1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,480 When I go over that with my children, I always tell them, I said, you just remember the acronym 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:18,480 HOME. You remember HOME, you remember the faith, our statement of faith here at Stroud 3 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:34,400 and just remember HOME. Remember that word. And so that has helped me many times as well. 4 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:45,960 Let me put on my reading glasses here. I don't have my prescription glasses because I won't 5 00:00:45,960 --> 00:01:15,320 go into that story, but I'll put on these glasses. I'm going to read the scripture, pray in after 6 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:41,720 prayer. And I'm coming out of the English standard version. 7 00:01:45,320 --> 00:02:02,320 Then Esa called for Haythok, one of the King's Units, who had been appointed to attend her 8 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:12,640 and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. Haythok went 9 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:18,680 out to Mordecai in an open square of the city in front of the King's Gate. And Mordecai told him 10 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:27,000 all that had happened to him, the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay in the 11 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:35,080 King's Treasury for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written 12 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:45,240 decree issued in Susa for the destruction that he might show it to Esa and explain it to her 13 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:58,120 and command her to go to the King to beg for his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. 14 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:07,840 And Haythok went and told Esa what Mordecai had said. Then Esa spoke to Haythok and commanded 15 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:17,560 him to go to Mordecai and say, all the King's servants and the people of the King's province 16 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:24,240 know that if any man or woman goes to the King inside of the inter court without being called 17 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:33,880 there, it's but one law, to be put to death except the one to whom the King holds out the golden 18 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:44,320 separate. So that he may live, but as for me, I have not been called to come in to the King these 19 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:54,360 30 days. And they told Mordecai what Esa has said. Father, we come to you, Lord God, as Haman as we 20 00:03:54,360 --> 00:04:01,000 know how. We thank you, O Heavenly Father, for the breath of life. We thank you, O Heavenly Father, 21 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:11,640 Lord God, for yet another day. Lord, we just pray, Lord God, that Lord God, the words, O Heavenly 22 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:18,160 Father, of your mighty word, O Heavenly Father, will, Lord, seep into us, Lord God, and bring us 23 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:25,520 clearer understanding that it may apply, Lord God, to our daily living. Lord God, I pray, O Heavenly 24 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:31,400 Father, that everything in me, Lord God, subsides, O Heavenly Father, and that, Lord God, you will 25 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:36,520 have your way, O Heavenly Father, that I will decrease, O Heavenly Father, that you will increase, 26 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:41,640 Lord God, that your word will come forth, Lord God, boldly, Lord God, and plainly and simple, 27 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:46,440 Lord God, that your people, Lord God, may understand, Lord God, what you will have for them, Lord God. 28 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:51,880 I pray, O Heavenly Father, that you will give the glory, O Heavenly Father, and, Lord God, that your 29 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:57,120 people, Lord God, will be better off, O Heavenly Father, in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord God, I 30 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:06,280 give you the glory, the honor, and the praise in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. First, 31 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:13,240 give me the honor to Jesus, who is head of my life, and to the man of God who's over this house, 32 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:24,200 Pastor Bowden. Thank you for this opportunity. I thank you for being here on this morning. I thank 33 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:39,880 my family. I thank my children, who's always encouraging me, and I especially thank my wife, 34 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:48,080 who puts up with me and encourages me the most. This has been a very difficult week for me, 35 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:55,520 and especially for her. I haven't been feeling my best. It seems like that, I don't know, when 36 00:05:55,520 --> 00:06:05,480 God has a great work for you to do, it seems like you get challenged in many ways. I've been sick 37 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:14,120 in my body, and then I had different appointments, but my wife, she was at my side as I went to 38 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:20,120 Pensacola, and then this weekend I couldn't be here at the church cleanup because I had an appointment 39 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:29,560 all night Friday, and most of the all day Saturday. I had a sleep study, but so that left my wife 40 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:39,120 with the kids, and I know that she had to deal with everything on her own, but she did what she 41 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:52,360 had to do, and I just thank and praise God for her. But God in those times spoke with me, and in 42 00:06:52,360 --> 00:07:00,960 that time I had an opportunity to do what we're going to talk about when I'm asked to do. Many 43 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:07,400 times, you know, when God is dealing with you, what do you do? You, as Christians, we know, 44 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:15,880 one of the things, one of the things that God has given us is the two of us fast, and we set 45 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:21,840 aside some time where we retreat from some of the things that we would normally do, but we would 46 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:30,080 just fast and not do those things that we routinely do, and we would not eat, you know, some of the 47 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:36,160 things that we eat and not drink, some of the things that we, you know, not drink and what 48 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:43,360 have you, and so when people see you, they may see your glory, but they don't know your story. 