Esther 4: 1-17, Steve Marsh

Play ch you all have the got [Music] know okay I'll try to text you yeah call well good morning everyone he hey good morning Church Pastor hey there we go it's good seeing you guys here at First Baptist Church Campton my name is Cody I'm the pastor here I will not be preaching today we the elders and I we sat down a few months ago and we said let's let's allow for them to get up here and preach pretty often and so brother Steve is going to be preaching today he's going to be delivering the word and so we're very thankful for that and a couple of things that we need to go over is right after service today if you are a you know you're into business meetings and stuff like that we have our very brief business meeting the only purpose behind it is to nominate Messengers for the Missouri Baptist convention that's the only thing on the agenda so it should be very brief and so please make sure if you are a member to stick around after service for that aana does need some donations for new or gently used items for the Anana store things like you know it's crazy like you know colorful pencils go a long way in the aana store things like that little toys stuffed animals stuff like that be sure to bring those if you can also there is the art show that's coming up that's on November 12th bring your art bring your quilts bring your crafts bring whatever it is that you make with your hands and show them off we do have our big quarterly business meeting that day so we got a big potluck on the 12th and that's all

Going be down there in the gym are we where are we setting that up at is that going to be in the gym as well the art show yeah so the art show is going to be in the gym we're going to do a potluck in the gym and after we're all well fed we will make good business decisions at our business meeting also you might be here and you might say you know I don't know if I can go to a business meeting good news for you we do have new members classes that are coming up we have a lot of folks that have been asking about that how do I become a member we do ask that you participate in our new members classes and those are going to be starting I think in two weeks for that and so yeah on the 22nd is when they start and so if you've been here and you're like you know we see what God's doing here and we want to jump in this is a great opportunity for you to start getting involved it does take place during the community group time so at 9:00 a.m. Is when they start and it's a typically a four-week class the first week we listen to testimonies we want to make sure that people are Christians that they're a part of our church amen I think it's a really good first step secondly is we go through the Baptist faith and message for about two weeks we talk about things that we do allow for disagreement about and the things that we don't allow for disagreement about okay there's all sorts of different end times VI out there right that's one of those things that we allow for a lot of disagreement on okay but the deity of Christ is not we believe that Jesus is God and that's one of those things that we have to agree on let's see here so we got that trying to think of anything else also oh yeah this is a big one this is huge okay Trunk or Treat Trunk or Treat is coming up guys and we will always have a huge crowd outside of our church expecting I mean we typically

Have about I don't know 15 to 1700 people that come through our church every single year and that week after we always have a lot of people coming and checking out our church because they see a church that loves their community and so it takes a lot of a lot of candy to make that a success and so be sure to bring that the community group that brings the most candy we'll get a little gift card just to appreciate them you can use that for like a Christmas party or something for your community group as well and so and if you're not a part of a community group there's candy boxes at each one of the entrances as well okay I think that's it did I miss anything anything else all right well hey it is good to see you I love you if you are new to our church be sure to fill out one of those visitor cards or connection cards that's in the chair in front of you just fill that out drop it in the offering plate that'd be huge and us being able to connect with you and also if you have prayer requests I take those every single Monday morning when I receive them take the time and pray over those and it's my honor and my privilege to do that for you as your pastor because I care about you church next week be sure to be here because we will have our Mexico mission trip testimonies we're really excited to hear about all the things that God did in Mexico through that mission team that we sent and I think that'll that'll do it all for us so why don't you just take a moment find a neighbor maybe someone that doesn't look that familiar to you say hey welcome to First Baptist Church there you go for w G don't e very

Nice well good morning church good morning church it's good to see you all here and it's good to be in the house of the Lord today Larry knows I can't talk loud enough it's good to see you all here and it's good to be in the house of the Lord today as it has been our kind of habit and tradition we'd like to just take a moment and invite you to Bow your heads and close your eyes and ask God to prepare your hearts and your minds for corporate worship maybe you know this morning was hard getting out of the house I know I woke up about an hour late today maybe you had an argument with a spouse or a child on your way in and you just need to take some time to repent of that maybe you've been going through something something difficult health issues or financial issues ues take a moment to lay that at God's feet Lord we' come here today to worship through hearing your word preached through singing your word through fellowship and enjoying one another God I pray that you would help us to throw off all the all of the many distractions of life and instead help us to focus on you and who you are and what you've done you are the creator of all things you are the sustainer of all things it's only by your will by your work by your grace that we woke up this morning and took a fresh breath of air God I pray that you would remind us of that constantly and Lord let us not just keep that as some secret knowledge but help us to Proclaim it to the ends of the world God today you've called us here to worship you together and Lord I pray that you'd not

