verse 15. We'll read through these three verses,
then we'll pray and get started. Esther sent
this reply to Mordecai, go and assemble all the
Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me.
Don't eat or drink for three days, day or night.
I and my female servants will also fast in the
same way. After that, I will go to the king.
even if it is against the law. If I perish, I
perish. So Mordecai went and did everything Esther
had ordered him. Let's pray. God, we thank you
for your word. It is good, dear Lord. You are
good to us. You give us the freedom to come here
today and to study your word, and I pray. that
your Holy Spirit would help us to grow in what
we see, that we can grow in this story, and that,
dear Lord, that there would be something in this
word that we need to hear tonight. I pray, God,
that you would help us to be free of the worries
and the stresses and the aggravations of this
world, and that in these few minutes, dear Lord,
your Holy Spirit would just speak through me
and to each one of us in this church. In Jesus'
name I pray it. Amen. Now we saw in our sermon
Sunday where Esther was called upon by Mordecai
to speak up for the Jewish people. The evil man
Haman, who the king had kind of put in charge
over everything, come up with this plan to kill
all the Jews. And Mordecai had sent the word
to Esther that she needed to speak up. And Esther
responded, look, I cannot go before the king.
No one is allowed to go in the king's presence
if the king has not summoned for them to come.
And she said, look, if I go into the king's presence,
if he does not extend his scepter, then I will
be killed. Then we see the famous response of
Mordecai where he says, look, you've got to go
because you have been placed here for such a
time as this. And this is Esther's response that
we see in these verses. Esther says, okay, I'll
do it. But before I go, I need to be prepared
to do it. This book never mentions God throughout
the book of Esther. And even here, prayer is
not mentioned. And you may say that I'm reading
too much into this text, and maybe I am, but
I don't think so. It is mentioned that they were
too fast. Before Esther was going to do this
thing that Mordecai had said you need to do this,
knowing that her life was in jeopardy, she said,
before I do it, I need you to get all the other
Jewish people together so that you can fast about
what's about to take place. And she said, I'm
going to do it too with all the servants and
people around me. We're all going to fast for
three days, day and night. Now, it doesn't say
that they're praying there, but I don't think
it's going too far for us to assume that that's
exactly what was taking place. We often see...
probably more times than not in Scripture, when
fasting is mentioned, that it involves praying,
prayer, and fasting. These are Jewish people.
These are people of God. When they fasted, almost
certainly, I would guess, more times than not,
they would pray, if not every time. And even
though God is not mentioned here and prayer is
not mentioned here, I believe that that's probably
what was taking place. is that Esther was telling
Mordecai and the Jewish people, y 'all need to
pray and fast and y 'all need to seek the Lord
because we're about to do this thing. I'm about
to do this thing. I'm going to have to go before
the king. It's a scary thing. My life is in jeopardy.
So we need all the help we can get. And so we
want to take this time to humble ourself before
God before we continue through with this plan.
Before I go and approach the king, I want to
make sure, we need to make sure that we are prepared
and that we are seeking God and that he is with
us in this endeavor. And so Esther listened to
what Mordecai said. He said, look, you've been
placed here. Perhaps you're here for such a time
as this. And she says, okay, I'll do it. She
says, but the law is the law and the law states.
That if I go before the king, I may die. But
what does she say? She says, but if I perish,
I perish. Now that's a beautiful example for
us to follow. Because there may be things that
God calls us to, areas for us to serve, that
may be inconvenient, that may put us in harm's
way, that may cost us our life. Now maybe that
kind of teaching is... It's not heard enough.
Maybe too much we say, oh, well, God only wants
to put us in good situations, and it's only going
to be good if we're serving the Lord. Maybe it
is, and God's going to be with us, and maybe
in that we experience God's grace and feel his
presence in another way, but it's not necessarily
always going to be good because sometimes doing
the Lord's work is not easy. It is dangerous.
