821 --> 00:07:05.290 Now is the time to live it up. 00:07:05.290 --> 00:07:08.860 Now is the time to fulfill every dream and desire you might have. 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:12.430 Go throughout every region, places you've never even been or seen. 00:07:12.430 --> 00:07:16.267 Find the most beautiful women and bring them all back here just for you. 00:07:17.569 --> 00:07:19.805 That's the advice of the young men. 00:07:19.805 --> 00:07:21.939 In chapter one, the old men was let's seek out the law. 00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:23.007 What does the law say? 00:07:23.007 --> 00:07:24.709 How do we go about it? 00:07:24.709 --> 00:07:25.911 Let's use wisdom here. 00:07:25.911 --> 00:07:28.913 Let's use care. 00:07:29.915 --> 00:07:43.161 That's why as a church, our church is governed by a group of elders, seven elders, seven men who have been tested, have shown themselves faithful, and they take counsel from the whole church. 00:07:43.161 --> 00:07:47.499 We don't ignore what young men or even children might say. 00:07:47.499 --> 00:07:57.709 We want wisdom from all realms, but at the end of the day, we want those who are in charge of running the church, even the staff, we serve at the behest of the elders, they set the direction. 00:07:57.709 --> 00:07:58.810 Overall vision for the church. 00:07:58.810 --> 00:08:05.516 We work together to do that, but these are people we've seen God be faithful through them over time. 00:08:06.451 --> 00:08:07.718 We don't want to be reactionary. 00:08:07.718 --> 00:08:11.122 We don't want to be those who are just serving ourselves while we lead. 00:08:11.122 --> 00:08:14.925 In fact, a leader should be a giver, not a taker. 00:08:14.925 --> 00:08:17.461 You know this king in this moment, he's taking. 00:08:17.461 --> 00:08:19.798 Serve me, all these provinces. 00:08:19.798 --> 00:08:23.235 Give me your best for me. It's kind of feels a little bit like The Hunger Games. 00:08:23.235 --> 00:08:26.571 If you've read or seen that, you give me your best. 00:08:26.571 --> 00:08:30.007 I'll use them how I want some faraway kingdom. 00:08:30.742 --> 00:08:35.346 But no, the the leader should be the giver, not the taker. 00:08:35.746 --> 00:08:37.615 And so the young men are giving him advice. 00:08:37.615 --> 00:08:38.350 He's running with it. 00:08:38.350 --> 00:08:40.317 Of course he loves it. In the moment. 00:08:41.418 --> 00:08:46.390 And now we encounter what I consider to be the first unexpected turn in the story. 00:08:46.557 --> 00:08:48.626 Look down at verse five. 00:08:48.626 --> 00:09:02.407 Now there was a Jew in Susa, the citadel, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem. 00:09:02.407 --> 00:09:11.048 Among the captives carried away with Jeconiah, the king of Judah, who Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away. 00:09:11.048 --> 00:09:21.225 He-- Mordecai --was bringing up Hadassah, who is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:30.969 The young woman had a beautiful figure, and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 00:09:32.169 --> 00:09:39.943 Here we're introduced to Mordecai, and we're introduced to an interesting political dynamic that was true at this time. 00:09:39.943 --> 00:09:44.883 In fact, the first unexpected turn in the story is an unexpected exile. 00:09:46.283 --> 00:09:48.052 The Jewish people had been exiled. 00:09:48.052 --> 00:09:55.659 They had been taken out of their land and taken by the Babylonians and the Persians and taken to a foreign land. 00:09:55.659 --> 00:10:05.135 And this was unexpected for them, even though God warned and warned and warned, obey me, follow me, or this is going to happen, I promise. 00:10:05.135 --> 00:10:06.437 I'm warning you. 00:10:06.437 --> 00:10:08.373 Don't keep going down the road you're going down. 00:10:08.373 --> 00:10:11.208 But eventually there was no turning back. 00:10:11.208 --> 00:10:13.244 And so the Jewish people were exiled. 00:10:13.244 --> 00:10:17.315 They were taken out of their homeland, taken into other lands. 00:10:17.315 --> 00:10:21.219 However, at this point in the story, many had already returned. 00:10:21.219 --> 00:10:23.955 They had been allowed to return to Israel. 00:10:23.955 --> 00:10:27.658 They had been allowed to return to their homeland. 00:10:27.692 --> 00:10:30.628 But as you can imagine, and you could kind of guess some didn't go back. 00:10:31.828 --> 00:10:33.298 And part of you goes, why not? 00:10:33.298 --> 00:10:33.898 That’s your homeland. 00:10:33.898 --> 00:10:35.432 Why wouldn't you return? 00:10:35.432 --> 00:10:38.469 We lived-- I've mentioned before -- overseas doing missions. 00:10:38.469 --> 00:10:39.736 We lived in the South Pacific. 00:10:39.736 --> 00:10:42.173 We were specifically in Fiji. 00:10:42.173 --> 00:10:54.885 And what was interesting there is probably a third to a half of the population, depending on where you live, were not native Fijians, but had come from India and they clearly looked like they were from India. 00:10:54.885 --> 00:10:57.788 There's a clear difference. 00:10:57.788 --> 00:11:00.758 But what was interesting is the British rule had ended. 00:11:00.758 --> 00:11:05.229 So the British brought people from India to help run the sugar plantations late 1800s. 00:11:05.229 --> 00:11:08.066 But British rule, it ended probably 1970. 00:11:08.066 --> 00:11:10.668 In that range. 