Let us let this day pass without doing so help us to engage in worship with one another for you Your Glory it's in Jesus name we pray amen I'd invite you now to stand as you're able and join us as we sing praises toward our [Music] Lord [Music] immortalis God only wies in light in accessible from our eyes Most Holy glorious the Ancient of Days Aly Victorious Your Great Name we praise unresting unhas andent as light not wanting or wasting you rule us in your Justice like mountains soaring your CLS are Fountains of goodness and love Most Holy most glorious the Ancient of Days Almighty Victor Your Great Name we [Music] praise [Music] Alles from you Lord to great and in all you live the true life of all we Blossom and flourish but quickly growa we wer and perish but you never fail [Music] great father of Glory pure father of your angels adore you all veiling their sight all praise we will render father of GRA till one day in spender we see face to face most holy most glorious the Ancient of Days Mighty Victorious Your Great Name we [Music] praise Most Holy most glorious the Ancient of Days

Almighty Victorious Your Great Name we [Music] praise [Music] Standing on the Promises of Christ King through Eternal ages his Praises Ring glory in the highest I will shout and sing Standing on the Promises of God Standing on the Promises Standing on the Promises Standing on the Promises of God myor standing on the prises standing theis I'm Standing on the Promises of [Music] God Standing on the Promises that cannot When theing Storms of and fear by The Living Word of God shall preva Standing on the Promises of God standing on the standing on the prises standing on the promis of God standing on theis Standing on the Promises I'm Standing on the Promises of God Standing on the Promises of Christ the Lord to [Music] eternally over daily with the spirit sword Standing on the Promises of God Standing on the Promises Standing on the Promises Standing on the Promises of God myi Standing on the Promises Standing on Promises I'm Standing on the Promises of God standing on theis iot every to Spirit call resting in my Savior as My All In All stand on the Promises of godis standing Onis Standing on the Promises of godis stand Standing on the Promises of God you may be seated as our ushers come forward to take the offering good morning it's my honor to be one of your deacons my name is PJ garton and let's continue in prayer as we worship with our tithes and offerings father God thank you for each person that is on this campus this morning thank you for how you have brought us here you have brought us

Through a week of many different experiences but yet Lord we stand firm in the promises of your word thank you for the priv privilege we get to now worship you with our tithes and offerings and I PL pray that you would use every part of this to further your kingdom for your honor and For Your Glory we ask this in your name amen well as we were opening I was supposed to read from the book of Colossians and I totally forgot so Larry could you go back and pull that up for me please Colossians 3:16 it says let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God see that's why we're singing together it's not just because we like the music it's not just because it you know fills the hour and Cody or in this case Steve can't preach that long that's not why we're singing for a purpose and it's because we're we're trying to get the word of Christ to live in our hearts to dwell in our hearts we're singing with and to one another so that we will remember what the word of God says this month October is often called Reformation month and that's because at the end of this month some people me included we celebrate when Martin Luther historically or maybe legendarily perhaps he had nailed his 95 thesis onto the door of the vitberg cathedral and with that sparked this movement of reformation where we said wait a minute the things that the church are doing are not the things that the Bible has told us to do and so this week I wanted to focus on one of those tenets of the Reformation which is Sola scriptura or Scripture alone and what we mean by that what they meant by that was that the word of God is the word of

God that the Scriptures that we have are the very word of God that he had his agents to write exactly as he meant to that's what we're saying and we're also saying that the word of God is sufficient for salvation and you might think Austin let's just sing some more why does this matter I get it I understand but the reason I'm I'm taking time out to do this is because it matters whether or not we believe that the word of God is the word of God and I can tell you one more thing about it and that is that he made it in such a way he gave us the Scriptures as they are the way that he gave them for his own Glory which is often considered the fifth of the five tenants of the Reformation so Le Deo Gloria for the glory of God Alone he provided his word the God of the universe reached down to we who were Sinners and decided that we should know something about him in his infinite grace and mercy he gave us way to know him know the infinite God of All Things isn't that amazing isn't that something to rejoice in and so we stand on the Promises of God we declare the attributes of our amazing Lord and now we're going to I'd invite you to stand again as you're able as we sing together How firm a foundation ye Saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent [Music] word how fir a foundation he Saints of the Lord laid for in his excellent word what can he say to you he has said to [Music] forus [Music] have fear not I am with the oh be not dis for I am th God I will still give Thee I streng the Healy Anda thee to stand upheld by [Music]

