Esther 2: 1-11, Surviving in a Dangerous Culture , Pastor Cody Harlow

God's word it says this and after these things when the anger of king of hazarus had abated he remembered vashti and what she had done would have been decreed against her then the king's young men who attended him said let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the Harem in Susa The Citadel under custody of Haggai the king's eunuch who is in charge of the women let their Cosmetics be given to them the young women who please or let the young woman who pleases the king be Queen instead of vashti this pleased the king and he did so now there was a Jew and Sousa The Citadel whose name was Mordecai the son of jair the son of shimiah the son of Kish a Benjamin Knight who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with jeconiah king of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had carried away he was bringing it up Hadassah that is Esther the daughter of his uncle for she had neither father nor mother 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 so when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed and when many young women were gathered in Susa The Citadel and custody of Haggai Esther also was taken into the king's Palace and put in custody of Haggai who was in charge of the women and the young woman pleased him and won his favor and he quickly provided her with her 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 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 and so God we do thank you for your word thank you that doesn't pull any punches about the situation that Esther is in a thank you that deals with truth Lord we know that all truth is your truth and therefore Christians should never be afraid of the truth and I pray that truth would be what's taught today in our own hearts Lord and as you've dealt with mine this week I pray that you would deal with all of ours as a congregation Lord I pray that we would just as those you control the flow of a king's heart Lord that today we would be surrendered and never resistant to where you are leading us today God we pray that your mercy would be just so profound to us that your grace your wisdom your sovereignty ultimately your love and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ will be at the Forefront of our minds God we love you and we thank you for this day in Jesus name amen well this passage it begins with that phrase and after these things and if you're just reading it you would think well that's just the conclusion of chapter one and you might be right to think that but if we take it into context and we look at verse 16 which we didn't read today verse 16. Verse 16 if you're looking at your Bible it says and when Esther was taken to King of hazarus into his Royal Palace in the tenth month which is the month of tebeth in the seventh year of his Reign we started out in the third year of King hazarus's reign and now we're at the seventh year of his Reign and so there's a lot of things that happen there in that

Four-year span between chapter one and the end of chapter two there's a lot that happens and so what are the things that happened well we know through history that it's king of hazarus who went to war he went to war with Persia and it started and we've already covered this a little bit with Persia crossing the Hell's Point and they were delayed there due to storms and the nation of Greece at that time they were split up into all these little tribes and kingdoms that were vying for influence and power you had the Spartans you had the Athenians you had the macedonians and all these different people and what happened was that the king of Macedonia Allied himself with the Warriors of Spartan and the mighty Navy of the Athenians and they created this new unified Grecian State and as a result of that unification that took place they were a unified power against the invading armies of Persia one of the most famous battles is of course the Battle of Thermopylae where you had these these Spartan warriors that were able to fend off for not just a couple of hours okay but literally days they delayed the advance of the Persian army and you know what that did was it bought just enough time for the Greeks to fortify their flanks adjust their strategic positions and be able to make every single battle that the Persians won so costly that they wound up losing the war and for years he was warring against the Greeks and it cost him his Empire we are seeing a man who comes home defeated a man who yes he won some battles but he lost the war he spent so much time and so much blood and so much money just to prove a point and so he walks home he arrives at his big Palace

And he is a warrior that has bled he has seen his friends die and who is he looking for as he arrives back to the Palace he's looking for his spouse he's looking for that beautiful woman vashti he's looking around and he's he is wondering why on Earth did I do that I miss this woman but the laws of the medes and the Persians they're irrevocable you can't take them away and so he slips into sorrow and he's moping around him what happens the Persians they come up with a with a very Persian solution check out verse two look at it with me it says then the king's young men who attended him said let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king let the king appoint officers and all the provinces of his kingdom 127 let them find these beautiful young virgins gather all of them together and put them in the Harem and Susa The Citadel under custody the pegai the king's eunuch who's in charge of the women let their Cosmetics be given to them and let the young woman who pleases the king be Queen instead of vashti the King was pleased with that and he did so and I want you to look at what these men are suggesting they're saying get all of the beautiful women together all the beautiful virgins get them together for yourself put them in your harem the pleasure Palace of the king and whoever is best gets to become the queen that sounds like a great idea right it's like it's like watching The Bachelorette or something like that or The Bachelor really it's just terrible we see how those relationships work out but for a self-centered man of course the courses of course this is good advice I mean back in chapter 1 verse 21 he gets that advice to cast out vashti and