00:11:10.668 --> 00:11:11.869 They didn't all go back to India. 00:11:11.869 --> 00:11:15.740 They'd been there 100 years at that point, this is all they knew. 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:17.607 This is their home at this point. 00:11:17.607 --> 00:11:20.278 In fact, their language had even changed a little. 00:11:20.278 --> 00:11:21.745 Some of their customs had changed. 00:11:21.745 --> 00:11:28.019 Yeah, they're Indian, but if they went back to India, it wouldn't be the same as if they grew up there. 00:11:28.019 --> 00:11:33.356 And so here we have a number of Jews that say, you know what, we can go back, but this is our home. 00:11:33.390 --> 00:11:44.501 In fact, in Jeremiah, when they're exiled, I think the temptation would be, is that if you're taken out of your country, put somewhere else, it's to be actively rebellious, to wish for the worst of where you've been taken. 00:11:44.501 --> 00:11:48.706 But in Jeremiah he said, no, no, no, take wives-- you're going to be here a while. 00:11:48.706 --> 00:11:49.706 Take wives. 00:11:49.706 --> 00:11:56.313 In fact, it says something like, do your best to invest in the cities when you're there. 00:11:56.313 --> 00:11:59.549 Make this place better than it would have been without you. 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:02.986 So they've been there investing, giving, caring. 00:12:02.986 --> 00:12:04.889 You're going to have a connection to where you are. 00:12:06.023 --> 00:12:23.307 And so Mordecai the Jew, even though he's a foreigner in a foreign land, even though the foreign land is really against his religion, even though this was an unexpected turn in the life of the people to end up in this foreign land, here they are. 00:12:23.307 --> 00:12:28.446 Now that they're planted in this place and their life begins to grow and flourish. 00:12:28.446 --> 00:12:33.551 There was another unexpected event, though, that happened in the life of Esther in particular. 00:12:33.551 --> 00:12:38.956 It said that when her father and her mother had died. 00:12:39.724 --> 00:12:43.326 What we have here is an unexpected tragedy. 00:12:43.660 --> 00:12:47.530 I mean, that happens in life, unexpected exile. 00:12:47.530 --> 00:12:57.107 I'm sure there was much tragedy connected with that ripped out of your homeland, but an unexpected personal tragedy for Esther. 00:12:57.107 --> 00:13:13.256 And one thing that's important to remember here in the midst of the challenge she faced, was that even in the midst of the loss of her mother and father, God was working through that to position her to be used by him to rescue the whole nation. 00:13:14.258 --> 00:13:16.961 This is important to note in our lives. 00:13:16.961 --> 00:13:22.166 And look, this isn't to minimize the pain of any tragedy you've faced at all. 00:13:22.166 --> 00:13:23.701 It's still going to be really hard. 00:13:23.701 --> 00:13:26.136 It's still going to leave you with a lot of questions. 00:13:26.136 --> 00:13:27.837 You're still wondering, what is God? 00:13:27.837 --> 00:13:28.839 What is God doing through this? 00:13:28.839 --> 00:13:33.144 And sometimes it won't be clear for a really long time. 00:13:33.409 --> 00:13:46.356 I shared a story this week in the midweek update, and this wasn't a tragedy, but it was one instance of God working behind the scenes in a way that I couldn't see at the time, couldn't even begin to anticipate or understand. 00:13:46.356 --> 00:13:49.058 I worked in between college and going into ministry. 00:13:49.058 --> 00:13:54.431 I wasn't exactly sure what ministry setting I was going to go into, but I knew I wasn't going to go into the field. 00:13:54.431 --> 00:13:58.969 I had studied in college, so I went to work with a friend at the Louisville Orchestra selling concert tickets. 00:13:58.969 --> 00:14:01.171 He was a friend of mine had gone to school with. 00:14:01.171 --> 00:14:02.206 I really liked him. 00:14:02.206 --> 00:14:05.609 I thought this would be at the bare minimum we'd have a fun time hanging out at work. 00:14:05.609 --> 00:14:06.543 I'd make a little money. 00:14:06.543 --> 00:14:14.751 I'd figure out what I'm going to do in ministry, and my main job was to take calls from people who did, season subscriptions. 00:14:14.751 --> 00:14:23.961 They got season tickets to the concert, and you would be shocked at how emotional people can be about classical music. 00:14:23.961 --> 00:14:30.801 I remember the time this lady was yelling at me about how much she hated the director of the orchestra, how awful he was. 00:14:30.801 --> 00:14:36.639 And it's just, I mean, I'm holding the phone out here and it still hurts is just top volume yelling. 00:14:36.940 --> 00:14:40.778 I just let her scream for a while and finally I said, ma'am, I'm so sorry. 00:14:40.778 --> 00:14:42.578 I'm so sorry. 00:14:42.578 --> 00:14:44.981 I don't think I can do anything about the director, though. 00:14:44.981 --> 00:14:47.618 Would you like me to help you pick some great seats? 00:14:47.618 --> 00:14:48.818 And she said, yeah, you're right. 00:14:48.818 --> 00:14:49.986 I'm sorry. 00:14:49.986 --> 00:14:51.221 I know you can't do anything. 00:14:51.221 --> 00:14:52.456 Yes, I still want seats. 00:14:52.456 --> 00:14:54.323 I still hate him, but I still want seats. 