WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.439 Got a Bible this morning. 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:04.320 Turn it to Esther chapter 4. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:06.559 Esther chapter 4. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:11.039 This is the third part of the sermon series, Risk is Right. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:16.559 And the title of today's message is It's Our Time. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:23.120 And I want to thank Pastor Danny and for him allowing me. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:26.480 This has kind of been a growing, exciting experience for me. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:30.960 First time I share with him, first time I've ever done an adult sermon series. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.759 I've been speaking to teenagers for 11 years. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.640 So I know how to study, but I also kind of know how to study for a specific group of people. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:45.600 And so you won't want to come in and seem like a fool before educated adults. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:50.560 Not that teenagers are not educated and not that they don't know a whole lot. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:57.119 But the studying's been different and trying to, I thought, how does he get to the gym? 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:02.000 How does he make time to do all these visits, study, and go to the gym too? 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:05.280 And I haven't been to the gym in three weeks, I have to confess. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.760 So but it's been good and I've enjoyed it. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:12.079 And I just appreciate my pastor. 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.920 I'm glad you all had a great vacation and I did pray for that. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:19.040 And we can feel his presence missed, is it right? 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:20.079 We're glad you're back. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:28.079 It's like you ever had that person in your life where you just had to kind of check with him before you made decisions, or you know, like that leaning, you could just lean. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:29.599 It's kind of been like empty for me. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:30.879 I had to make decisions this week. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.200 You know, I'm I'm I'm still here. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:36.159 I've had Heather, so I've got that. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:41.040 But anyways, we're glad you're back, and it just feels better to have y'all here. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:46.959 And so, anyway, in Esther chapter uh four, uh, we will start today. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:48.319 And I got a lot to do today. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:49.680 I did this kind of to myself. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:02:01.680 I knew I had three weeks to teach through a book, and the first week I did chapters one and two, the second week I did chapter three, and so we've got four through nine today. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:06.719 And so I need some coffee. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:10.159 Uh as we get started, let me let me pray. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:18.159 Father, bless the reading of your word, bless God, uh, use it to transform hearts and lives, and God may I honor you. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:21.919 Your word says, if you be lifted up, all men would come unto you. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.520 And so, Lord, that's our goal. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:26.560 Lord, just get me out of the weak way and you speak. 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:27.680 In Jesus' name. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:28.560 Amen. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:37.520 The story of Remember the Alamo, it's one of the most courageous stories of undying self-sacrifice that you'll see in history. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:51.120 In the brave fight, Colonel Travis and his men in 1836 took on Santa Anna, who had somewhere between 1800 and estimated 5,000 men coming for a fight. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:57.919 Travis had 182 men, and he outlined to the men, you will die in this fight for liberty. 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.400 We have three choices that we can make. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:07.120 Number one, we can rush the enemy, killing a few, but ultimately being slaughtered. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:28.479 We can give up or surrender, which will ultimately end in the same, a slaughter, or we can take this stand in this place and defend as long as we can, diminishing the Mexican invasion and giving time for the Texas army to formulate so maybe there can be a greater stand. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:31.039 So they faced death bravely. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:33.840 They gave no quarter and asked for none. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.560 This was not an idle sacrifice for them. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:41.280 The men at the Alamo seemed to have superhuman boldness, was said of them. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:49.680 When Santa Ana approached, he blew a bugle signifying and sending word to the men inside that it's time for them to surrender. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:53.520 And the response is my favorite part of the beginning of this story. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:01.599 As he blew the bugle, signifying that they needed to surrender, the Alamo's response was they fired the first shot. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:03.520 Bring on the battle. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:07.919 They were fighting for more than their own lives, you see. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.240 And death was not going to dissuade them. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:11.680 It was time. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:12.719 It was their time. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.199 That's the name of our message this morning. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:16.160 It's our time. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:22.959 As we look at the background in chapter 3, Haman, wicked Haman, is what we kind of really targeted and looked at. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:30.879 And Haman at the end of the chapter had talked the king into writing a decree that would be the genocide of the Jewish people. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:34.720 And so as we catch up in chapter 4, that's the situation at hand. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:39.759 And now we're looking at the first point this morning: an ethnic disaster. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:51.519 Chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, it says, When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:54.240 He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.839 He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:12.879 And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:20.079 And so this ethnic disaster is about to take place, and the first thing that you see is this great site of remorse. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.079 It's a great site of remorse. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:26.959 And as you see the sinfulness of society, this is what comes to. 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:32.560 And this, if you can picture, it's not the first time that there's been a sinful society. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:36.399 It's not the first time that sin is mentioned in a major way. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.800 And I want you to understand, God hates sin. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:45.439 Right after God created man in Genesis chapter 7, God would destroy man because of its sin. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:47.279 God would bring a worldwide flood. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:49.519 And it says that he repented in his heart. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:54.240 He was hurting in his heart, grieving over the choices that man had made. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:10.639 In Genesis chapter 19, not much longer, you see the story of Abraham and Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham before Lot says, How many people, for how many people that are righteous would you save the city? 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:12.240 And he said, If there be 40 people. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.680 And he said, Well, I don't think there are 40 people, so let me say 35. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:16.800 And he goes down to 20. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:23.199 If there be 20 people, if there be 10 people, and God says, if there be 10 people in that city, we'll save that city. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:24.000 But there weren't. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:27.600 And God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of its sinfulness. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:33.199 And I want you to understand, the side of this great remorse is because of the sinfulness of society. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:39.680 After my daughter got saved, my daughter got saved because she wanted a relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.199 She really didn't understand hell, which is kind of a neat concept. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:48.800 As a six-year-old, she had gone to BSF, Bible Study Fellowship. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:55.759 Afterwards, my wife went to a restaurant with her and she began to talk to Heather about how she wanted a relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.959 A few weeks, months after, she found out about hell. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.079 And it destroyed her as a little girl. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:10.480 She began to weep as a child to know that people were going to burn and suffer in hell. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:11.759 It just broke her. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:23.040 And a few months ago, she had a friend named, well, I won't say her name, but she had a friend in our neighborhood, and she wanted that friend to come to Iwana. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:30.720 And that friend, we talked last week kind of about the racism issue in why Haman he wanted to kill these people. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:31.839 He was that racist. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:36.720 And so my daughter had this friend and she was Indian. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:44.639 And I told her, she asked me about an hour before I wana, can we go ask so-and-so if they can come to Iwana? 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:51.759 And I said, that's probably not a good idea just to pop in on somebody, you know, right before church and ask them if they can go. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:56.480 I said, you know, if it were our family, we would say no if we didn't know the people. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:58.079 You know, we we want to know them. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:05.199 Get and uh so the next week comes, I said, next week ask me a day or two before, and I'll go to the house on Tuesday. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:08.000 Well, next week comes, it's Wednesday again. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:11.920 And she says, Can we go over and ask if she can come? 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:14.319 And I'm like, oh, Callie. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:16.959 I'm like, we're getting ready to leave for church now. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:21.279 I I'm trying to, in my mind, I said, I'm gonna set her up for disappointment if we go over there. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:22.000 And she says, no. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:25.680 She's, I said, well, and finally I said, no, we'll do it next week. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:35.279 Well, I went around, did something, I come back, and she's just bawling on the couch, face down, crying on the couch, and I'm like, what is wrong with you? 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:37.039 I said, it's not that big a deal. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:46.559 And um she said, she said, Daddy, she said, what if she doesn't come to know Jesus and she goes to hell? 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:50.399 I said, we'll go ask her. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:53.919 We'll go ask her. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:57.279 And her the parents, it was unbelievable. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:59.440 They they didn't know us from anyone. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:04.960 We come in and different cultures, and she said, if you teach good things, then she can go. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:07.360 So we teach great things. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:14.080 So she came for a few weeks, and in Iwana, my daughter, afterwards, she could see God moving. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:16.559 My daughter led her friend to Jesus Christ. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:17.360 Okay. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:28.799 But it was that that sight of sin, that sight of the effect of sin, that thought of hell that brought great remorse. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:31.759 And I want you to understand that God hates sin. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:33.200 It separates us from him. 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:36.000 And the sinfulness of society brought great sin. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:40.320 The Persian people up to this point were greatly full of sin. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:46.639 And Haman's offer that he brings to the king, it's like the king flippantly doesn't really care. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:51.519 He says, okay, fine, we'll sign the papers, here's my signet ring, and we'll just get rid of the Jewish people. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:53.440 And it was an evil decree. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:56.879 And the decrees back then it was called the law of the Medes and Persians. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:02.799 And in the law of the Medes and Persians, it was a decree, it's kind of signifies the type of society it was. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.759 If you messed up on something, you weren't gonna go back on it. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:10.639 The law of the Medes and Persians shared that you couldn't go back and reverse the law. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:12.559 So it's like, well, you messed up on this. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:15.279 Well, we're not gonna amend it, we're not gonna admit that I messed up. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.679 So when you signal, when you signed a decree, you were not supposed to go back. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:21.919 There was a law that you couldn't reverse the law. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:24.159 And so this evil decree was given. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:31.600 It was signed and sealed, and I want you to understand it's not just Persia, it's not just the flood, it's not just Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:34.240 There is sinfulness in this society. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:42.399 I want to read to you a prayer that was shared in Congress that got a lot of people upset and gotten some feathers ruffled. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:45.120 Let me read to you this prayer that was given. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:49.600 It says, We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reserved our values. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:55.120 We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word and call it pluralism. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:58.639 We have exploited the poor and call it the lottery. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:02.000 We have rewarded laziness and call it welfare. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:06.080 We have killed our unborn and call it choice. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:09.840 We have shot abortionists and call it justifiable. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:14.879 We have neglected to discipline children and called it building self-esteem. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:18.799 We have abused power and called it politics. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:23.440 We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:29.279 We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:36.720 We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it an age of enlightenment. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:42.720 He said, Search us, O God, and know our hearts today, cleanse us from every sin and set us free. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:51.919 There was a pouring out of people in Congress when this prayer was prayed as people left the doors because they couldn't believe what was being said. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.600 We have a sinful society, and that's the bad things. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:00.720 The bad is bad in our country, but the good sometimes is bad. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:02.639 You heard the word humanism? 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:04.480 It's all about self. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:05.200 Those are good things. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.000 Or hedonism, the pleasure principle. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:15.120 2 Timothy 3 says this that they will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:19.440 See, today's idol is more in self than sitting on a shelf. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:21.279 Pleasure. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:26.399 How many of you today are parents that have children 18 or 100? 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:27.600 Raise your hand. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.240 Okay, a lot of the crowd here. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:31.440 That's awesome. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:42.960 When you think about what's going on today in our country with your children and my children, I went not long ago to an eight-year-old ball game, and it was pretty unbelievable. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:44.159 I'm not gonna lie to you. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:45.759 I haven't seen a lot like this. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:50.799 But this ball team with eight-year-olds could hit the ball, they could play. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:54.480 I saw three double plays in an eight-year-old ball game. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:58.960 I'm telling you, I played till I was 16 or 17, and I made all-stars. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:02.559 I did some, I almost made the Tennessee Temple baseball team. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.960 I probably only participated in two or three double plays my whole teenage life. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:12.399 These kids were turning double plays, bam! And I thought, that takes a lot of practice. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:17.200 For an eight-year-old to be that good at baseball, it takes a lot of time. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:19.840 And I was hit with this thought. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:29.759 My kids play soccer and and and why they're they're very good, but I was hit with this thought about the practice and all that it takes for a child to be that good at a sport. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:35.360 You have to practice, and you gotta do it a lot to get that good. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:41.600 How many of our children, you raised your hand, do you witness them reading the Bible every day? 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.240 I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand back up. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:50.559 But how many of you as parents, you witness your children reading their Bible? 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:57.360 What's most important to you, parents, me, is gonna be most important to them. 00:13:57.519 --> 00:13:59.279 What you bring before them daily. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:01.840 Now they know if the ball glove is important. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:07.759 They know if your work is important because they know that you're missing, right? 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:09.039 You're gone, you're working. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.600 They know if vacation is really important. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.080 You see, my daughter is taken up to cooking. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:18.559 What is my wife's biggest hobby? 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:23.120 She's a great cook and she loves to cook for people. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:30.639 And so my daughter just decided that she was just gonna love cooking, and she does, and she's begun to get good at it. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.240 I'm thankful. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:43.120 My sons will plop down now with me and cheer without knowing anybody's name or anything, but they will cheer the Red Sox because I've been a Red Sox baseball fan for a long time. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:50.080 If I turn it on, almost all of them say something, Red Sox, they get excited because that's important to me. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:58.960 Sometimes in our society today, the sinfulness is that all these good things are before God things. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:03.919 And so we see this sinfulness in our society, and it was a site of great remorse. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:08.159 You see, the king brought forth an evil decree, but we have a sin decree. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:10.000 Romans 3.23 tells us. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:13.039 For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:15.759 And Romans 6.23 furthers that sentence. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:18.320 It says, For the wages of that sin is death. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:21.679 We have an expiration date, and that's been decreed. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.960 One day you're gonna face your death date. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:28.240 What have you done with the life that you've had before? 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:37.840 You see, the first thing is a sight of great remorse, but the second thing that we'll see in this ethnic disaster is the speechlessness of the saints. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:40.639 The speechlessness of saints. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:50.879 Um I don't often get caught speechless, but uh Heather in our marriage caught me in a lie once. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.080 Okay, I didn't let it happen again. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:02.320 But we had a small child, it was Callie, and she was young, and Heather said, Callie used to plop in bed with us, and all our she wanted juice. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:05.279 She would call it juice amore, like she wants more juice. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.240 She said, Juice amore, juice amoor. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:11.039 And so she plopped down in bed, and Heather looks at me. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.120 It's early in the morning, okay, I'll get it. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:14.879 So I go downstairs and I'm looking. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:16.879 You know, when you need something like that, it's never there. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:22.240 You need the pacifier, you know, it's some other planet, it's going off to it's like getting a match for your sock. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:27.600 You you never, and so I'm searching and finally, I look, finally, I look in a dishwasher, I'm half out of it. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:32.399 I look at the thing, I go fill it with apple juice, I bring it back upstairs, I give it to her, and Callie's beginning. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:34.639 And Heather says, Is it clean? 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:36.080 And I'm like, Yeah, it's clean. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:37.360 She's like, Where'd you find it? 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:38.080 The dishwasher. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:39.440 And she said, Did you wash it out? 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:40.559 I said, Yeah. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:47.200 She then, in all her detective skills, gets up. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.639 I hear her going downstairs, boom, boom. 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:51.919 She goes down. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.159 I come downstairs and she says, There's no water in the sink. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:16:59.759 I'm like, oh. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:03.120 She says, You said you cleaned it out, right? 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:06.319 I'm like, she had me. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:07.599 I was speechless. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.119 I had nothing to say. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:11.759 All I could do at that moment was apologize. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:14.319 I thought, I will never ever lie again. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:16.799 First of all, I can't get away with it. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:20.400 But second, the way I feel right now, I felt so small. 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:24.880 Like I just lied, and my child's drinking moldy apple juice. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.359 So I could just get it done. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:34.000 But the speechlessness in that moment, listen, there was a survey done. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.960 Ten reasons why Christians are speechless. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.240 Number one, they're afraid. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:41.920 They're afraid. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:45.039 Number two, they don't feel qualified. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.799 Number three, they lack compassion. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:54.559 Number four said, because they're imbibed with the worldly culture. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:56.720 They get too much of the world in them. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:01.759 Number six, they feel like they lack training. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.079 Number seven, they have intermingled faith beliefs. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.400 They're really not sure what they believe. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.440 They have no accountability in their life. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.319 They don't have anybody speaking in their ear. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:19.440 And the last one is they have a sin problem. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:27.839 You see, for me in that moment, I couldn't say anything because I was participating in the wrong. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:29.599 I had nothing I could say. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:33.200 And if you look at this ethnic disaster, there's a speechlessness of saints. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:39.279 And if you look at our churches today, the percentages of evangelism are dropping increasingly. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:40.960 People don't want to speak up. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:42.400 And why don't they want to speak up? 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.880 Is it one of those reasons that was listed? 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:45.920 Are they afraid? 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:47.680 Do they not have strong enough faith? 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:49.440 Do they not feel equipped? 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.599 Are they involved in too much sin? 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.680 I don't know what it is, but there's an evangelist culture. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:57.200 There's a prayerless culture. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:58.319 We're not speaking up. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:02.559 And then on the opposite side, what we are speaking up for is watered down. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:03.920 And it's prosperity. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.240 Nobody wants to speak about hell and sin. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:09.440 There's a speechlessness of saints. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:17.119 Well, see, in this ethnic disaster, you could see that sight of great remorse, but then let it be, you could hear the sound of a great roar. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:18.799 Look at what it says. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:24.960 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:33.759 And in verse 3 it says, In every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was a great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.359 The sound of a great roar. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:39.200 You see, Mordecai was walking about and had this bitter cry. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:44.000 Mordecai may be one of the godliest persons in this story. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.240 He is broken for his people. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:51.119 In Psalms 51, 17, it says this God loves the broken heart. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:53.119 God can work through a broken heart. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:58.559 This week we took my kids to get shots and talk about a process. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:11.279 We get them in there, and Wyatt decides he's gonna man up and go first, and so they get Wyatt on the table and give him shots, and we told them, if you don't cry, we'll give you something. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:19.440 I forget what Heather told him, but Wyatt steps up to the plate, takes his shots, ooh, gets the band-aids, puts them on, and he's he's manned, but he never did cry. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:27.359 Callie goes second, she gets up and she gets hers, and she didn't cry while the shots were being administered, okay? 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:31.920 Until she saw Mama just a few seconds later and lost her life. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:35.119 She was strong because Wyatt was strong. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:42.559 And then Weston got up and he saw all the both of them get theirs, and when they came coming for him, he cried before it even got there. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:47.599 He said, He was just terrible. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:50.559 And so these tears happen. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.480 Tears bring immunity. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.519 Tears bring strength. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.480 Tears can lead to protection for others. 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:05.839 You see, the Bible says the Lord is near the brokenhearted. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.839 When's the last time you were broken about the society around you? 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:13.599 When's the last time you were broken about your family, your own situation? 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:16.880 You see, God is okay with your tears. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:21.039 He heals the brokenhearted, and the Bible says, and he bandages their wounds. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:26.880 You know, pain is okay with kids as long as there's a bandage at the end, right? 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.519 Because the bandage is cool, right? 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:36.400 The bandage, as long as you got one of these, I was in the office reading this morning, and the baggage says spiritual band-aids. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:37.839 I thought, well, that works. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:45.519 And so, as long as you get one of these, and whoever came up with characters and stuff on band-aids, you know, they were a genius because then the kid can focus. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:46.799 Oh, look, I got Spider Man. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.640 Ah, Spider Man, I'm awesome. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:49.200 Right? 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:53.680 And so you get this, I got a sticker that's okay to wear on my body. 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:58.960 And so we put these things on, and the band, as long as there's a band, and I want you to understand. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.079 Who is bandaging you when you're brokenhearted? 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:04.960 That's good. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.119 Who's bringing that bandage? 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:12.079 You see, Mordecai, Mordecai had a bitter cry. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.799 The Jews were weeping and wailing, verse number three. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:18.000 And the Jews were scattered throughout Persia during this time. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:26.000 And while many of them still observed Jehovah as God, there was a great many other who were idolatrous and not living for him. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:31.759 And so the great roar of this coming genocide was symbolic. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:36.559 This weeping and wailing, you see it in other places in Scripture. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:42.240 It's talked about in a place called hell, where there'd be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:48.640 You see, Xerxes signed a death sentence that would go down to kill a people group. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:51.200 But sin signed our death sentence. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.440 And friend, you will have to face eternity because of your sin. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:57.599 The Bible says that in Romans 6.23. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:22:59.680 The wages of that sin is death. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.599 You have a death sentence. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:08.160 And if you don't put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, there's going to be a real punishable place called hell. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:13.119 The Bible says there will be weeping and wailing, weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:16.960 Well, you hear that sound of a great roar, but then let her see. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.319 You'll experience as you look through the scripture a sign of repentance. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:21.839 Look at verse number three. 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:28.240 In every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:30.640 Many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.000 The sackcloth and ashes in this scripture is symbolic. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:46.160 Sackcloth and ashes was kind of the sackcloth was like a burlap sack or like goat's skin strewn together, and you would put it on to be in physical discomfort, to be in outward discomfort. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:54.880 And then they would take ashes and place them over their face and over their head and let them pour down their face as an outward sign of an inward feeling. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:57.759 There's another place in scripture that you see this. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.720 You see it in the book of Jonah, when Jonah comes with his great short message. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:07.839 Repent, repent, or the city will be destroyed. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:16.319 And when Jonah came to that city, the king of that city said, Everyone take sackcloth and ashes and begin to fast and pray. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:21.200 It's a symbol of an outward sign and inward feeling. 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.440 Well, look at verse number four. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.599 So Esther sees this. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:30.079 Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:36.720 She sent garment to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:39.680 You see, he had a suit of clothes and he rejected it. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:45.359 Esther didn't even really understand the situation at this point, and that this decree had been made. 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:53.200 And she hears word of Mordecai down there and being in sackcloth and ashes, and she says, Take him another suit of clothes. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:56.480 Just take a he can't be near the king's gate dressed that way. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:58.000 Take him another suit of clothes. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:58.960 And he rejected it. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:00.400 He said, You don't understand. 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:05.200 We have we have an ethnic disaster on our hands. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:09.839 The sum total of the Jewish population were on the verge of disaster. 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:17.599 An unknown author said this a man's destiny is not determined by chances, but by choices. 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:18.400 That's right. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:19.759 By choices. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:23.279 And number two is Esther's destiny. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:24.079 We'll look at that. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:25.519 The choices that Esther will make. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:26.240 It's her destiny. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:33.680 See, her background up to this point is that she had not necessarily been living for God. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:38.319 A lot of people, when they get in the book of Esther, they make her this hero in the story. 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:41.759 And what she does following this is very heroic. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:47.279 But up to this point, you're not given any real idea that she's necessarily living for God. 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:56.880 The chronology of the book says that she had been married for almost five years at this point, and you don't see anywhere where she's practicing her Jewish background. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:59.920 Remember, because she's trying to keep it hidden from the king. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:05.039 And so she wouldn't necessarily be worshiping in public or attending services. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:08.000 If she was doing anything, it would be in secret. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:20.480 But it's amazing how God can change a person's life, even if they haven't been publicly living for him in a spotlight or anything like that, if they'll just be a little bit obedient. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:22.960 There's much in obedience. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:29.440 See, she would go in her marriage sometimes 30 days without seeing the king, and you see that through the scripture. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:32.400 He needed not know that she was a Jew. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:40.480 Imagine you lived with someone for five years and they didn't know your background. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:44.720 If Heather were just cooking and she said, Rick, I gotta tell you something. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:48.000 I'm Filipino. 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:49.599 What? 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:52.079 We've been together all this time. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:53.359 What do you mean? 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:55.279 What do you mean to tell me this? 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.720 Don't you think you would know a little more about somebody if you spent a lot of time with them? 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:06.000 And so probably the topic of religion didn't come up very often. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:17.599 It was says that, said that Xerxes observed a god called Xoostrium, an idolatrous god, but they probably it probably didn't come up at their table often. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:26.079 And so at this time, the Greek historian Herodotus said that Xerxes was pretty well controlled with his time with his harem. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:27.759 A lot of his time was with his harem. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:33.119 So that's important background information so you can see how Esther's destiny plays out. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:34.799 Look at verse number eight. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:52.640 It says he also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go into the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for their people. 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:57.599 So we see in Esther's destiny is that her strategic purpose lies ahead. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:00.240 In verse 8, she has a strategic purpose. 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:06.240 And I want you to understand, God has given every person here a strategic purpose, CCW. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:09.839 You have a strategic purpose and you have gifts that God's given you. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:16.559 And Esther, in this part of the story, as she moves forward, will become a picture of Jesus in her strategic purpose. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:22.079 Number one, that she had purposed after this was to go in and repeal the law. 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:25.279 She was to repeal the law that the king had decreed. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:27.200 That was part of her strategic purpose. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:34.000 You know, in 1865, Abraham Lincoln amended a law that would abolish slavery. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:40.799 William Wilberforce in Great Britain had great movement and the move to abolish slavery. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:44.799 Esther was called to go before a king on a legal matter. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:47.279 You say, Jesus. 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:53.279