My through fiery trials I pass paway shall li My Grace all suff shall be thy the flame shall not hurt the I only design th trust to consume and thy gold [Music] refine th all that on Jesus had for I will not I will not deserve to that all H shall to shake I never no never no never forsake that so all should to shake I [Music] never forsake so the Scriptures tell us that if we will believe in this Jesus that the Scriptures tell us about we are saved out of our sin we are saved from the wrath of God that we so fully deserve and the only way we can respond to that is through [Music] worship come every blessing tune my heart to sing thy gra streams of Mercy never ceasing call for of lest [Music] prach by fling T above praise the M fixed upon it [Music] ofe [Music] I was lost in darkness till you came and rescued me I was bound by all my sin when your love came and set me free now my soul can sing a new song now my heart has found the home now your grace is always with me and I'll never be alone come

Th King come th preious Prince of Peace here your bride you we sing Come now found of our [Music] blessing oh to Grace how great a daily I'm constrained to be let thy goodness like a f find my wondering Heart To Thee to I feel it to leave the God I love Here's My Heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy courts above come th come th King come th pray precious prince of peace your bride to we sing Come th of our blessing come th King come th preious Prince of Peace here your bright to We Sing come now of our [Music] bless prone to wonder Lord I feel it PR to leave the God I Love My Heart Lord take and seal it seal it for th cour Lord I pray that you would help us to rest in you help us to rest in the knowledge that your word is true God you said it so we can be sure God I pray that you would help us to have confidence in your saving power Lord help us to continue you in this Spirit of worship as we hear from your word and even as we go out from here into our neighborhoods our communities our homes Lord that we might bear witness to who you are it's in Jesus name we pray amen good morning it's

On yeah we're going to be looking at Esther chapter 4 this morning kind of looking into some history all through the Book of Esther these are things that happened what 2500 years ago so who cares right long time ago but there's some background here there's some context that we can usefully understand as far as how the events that are recorded in Esther take place and fit into the history that God has given us of his chosen people we call them the Jews the Israelites okay we have this Persian Empire all right it's big stretch from Russia in the North down to Ethiopia in the south west all the way to Greece East India if you look a lot of you have maps in the back of your Bibles if you have a map of that Kingdom it just covers a wide swath of territory and they were the kind of the rule the rulers of the Known World in that time period their Kingdom stretched and took place in about a 700 year no I'm sorry that's wrong about a 300E period of time and we're looking at right in the middle of the kingdom of Persia hazus the current King at this time is the fourth King of Persia there's going to be four that follow him so we're we're kind of looking at the heart of the Persian Empire there was kind of a troubled time he was King over this whole empire but there are a lot of fighting going on the borders during his rule Egypt rebelled against the Persians so he had to send down an army and take them out he put down that Rebellion Babylon rebell that was the prior Kingdom that the Persians had taken over but the city of Babylon said hey we want to be our own

Boss again he nope so they put down that Rebellion then way out in the west you had Greece kind of flexing its muscles and there was a lot of Border Warfare between Greece and Persia during that time in fact the three years before Esther became Queen the king a hazus was out in the west leading the troops fighting against Greece so he came back and that kind of went up and down they won some battles they lost some battles it was just border Warfare you know none of that stuff happens anymore today much there's war going on all the time in fact we read in the news Israel is at War again and it's border Warfare the countries on the North and the east or the West pardon me want to take out Israel and we see something of the same thing happening here in Esther's time there's several characters that the Book of Esther focuses on and one of them is this King a hazus he's interesting guy he's king of this entire Empire he's arrogant he's really proud he's also pretty impulsive we've read in the first three chapters of Esther how some of the things that he did were just almost right off the cuff you know oh let's get rid of this queen oh we need to find another queen okay let's have a beauty contest over the whole empire and I'll pick the best one and that's where Esther came in also azerus is a pagan King he worships all kinds of local deities Muk was one of them that was kind of the main one but they worshiped you name it they would worship it and this Pagan King was in control of the Empire that included all of God's people the chosen people the nation of Israel so you have that King now you have a new Queen Esther all right she was an orphan she was adopted by morai raised by him real pretty gal in fact she was the prettiest in the Kingdom as it turned out and she at this time