00:14:55.893 --> 00:14:58.928 And I remember thinking, what in the world am I doing here? 00:14:58.928 --> 00:15:02.499 This seems like the biggest waste of life. Know? 00:15:02.499 --> 00:15:05.369 I mean, I liked classical music, but I'm like, really? 00:15:05.369 --> 00:15:08.371 Is this the best use of my life? 00:15:08.739 --> 00:15:12.009 Well, fast forward to when I started working with Campus Crusade for Christ. 00:15:12.009 --> 00:15:19.048 Went through the initial training, preparing to work on campus, college campuses, ministering to college students, leading them to Christ. 00:15:19.048 --> 00:15:22.219 The first step, though, was to raise all the funds. 00:15:22.219 --> 00:15:25.022 We were completely self-supported in donations. 00:15:25.022 --> 00:15:30.394 Some of you got some of those phone calls from me asking, Will you partner with us in ministry? 00:15:30.394 --> 00:15:33.629 And I remember all the folks I went through training with. 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:38.701 One of our first task was to you tonight, go call three people tonight. 00:15:38.701 --> 00:15:39.503 Call three people. 00:15:39.503 --> 00:15:46.143 Tell them what you're doing, ask them to partner in with you. And I thought, great, no big deal. 00:15:46.409 --> 00:15:48.678 I've had ladies yelling at me about concert tickets. 00:15:48.678 --> 00:15:53.616 This is a delight and a privilege to call someone to ask them to partner with me. 00:15:53.783 --> 00:16:03.293 We came back that next day, and you could just see the sheer terror on everybody's face of how horrifying that was to make those phone calls, and it just clicked. 00:16:03.293 --> 00:16:11.934 Man, God used that time being yelled at by little old ladies about classical music to make this no big deal. 00:16:12.068 --> 00:16:13.235 He was preparing me. 00:16:13.235 --> 00:16:19.208 And here's here's the key phrase to know what seems like a distraction to you. 00:16:20.076 --> 00:16:24.313 Maybe God preparing you for what he has. 00:16:24.447 --> 00:16:26.917 What seems like a diversion to you? 00:16:26.917 --> 00:16:29.919 What seems like wasted time to you? 00:16:30.453 --> 00:16:43.265 God, maybe and probably is using that to prepare you in some way for what he has for you, whether that's a silly challenge like I mentioned, or a true tragedy. 00:16:43.265 --> 00:16:53.110 In some way, he is preparing you for what he has for you, even in an unexpected tragedy, which is what Esther faces here. 00:16:54.443 --> 00:16:58.081 Now let's look at how the story continues. Unexpected tragedy. 00:16:58.081 --> 00:17:01.751 But next she has another unexpected event. 00:17:01.751 --> 00:17:04.755 Look at verse eight. 00:17:05.321 --> 00:17:42.025 So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa, the citadel in custody of Haggai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Haggai, who had charge of the women, and the young woman pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with cosmetics and her portion of food and with seven chosen young women from the king's palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. 00:17:42.959 --> 00:18:00.609 Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known, and every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her. 00:18:00.743 --> 00:18:06.548 In the midst of exile, in the midst of tragedy, in the midst of the decree of the King. 00:18:06.548 --> 00:18:09.051 Here's what happens to Esther in this moment. 00:18:09.051 --> 00:18:12.055 She has an unexpected choice. 00:18:12.087 --> 00:18:14.190 Now I say choice. 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:18.560 That may not be the best word for what happened to her. 00:18:18.560 --> 00:18:22.298 It may have been she was unexpectedly taken. 00:18:22.298 --> 00:18:31.907 We don't know if this was something she willingly went along with to be taken into this process of possibly being chosen as Queen. 00:18:31.907 --> 00:18:35.345 Was she recruited, was she persuaded? 00:18:35.412 --> 00:18:39.848 Was it something she put her hand up for, or was she just... the word is taken. 00:18:41.917 --> 00:18:44.119 We can't be 100% sure. 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:45.555 Either way, it was unexpected. 00:18:45.555 --> 00:18:49.025 This is an unexpected turn, an unexpected choice in her life. 00:18:49.025 --> 00:18:52.028 Now, how does she handle that? 00:18:52.394 --> 00:18:56.065 How does she navigate that in the midst of this unexpected choice? 00:18:56.065 --> 00:19:04.773 One thing we see in verse nine, part of her reaction was, it says the young woman pleased him and won his favor. 00:19:05.407 --> 00:19:12.949 In the midst of this unexpected choice, she has, whatever she's doing, she's working behind the scenes to win favor. 00:19:12.949 --> 00:19:20.022 She's working behind the scenes to do the best that she can in this moment, to make the most of the situation. 00:19:20.856 --> 00:19:23.859 One of the ways she does does that here. 00:19:23.893 --> 00:19:27.730 It's really interesting how she reacts if you note what it says that Mordecai said to her. 00:19:29.632 --> 00:19:49.152 Look down here in verse ten, Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. Part of the way that she wins favor is by hiding who she really is, by hiding her heritage, by following the direction of Mordecai. 00:19:49.152 --> 00:19:52.121 Now why does he tell her to do that? 00:19:52.821 --> 00:19:54.691 Again, we don't know specifically. 