You know yeah that sounds like a great idea and all that's happening is that this guy he's just driven by his own desires and that's the first point first point is that we have to understand that ungodly leaders are motivated motivated by selfish desires these men they combed all 127 provinces of this ancient empire they gathered together all the attractive versions with beautiful figures and faces and they brought them in to be the king's property and before you cry foul and you know start protesting feminism and all that kind of stuff okay what we need to look at is what the culture is like among the meats and the Persians because it was very common for Kings to make decrees similar to this in the ancient world among the medo Persians what they would do is every single year they would find 500 of the best and the brightest young boys about seven eight years old and they would round them all up and they would bring them into this the Citadel they would castrate those boys in order to become eunuchs and servants in the king's court and I think that we might be able to make a pretty good argument that the girls got the better end of that deal now I'm not making a joke but we have to look at the at the context Karen job she writes that the Gathering of the virgins whether consensual or not is not sexism it is a brutal act typical of how power was used in the Persian Court everyone whether male or female was at the disposal of the king's personal whims and so we wonder why men and women in the government are concerned about giving themselves raises taking Lobby money benefiting from insider trading and all that kind of stuff all we have to do is look at the wickedness of the ancient world and just realize it's just Humanity it's human nature for those things

To happen the King of Persia he was just worried about himself and what benefits him and it's just playing out before our eyes you and I though we ought to be different you and I we should not be driven by our own selfish desires what Cody wants is not what Cody always gets that's not the way that Christians work you know what our first concern ought to be our first console concern should not be what makes me happy or what benefits me or what fulfills my desires but God what is your desire for my life what is your will for my life what is most pleasing to you God I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I fail in that area amen okay and that goes for all of us the only way that we can have the cure for this motivation and the selfish desires that we see in our world today is by Christians explaining the Gospel to friends and to neighbors and the family that's the only way that we will ever change our culture it doesn't matter ultimately who's in the White House it doesn't we get our panties in a wad over some of the dumbest stuff not saying that not saying that's not important that's not what I'm saying is don't don't hear me say that's unimportant it is important but it's not ultimate what is the ultimate thing in eternity it's not going to matter who number 45 or 46 or 47 is what's going to matter is does your neighbor know the Lord and more importantly do you know the Lord Jesus Christ are you sharing the Gospel are you growing in your obedience to God are you seeking to be a disciple that conforms himself to the image of Christ and you're going to have an opportunity

To do that to do that by just going out and sharing the Gospel with people whether it's through acts of service or what have you just in a few weeks when we do Salt and Light Sunday I mean some of you might say you know what I want to I want to do a work project so that way I'm in a neighborhood and I'm able to go door to door with people on Sunday mornings if they're not a church or may not be Christians okay and just go and share the Gospel it's a great opportunity they can't say that Christians aren't doing anything you're literally standing there doing it right then and there what a great opportunity that is to be Salt and Light but the author of the book of Esther he now turns the situation from the palace to the people and he introduces two new characters and these people are Mordecai and Esther so let's take a look at Mordecai real quick Mordecai he's not Papa grape okay for those of you that are VeggieTales fans right Mordecai he is very likely an advisor of some sort in the Persian courts because he would stand at the gates every single day he would conduct the king's business and we don't know what his role was but there is some archaeological evidence for this guy named Mordecai check this out all right this is this is only about maybe two centimeters wide three centimeters long very small but somewhere in there I don't know where okay I'm relying on the British museum of natural history for this okay but there is a guy named morda Kaya that is in here how amazing is that is it the same Mordecai I don't know but this is just a treasury receipt that has his name on it how amazing is it that we have an archaeological historical faith that is founded upon facts provable verifiable facts