49 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:48,760 They don't know what you're going through. They don't know how you feel. You may look radiant, 50 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:55,720 and you smile, and you may glisten, and, and, but they don't know that your body may be whacking 51 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:02,720 on the inside. They don't know the pains that you go through, and you don't have to say it to them, 52 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:11,000 because when you fast and when you pray, you don't have to tell people that, okay? You just go to 53 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:18,160 God in prayer, and when people have a spirit of discernment, many times they can pick it up, 54 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:27,480 and they just pray with you, and if they don't, oh well, you have God, and this too shall pass, 55 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:39,280 and if not, then guess what God says, my grace what? It's sufficient. And so we go to the story of 56 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:54,720 Esther, and we look here, we see that there is somewhat of a dilemma here, okay? We see that 57 00:08:54,720 --> 00:09:08,800 that the Jews are about to be annihilated, and so Mordecai has gone to the Queen to get help, 58 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:20,600 and Esther has said in so many words, I'm not going before the King, he has not summoned me, 59 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:28,240 and everybody knows what the rules are, you're asking me to go before the King, 60 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:38,440 and so you ask yourself what just happened, now we know the story of Esther, meaning let's know 61 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:50,840 the story of Esther, but for those of you out there, let's just try and go along with this, 62 00:09:50,840 --> 00:10:01,680 let's dissect this, what just happened, okay? So what's wrong with this? He asked for help, 63 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:17,280 the Jews are about to be annihilated, Esther is a Jew, okay? So let's take this back to see 64 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:31,760 how Esther got to be where she is, okay? She is the Queen, okay? And Mordecai asked her to do this, 65 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:49,200 how did Esther get to be Queen? So if we go back here, we look back in Esther, go back here to 66 00:10:49,200 --> 00:11:08,920 Esther chapter 1 verse 10, and you see the title is, Entering to God's Full Promise for Your Life, 67 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:18,240 so Esther here, and we're coming from the vein still, because this is the year of great stewardship, 68 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:29,120 right? And so Esther, at this moment, not realizing, you know, where her true role is, 69 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:55,760 okay? So we go back to chapter 1 verse 10, and it reads, so the King took his, 70 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:25,160 technology, chapter 1 verse 2, on the seventh day, when the heart of the King was married with wine, 71 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:40,760 he commanded Mahuman, Vista, Arbona, Vicka, Abakta, Zeta, Karkas, the seven eunuchs who served in 72 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:54,040 the presence of King Osiris, and in some Bibles, Xerxes, to bring King Boshdai before the King, 73 00:12:54,040 --> 00:13:02,600 King Vashdai before the King, with her royal crown, in order to show the people and the princes 74 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:11,080 her beauty, for she was lovely to look at, for King Vashdai refused to come at the King's command, 75 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:19,400 delivered by the eunuch at this King, at this the King became enraged and his anger burned within him. 76 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:26,680 Then the King said to the wise men who knew the time, but this was the King's procedure towards 77 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:33,080 who was versed the law of judgment, the men next to him. So I'm not going to read all that, 78 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:40,760 but what happened was the King was angry. So the Queen refused to come before the King, 79 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:46,520 and so what he did was he went to his boys, okay, there were seven of them, 80 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:59,400 and they said, hey King, the Queen, she just ditched you in front of everybody, okay. We can't let that 81 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:04,680 happen because if she did that in front of everybody, then all the other noble women, 82 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:09,400 they're going to get out of control and they're going to figure that they can do that also, 83 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:16,680 and if they do that, then we're going to have a problem here. So you need to handle this, 84 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:24,120 okay, and so then they said, what we need to do is we need to get rid of her, 85 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:31,000 okay, we need to show these ladies, now ladies, okay, this is back in the time now, all right. 86 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:39,400 Okay, so this is not now, but this is then, all right, okay, so go with it, all right. 87 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:46,040 So he said, they said, we need to handle this, let's nip this in the bud right now, 88 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:53,320 she needs to, okay, get rid of her. So the King got rid of our style, he said, 89 00:14:53,880 --> 00:15:00,760 from here on out, she would not come before me no longer, she would no longer wear the crown, 90 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:10,600 so guess what, Bashtar was no longer queen, and so when she was no longer queen, then he needed 91 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:18,600 another queen, and so then without reading everything, they want to have a big beauty contest. 