00:19:54.691 --> 00:20:05.067 We'll see later in the story enough to hint that there was likely a significant amount of tension between Jews and Persians, and Mordecai seems to be the kind of guy who is wise to the world. 00:20:05.067 --> 00:20:09.172 We'll see him at the gate with his ear, listening for what is going on. 00:20:09.172 --> 00:20:12.607 He's standing outside the harem making sure everything is okay with Esther. 00:20:12.607 --> 00:20:14.743 He seems to be working in the background. 00:20:14.743 --> 00:20:17.180 He seems to be in the know and she listens to him. 00:20:19.548 --> 00:20:28.557 Now this brings up a challenging tension, I think, that we see in Scripture and that we see for us. 00:20:28.557 --> 00:20:34.896 The first question is when do you hide your faith and when do you make it known? 00:20:34.896 --> 00:20:36.566 And maybe hiding isn't the right word. 00:20:36.566 --> 00:20:39.568 When do you not make it forefront? 00:20:39.902 --> 00:20:42.238 When do you not make a big deal out of it? 00:20:42.238 --> 00:20:45.240 And when do you make it known? 00:20:46.608 --> 00:20:57.720 There's a tension across scripture where you see this balance of things that are described versus what is prescribed. 00:20:57.752 --> 00:21:03.960 So things that are just described as they are and not necessarily meant to be an example for you to follow versus things that are prescribed. 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:05.862 This is what you should do. 00:21:05.862 --> 00:21:08.763 And so some stories are meant to be, do this. 00:21:09.932 --> 00:21:11.267 This is how you should live. 00:21:11.267 --> 00:21:12.300 Follow this example. 00:21:12.300 --> 00:21:16.338 Some are do not do this and do not live this way. 00:21:16.338 --> 00:21:19.342 And sometimes those are really clear. 00:21:20.142 --> 00:21:21.911 Other times it's not so clear. 00:21:21.911 --> 00:21:25.882 You see a mix, you see some righteous behavior, you see some unrighteous behavior. 00:21:25.882 --> 00:21:35.691 In fact, with almost every major biblical character, you see this mix, you see the highs, you see the lows. 00:21:35.892 --> 00:21:44.099 In fact, with Esther in particular, all throughout the book, you see comparison to two major biblical figures, Daniel and Joseph. 00:21:44.099 --> 00:21:45.701 You see comparison. 00:21:45.701 --> 00:21:48.237 You see contrast all throughout. 00:21:48.237 --> 00:21:53.942 Just for instance, Esther is the only character in the book of Esther with two names Esther, Hadassah. 00:21:53.942 --> 00:21:55.478 That's because one is her Jewish name. 00:21:55.478 --> 00:21:56.412 One is her Persian name. 00:21:56.412 --> 00:21:59.848 Now, if you remember the Book of Daniel, this is what happened with them when they were taken. 00:21:59.848 --> 00:22:05.320 They are immediately given new names, which was partly to say, you have a new identity. 00:22:05.320 --> 00:22:07.222 You're no longer who you were. 00:22:07.222 --> 00:22:09.125 Now you are here. 00:22:09.125 --> 00:22:10.826 You're no longer back in Israel. 00:22:10.826 --> 00:22:11.661 Now you're here. 00:22:13.328 --> 00:22:15.364 And she's represented that way too. 00:22:15.364 --> 00:22:23.271 Now you have these dual identities, these two things at play within. Which kingdom do I serve in the midst of that? 00:22:23.271 --> 00:22:26.142 You see parallels with Joseph. 00:22:26.142 --> 00:22:34.750 Joseph, in a sense, was orphaned, taken into prisoner as a slave, taken to a foreign land. 00:22:34.750 --> 00:22:39.587 He was pursued by someone in power for intimate purposes. 00:22:39.587 --> 00:22:41.891 And yet he gained favor all along the way. 00:22:41.891 --> 00:22:46.895 You see these parallels between their stories. 00:22:46.961 --> 00:22:49.632 But you also see contrast. 00:22:49.632 --> 00:22:51.634 Take Daniel, for instance. 00:22:51.634 --> 00:22:59.575 Daniel would not compromise on the food laws that he felt were core to his faith, core to his identity. 00:22:59.575 --> 00:23:02.577 Daniel would not compromise on times of prayer. 00:23:02.577 --> 00:23:09.585 He was willing to go to his death to maintain his Jewish identity. 00:23:10.286 --> 00:23:13.454 And yet, with Esther, we see this. 00:23:13.454 --> 00:23:15.523 We don't see that. 00:23:15.523 --> 00:23:17.526 We don't even see God mentioned. 00:23:17.526 --> 00:23:19.161 We don't see or talk about the law. 00:23:19.161 --> 00:23:26.301 We don't see any mention of any kind of Sabbath keeping or prayer or food laws or rituals to keep. 00:23:26.769 --> 00:23:28.903 We don’t see any of that. 00:23:28.903 --> 00:23:32.441 There's a big contrast between the two of them. 00:23:32.441 --> 00:23:35.411 What do we do with that? 00:23:35.411 --> 00:23:36.945 I mean, is Esther the example? 00:23:36.945 --> 00:23:39.949 The model for us to follow? is Daniel? 00:23:41.317 --> 00:23:42.550 What I'll say here is two things. 00:23:42.550 --> 00:23:45.386 One, it takes wisdom to know. 00:23:45.386 --> 00:23:48.490 And you see Paul, you see him in some cities. 00:23:48.490 --> 00:23:49.625 He stays. 00:23:49.625 --> 00:23:52.294 He lets them beat him near to death and drag him out. 00:23:52.294 --> 00:23:57.266 No matter what, he stays. In other cities, you see he flees. 00:23:57.266 --> 00:23:57.833 Which is it? 00:23:57.833 --> 00:23:58.433 Which do I do? 00:23:58.433 --> 00:24:00.234 It takes wisdom to know. 00:24:00.234 --> 00:24:02.136 It's not always crystal clear. 