He's named in those treasury records and we don't know we also do know this that he was also a descendant of the first Exiles that came from Judah look at this in Second Kings chapter 24 verses 10 through 16. At that time this is God's judgment on the people of God at that time the Servants of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up to Jerusalem and the city was besieged and Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it in jehoiyah chin he's got two different names okay jehoiah chin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his Palace officials the king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his Reign and carried off all the Treasures of the house of the Lord and the Treasures of the King's house and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord which Solomon king of Israel had made and as the Lord as the Lord had foretold he carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the Mighty Men of Valor ten thousand captives and all the Craftsmen and the Smiths none remained except poorest people of the land and he carried away jehoiachen to Babylon the King's mother the king's wives his officials and the chief men of land he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon and the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor seven thousand and the Craftsmen and the metal workers one thousand all of them strong and fit for war and so Mordecai he came from one of those men that had been carried away and we know at the very beginning of the medo-persian Reign that Darius he allowed for those captives to go back home to go back to Israel but Mordecai apparently his grandfather or dad or someone had

Said no we're going to hang back and we're going to continue on in this culture and when and we know that one of those guys his name is Kish one of Mordecai's fathers that word Kish means hard it means difficult he's from the warrior Tribe of Benjamin it's also the same tribe that King Saul came from and that's going to be important later on in the passage now those men who were in kish's generation they were taken and Jeremiah he wrote a letter to the captives that were in Babylon that says this in Jeremiah 29 verses 5-7 he tells them these are the captives right they received this message build houses and live in them plant Gardens and eat their produce take wives and have sons and daughters take wives for your sons and give your daughters a marriage that they may bear Sons and Daughters multiply there and do not decrease but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into Exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your welfare and what we see here is that Mordecai is a part of that is an offspring of that generation who was told like you're gonna be there for a while so just live there all right continue to obey the Lord continue to serve the Lord but be fruitful be multiply fill the earth I will bless you I will take care of you and Mordecai he came from Kish and that's what God's people did throughout the Exile they just continued multiplying and in Daniel's case we look at Daniel we went through Daniel about this time last year and he was taken he was made a wise man he was his name was changed from Daniel to Belt to shazar but he was never really known by that name even in Daniel's later years when he met King Darius he was still known as Daniel

Daniel means God as my judge but Mordecai although he is from that Warrior Tribe of Benjamin and all of his fathers had Hebrew names we don't know what Mordecai's Hebrew name is Mordecai does not it's not a Hebrew name it's actually transliterated as mardukaya which means follower or worshiper of Marduk marduki was the chief Babylonian God this is him and he was this is the guy that would that the Babylonians the medo Persians would venerate and worship when we were going through Daniel we talked a little bit about the Temple of Marduk which still stands today okay that's the great ziggurat of where the Babylonian Kings would go in this image of Marduk was there and they would grab mardu Tans and at that moment they became the king of Babylon this is some historians believe that this image is modeled after the Tower of Babel from Genesis inside of this Temple as we talked about was Marduk and this was Nebuchadnezzar's most revered God no matter what would happen this is important guys okay no matter what Nebuchadnezzar was making he would always create images that pointed to Marduk even in this look check this out these are the gates of Ishtar and these are dragons right there and those are images of Marduk whenever you see a dragon in the ancient culture that is a symbol for Marduk who is the God of storms the God of creation the God of magic the God of all these different things in the Babylonian Pantheon so Mordecai's name it means worshiper of Marduk worshiper of Marduk Mordecai now was that way he did we don't know we don't know we just know that there's very little to indicate that he

Was other than a Jewish by birth that he was a worshiper of the one true God it could have been there was an anti-semitic culture we do know that existed in Daniel 3. But what a difference there is between guys like Mordecai and Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and the second truth is that we have to be cautious in assimilating to the local culture we have to be very cautious you know things like church attendance like it's on the decline we know that Nationwide people just don't go to church I am thankful that you're here this morning I am very thankful that you're here there are so many people that they don't prioritize the worship of God and what that communicates and I didn't come up with this guy named Shane Pruitt who's like a student Ministry guy he's been doing student Ministry for like 20 years or something like that I before I became the senior pastor here I had been in youth ministry either volunteered professionally from 2004 to 2019. Okay that's 15 years of ministry and that's a lot of stuff and I can I can really jibe with this okay I think I've got some slides up for this nope I don't but anyways but if you're taking notes on the lines there's there's a four generation fade that we see that takes place the first thing is that parents they don't make Church a high priority for their kids so you know when moms and dads when they say you know I've my kids they play they play ball on that Sunday they got I got to go to work so my kids can't be here We've we gotta travel we got people that are coming in you know it's our only day to sleep in there's all sorts of reasons to stop missing church and we got a saying if