92 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:28,760 One of the young men said, hey, okay, time passed, we need to get the King someone else, so let's 93 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:35,800 send out a royal decree, okay, through all the lands, okay, all the seven provinces, because you know, 94 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:45,960 the King, he had lands all the way from India, all the way over to Kush or Ethiopia, 95 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:51,240 some Bibles call it Kush, some Bibles call it Ethiopia, in a way from Africa, all the way over 96 00:15:51,240 --> 00:16:00,120 to India, okay, and let's bring all the versions over, okay, the prettiest, and let's, you know, 97 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:06,600 give them cosmetics, oh, they had cosmetics right then too, let's beautify them and everything, 98 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:13,560 and let's bring the fairest of the land, a big beauty contest, I mean, this was like, okay, so 99 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:21,000 they had Miss Persia then, okay, Miss Persia, Miss Meads, okay, like we got Miss America, Miss Universe, 100 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:26,280 that's what they had, that's what it was, okay, that's all it was, okay, and then what he was going 101 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:32,520 to do, he was going to crown the fairest of the land and crown her Miss Persia, Miss Persia was 102 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:46,520 going to become his wife, the Queen, okay, and so then therefore, there was a young lady, Hadassah, was her, was her Jewish name, okay, but you know, 103 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:53,400 the Jewish people, they had to take on a Persian name, okay, and her Persian name was Esther, okay, 104 00:16:53,400 --> 00:17:02,360 Queen Star, right, so Esther, she was very fair, fair to look at, the Bible even describes her, 105 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:11,400 it was a beautiful figure, nice to look at, Esther was nice, all right, that's what the Bible said now, 106 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:16,760 okay, all right, now you can read it for yourself, I'm not going to bore you with all the reading and 107 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:24,200 everything, but read it for yourself and read it in a different translation, Esther looked nice, okay, 108 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:34,200 and so Esther was chosen, that's how Esther was chosen, so God graced her with good look, okay, so now 109 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:41,880 that's how Esther came into being, so when she, so when she got there, Mordecai told her this, 110 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:50,600 okay, do not let them know your heritage that you are a Jew, now even back up before then, 111 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:57,960 how did, was Mordecai Esther's father, no Mordecai, he was her father, role, yes, he was her father, 112 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:05,000 okay, he adopted her, he was her father, Esther was an orphan, Esther, mother and father died, 113 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:13,880 Mordecai was her older cousin, and so he adopted her as his own, and so what I want to tie into this 114 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:24,840 is that in order for us to enter into God's full promise, there's a process, okay, there is a process, 115 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:38,760 like the process of truth, not the test, but the process of thinking. 116 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:45,640 It might be the whole process, but there are some things that no one knows about God. 117 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:52,680 It may not be the end. 118 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,160 It may just be the start. 119 00:18:55,160 --> 00:19:02,840 Maybe the secondary, the very, may not be the potential 120 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:04,760 of who you are. 121 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:06,040 OK? 122 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:09,200 So Esther may have thought, when she grew up, oh, 123 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:10,360 I'm an orphan. 124 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:10,920 OK? 125 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:15,200 And so she could have had a self-esteem issue. 126 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:17,280 Mordecai adopted her. 127 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:18,400 God gave her beauty. 128 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:19,840 She felt good about herself. 129 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:29,800 Oh, now she has picked them on all as to be maybe queen. 130 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,160 She wasn't the third runner up. 131 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,680 She wasn't the second runner up. 132 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,120 She wasn't the first runner up. 133 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:44,760 All different stages. 134 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:49,240 She was selected as queen. 135 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:50,760 OK? 136 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:57,840 And so once Esther was selected as queen, perhaps Esther, 137 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:02,760 perhaps at that time just for a fleeting moment, 138 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,840 maybe she thought, oh, I have arrived. 139 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,360 OK? 140 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:11,960 And so in thinking that she has arrived, 141 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,080 and here come Mordecai kind of upsetting things, 142 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:16,800 asking her to go for the king. 143 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:18,920 Wait a minute. 144 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,520 I am where I'm supposed to be, and now you want me 145 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:24,520 to go for the king? 146 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:25,960 OK? 147 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,280 And it may cost me my life. 148 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:35,160 Dear one, how many of you know that sometimes, 149 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,000 at some point in your life, that when God has given you 150 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,000 something or placed you someplace, that there's going 151 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:46,480 to come a point in your life that you will be challenged, 152 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:56,080 that you will be called to go and to give up something 153 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:01,000 to show your faith in God? 154 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:12,440 So, Esther, what was Esther thinking about? 155 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:18,760 So perhaps Esther thought that being queen was just it. 156 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:20,840 Just a thought. 157 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,160 Perhaps that was it. 158 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:28,080 Perhaps when you landed that position as supervisor, 159 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,480 you thought, hey, I'm here. 160 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:33,040 I'm the supervisor. 