Might have been upper or early 20s somewhere in that range she was not old at all and she's now in her fourth year as Queen of the whole Kingdom okay you also have another character you have morai he was the one who raised Esther he was a Jew Esther was a Jew as well Mori didn't hide the fact that he was a Jew in fact that got him in trouble because hmon another one of the characters in this story is now the number two guy in the king he's been raised up he's the king's main counselor and he's a pretty proud guy himself I would actually consider him and label him as a tool of Satan because we're going to see that he's trying to accomplish what Satan wants to accomplish which is preventing you all from being here yeah we'll get into that a little bit later but more or hmon wanted everybody to bow down to him and so he had the king put out an edict that this is the rule anywhere hmon went everybody that was there had to bow down and pay honor to him well this fellow Mori didn't want to do that why not he was a Jew and the laws of Israel were that they would bow down and pay homage only to the Lord and hon didn't qualify so he's walking through the city passes Mori everybody's down on their knees except Mori so he's standing there hmon sees that and doesn't like it fact it says in the Scripture he was enraged he was really really mad so he goes to the king and we got a problem here King we've got this people that they're different they don't follow your laws they don't act like the rest of your subjects they're spread all throughout your kingdom it's kind of like a cancer we need to get rid of

These people just wipe them out then our kingdom will be unified so he kind of sells that to the king and the King says yeah good idea oh by the way hmon says I'll Al also offer you 375 tons of silver into the treasury and can you imagine that how big is a ton 2,000 PBS right 375 of those piles of silver hmon had a lot of money okay he's the number two guy in the main Kingdom of the world and it was worth it to him to spend that much cash to get rid of this people that wouldn't bow down to him that's that's where his pride was at he says I am the one so he goes to the king I'll pay you all this money you give me permission to take out the Jews now he didn't label them he just said there's this strange people that's in your kingdom that they don't act like everybody else we need him out of here King says yeah go for it and so he gives hmon his ring which is the seal that he could put on an edict and says this is from the King all right so that order goes out and it goes out over the whole country and the result of it was that the king and if you look at the last verse in chapter 3 of Esther it says after that edict went out the people were in a big confusion and the king and hmon said let's go have a beer they went to have a drink because they had done what they wanted to do and the kingdom was in confusion so that's where we're going to pick it up now and in Esther chapter 4 we're going to take the time to read through that whole chapter and then follow that story line so if you could pop up Esther 4 no well I'll read it to you I

Think yeah if you would stand stand with me we're going to read this in honor of God's word and it's a fair chunk of Scripture so if you need to hold on to the Pew in front of you or something do so and here we go when Mori learned of all that had been done he tore his clothes and sat put on sackcloth and Ashes and went out into this the middle of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly he went as far as the king's gate for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth sackcloth sorry in each and every Province where the command and decree of the king came there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting weeping and wailing and everyone would was in sackcloth and Ashes then Esther's maidens and her Unix came and told her and the king the queen wried in great anguish and she sent garments to clothe Mori that he might remove his sackcloth from him but he did not accept then Esther summoned hath from the king's unic whom the king had appointed to attend her and ordered him to go to morai to learn what this was and why it was so hathach went out to morai to the city Square in front of the king's gate morai told him all that had happened to him and the exact amount of money that hmon had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews he also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction that he might show Esther and inform her to order her to go into the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people haach came back and re related mori's words to Esther then Esther spoke to haach and ordered him to reply to morai all the king's servants and the

People of the king's province says know that for any man or woman to come to the king to the inner Court who has not been summoned he has but one law that he be put to death unless the king holds out his golden scepter so that he may live and I have not been summoned into the king's presence for these 30 days so they related Esther's words to Mori then morai told them to reply to Esther do not imagine that you in the king's Palace can escape any more than all the Jews for if you remain silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish and who knows whether you have been whether you have attained royalty for such a time as this then Esther told them to reply to morai go and assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast for me do not eat or drink for three days night and day I and my maidens will also fast in the same way and then I will go into the King which is not according to the law and if I perish I perish so morai went away and did just as Esther had commanded Him Father we thank you for this piece of your word we look at it and say okay thank you for telling us a little bit about the history and yet at the same time father we look to you for wisdom in how to understand it and apply it in our own lives so as we consider your word this morning we pray that your spirit will Enlighten us and just show us what you have for us through your word and how you want us to put it into practice so we thank you for that in Christ's name amen please be seated did how many of you are scholars in language to where you understand translation I don't see any hands well here's here's some help the translation of Amen means Sit down you're in a church the pastor says