You start missing Church eventually you'll stop missing it but I've yet to discover a healthy Christian family that does not prioritize congregational Gatherings on Sunday they don't exist those that think that they do are deceived secondly kids they grow up and they make Church less of a priority so these are the people that come they come at Christmas they come at Easter come for special events or whatever many of these people they've prayed a prayer they may have been baptized they feel like they have fire insurance but most of them are lost Jesus isn't their Lord by any means the third generation is that those kids they grow up they make no prior Church no priority for their kids this is where I was when I became a Christian okay I didn't have any concern for Spiritual things I believed in God I believe that there was a hell but that was about it okay even though my great-grandmother was like you know a very holy devout woman the final generation is those who grow up with no concept of God now there's always exceptions to the rules and if it if that irritates you I don't care I just I don't get angry at me oh there's always exceptions to the rule but I wonder how people will respond if they realize the trajectory that they're setting up their kids and their grandkids on how would that impact you that's one of the things that I love about our church is that you know we've got a lot of parents that are holding each other accountable when it comes to just being with God's people amen I'm very thankful for that was Mordecai a victim of this four generation fade I don't know

But what's interesting is that we don't know anything about his spiritual beliefs we don't know anything about that we do know that he told Esther to keep her Heritage hidden but let's move on to Esther because that's what the book's about so Esther she's she was apparently raised by Godly Parents she's introduced by her Hebrew name Hadassah Hadassah has understood in our language as Myrtle all right yeah we don't name our children Myrtle although some of those old names are coming back if you're a Myrtle I love you okay but it's actually an evergreen tree in the Middle East a myrtle tree and what it does is it blossoms these beautiful flowers these little white berries that are on there and it's a symbol for love it's a symbol for reproduction in the Middle Eastern culture and I have a theory I can't prove it but I believe that Hadassah was raised to know her name we do know that she came under Mordecai's headship later on in her life because she had a beautiful form we know that her parents died and then she came under his authority but I can almost see Mordecai who is a leader in the Persian Court he's wanting to have more influence he says I love you cousin but I need you to start going by this name okay and that name that she is called this Persian name is Ishtar Easter we saw the Ishtar Gates that was a goddess this is an image of Ishtar you see those weird chicken feet y'all might remember those from The Book of Daniel she is the goddess of yeah that's right you but she is goddess of love goddess of fertility and things like that and Esther in many ways she has to assimilate to the culture in order to thrive in it and she has to do so carefully but here's the third point is being a victim of difficult

Circumstances victim of difficult circumstances look at verse eight it says 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 was also taking taken into the king's Palace and put in custody of Haggai who had charge of the women that's very sad very sad verse the edict goes out she's one of those beautiful virgins she's rounded up she's taken into the king's harem and I mean you talk about difficult circumstances for men for women this is the pleasure Palace for the king's concubines and wives pretty much as a as a young woman you would have to be prepared make yourself ready just in case the king calls on you to pleasure him physically this is not a good situation for a child of God these women they were victims of a terrible culture and you got to think also I have to imagine that there were some guys that maybe they were building relationships with some of these women and all of a sudden you have this Mass Exodus of women from your neighborhood or from your Province all the good-looking ones are gone that's what the Scripture says but says that Esther she was taken it's a passive tense which means that she was taken Without Really any consideration of what she wanted doesn't say if she wanted to go it doesn't say if she was reluctant but we do know that she found herself in an unimaginably difficult situation and yet she was never outside of God's Eternal plan how comforting is it that no matter the situation that you might find yourself in that the author of all things has you exactly where he wants you doesn't matter what it is we can walk in