00:24:02.136 --> 00:24:04.472 That's where we lean on the wisdom of others. 00:24:04.472 --> 00:24:06.040 We seek out counsel from others. 00:24:06.040 --> 00:24:07.776 We listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 00:24:07.776 --> 00:24:11.980 There's not just one clear formula every time, for every situation. 00:24:14.415 --> 00:24:31.967 I think-- I think though, the other really encouraging thing here is just the reminder that God uses imperfect people in imperfect settings, in messy cultures where His word and His law have maybe been forgotten. 00:24:31.967 --> 00:24:34.970 I mean, don't forget they've been in exile. 00:24:34.970 --> 00:24:40.409 The whole painted picture is a people distant from God. 00:24:40.476 --> 00:24:42.577 People who aren't following his law. 00:24:42.577 --> 00:24:46.147 People who aren't actively seeking what is God's will in all things. 00:24:46.147 --> 00:24:49.151 And yet God uses her. 00:24:49.151 --> 00:24:51.953 Anybody else encouraged by that? 00:24:51.953 --> 00:24:54.655 I'm so grateful he uses imperfect people. 00:24:54.655 --> 00:24:57.392 Anybody else imperfect? 00:24:57.392 --> 00:24:58.826 I saw a few hands not go up. 00:24:58.826 --> 00:25:00.695 I'm a little concerned. 00:25:00.695 --> 00:25:03.699 Pray for that marriage. 00:25:03.898 --> 00:25:12.673 Look, God uses imperfect people in imperfect situations, in messy circumstances. 00:25:12.673 --> 00:25:15.376 People who maybe even make the wrong choice. 00:25:15.376 --> 00:25:16.377 He still uses them. 00:25:19.114 --> 00:25:22.884 And so we have an unexpected choice for Esther. 00:25:23.151 --> 00:25:25.886 But now look at the next unexpected situation. 00:25:25.886 --> 00:25:28.824 Look at verse 12. 00:25:28.824 --> 00:25:38.700 Now, when the turn came for each young woman to go into King Ahaseurus after being 12 months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular 00:25:40.568 --> 00:25:51.613 six months with the oil of myrrh, six months with spices and ointments for women, when the young women went into the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. 00:25:51.613 --> 00:26:03.458 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. 00:26:04.692 --> 00:26:13.868 She would not go into the king again unless the king delighted in her, and she was summoned by name. 00:26:13.868 --> 00:26:18.573 This little block of text here explains some of the customs they had at the time. 00:26:18.573 --> 00:26:26.815 Some of the beautifying, some of the purifying customs to prepare the women to enter into the king, to possibly be the Queen. 00:26:26.815 --> 00:26:37.491 And you could read this and say this was just only the King, expecting utter perfection and beauty from every woman he ever met. 00:26:37.491 --> 00:26:40.394 You will be perfect or you will not be mine. 00:26:40.394 --> 00:26:42.830 And that's, I think, partly what's going on. 00:26:42.830 --> 00:26:45.467 Clearly it's set up that way. 00:26:45.467 --> 00:26:52.339 But also they're giving these women every chance to be in the best situation possible to become Queen. 00:26:52.339 --> 00:26:55.576 You want your queen to exemplify the country. 00:26:55.576 --> 00:26:58.712 You want your queen to be in the best situation possible. 00:26:58.712 --> 00:27:09.590 And if you remember in the Song of Solomon, the woman she was embarrassed for being swarthy, meaning her skin was darkened by the sun, meaning it was dry, brittle, cracked, sunburned. 00:27:10.991 --> 00:27:15.029 And so much of this treatment would have been skin restoration for months and months. 00:27:15.029 --> 00:27:16.030 And that takes time. 00:27:16.030 --> 00:27:19.800 But it's possible, especially if you're young, to restore that skin. Months and months and months. 00:27:19.800 --> 00:27:25.707 Let us set you up to be ready to go into the King and put your best foot forward. 00:27:26.807 --> 00:27:41.056 But we do have to acknowledge that more than likely, the King is someone, and we see this in our culture too, who is just only focused on outward appearances. 00:27:42.390 --> 00:27:49.497 Now, the maddening part of that in this story, he didn't get rid of Vashti because she was ugly. 00:27:49.497 --> 00:27:51.799 He didn't say, you're no longer my queen because you turned ugly. 00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:53.434 You got old and wrinkly. No longer queen. 00:27:53.434 --> 00:27:54.102 I need a new queen. 00:27:54.102 --> 00:27:55.269 That's not why he got rid of her. 00:27:57.271 --> 00:27:59.574 Why did he get rid of her? 00:27:59.574 --> 00:28:02.711 In fact, she was more beautiful than anyone. 00:28:02.711 --> 00:28:04.945 Why did he get rid of her? 00:28:04.945 --> 00:28:07.048 Because of her heart. 00:28:07.048 --> 00:28:08.549 There was a distance between them. 00:28:08.549 --> 00:28:12.720 There was a break where she said, I can no longer follow you. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:15.722 I can no longer love you. 00:28:15.923 --> 00:28:21.195 So he wasn't looking for beauty in a new wife, first and foremost. 00:28:21.863 --> 00:28:27.268 And he wanted someone who was there with him, who would support, serve alongside him. 00:28:29.170 --> 00:28:33.173 At the end of the day, he was looking for character over beauty. 