We put ourselves in harm's way. There are brothers
and sisters in Christ around the world today
who are in prison because they've done right,
not because they've done wrong, not because God
was not with them, but because God was with them.
them and they and they would seek God and they
would feel that God said go and do this work
and they said God I'll do it and they are in
prison and they are praising God and they are
still seeking God because they are where God
wanted them to be doing the work that God wanted
them to do and sometimes when God puts us where
we are for our such a time as this moment it
might not be easy, and it may very well be dangerous,
but we need to say, God, I'm going to seek you,
and I'm going to be prepared. That's the first
thing we need to do. is we need to do what Esther
said. She wasn't just flying in here willy -nilly.
She wasn't going in blind. She didn't say, okay,
if this is what you want me to do, I'm going
to do it. She said, no, I want to make sure that
I'm prepared. I want to make sure that the Lord
is with me in this, and I know it doesn't say
that in the text, and maybe I'm reading too much
into it, but I believe that that's what was taking
place, that they humbled themselves before the
Lord, and she wanted to make sure that the Lord
was going to be with her before she went. and
approach the king. And that's what the decisions
that we make need to follow that same example.
That as we make decisions in our lives, as we
make decisions at a church, that we need to take
the time to pray and maybe even fast to say,
God, we are humbling ourselves before you. We
are seeking you. We need help with this decision.
We need help to know what to do. So God, let
me be bathed in prayer or bathe the situation
in prayer so that I'll be ready for whatever
is going to come next. And then we need to say,
but God, I'm going to do what your will is. And
if I perish, I... And so Mordecai and the other
Jews, the queen and the ones who were around
her, they prayed and they fasted for three days
and for three nights. And then Queen Esther had
to do what she was called to do by Mordecai.
And that was approach the presence of the king.
She had already told Mordecai, look, if I go
and he does not extend that scepter, that I'm
in big trouble. And so after all this had taken
place, Esther got all prettied up, looking good,
and she went near the entrance of where the king's
throne was, and the king saw her standing there.
And when he did, he extended his golden scepter
and asked her what she would like. God heard
those prayers. God was with her. God delivered
her. And God gave her the king's ear. And so
it is for us. There are things that we are called
to that are scary, that look dangerous to us,
and we're not sure how they're going to turn
out. And maybe they turn out good or maybe they
turn out bad. But I guess they really don't turn
out bad. If it's the Lord's will and it's for
the kingdom of God, it may be difficult, but
it will be good in the end. And Esther was willing
to stand up for the Lord and to stand up for
the Lord's people. But before she did anything,
she wanted to make sure that all the people were
together fasting. And I believe praying as well
that God would be with the situation. And he
was. And so it needs to be for us. That we need
to pray over all that we do. And our lives as
a church, that we don't make any decisions on
our own, but every decision we make is made by
us coming to God and seeking his will and letting
him lead us in what we need to do. Let's pray.
God, we come to you. We thank you for this beautiful
story. And there are so many things I believe
that we can learn from this story. And I pray,
God, that you would help us to be so bold as
Esther was. that we'd be willing to go where
you send us, even into the danger zones, even
into the tough situations, dear Lord, that we
would have the same resolve that Esther did,
that we would say, if I perish, I perish. God,
it would be better to perish doing your will
than to live in disobedience to it. So God, I
pray that you would help us to live by that truth
tonight. I pray, God, that you would help us
to seek you in every decision we make. Sometimes
we get the cart ahead of the horse, dear Lord.
We start making decisions and never ask you,
not one time. Never pray for your guidance, never
humble ourselves before you, never seek you.
And I pray that you forgive me for that. And
maybe there are others who struggle with that,
that you would help us not to do that, dear Lord,
that we would be those who would seek you. and
that we would pray to you and that we would listen
and that we would be able to clearly hear and
discern the ways that you lead and guide and
instruct us, dear Lord, that we would be ready
for the task before us, that with boldness and
bravery, dear Lord, that we would be like Esther
and prepare ourselves and go to do whatever it
is you've called us to. And I ask these things
in Jesus' name. Amen.