161 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:34,240 I'm married. 162 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,440 I got this house, the car that I want, 163 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,320 this picket fence, white picket fence. 164 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:40,880 Hey, I have arrived. 165 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,400 OK? 166 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:44,200 Here I am. 167 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,280 Nobody can touch me. 168 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:47,840 OK? 169 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,360 And so you are fat, dumb, and happy. 170 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:52,640 OK? 171 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:53,760 So to speak. 172 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:54,880 OK? 173 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:55,960 All right? 174 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,160 Not physically fat, dumb, and happy. 175 00:21:58,160 --> 00:21:58,480 OK? 176 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,440 But you know, all right? 177 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,880 But you're comfortable. 178 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:06,880 That's all I'm trying to say. 179 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:08,400 You're comfortable. 180 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:13,640 And so in your comfort, there are people around you 181 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:18,200 who may need help and assistance. 182 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,040 But because you're so comfortable 183 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:26,760 and you're good at what you're doing, you may not see that. 184 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,560 Here in striving, we are so blessed. 185 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:30,240 We've got people. 186 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:31,840 You know, we got people in the military. 187 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:32,880 We got doctors. 188 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:33,800 We got nurses. 189 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,160 We got lawyers. 190 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,560 We got people who are in high positions. 191 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,440 We've got people in just about every facet of life here. 192 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,000 And then we've got people who are struggling, who 193 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,840 are trying to get up there. 194 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:49,160 OK? 195 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:50,880 We've got you who are coming up. 196 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:52,240 You know, they're trying to get there. 197 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,520 But we have people who are older who are still 198 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,400 trying to get up there going to school at an older age 199 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,120 and trying to get up there. 200 00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:03,200 What are we doing to try to help others? 201 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:05,000 But then some of us were saying, I 202 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,960 don't know about that person because I see this person. 203 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,800 That person may not be the right person because guess what? 204 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,960 If they don't do well, then that's 205 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:15,080 going to look bad for me. 206 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:17,520 I'm not going to step out there, OK, 207 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:22,240 and make a sacrifice because I don't know, OK? 208 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,320 I don't know. 209 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,240 So here we go. 210 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:29,600 There we go, Esther. 211 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,920 You don't want to step out there. 212 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:36,120 You don't want to step out of your comfort zone 213 00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:39,800 because Esther fear death. 214 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,080 But then you fear that it's going to cost you maybe 215 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:44,840 your career or your figure. 216 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:46,520 It's going to cost you your name. 217 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:47,680 But what about God? 218 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:49,480 What does God say about you? 219 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,920 Do you know that you didn't get yourself there, 220 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:53,320 that God bought you there? 221 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,000 And if God bought you there, what is for you? 222 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,080 Is for you that God has placed you there 223 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,480 and that you don't get to say who is 224 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,760 going to be elevated or not? 225 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,200 You cannot take a safe space and say, oh, 226 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:11,960 I'll take this person and that person. 227 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:13,480 Oh, not that one and not that. 228 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:22,640 No, even the word says, let the wheat and the pear grow together. 229 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,040 And I'll do the separated. 230 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:31,960 Why would you try and judge when you cannot judge? 231 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,200 Only God can judge. 232 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,200 If people come to you for help, why not help? 233 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,720 And when I say help, I mean follow through. 234 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:46,040 You cannot say that you are helping people when you say, 235 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,000 oh, well here, do this, do this, do this, and then 236 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,320 don't even think about them. 237 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:51,080 You don't call them. 238 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:52,040 You don't follow through. 239 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:53,080 You don't do anything. 