00:28:33.641 --> 00:28:36.877 And we live in a culture where that is the fascination. 00:28:36.877 --> 00:28:40.381 The temptation is to be focused on appearances. 00:28:40.381 --> 00:28:43.250 There's a connection here with what's occurring in the story. 00:28:43.250 --> 00:28:48.690 Now, Esther is going to enter into this situation. Now what happens with her? 00:28:48.690 --> 00:29:08.142 Look at the next set of verses, verse 15, when the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter to go into the king, she she asked for nothing, except what Haggai, the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. 00:29:08.175 --> 00:29:13.013 Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 00:29:13.580 --> 00:29:36.671 And when Esther was taken to King Ahaseurus into his royal palace in the 10th month, which is the month of Tebeth in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 00:29:38.673 --> 00:29:42.309 Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants. 00:29:42.309 --> 00:29:44.979 It was Esther's feast. 00:29:44.979 --> 00:29:52.487 He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal generosity. 00:29:54.288 --> 00:30:01.194 Esther comes into this situation and what she had already done, and what she begins to do here is to win favor. 00:30:01.194 --> 00:30:04.198 In fact, she gets some unexpected favor. 00:30:04.832 --> 00:30:05.566 But notice. 00:30:05.566 --> 00:30:10.070 And that's one of the six unexpected elements of this story. 00:30:10.070 --> 00:30:17.778 When it happened earlier, I think we would be tempted to say that unexpected favor just came out of nowhere. 00:30:17.778 --> 00:30:18.412 But no. 00:30:18.412 --> 00:30:24.618 In fact, the word used here is that she had won grace and favor. 00:30:24.951 --> 00:30:26.854 She was working. 00:30:26.854 --> 00:30:31.893 She was active to get that unexpected favor. 00:30:31.893 --> 00:30:36.696 In fact, I think what we see modeled here is the thing that stands out to the King. 00:30:38.098 --> 00:30:40.601 She shows that she was teachable. 00:30:40.601 --> 00:30:43.604 She shows Mordecai what you say I'll do. 00:30:43.904 --> 00:30:46.073 Hide my faith? Yes, I trust you. 00:30:46.073 --> 00:30:50.411 She shows that she wanted to gain wisdom from the head. 00:30:50.411 --> 00:30:51.878 The head guy., Haggai. 00:30:51.878 --> 00:30:53.079 What should I take with me? 00:30:53.079 --> 00:30:54.548 Would you direct me? 00:30:54.548 --> 00:30:55.583 Would you guide me? 00:30:55.583 --> 00:30:56.651 She shows character. 00:30:56.651 --> 00:30:59.653 She shows teachability. 00:31:00.453 --> 00:31:06.626 And I think when she goes into the King and look, we don't know exactly what happened there, okay? 00:31:06.626 --> 00:31:12.900 I think we can all take a lot of guesses that probably may be somewhat accurate, but we don't know. 00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:15.435 We don't know what happened when she went in there. 00:31:15.435 --> 00:31:18.439 But we know this. 00:31:18.538 --> 00:31:21.675 That he saw in her what he had been looking for. 00:31:21.675 --> 00:31:26.446 I've got beautiful woman, best in the land after beautiful woman after beautiful woman coming through. 00:31:26.446 --> 00:31:27.847 And now she stands out. 00:31:29.016 --> 00:31:31.719 And I think it's her character. 00:31:31.719 --> 00:31:40.193 Here is someone, that hole that I needed to fill, that I saw in Vashti, the woman who, that was missing. 00:31:41.561 --> 00:31:46.467 It was, in fact, the unexpected crown came through her character. 00:31:46.467 --> 00:31:50.871 She had an unexpected favor, and that led to an unexpected crown. 00:31:51.872 --> 00:31:55.142 And look, make no mistake, you can put that up on the screen. 00:31:55.142 --> 00:31:56.911 That unexpected crown. 00:31:56.911 --> 00:31:59.913 It was her beauty that opened the door. 00:32:00.314 --> 00:32:01.281 It clearly did. 00:32:01.281 --> 00:32:05.318 But it was her character that won her the crown. 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:07.988 Unexpected favor. 00:32:07.988 --> 00:32:10.490 Unexpected crown. 00:32:10.490 --> 00:32:11.959 There's one more layer to the story. 00:32:11.959 --> 00:32:13.426 One more unexpected event. 00:32:13.426 --> 00:32:15.429 Look at verse 19. 00:32:15.429 --> 00:32:27.842 Now, when the virgins were gathered together the second time Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had asked, as he commanded her. 00:32:27.842 --> 00:32:31.578 For Esther obeyed Mordecai, just as when she was brought up by him. 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:49.363 In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry, sought to lay hands on King Ahaseurus, and this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther. 00:32:49.363 --> 00:32:53.200 And Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 00:32:53.500 --> 00:33:05.112 When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows, and it was recorded in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. 00:33:05.980 --> 00:33:20.760 Mordecai-- I mentioned he seems to be a guy that is staying in the know, that is working behind the scenes to navigate situations, and you notice in this moment he's staying near the gate, he's listening and he hears. 00:33:20.760 --> 00:33:24.565 And here we have in this moment, another unexpected event. 00:33:24.565 --> 00:33:27.401 He becomes an unexpected rescuer. 