WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:09.759 If you have a Bible this morning, you can open up to the book of Esther as we continue our series on Risk is Right. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:13.519 And it is not, I've had many comments, it is not Rick is right. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.719 That is my name, Rick Wright. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:18.239 Thank you. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.760 I was making sure there was a drummer here to catch that. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:23.679 Risk is right. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:37.679 And so last week we opened up into chapter one and two of Esther and looked at how the queen, Vashti, took the first great risk in the book of Esther. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:43.119 And she refused the king when he was having his drunken party and wanted her to come parade herself. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:44.960 And she had the right, no. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.119 And that was the first great risk we've seen. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:54.320 And then as Esther went into the beauty pageant and hid her Jewish background from the king, the second risk. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:59.439 And today we're going to be looking at some other risks in the book of Esther. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:01.520 Probably the greatest risk in the book. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:08.079 There's at least two or three more, but probably the greatest risk that takes place happens in chapter 3. 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:11.680 And we're going to introduce a couple of characters in the story. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:18.480 We'll introduce Mordecai, who is Esther's cousin, who's taking care of her. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:24.959 And Mordecai is kind of a protagonist character in the story. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:27.760 He's doing what's right in the story. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:30.640 And then you find Wicked Haman. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:34.159 The bulk of today's message will cover the character of Wicked Haman. 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.439 Wicked Haman is a villain in the story. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:39.840 He is the antagonist of the story. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.040 And Haman is a racist. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.959 And I want to talk to you today on the topic. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.400 In America, I was looking through the U.S. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.200 News and World Reports, just looking over some topics. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:01.599 And these were some of the top ten that shot up about this subject. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:05.920 It says, America headline, must expose supremacy. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:09.439 Next headline said, honoring the Confederacy. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:12.960 Is it preserving history or preserving hate? 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:18.879 Students suspended from school for racism on social media. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:25.680 Why are certain races of girls more likely to be suspended from schools? 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:39.599 Then it was talking about sports in America and looking back through the anti-allegiance to the American flag and the trends growing for people not to recognize where they're at. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:03:02.400 And it said in 2050, if trends continued, and this is kind of an alarming statistic when I think about my children and my family, but it says if trends continue in the growth of our population by 2050, Christianity will be a co-shared religion with Muslim as 50% and 50% as things grow. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:19.280 And so if there is a problem, as I look through the headlines in our country, which there is, with racism, then there's a problem in our state with racism, then there's a problem in our county with racism, and there's a pro problem in our town with racism. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:21.759 And so then it becomes a church matter. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:27.360 And I want to talk to you today about what we as a church need to do and what it looks like. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:29.599 Because it's something we kind of skate around. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:36.879 And I thought about, you need to know a little bit of my background in this so you can kind of understand where I'm coming from as I preach this. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:42.080 I am born and bred in Newark, Delaware. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:45.599 Not a whole lot of people know about that place, know what it looks like. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:52.639 But in Delaware, we talk fast and we say things like soda guys, mad fun, yeah, and yo. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.960 Yo was a word that was developed in actually Philadelphia, but you can look it up in the dictionary. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:03.759 And Callie was asking me not too long ago, what do people from Delaware sound like? 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:13.680 And I said, it's kind of funny because I've been away from that for a while, and it takes me to kind of reach into my inner self to find it, because I don't even know what I sound like anymore. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:18.240 But I said, Well, they say a whole lot without saying anything. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.839 So if you get a couple of guys together from Delaware, it kind of sounds like this. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:27.360 So you remember we was at the thing at the thing and the other day, and we was over there with the place and the thing, and we was, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:29.759 We were talking and yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.040 They don't say hardly anything, but they talk real fast and they get it. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:36.240 They both get it. 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:39.839 And so, you know, I was thinking about in Delaware I ate cheesesteak. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.279 I love cheesesteak. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:48.480 And in Delaware, vinegar goes on French fries, and in Delaware, you eat crab. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:57.600 And so I so God took me from Delaware, and and God had put a burn on my heart to go to college in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:04:59.920 Okay, a whole nother foreign land. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:12.959 So I went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and for the first time in my life, backtrack real quick, in Delaware, my best friend from elementary all the way up to eighth grade was an African-American, okay, my best friend. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:22.480 Um, and it was kind of normal, cultural for African American people in the East Coast to be at the front of trends. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:26.319 And so it was very normal for me and my friends to try to keep up with that. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:33.759 And it's just, I had a lot of friends from, you know, Delaware is a melting pot because you got Philadelphia and New York City and Washington, D.C. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.000 So I had friends that looked like everything. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:41.519 And following those trends, you know, I played b-ball and I was a DJ, and that was just who I was. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:55.439 And then God called me to Tennessee Temple, and for the first time in my life, I met Brazilians, Japanese people, Chinese people, Russian people, Australian people, and and I thought, what in the world? 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:57.600 Like, I thought life looked like this. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:59.040 This is all I ever knew. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:05.680 And then I God threw me in this school, and it was in the middle of the South, which was its own culture. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:15.040 And then all these people from all kinds of places, but the most foreign person I ever met was a guy named Josh Minick from West Virginia. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.720 And I loved Josh. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:17.680 Josh was crazy. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:19.600 He said things like, Dad blame. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.240 I don't even know what that was or what that meant. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.720 But every time I was around Josh, he was so different. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:26.959 I wanted to be around him, okay? 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.519 And he was just, he would just do crazy things. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:33.040 I got him a job and I just had fun around him. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:44.560 Um so fast forward, God, Heather and I get married, and we had one conflict before marriage, one major conflict before marriage, and it was Heather grew up in the country in Virginia. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:50.319 I grew up where I grew up, and um, you know, I said, I've got a good job. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:55.199 I had been working for that moving company for seven years through the summers and worked my way up. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:03.120 When I got out of college, they elevated me to a management position, and I said, if I'm gonna take care of a family, we've got to live in Delaware. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:08.879 And um I said, I know I can take care of a family here, and God will, God's already provided this job, I know. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:20.399 And so we kind of went back and forth, and she's used to the country, and you know, she was an FFA, and she can weld and drive a tractor backwards, and I there's things I never even heard of in Delaware. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:28.959 You know, we had one farm in the whole town, and so we had this conflict, but you know, I said, just if you trust me, I'll take care of you. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:29.439 I love you. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:40.079 And she did, and so we got married, and as God would have it, six months, eight months later, he calls us to Connorsville, Indiana, the most country place I'd ever seen in my whole life. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:42.879 Okay, all you could see was corn. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:58.879 And so we get to Connorsville, and now I'm in the Midwest, and I'm uh I'm around a whole different group of people, and in the Midwest, they eat things like chili and peanut butter together, and uh they do have some good things. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:03.120 I thought about Heather and I were talking about they have fried biscuits with apple butter. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:05.439 I never had anything like that anywhere else. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:07.360 Homemade chicken and noodles. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:13.439 But they talk even different, they say things like pop, that's a drink, not like your dad. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:21.839 Um they every every girl is sis, and every boy grown born is Bubby, Bubby and sis, okay? 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:27.360 And this thing that you clean your carpet with is called a sweeper, it's not a vacuum. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:33.919 And so those things came up, and when you go to the beach, I remember in Delaware I would vacate at the Atlantic Ocean. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:37.200 In Indiana, the beach was not what you think. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:45.039 If somebody said they're going to the beach, it was a body of water, could be a river, could be a lake, could be a pond that may or may not have sand. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:47.200 But they say you want to go to the beach. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:48.399 Say, okay. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.720 And so God put us there for a time. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:09:02.720 And and and one of my the students that I was so close to, and today is a youth pastor, I'm so proud of, uh, is an African-American boy named Joe, and God gave me him for a time, and we got to spend time. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.240 We're we're close today. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:05.919 And so God gave us this. 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:09.759 And now, here we are in Sweet Home, Alabama, right? 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:13.279 God's country, right? 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:14.799 Somebody say amen. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:18.080 Roll Eagle, wartide. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:20.559 I'm still learning. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:23.279 I'm still figuring things out. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:28.399 But I bet the point is, and I'll say this about the food, barbecue has changed my life in Alabama, okay? 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:30.960 I didn't know barbecue before I met Harry. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:32.399 Darren smokes things. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.480 I never tasted those flavors in my life. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:38.799 Barbecue was sweet other places, and now it's so good. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:51.679 So, but I don't, in all the places God's allowed me to be, and all the kinds of different people and cultures, I don't believe in making judgments on people based on their skin. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.000 I got a little visual I need help with. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:56.080 Callie, Weston, can you come help me? 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:59.440 If this doesn't work out, at least you got to see a couple of cute kids. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.120 I need some lights, if you can give lights so people can see. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:03.600 Come on. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:05.279 And then you can track them back. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:06.000 Alright. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:10.080 So, y'all stand right up here. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.639 This is Callie and Weston, okay? 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:19.600 And by classification system, they say that I am a white person. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:25.519 And if when I look at myself, I see some version of peach or olive, depending on what time. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:31.519 I'm a little more peach than normal because I've been out in the sun doing some mowing this summer, okay? 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:34.559 But I'm supposed to be a white person, and these are my white children. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:39.440 Now, Weston, he's been out in the sun too, but he's normally a lot more fair, right? 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:40.879 He he you might call white. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:44.159 Now, Callie, as long as we've had her, she's been brown. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:48.080 I mean, this is her all year long. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:49.679 This is what she looks like, okay? 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:52.960 And I when I look at that, I mean, do you see white? 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:53.919 No. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:54.320 Okay. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.679 She's brown or light tan or whatever you want to call it. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:03.440 And so when I think about classifications of people, I think there's some things we've got wrong. 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:04.159 Thank you guys. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:05.120 Love you. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:07.440 Go off with this. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.559 I've got I've got a slide I want you to see when it compares to this. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:16.080 This is interesting. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:18.559 Maybe. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.639 I think I got a slide. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:21.679 Okay. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:27.360 So if you go to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, you'll see this picture at the top left. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:27.679 Okay. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:29.440 These babies are twins. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:30.720 Okay. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:33.919 This is them a few years later on the right. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:34.399 Okay. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:43.120 These babies down here are also twins, and you can't see it as much in the light, but one is more white-skinned, or I call peach brown. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.000 And these two down here, very interesting story if you get time. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:46.240 Okay. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:59.279 These are uh white folks in South Africa who birthed this child who is would would be considered would be considered white. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:00.559 But it is not. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:02.960 And so you can take that slide down. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:10.320 I just wanted to get you to seeing some things because I believe biblically in one perspective, that there is one blood of people. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.039 We are one blood of people, okay? 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:25.200 And you can look at skin colors however you want to look at them, but we are one blood of people that descend, if you go back to Noah and then before, to our great, great, great, great, great, great, we are family in some sense. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:45.679 And so when you look at my children, and when we talk about the classification of a skin problem, I think it would be a more apt if you judge people by language than by skin color, because my wife is supposed to be a quarter red and some percent white, you know, 70% white, but she doesn't look red or white to me. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:48.639 And so I don't know how to how do we classify and call this this? 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.080 My daughter's supposed to be white, and she looks brown or tan to me. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.440 And so when you look in scripture, though, two things happen. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:01.200 At the Tower of Babel, God threw a curse that separated languages. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:03.200 And that's where we got division. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:10.879 And then if you look, people don't talk about this part, but at Pentecost in the New Testament, God brought all these languages back together. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:15.600 People could all of a sudden understand language, and it was a unifying thing. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:20.879 There was a curse that separated, and then there was a gift at Pentecost that brought it back together. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:23.519 And I want you to know we should be a part of that gift. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.399 There's only one division I can find in Scripture. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:29.840 It says, be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:32.080 There's light and there's darkness. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.639 There's people who know Christ and who don't know Christ. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:40.159 And part of that, we're supposed to get those people who don't know him to know him so we can be unified and be one. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.039 But there's only one race: the human race. 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:43.840 Amen? 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.679 And the church should be the standard bearer in this. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.840 You say, well, we don't have a racism problem at CCW if you look around. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:52.720 We don't. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:56.000 We are doing very good for a church. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:56.799 Very good. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:05.279 But what I would tell you again, if there's a country problem and a state problem and a town problem, then we got a church matter that we have to deal with. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:10.879 And so I want to ask you a practical question as I get into the story here in Esther, okay? 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:11.919 Just to get you thinking. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.600 This is not condemning, this is just to get you thinking. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:22.879 The last ten families that you invited into your home, what did they look like? 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:26.879 You say, I haven't had ten families in my home. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:29.440 Well, that's a whole nother message, bad neighbor. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.039 Clean that house up. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:36.799 It's hard to be neighborly. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.360 Bible says, go, the Great Commission, go. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:43.279 Baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son, teaching, discipling. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:44.720 We can't do those things. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:45.759 And I'm not talking. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:46.879 That's another one. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:48.000 I'll go there later. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.399 But we got three pictures and one solution. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.000 Three pictures of problems in the story of really Haman. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.399 So turn in Esther chapter 3. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.960 The first thing is this Haman is a picture of selfishness. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.120 Look at chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:13.919 After these things, King Ahaswerus promoted Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:20.080 And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.440 For so the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:27.759 Father, we thank you for today. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:30.240 I thank you for the opportunity to preach your word. 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:33.360 God, I pray your word would do its work, God. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:38.480 It's sharp, it's discerning, it cuts to the heart, it tells us where we are and where we need to be. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:40.879 So, God, please let your word do its work. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.360 We ask that you rebuke any work of Satan. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:46.879 God, that attention would be focused on you and you alone. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.639 We love you in Jesus' name. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:49.519 Amen. 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.000 And so Haman is a picture of selfishness. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:56.080 Now, we all in these next few problems would probably admit to this first one. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:59.200 We would all say there are times where I'm selfish. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:01.759 There is some selfish problems in my life. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:05.279 But selfishness is the gateway to the racism problem. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:05.759 Okay? 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.840 I found this little site that had ten signs you might be selfish. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:11.519 Some of them are funny, some of them will hurt. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:12.000 Okay. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:13.919 But ten signs you might be selfish. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.120 Number one, you don't like to work hard. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:18.559 Number one. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:23.200 Number two, conflict goes one way, your way. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:24.639 Alright? 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:30.159 Number three, you believe that there are lesser people and they need you. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:34.000 You're needed by these people. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:38.639 Number four, you have a really hard time trusting and letting people in. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:44.240 Number five, apologizing is out of the picture. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.519 Number six, this may help somebody today. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.120 During sermons, you're thinking of all the other people who need it. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:57.519 Husbands, I'm trying to help you today. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:00.399 Might get pinched. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:05.759 When playing games with folks, if you're losing, it's never fun. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:09.599 That one hurts me. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:13.599 That's my family. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:17.200 You cut people off when you're talking. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:21.039 Oh man, that one burns me up, too. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.440 I try not to do it, but man. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.640 You gotta think of yourself as something pretty special. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:31.759 If somebody else is sharing a thought and you look up Google the Me Monster video. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:33.440 You'll get a kick out of it. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:34.480 Not right now. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:39.920 When opportunities arise, you like to wait. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:43.440 Here's a funny one. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:49.440 You're 40 or older, and you still have a full-page Christmas list. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:59.440 If you've ever been out with somebody eating or on a date and you said, Well, that's enough about me. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:01.039 What do you think about me? 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:03.680 You might be selfish. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:06.319 Well, Haman, he was a selfish man. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:07.839 He's a picture of selfishness. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:16.480 And the first thing we see in verse 2, as the king's servants were bowing down and paying homage, Haman had a public praise problem. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.640 Haman loved one thing and he loved it well. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:19.920 He loved his name. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:21.440 He loved his great name. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:26.000 And if you were here and Haman was here today, he would probably lead you in a chant that sounded something like this. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:30.640 Haman! Haman! Haman! He loved himself. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:32.720 He loved that public praise. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:39.039 And he had this position complex that people, peasants, were inferior to him. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:46.079 In the Bible, we're given the greatest command, which says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and strength. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.200 And then it says, the second greatest, love your neighbor as yourself. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.200 Why do you think God said, love your neighbor as yourself? 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.680 Because you love you, and you are real good at loving you. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:05.279 So if you can be real good at loving somebody else like you love you, then you might do a good job being a neighbor. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.839 He says, love your neighbor as you love you. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:15.519 Because you think about it, you don't wake up and start pouring your bowl of cereal and think, I'm gonna pour out something nasty this morning. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.279 I hope this is gonna taste gross. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:21.200 No, you love you. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.680 So you put together something that you like for you. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.640 You don't get dressed in the morning and say, that is hideous. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.319 And that is very uncomfortable. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.720 I can't wait to put this. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:38.720 No, you love you, so you do things for you, and it says, love your neighbor as yourself. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:44.000 Haman sure didn't have a problem with loving himself, but he had this position complex. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:46.480 I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 23. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:50.720 There's a section of scripture that talks about the second part of public praise. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:54.720 There's a position complex, and then there's the Pharisee complex. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.559 Pharisees loved themselves. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:02.640 They had no problem loving themselves. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:07.920 Look at what chapter 23, verses 5 through 6 says. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:11.279 But all their works they do to be seen by men. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:17.759 They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:27.680 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplace, and to be called by men rabbi, rabbi. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:34.000 So the Pharisees, if you can picture this, they loved large, audacious, and showy garments. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.319 They loved for people to look, okay? 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:42.960 And I'm not saying you were wrong this morning if you put on something you hoped somebody complimented you, but the Pharisees lived for this. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:48.319 And they put on something very showy and put on these great robes, and they hoped for the best seats. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:54.720 The seats that would have clout, the seats that would maybe be next to somebody important, and so that they looked important. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:21:00.480 They wanted the best seats, and they loved this one, cracked me up, the best greetings in the marketplace. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:04.240 They loved to hear their own name tickle their ears. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:05.680 Hello, Rabbi. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:06.880 Hello, teacher. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:07.920 Can you see it now? 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.160 Chest can't get any bigger or broader. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:13.200 Yes! Good to see you again, student. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:15.920 Here we are in the market. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:17.680 You'll probably be buying crackers. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:19.200 I have lovely meats. 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:21.359 Go on and get your crackers. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:22.079 Right? 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:25.039 And so they love themselves. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:28.640 The Bible, it's funny, the Bible is anti to that. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:33.279 It says everywhere that you look, that we should point words of praise elsewhere. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:35.680 We should point words of praise elsewhere. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:38.960 In fact, one of the five love languages is words of affirmation. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:43.359 So there's nothing wrong with affirmation and even desiring it, but to live for it. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:44.880 We are the begivers of it. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:52.000 The Bible says Ephesians 4 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is the use of edification. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:55.759 I say this, I'm constantly rehearsing this to my children right now. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:58.240 I'm saying is that building people up? 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.839 Is what you're saying building put people up? 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.759 Are you trying to make somebody feel good or are you trying to make them feel bad? 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.000 We're to edify people. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:20.160 But when it comes to public praise, an author said it this way if you are disgusted with yourself because someone is disappointed in you, then you have an idolatry issue. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:21.759 Let me say that again. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:24.000 Let it rattle around. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:33.359 If you are disgusted with yourself because someone else is disappointed in you, then you have an idolatry issue. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:37.440 You're idolizing other people's affirmation of you. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:40.559 You're idolizing what other people think of you. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:43.599 Are you living for an audience of praise? 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:45.759 How about it, husbands? 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:50.319 If your wife doesn't build you up, are you feeling disgusted? 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:52.880 Why don't you ever say this? 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:54.799 Why don't you ever notice that? 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:58.079 What audience are you living for, wives? 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:03.359 I'm not, listen, I agree with Ephesians 4.29. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:04.559 We need to be builders up. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:05.599 We need to be affirming. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:08.559 So if you are struggling with that, you've got to affirm. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:09.759 It's an important part of life. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:10.480 People need it. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:17.519 But if you're living for that public praise, it's idolatry because we live for an audience of one. 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:24.079 And scripturally, if you're living for public praise, number one, humans are going to fail you. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:29.119 They just don't always notice all the time every good thing that we do or you do. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.000 We just don't. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:30.960 We just fail. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:38.960 A lot of times it's taken for granted that somebody has done something all day long and we just we're human. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.799 And the second part is there's only one person that deserves ultimate praise. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:49.440 So if you're living for praise, you're trying to elevate yourself to a divine position. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:51.920 Only God gets ultimate praise. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:53.119 Only Him. 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.559 You know, there's a common thread between some dictators that lived. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:01.039 They wanted to elevate themselves to a God position, racist dictators. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.960 Stalin, Hitler, Hussein, they had all this commonality. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:06.400 They wanted that elevation. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:14.319 They believed that they were the supreme group of people, and that people needed to see them for who they were, and they were all inferior to who they were. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:17.039 Heyman had a public praise problem. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:24.720 There's a man named Frank Simmons, and Frank didn't come from great wealth, but things were going to be different for him and his family. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:34.880 He decided to become a stockbroker, and Frank became world-renowned for his market timing and how he would land on the stocks at the right time. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:50.160 And Frank became very preoccupied early with his work, 14 hours a day, and soon his children were growing up, and there was ball games and recitals that it seemed like if it was just one more week, things would settle down and he would be able to get to them. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:59.680 Well, Frank, who considered himself a self-made millionaire, with the rise of the internet, he told his wife, it wouldn't be long before they would be settled. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:16.400 And so he took his wife on one trip to Naples, where he was getting ready to close on a property that was beachfront to prove to her someday this is going to be us, and we'll be able to begin to settle down once we have enough, once things are paid off, and this is where we're going to spend our time. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:25.759 And it was that very weekend that Frank jumped into his Mercedes-Benz, took a corner too sharply, and he breathed his last breath. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:31.039 When his wife found him three hours later, he had told her, someday we're going to settle. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:34.160 And the next time he opened his eyes, it was in eternity. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:36.559 He was living the American dream. 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:39.839 But what happened when he opened his eyes? 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:50.720 John Tillotson puts it this way He who provides for this life but takes no care for eternity is wise for a moment, but a fool forever. 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:55.440 Much like Frank, Haman had a pride problem, and that's letter B. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:59.119 He had a public praise problem, but he also had a pride problem. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:02.880 You see, Haman was the type of guy that could strut sitting, if you know what I'm talking about. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:08.160 Haman took great pleasure in being Haman. 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:19.920 Turn over to Esther chapter 6, and I want to take you to a little part of our story that we'll really unpack next week, but the king couldn't go to sleep. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:25.119 And as he went back through the books, he was having somebody read to him because he was tired. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:30.720 And in the books, there's a story of what Mordecai had done to save the king's life. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:41.359 And Haman comes walking into the court, and King Ahaswer says, Haman, what would you do for a man to honor him from the king? 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:43.920 Look at what follows. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.440 So Haman came in verse 6, chapter 6, verse 6 through 9. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:53.279 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor? 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:58.880 Now Haman thought in his heart, Whom would the king like to delight and honor more than me? 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:00.960 Of course. 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:13.599 And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delights to honor, let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:23.200 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:32.799 Then parade him on horseback through the city square and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:34.880 It's funny. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:37.599 Haman doesn't have to be asked twice. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:40.400 What do you think should be done, Haman? 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:44.480 What do you think should he doesn't have to say, let me get back to you on that king? 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:49.279 He had been daydreaming and envisioning that moment for time. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:53.119 He says, How about a robe of royalty? 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:57.119 He says, How about, and I don't get this part, a headdress, right? 00:27:58.079 --> 00:27:59.839 This audacious show. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:08.559 And then a bodyguard, he's going to need a bodyguard to walk him through the city square on a white horse while the bodyguard chants. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:11.279 This is how the king honors a man. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.000 This is how the king honors a man. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:22.640 He knew exactly what he thought the king's honoring should look like because he had a real pride issue. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:30.480 In Proverbs 6, verses 16 through 19, it says this that the Lord hates six things. 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:34.400 And the first thing it says, the Lord hates a proud look. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:38.160 Lord hates when we have a pride problem, a pride issue. 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:44.799 Bible says in Proverbs 16, 18 that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:49.279 Haman had some serious pride issues. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:54.480 We say, you know, Pastor, I really don't have that much of a pride issue. 00:28:54.880 --> 00:29:00.720 I do like to be publicly praised, but I don't think listen. 00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:10.160 At CCW, I think sometimes, and in many churches, we would rather be dignified instead of justified. 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:12.400 Stay with me. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.400 We'd rather be dignified. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:21.599 On Wednesday nights here, if you come to youth group, you will see at this altar at the end of service a flood. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:23.920 Am I right? 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:30.880