The confidence that God is with us that's illiterate that's literally what Emmanuel means God with us I mean what a glorious truth that is that we can trust that it's not going to thwart God's perfect plan Esther she's a girl she's a one person with two identities and she is torn she's the only person in the book with two names two identities she's a beautiful Jewish girl who finds herself in the Persian courts she's in a highly sexualized and immoral Place among Gentiles she's in Exile yet she's a queen she chose a member of God's family and yet she's also being commanded to live in a way and do things that is totally contrary to God's word it's tough we'll dive into more about that later but fourth point is the resilience of Esther's character the fact is that this whole passage is really about how there is conflict in this world not necessarily rulers with people okay but we are Christians we believe in a spiritual war we believe that there are principalities and powers that are against the kingdom of God and his citizens Esther she was born and she was raised in the silver armed culture of the medo Persians you guys would know what I mean by the silver armed you think of Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the image and the crossed arms of the medo-persians that is where she was that's it's the second beast that would arise out of that sea the bear that was told to arise and devour much flesh and we have to admire how Esther was able to thrive and even influence National policy in a man-centered culture and would eventually be a tool to be used by the Lord and what's amazing is that Haggai he immediately recognizes Esther's Grace her charm and he had favor on her and he gave her access to

Absolutely everything immediately when she comes into the Harem he looks upon her and she has such Grace about her she's not moping around just kind of going man I am just done with my life okay she even though she is a victim she's not playing the victim that word when it says the young lady pleased him is literally understood as she lifted up grace before her face that's how we can understand that and isn't that what we want for our daughters and for our granddaughters to lift up Grace for people to see the difference in them in their conduct in their speech in who they are and this is what Esther modeled in her conduct and in her femininity but it's it's fairly obvious from this passage that she also didn't keep a very Kosher diet while Daniel and his friends they refused to eat what the king had provided Esther didn't that was probably due to Mordecai's very strict command like you've got to keep your heritage hidden it was probably for her own Survival but for you and I as Believers we don't get to do what we got to do in order to survive we are a people of God we live under a Covenant of Grace in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17 it says now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do and the futility of their minds that means that we don't we are not driven by our passions our desires are wants our needs we are driven by something far greater which is what brings glory to Jesus Christ in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 it says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing me you may desire

Discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable perfect perhaps Esther she had to keep her identity a secret and maybe there will come a day when Christians have to do that too but it's not today you are called to make disciples that's not just the pastor's job that's that's not just a missionary's job it's the job of every single believer to make disciples of all the nations and so what does all this mean I love what Chuck Swindoll says kind of at the conclusion of this passage he gives us three wonderful points and the first one is that God's plans are not hindered when the events of this world are carnal or secular how amazing is that regardless of what's going on with the lgbtq community what's going on social media what's happening in the White House it none of that is going to thwart God's plan how reassuring is that for you as a believer his plans aren't frustrated by protests or legislation no one can stand in the way of God or thwart it this is extremely comforting because you know what God's plan is at the end is that Jesus wins Jesus wins Jesus rules Jesus Reigns and the question is are you in Christ with everything else that's the big issue Jesus wins praise the Lord in the meantime let's Reach people with the Gospel second thing that Chuck Swindoll marks down is that God's purposes are not frustrated by moral or marital failures his purposes are not you look at King's Xerxes he's full of lust he was full of wine and anger he chose to divorce his wife unjustly and yet God through all of that was working in the secret and hidden ways and he had

A purpose even when we couldn't see it don't think just because of your divorce or your struggles that God he can't use you God he can and he still does so be encouraged with that remember that God's people are not excluded from high places because of handicap or hardship Esther she was a Jewish woman from a foreign land who was an orphan light years away from Persian nobility but none of those things mattered in the grand scheme of things God calls Those whom he Wills and oftentimes from the most unlikeliest of areas head hand harp head I want you to know that you will sometimes be placed in difficult circumstances beyond your control you might not have any control in it I want to encourage you to trust the Lord continue trusting in the Lord don't give in to frustrations or hate or anything like that keep trusting in the Lord walk hand in hand with him and we will see later on in Esther she's going to do this in very real intangible ways heart I want you to believe that you can always be Christ-like and Gospel focused in spite of your circumstances Esther she was in a Harem it could still be full of grace surely you can rely on the Lord in hand I want you to think of some ways that you can be Christ-like in your difficulties that you are in right now perhaps there's a relational problem that you've been avoiding or having trouble navigate take it to the Lord offer forgiveness if needed be Christ-like you may be forced into a health situation without any say lean on the Lord and others that God may be glorified if you would bow your heads and close your eyes with me as we pray