00:33:30.971 --> 00:33:35.209 And look, God is clearly working behind the scenes to allow this to happen. 00:33:35.209 --> 00:33:42.849 That's part of the theme of Esther, his providential hand working behind the scenes in ways no one could anticipate. 00:33:42.849 --> 00:33:46.420 But in this moment, he was nearby. 00:33:46.420 --> 00:33:49.690 He was ready, and God uses him to rescue the king. 00:33:49.690 --> 00:33:53.926 And by the way, that sets up the theme of what's going to happen in the book of Esther. 00:33:53.926 --> 00:33:57.564 And notice the contrast between Esther and Vashti. 00:33:57.564 --> 00:33:59.398 Esther protects the king. 00:33:59.398 --> 00:34:01.401 Vashti shames the king. 00:34:01.401 --> 00:34:05.138 Already here you see her character playing out. 00:34:06.472 --> 00:34:10.344 Okay, ancient story, six unexpected situations. 00:34:10.344 --> 00:34:12.545 What does this mean for us today? 00:34:12.545 --> 00:34:13.112 Bear with me. 00:34:13.112 --> 00:34:16.750 I've got six quick application points for us today. 00:34:16.750 --> 00:34:21.855 When you hear these unexpected events that happen to them, what do we do with that now? 00:34:21.855 --> 00:34:23.489 How do we handle that now? 00:34:23.489 --> 00:34:27.661 I'm not a queen in a foreign land, exiled, having lived in a harem. 00:34:27.661 --> 00:34:28.628 What do I do with all that? 00:34:28.628 --> 00:34:31.465 How do I apply that to my life today? 00:34:31.465 --> 00:34:33.800 Well, here's six quick action points. 00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:40.474 Number one, when faced with unexpected turns, be the first to repent. 00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:41.440 Okay, if you. 00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:47.146 If you noticed with the King, he backed himself into a situation where there was no way out of it. 00:34:47.146 --> 00:34:50.617 He remembered Vashti, but it was too late. 00:34:50.617 --> 00:34:54.621 Don't put yourself in those kind of irreversible decisions. 00:34:54.621 --> 00:34:56.456 Take pause. Seek advice. 00:34:56.456 --> 00:34:57.090 Don't use. 00:34:57.090 --> 00:35:03.329 Don't threaten with the d-word when you're having a little tiff in your marriage. 00:35:03.329 --> 00:35:04.431 No no no, don't threaten. 00:35:04.431 --> 00:35:10.737 Don't don't lay down statements that you you can't take back in the moment. 00:35:11.070 --> 00:35:13.239 Be the first to repent. 00:35:13.239 --> 00:35:14.507 Take the lead. 00:35:14.507 --> 00:35:17.510 I'm sorry I didn't do that right. 00:35:17.943 --> 00:35:19.579 Will you forgive me? 00:35:19.579 --> 00:35:22.581 I want to see us move forward. 00:35:22.882 --> 00:35:24.684 Now, I know you have something to say too. 00:35:24.684 --> 00:35:26.619 Don't do it that way. 00:35:26.619 --> 00:35:27.753 Don't do that. Don't add that. 00:35:28.755 --> 00:35:30.423 I'm sorry. 00:35:30.423 --> 00:35:31.358 Can we make this right? 00:35:31.358 --> 00:35:32.793 What can we do? 00:35:32.793 --> 00:35:34.994 Be the first to repent. 00:35:34.994 --> 00:35:38.197 Number two, be a giver, not a taker. 00:35:39.865 --> 00:35:46.338 In this situation, the king is led along by all those around him who have a great plan for his life. 00:35:46.338 --> 00:35:49.342 But man, be a giver, not a taker. 00:35:49.342 --> 00:35:55.614 Don't go along with the pressures of this world when they say this is the thing to do. 00:35:55.614 --> 00:35:58.318 Be a giver not to take. 00:35:58.318 --> 00:36:03.489 Number three engage the culture with wisdom and grace. 00:36:04.791 --> 00:36:08.128 Engage the culture with wisdom and grace. 00:36:08.128 --> 00:36:11.831 This comes back to that tension of when do I keep my faith hidden? 00:36:11.831 --> 00:36:14.800 When do I speak it publicly? 00:36:15.235 --> 00:36:16.702 Engage with wisdom and grace. 00:36:16.702 --> 00:36:35.387 I remember serving at that same orchestra, and there was a guy going around to everyone, and people knew that I was considering going into ministry, and most of the folks who worked there were either openly atheist or not church friendly and living different lifestyles than mine in a number of different ways. 00:36:36.556 --> 00:36:43.797 And one guy was going around, he was seeking donations to help with Aids recovery, and I thought, what am I going to do when he comes to me? 00:36:43.797 --> 00:36:46.298 I don't know, he didn't make it to me that day. 00:36:46.298 --> 00:36:47.000 I wasn't sure. 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:49.268 I don't want to support their lifestyle. 00:36:49.268 --> 00:36:51.003 I'm not sure what to do. 00:36:51.003 --> 00:37:03.550 I came home and I talked to my one of my campus ministry friends, one of the guys I really respect, and he said, John, you can still show compassion to them in the midst of disagreeing. 00:37:03.849 --> 00:37:07.186 And so I didn't have to come in with my faith on my sleeve the next day. 00:37:07.186 --> 00:37:10.724 But I was able to come in and say, hey, how can I help? 00:37:10.724 --> 00:37:12.092 I'd love to help out. 00:37:12.092 --> 00:37:16.329 I'd love to do what I can to help those who are hurting in your community. 