240 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,160 You're not helping. 241 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,840 Only thing you're doing is filling a square, filling a block, 242 00:24:58,840 --> 00:24:59,960 checking it. 243 00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:01,040 There you go. 244 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,200 I did mine. 245 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,600 But we know and God knows what God knows. 246 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,280 We don't know what God knows. 247 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,920 You have not done due diligence. 248 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,360 God has elevated you, but now you 249 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:18,200 don't want to take a chance. 250 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,040 But God is in the business of taking chances. 251 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:22,800 And guess what? 252 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:27,400 If God can do it for you, He wants us. 253 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,280 And see, this is the season of what? 254 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:32,760 Great what? 255 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:34,640 Great what? 256 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:39,400 Great stewardship in order to be a steward. 257 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:45,200 You don't own it. 258 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,760 God owns it. 259 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,800 You don't own your talent. 260 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,920 God gave it to you. 261 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:53,200 You didn't manufacture it. 262 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:54,280 God gave it to you. 263 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,640 And He doesn't want you to bury it. 264 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:08,200 He wants you to get out there and duplicate it, invest it. 265 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,800 And when you invest, OK, you might lose some. 266 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:12,520 OK? 267 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:13,480 But guess what? 268 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:20,080 You invest, you pray, and you rely on God to get the increase. 269 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,160 You don't worry about that. 270 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:26,680 And then here in the church, same thing. 271 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,760 Oh, we have so many things to do in the church. 272 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,520 In the church, outside the church, 273 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,720 people are sitting on their talents. 274 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:44,600 Because we think that the thing that we're doing, 275 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:45,440 we have arrived. 276 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:57,280 So we have Esther here at this particular place. 277 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:03,760 And she has told Mordecai in so many words. 278 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,360 No. 279 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:08,800 She has told him no. 280 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,880 So we know her background. 281 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:15,640 And we know that Esther has said no. 282 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:20,480 She said no for a particular reason. 283 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:25,360 Maybe Esther said no because Esther was in her conference 284 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:29,520 zone, we talked about her being in our conference zone. 285 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:35,680 Maybe she said no because she was in a position where she just 286 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:40,800 thought that she had arrived. 287 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:42,800 Maybe she said no because she was afraid. 288 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:51,800 And we do get in positions where we are afraid, right? 289 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:53,880 We do get afraid sometimes. 290 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:55,440 We do, we do, we do, we do. 291 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,880 But God did not give us what. 292 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,320 But He gave us what? 293 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:05,360 See, you can say it. 294 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:06,280 You can say it. 295 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,120 But do you believe it? 296 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:12,320 You have to believe it. 297 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:16,320 He gave us the power of love. 298 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:18,960 Love overcomes what? 299 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:20,120 It overcomes fear. 300 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:24,720 The opposite of fear is faith. 301 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:29,840 And so when fear comes over you and fear will come, 302 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:30,600 we're human. 303 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:32,960 We're going to be afraid sometimes. 304 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,560 OK, so there's nothing wrong about being afraid. 305 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,720 But you can't live in fear. 306 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,720 You can't live in fear. 307 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,720 You have got to apply faith. 308 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,880 And then when you apply faith, you will overcome fear. 309 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:51,600 You put it in God's hand. 310 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,200 God has given us a word. 311 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:04,600 You live by His word. 312 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:10,280 Iron shoppers, iron. 313 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,560 You're around your fellow Christians. 314 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:23,000 You hear the word and so you read the word. 315 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:24,320 You meditate on the word. 316 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,160 That word is in you. 317 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,440 You regurgitate the word. 318 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:31,920 You apply the word. 319 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,080 There comes your faith. 