Amen what do you do well yeah you might just leave there's that too okay we'll we'll we'll settle for sit down so Esther the queen is kind of the main character for this section of Scripture and she is going to get her thinking rearranged okay do you remember her first reply to morai he tells her you need to go and talk to the king and she saids I can't do that I might die which was true but that wasn't where the Lord wanted her he wanted to change her thinking so that she could see her position and her actions from his point of view not her own so there's a verse that kind of takes that concept and applies it to us it's in Romans 12: 2 I think that one might make the screen yeah okay do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renew renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect okay now what does that have to do with Esther well she had a way of thinking and the first person she thought about when morai said you need to go to the king and tell him and we'll get this taken care of I can't do that I might die so her thinking was about who herself now is that strange or weird that's our natural human way of thinking me first what how does this affect me what am I going to do with this what can I get from it what can I avoid from it's about me her thinking needed to change and in Romans 12 we're told that is kind of the case with all of us our thinking needs to be changed in fact it says we need to be transformed by the renewal of our minds you know a marsh translation of that passage says the way you think is

All screwed up it has to be changed and that's where we stand before the Lord we in our natural human way of thinking are self-focused we think of me first how does this affect me you know where do I need to take this and put this into practice but it's me God says no you need to have your thinking changed so that I can look at my life and my situation from his perspective you know so he's wanting me to think you know what is God doing in this situation or how could he use me to bring honor to him that's not my first way of thinking my head needs to be changed I think you guys in the Pew have the same problem because you're humans you know we grow up our natural way of thinking is self-focused and we need to get beyond that because we are God's chosen people and we are to represent him in this world so the things that happen to us the things that affect us we're not the center player God is the focus that was the case in Esther here God was orchestrating his people to be his Representatives now we're going to see that doesn't affect just the Jewish people in Esther's time that affects us quite directly so that's the situation here Esther is going to have her mind changed she her thinking is going to change the short story here is when morai told Esther she needs to go see the king I can't do that I might die once that was explained to her the condition that was really happening here her thinking changed to where she says okay if I die I die and we'll develop that here so you have Mori back to the story weeping and wailing and that was a way that the Jewish people mourned they put on burlap you know rough clothing and

They'd sprinkle themselves with ashes from a fire and they just weep and wail say woe is me the world is ending da loudly so he's doing that right outside the gate to the king's Palace and you know everybody's walking by what's with that guy but he's making a scene so Esther hears of that and what she hears is that morai is making a scene she apparently is pretty well insulated from the daily life of the Persian Empire because it didn't say that she was all bent out of shape because of this edict she's going to hear about it from Mori but at this point all she knows is that the man that raised her is really upset so she sends one of her servants out and says what is the problem and servant comes back and tells her because morai fills him in completely here's what's going on and this guy hmon wants to take out all of our people now it wasn't just some random people this was the people that God says I have chosen you're my chosen Nation the nation of Israel they're in the news again and you know we can see that over history lots and lots and lots of people have tried to destroy Israel they haven't made it not likely to make it this time either they didn't make it in Esther's time if you look at the end of the story in Revelation what nation is in focus is it the US uhuh we're not in Revelation Israel is in Revelation they're still there that's God's chosen people and he's not done with them that was the case here in the time of Esther 25 500 years ago it's the case today it will be the case when Christ returns so God is being faithful to his chosen people and this is how he's working it out in Esther's time so she hears back oh this is why Mori is all upset okay and you want me to