00:37:16.329 --> 00:37:26.606 Now, I wasn't supporting that whole lifestyle, but let me tell you, that opened the door for us to have a lot more conversations, to the point where we were even talking about faith later down the road. 00:37:26.606 --> 00:37:28.507 That guy's face lit up. 00:37:28.507 --> 00:37:34.213 You could see in him you-- he didn't say it, but I saw-- you want to help? You want to help us? 00:37:35.648 --> 00:37:38.617 And it just opened the door. 00:37:38.617 --> 00:37:41.320 How do we engage with wisdom and grace? 00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:44.556 Some of that includes what we post online. 00:37:44.556 --> 00:37:48.527 Sometimes there are times to take firm statements, take firm stands. Be real clear. 00:37:48.527 --> 00:37:51.530 Other times is a great time to be quiet. 00:37:52.664 --> 00:37:55.134 We don't have to comment on everything. 00:37:55.134 --> 00:37:57.369 There's plenty of things you can just let go. 00:37:57.369 --> 00:37:58.938 Number three engage with wisdom and grace. 00:37:58.938 --> 00:38:02.675 Number four, avoid the allure of appearances. 00:38:03.443 --> 00:38:07.614 And I'll just make one comment on that here at church. 00:38:08.014 --> 00:38:12.184 We don't care how you look when you show up, we really don't. 00:38:13.219 --> 00:38:14.920 Come as you are. 00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:16.956 All we care is that you wear something. 00:38:16.956 --> 00:38:19.659 Please wear something. 00:38:19.659 --> 00:38:20.860 But we don't care what it is. 00:38:20.860 --> 00:38:25.632 If you want to dress up like it's the Derby every Sunday, great, I love that. 00:38:25.632 --> 00:38:29.469 I love that, and if you're like, I just mowed the yard, this is all I got. 00:38:29.469 --> 00:38:32.538 Come on, come on. 00:38:32.538 --> 00:38:34.641 We don't care. We really don't care. 00:38:34.641 --> 00:38:35.108 Listen. 00:38:35.108 --> 00:38:43.916 Appearances-- man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart and appearances say something about you, but they don't say everything. 00:38:43.916 --> 00:38:46.351 And what we care about is are you connecting with God? 00:38:46.351 --> 00:38:49.255 We want you here. 00:38:49.255 --> 00:38:50.123 But be careful. 00:38:50.123 --> 00:38:58.731 Oh, it's so easy to be tempted to focus on appearances, to judge people by appearances solely. 00:38:59.731 --> 00:39:01.900 But I hope that doesn't happen here. 00:39:01.900 --> 00:39:05.938 I hope when it happens, we repent quickly. 00:39:06.072 --> 00:39:14.447 And then number six, believe that God can still use you. 00:39:16.615 --> 00:39:18.684 You've got to listen to that. 00:39:18.684 --> 00:39:19.418 You've got to listen. 00:39:19.418 --> 00:39:22.422 Believe he can still use you. 00:39:22.989 --> 00:39:25.858 Esther seems to have abandoned her faith in some ways. 00:39:25.858 --> 00:39:33.699 I'm not supposed to be married to a pagan, and I'm also not supposed to have intimate encounters before marriage and all that seems to be out the door. 00:39:33.699 --> 00:39:35.367 And of course, we don't know what happened. 00:39:35.367 --> 00:39:38.603 But you look at this and you go, what is she doing? 00:39:39.871 --> 00:39:52.751 Even if you've made choices and mistakes and things that have set you in a direction you didn't think you should be in, and were clearly against God's Word, I promise you, God still has a plan to use you. 00:39:52.751 --> 00:39:54.186 He does. 00:39:54.186 --> 00:39:55.021 He does. 00:39:55.021 --> 00:39:57.590 Look at how he uses Esther. 00:39:57.590 --> 00:40:06.132 Look at how he uses Peter, a man who denied Jesus over and over again. 00:40:07.632 --> 00:40:08.768 God can still use you. 00:40:08.768 --> 00:40:09.902 God will still use you. 00:40:09.902 --> 00:40:12.338 He still wants to use you no matter what you've done. 00:40:12.338 --> 00:40:13.806 It may look different than you thought. 00:40:13.806 --> 00:40:15.807 It will look different than you thought. 00:40:15.807 --> 00:40:18.811 It may be unexpected in a good way. 00:40:20.211 --> 00:40:25.117 And here's the thing that sets the gospel apart from the kingdom in Esther and 00:40:27.585 --> 00:40:30.188 there its power, its beauty, its strength. 00:40:30.188 --> 00:40:31.190 That's what's praised. 00:40:31.190 --> 00:40:34.193 But God chose what is weak in this world. 00:40:34.793 --> 00:40:42.902 He chose a Jewish woman, orphan, to shame the strong. 00:40:42.902 --> 00:40:48.139 God chose what is foolish in this world. 00:40:48.139 --> 00:40:51.610 To shame the wise, God chose. 00:40:51.610 --> 00:40:54.112 Look in Isaiah 53. 00:40:54.112 --> 00:40:57.115 We cannot even look upon him. 00:40:57.115 --> 00:41:06.291 God chose what is ugly in this world to shame those who praise beauty above all else. 00:41:07.860 --> 00:41:13.298 And God chooses you not because of how cleaned up you are, how pretty you are. 00:41:13.298 --> 00:41:16.202 Your 12 months of beauty treatment. 00:41:16.202 --> 00:41:18.237 Not because of any of that. 00:41:18.237 --> 00:41:21.239 Look how much I've read the Bible. 00:41:21.474 --> 00:41:21.806 Look at it. 00:41:21.806 --> 00:41:23.108 This ministry I serve in. 00:41:23.108 --> 00:41:29.215 Look how... no, God chose you because you were weak. 00:41:29.849 --> 00:41:31.784 He chose you in your weakness. 00:41:35.186 --> 00:41:46.632 My prayer for each of us today is that we would just come to him repentant, sorrowful for our sin, and depending on his strength, not our own, to follow him. 00:41:46.632 --> 00:41:47.099 Let's pray.