320 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,640 You have the word, isn't you? 321 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:42,960 Use it. 322 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:48,040 And so therefore Esther may have been afraid, 323 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,600 like many of us are. 324 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,640 Oh, but it gets better. 325 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:54,960 It gets better. 326 00:29:54,960 --> 00:30:04,680 So after this, let's go back to our original verse. 327 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:14,320 And let's go back to Esther 4 and see what Mordecai says. 328 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,560 But Mordecai has an answer for Esther. 329 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:33,600 Sometimes you have to say something to just remind people 330 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,680 or to just joke them back into reality. 331 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:39,000 OK. 332 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:45,960 And so when they told Mordecai what Esther said, 333 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:52,400 then Mordecai in verse 13 in the English Standard Version, 334 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:59,840 Mordecai said, he told them, he said, you tell Esther this. 335 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:03,320 He said, do not think to yourself 336 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,720 that in the King's palace you will escape more than all 337 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,640 the other Jews. 338 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,520 For if you keep silent at this time, 339 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:19,280 relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. 340 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:23,640 But you and your father's house will perish. 341 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:28,480 And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom 342 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:34,760 for such a time as this. 343 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,480 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 344 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:43,320 go get all the Jews to be found in Sousa 345 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,040 and hold a fast on my behalf. 346 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:52,840 And do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. 347 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:58,640 And I and my young women will also fast as you do. 348 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:03,520 Then I will go to the King, though it is against the law. 349 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,480 And if I perish, I perish. 350 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:11,320 Then Mordecai went away and did everything Esther had ordered 351 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:12,000 him. 352 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,240 I remember a song when I was a little kid, 353 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:15,800 and I didn't understand it back in the day 354 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:17,920 when my mother used to say this. 355 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:23,080 If I perish, let me perish. 356 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,440 Lord, I'm going to see the King. 357 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:28,360 I don't know if you guys ever heard that song, 358 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,840 but we used to sing that song all the time in church. 359 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,040 And I didn't understand what they were talking about. 360 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,200 But now I know. 361 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,800 Because sometimes you're going to be faced with adversity. 362 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:44,000 And you have to tell yourself sometimes, if I perish, 363 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,040 let me perish. 364 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,280 But I'm going to see the King. 365 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,160 I'm going through this adversity, whatever that adversity 366 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:54,520 may be. 367 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:59,560 You may have to do something that God has called you to do, 368 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:00,640 that you don't want to do. 369 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,520 It may make you uncomfortable. 370 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,800 But you've got to do it. 371 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,880 You've got to do it, and you have to do it in faith. 372 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:13,400 Like Esther said, when Mordecai said something to Esther, 373 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,400 just something that Esther, something just went through her spirit. 374 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:18,320 Esther knew exactly what to do. 375 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:24,520 This is one of two books in the Bible that don't even mention God. 376 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,360 But one author says God's fingerprint is all through it, 377 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:29,480 his thumbprint. 378 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:31,920 I say his ethos is all through it. 379 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,080 God's captives all through Esther, the way 380 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,240 God just works through the book of Esther. 381 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,240 Even though he's not mentioned, we know that God is behind the scene 382 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:46,560 just orchestrating everything in the book of Esther. 383 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:48,600 Esther just knew exactly what to do. 384 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:53,400 We know that Esther is a Jew, and we know that the Jews, the chosen 385 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,720 people of God, knew exactly what to do. 386 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,240 When he told Esther that, guess what Esther did? 387 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:03,040 Esther said, oh my God, let me go and fast. 388 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,840 She knew exactly what to do. 389 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:07,920 Esther fasted. 