Lord we just are so thankful for this great day that you've given to us we pray for each person in here God [Music] Lord the fact is that we need you as Believers we need you and I pray that you would move mightily among the people that are in here God if there's anyone that needs to profess you as Savior I pray today would be that day maybe there's someone that they need to get a relationship right or maybe they just need prayer they're walking through difficult circumstances and they just they're just struggling gotta pray that they would be encouraged by the truth of your word today and maybe that they will reach out to a friend or myself and just say you know I just need some wisdom here can you can you help me we give it to you God and we ask for you to work help us God peek out your will for our lives we love you Lord as we stand and worship together may you be pleased Jesus name amen let's stand let's worship together [Music] when I fear my faith will fail Christ will hold me fast when The Temper would Prevail he will hold me fast I could never keep my whole through life's fearful paths for my love is often cold [Music] he will hold me fast he will hold me fast for my Savior loves me so he will hold me fast foreign [Music] those he saves are his Delight Christ will hold me fast precious in His holy sides he will he'll not let my soul be lost his promises shall last but by him at such a cost

He will hold me fast he will hold me back fast he will hold me fast for my Savior loves me so will hold me fast for my life died Christ will hold be fast justice has been satisfied he will hold me fast life he will hold me back [Music] when he comes out he will hold me back [Music] he will hold me fast for my Savior loves so he will hold me fast for my Savior loves me so he will hold me fast [Music] well I want to invite you guys to have a seat and I want to ask my son Josiah to come up first he said do I have to stand in front of all these people I said yes so like I said he made a profession about a year ago and we were just waiting for him to Bear some fruit you know because he's he's little you know how old are you he's seven right yeah I got five of them so bear with me okay and I said son why do you want to get baptized we were kind of worried that was the lake and he was like well you know Jesus Is My Savior I was like awesome how what if we were to delay a week you know and do it in the baptistry he said well that'd be fine too I was like okay we can do it this weekend and he was just he's so excited and he's been reading his Bible he's been praying for friends just seeing God working in your life son I'm very proud of you do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for you yes do you believe that he rose again yeah are you gonna does baptism save you okay

I guess guess that's good enough right are you gonna be committing to walk with him all the rest of your days awesome praise the Lord I'm very thankful for you [Applause] see it wasn't that bad was it yeah he's like yes it was all right oh it wasn't bad okay I also want to introduce to you the Thompson family and Logan if y'all would come on up also if y'all know Logan or y'all just want to pray over him this is a great time for you to come up and we're going to be laying hands on Logan as he goes you still don't know where you're going to wind up do you okay he doesn't know where he's going to wind up but we do know that he's going to go get training for is it four months a month three months in Montana yeah and so and then he will go from there and spend some time internationally and so if y'all would come on forward anyone that wants to pray over him and lay hands on Thomas on Logan Thompson if y'all would come on up here in any of his family we love you I know that your parents there I asked them if they wanted to pray they said no we're good we're we might cry and I totally get that I'm about to lose it with Josiah over there so come on close guys foreign let's pray father we do thank you so much for this day we thank you for Logan and I thank you for the time that I've gotten to spend with him just personally Lord I it's just very clear that you get have given him such a heart for your word a heart for people and I pray that you would use him to do amazing things where you've called him we don't know where that's going to be but you do you're already Preparing

People for those conversations and even as we saw today he doesn't go alone in spite of the things that might go wrong on the trip or we know that all those things are right for you help us God to dedicate ourselves to you not just here as we lay hands on Logan Lord but also for all of us as Priests of God as we go out to minister give us opportunities and to recognize those opportunities and pray for safety for my brother Pray for Peace I pray for him to have easy conversations good relationships protect him you know in his Doctrine in his theology protect him in his relationship with you we pray that the wicked one would not have any opportunity for Temptation or division or anything like that Lord but that there would be unified minds and hearts we thank you for your kindness and for your mercy and we love you Jesus precious name amen I love you church have a great day don't forget if you need directions just find someone waving their hand and they'll help you get to ethnos