What morai had said you got to go to the king tell him this isn't right we got to spare our people and she - I can't do that puts me in danger even though she's the queen she probably remembered what happened to the previous Queen when the king got bent out of shape at her you're done you're not Queen anymore that's why Esther became Queen and she could see that taking place again didn't want any part of it so she sends that word back to morai I can't do that because it's against the king's law and if I just walk up go into him and he hasn't called for me I could be killed so morai hears that gets back to her and these pretty famous verses here he says you know it isn't going to matter what you do God is going to take care of this situation he's going to deliver his people but pardon me you even if you don't take part in that you might be killed but God will still spare his people and who knows maybe God put you in this position right now that he could use you to save his people she hears that and that kind of tweaked her thinking we don't know how much time went by but she heard that from morai via her servant and so then she replies via her servant back to morai okay I'm going to do this you and every Jew you can find have them fast for me three days don't eat anything don't drink anything hold me up before the Lord more and we'll do the same in the palace so they did and we're going to see next week what happens when she goes into the king the story gets kind of hung out to dry for right now and that's where it goes in chapter 4 but her change of mind was that okay I'm going to do it and if I die I die that's okay is that a change from her first thought huge yeah her first thought was I might die and we can't have that now she's

Willing to accept that and that change of thinking is a huge lesson for us so we go through the story we read this chapter we read the whole book and we see okay yeah this all took place 2500 years ago so what well let's turn to the Book of Romans again chapter 15 want to read verse four to you this kind of puts God's stamp of approval on the Old Testament says whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement enagement of the Scriptures we might have hope so we have this story here of Esther and hmon and hazus and morai U how are we going to get encouragement and hope and perseverance through this story that's what we want to take a look at here this morning some more of the background is just basic understanding of what God wants to do in us and through us I'd like to skip over here to the book of Ephesians and have us look at a couple of verses from chapter one this is in the midst of kind of a long section where Paul is really encouraging the Ephesian Church the Believers there telling us what we have in Lord okay here we go we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will to the end that we who were the first to Hope in Christ should be to the praise of his glory okay we look at that verse and say well that's for the Ephesians that's for those people well no it isn't just for those people it's for us as well our purpose as being God's people in this world is that we would be to the praise of his glory that we would be used by him to bring honor to his

Name so we look at Esther's story here and we okay we can see how that worked out with Esther how would that work out with us I mean one of the interesting things about being up here and looking out at the whole crew one of the things that I get a kick out of we have a young person in the front row and I can look at faces behind the young person and they're grinning at her one of the best distractions out there and that's a good distraction but the idea here is that we are God's people in this time in this place and in looking out I see I see parents I see kids husbands wives Sons daughters fathers mothers I see people who are mechanics I see people who are Engineers teachers lots and lots of Prof professions lots and lots of relationships and in all of that we individually work in circles that probably aren't shared by anyone else you know some of you may work in the same office or company and yet at the same time you have different Circles of friends God wants to use us within those circles that are ours to bring honor to him so how do I do that as a parent how do I do that as a husband how do I do that as a father as a son as a student as a whatever that is for us to pick up from the Lord Austin shared a verse earlier this morning I'm going to go right back to it's Colossians chapter 3 we're going to look at verses 16 and 17 because this is how we are able to discern what God wants us to do in order to bring honor to him we don't just sit around and okay let's see if I do this that'll do it we want the Lord to direct us so that he changes our thinking so let's look at these verses says let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another

With Psalms hymns and spiritual songs singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to him through God the Father okay that's instruction from the word to us to let the word dwell richly within us okay richly how do we let the word dwell richly within us well I read my Bible that's okay good I read my Bible that's that's good I keep the dust off of it and everything however that isn't Rich letting the word dwell richly within me means spending time in his word more than just a blink but putting in the time to let the Lord speak through his word to me and as he does that I have some direction he's able to direct me to where I know how he wants me in my circles to bring honor to him and guess what that's T taking my messed up thinking and transforming it to where I'm no longer thinking me first I'm thinking how does God want to work in my life how does he want to use me to bring honor to him rather than it's all about me really isn't all about me neither is it all about you it's really all about the Lord and Esther is learning that through this story she's realizing oh God put me here it's not just because I'm so pretty which she was but God put her here put her there for a specific purpose that he could use her to see the whole people of Israel saved they were going to be destroyed okay hmon who I called the tool of Satan wanted to wipe out all the Jews would that have affected us sure would have turn over to John CH 4 we're going to look at verse 22 just kind of picked this out of a conversation Jesus had with a Samaritan