390 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,640 And I know she fasted, and she prayed. 391 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:16,920 And I know she fasted, and she prayed to the great God, the only great God I am. 392 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:26,040 She asked God to give her the strength and the courage, because guess what? 393 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:27,560 She lacked courage. 394 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:29,320 And that's what happens sometimes. 395 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:34,360 We don't have the courage to go through. 396 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:40,920 We lack courage sometimes to do the task at hand. 397 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,800 In a minute, we don't have the courage all the time. 398 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:47,200 Sometimes we are weak. 399 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:50,720 We want to do it, but we're just weak. 400 00:34:50,720 --> 00:34:56,720 And we have to pray and ask God for the courage and the strength to get through. 401 00:34:56,720 --> 00:35:00,200 And so Esther fasted. 402 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:06,120 And that's what we have to do, dear heart. 403 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,200 We have to go before God and fast. 404 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,640 And pray. 405 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:19,800 We have to seek the face of God, go before him, and say, God, I don't know what to do. 406 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,920 Give me directions. 407 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:23,320 Show me. 408 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:27,040 Give me the courage and the strength, the understanding. 409 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:28,040 Be with me. 410 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:29,040 Stand with me, God. 411 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:37,120 As I go through this. 412 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,000 And so Esther did this. 413 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,720 And she required her people to do it. 414 00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:42,720 She asked Mordecai to do it. 415 00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:44,440 And Mordecai did it. 416 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:50,120 And that was the answer that Mordecai wanted to hear. 417 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:54,240 And so as the story goes, Esther went before the king. 418 00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:57,800 She went before the king. 419 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:02,920 And in the background, Hamid had planned to destroy the Jews. 420 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:05,720 And he had already fixed the gallows. 421 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:08,000 And you know how the enemy is? 422 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,800 The enemy sets traps for us. 423 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:11,800 But guess what? 424 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:12,800 We have a great God. 425 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:14,800 He can turn things around. 426 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:18,040 The very traps of the enemy sets for us. 427 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:19,560 Guess what? 428 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:24,120 God will use it and turn it around. 429 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,480 Turn it around, turn it around. 430 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:29,720 Oh, Haman. 431 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:41,240 Haman was a man that was full of just evil and just hated Mordecai. 432 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:42,800 And not only Mordecai. 433 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:43,800 He couldn't get to Mordecai. 434 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:49,560 He wanted just to annihilate the, find out who Mordecai was, a Jew. 435 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,240 He wasn't satisfied just taking Mordecai's life. 436 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:55,560 He wanted to take all the Jews. 437 00:36:55,560 --> 00:37:01,720 And so he went to his wife and his wife said, well, hey, just get rid of him. 438 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:06,880 You know, okay, well, let's hang these, put these gallows up and we're just gonna, we're 439 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:07,880 gonna hang Mordecai. 440 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,240 Okay, we're gonna do that. 441 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:17,720 And so Esther went before the king and said, and the king, he held out his scepter. 442 00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:21,760 He put a hand on it and he called her forward. 443 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,560 What do you want, Esther? 444 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:28,040 I'll give it to you, whatever. 445 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,040 Even have a pecan. 446 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:34,440 And Esther said, she paused. 447 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:38,040 I want to throw a feast for you. 448 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:39,040 And Haman. 449 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:40,040 And she did. 450 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:41,040 She threw a feast. 451 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:48,200 Now Esther could have came right out and said, hey, Haman is doing this and blah, blah, 452 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,880 blah, blah, blah, but no God did not give her those instructions to do. 453 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:54,040 Because see, God had a plan. 454 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:58,680 And so he had that feast. 455 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:00,680 Had the feast. 456 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:02,000 Haman. 457 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:06,320 And then that night, the king was troubled. 458 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:08,840 And then when he was troubled, he had a dream. 459 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,440 He just couldn't rest. 460 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:17,840 And so he needed to be read to and they read him some chronicles and they read him the story 461 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:21,080 about the man who saved his life. 462 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:23,720 And who was this man that saved my life? 463 00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:27,160 He said, well, what did I do with this man? 464 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:28,160 I didn't do anything. 