Woman at a well and he's explaining to her the position of the Jews in the center of God's Focus says you worship what you do not know we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews our Salvation came through God's chosen people the Jews we now are grafted in so we also as Believers are God's chosen people not because we were born in America not because we were born somewhere else but because we have believed in Christ we have accepted his salvation and because of that we are now God's people and he wants to use us to bring honor to him just like 2500 years ago he wanted Esther to be his spokesman in this Pagan Kingdom she did okay the follow through from that now is on us so let's look at what we need to think what we need to believe and what we need to do as a result of this that's also known as head heart hand and we're going to go there okay with your head there's a fact here no that God thoroughly understands your individual personal situation whatever the ramifications are whatever the complications are God knows it you know Esther was in that same state and she's thinking if I go to the king I'm toast he might kill me God knew that and he had already worked out how that wasn't going to happen but Esther didn't know it she had to make the decision well I'm going to trust that God's doing something through this and I'll follow through we have to have that same understanding we have to know that God understands everything about our situation knowing that heart we have to believe there it is we need to believe that God wants to use me he wants to use you to bring honor to

Him you know that's we're taking that on faith I can't look at myself I can't look at anybody here and say Ah that's God's chosen spokesman his person for this hour I don't know that God knows that and he knows that within your circle you have an opportunity to be his spokesman to bring honor to him so you need to believe that God says it he all of us should be to the praise of his glory he wants to use you in your particular situation to be his spokesman to bring honor to him and as a result of knowing that fact that he understands your situation believing that he wants to use you in that situation here's what you do and that's the hand ask God to show you ways to lift him up in your situation not random you know well gee I'll pray more for the missionaries okay good do that but within your specific situation how does God want to use you as his spokesman to bring honor to him and then once he shows you that through the word that you are richly dwelling with ask him for the strength to follow through sometimes we know what we should do don't do it because it's uneasy we're not real confident that I can't do that well true but who gives us the strength it's the Lord because you're accomplishing his purpose purpose in your situation to lift him up so let's commit ourselves to doing that and I'd like to challenge you one step further if you take that brave leap and say okay Lord I understand what you want me to do and then do it share it with your community group it'll be a huge encouragement to those of us who are little I don't know about that the hearer well yeah I did that and look what God did so let him use you to be the influence within your situation but then also to share that with other

Believers to encourage them to also follow through so let's go to the Lord now and just seek his wisdom for us individually and then his Direction and his strength for us to follow through with what he shows us and we do thank you Father we thank you for your word we thank you for this story from long time ago and thank you that you can use that to give us encouragement and hope within our own situations so help us to know your heart through this story through your word and apply it in our own lives and allow you to change our thinking and then give us the wisdom to know how to apply it in our own situation and give us the courage to follow through and we thank you for that in advance Lord and trust that you will use us to further your kingdom within our small circle we thank you for that in Christ's name amen let's stand and sing together Come Thou of Every Blessing tune my heart to sing thy Grace streams of Mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some son it Su by flaming tongues above praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of th redeeming love I was lost in utter Darkness till you came and rescued me I was bound by all my sin when your love came and set me free now my soul can sing a new song now my heart has found a home now your grace is always with me and I'll never be alone Come Thou find Come Thou King Come Thou preious Prince of Peace here your bride to you we sing

Come Thou found of our blessing oh to Grace how great a de daily I'm constrained to be let thy goodness is like a fet bind my wondering Heart To Thee prone to wonder Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love Here's My Heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy Court of Come Thou found Come Thou King Come Thou preious Prince of Peace here your bride to you we sing Come Thou found of our blessing Come Thou found Oh Come Thou King Come Thou preious Prince of Peace hear your bride to you we sing Come Thou found of our [Music] blessing let's pray together dear Lord we thank you for who you are and what you've done we thank you for your word God we thank you for the opportunity that we have to come and worship you God we thank you for giving us these these accounts not just stories but accounts of your good work in the lives of your chosen people Lord that we can look on and have confidence in you because God you have always been faithful and so Lord as we leave this place I pray that you would help us to sing of your faithfulness to sing of the mighty work that you that you were doing thousands of years ago and that you're still doing today Lord I pray that you would help us to Proclaim our confidence that you are coming back again to redeem your people once and for all it's in Jesus name we pray amen

We also have a business meeting in just a couple of minutes so run to the bathroom you know get if there are any donuts I doubt there are donuts left but be back here for the business meeting very quick very short business