465 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,160 You did nothing for him. 466 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:34,440 And he said, well, I need to do something for him. 467 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:42,920 And so Haman, at the moment, he was coming to tell the king that he wanted Mordecai killed. 468 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:47,080 And so Haman was right at the door. 469 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:48,440 And he said, who's out there? 470 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:49,440 Haman is there. 471 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:53,400 And so he said, tell me to come in. 472 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:59,080 He said, what must I do for a man who was, and he gave accolades and blah, blah, blah. 473 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:00,760 And Haman so pompous and everything. 474 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:02,840 You can read it for yourself. 475 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:03,840 Okay. 476 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:04,840 So pompous. 477 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:08,080 I mean, you talking about conceited? 478 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,720 I mean, this man was into himself. 479 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:15,760 And so Haman thought, oh, he must be talking about me. 480 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:20,200 He said, well, I will put a crown on his head and give him a robe that you wore and ride 481 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:24,280 him on the horse and blah, blah, blah, blah, and let him be the second and command and 482 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:25,280 all that stuff like this. 483 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,120 And he said, okay, do it. 484 00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:29,120 So do this for Mordecai. 485 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:31,120 Haman went, Mordecai. 486 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:34,120 Well, what can he say? 487 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:35,120 That was the king's command. 488 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:36,800 He dared not talk back to the king. 489 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:39,120 Because this king had a temper. 490 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:40,120 Okay. 491 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:42,120 I mean, that's the story all into itself. 492 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:43,120 Okay. 493 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:44,120 That's probably why I asked him what's so scary. 494 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:48,120 Because this king, Xerxes, oh my God, temperamental. 495 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:49,120 Okay. 496 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:56,360 But anyway, so Haman goes out, okay, takes, you know, Mordecai, parades him around, put 497 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:57,920 the robe on and everything. 498 00:39:57,920 --> 00:39:58,920 Oh my God. 499 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:03,840 Then Haman goes to his wife and says, oh, the king has made Mordecai, you know, put 500 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:10,040 all this on on him and she said, oh my God, this is not fair well for you. 501 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:11,040 Okay. 502 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:15,800 And before Haman couldn't even think of anything, the unit tower, it came and got him. 503 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:20,200 It was time for the second feast because Esther had already went and asked for a second 504 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:21,200 feast. 505 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:22,200 Okay. 506 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:25,520 Because she had went before the king again and asked for, you know, because he had asked 507 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:27,280 what, Esther, what do you want? 508 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:28,280 Okay. 509 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,480 Before that, asked what he want and she said a second feast. 510 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:33,600 And so it was time for the second feast. 511 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,240 So Haman didn't have time. 512 00:40:35,240 --> 00:40:39,000 He did not have time to plot a plan to get away or to run or anything. 513 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,760 It was time for him to come in right now. 514 00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:47,840 They went and grabbed Haman, he came in and she, and he said, well, okay, what do you 515 00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:48,840 want? 516 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:50,840 I mean, he just loved Esther. 517 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:52,840 So I mean, she just barkled. 518 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,120 She batted them long eyelashes. 519 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:56,120 Beautiful. 520 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:57,120 Oh my goodness. 521 00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:59,480 I mean, he just give Esther anything. 522 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,640 That girl was just, oh, Esther. 523 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:02,640 Wow. 524 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,840 They said, girl, what do you want? 525 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:05,840 I'll give you anything. 526 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:06,840 What you want? 527 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:24,560 Esther said, Esther said, King, she said, there's a plot to kill me and my people. 528 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:29,680 She said, if it were just to sell us into slavery, she said, I can live with that. 529 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:36,000 She said, but the plan is to just annihilate us, to kill us. 530 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:41,640 And she said, if you can just help us, she said, he said, kill you. 531 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:44,320 Now, you know he loved us. 532 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:45,880 Kill my queen. 533 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:46,880 Who? 534 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:47,880 Who dare? 535 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:50,560 Gonna kill my queen? 536 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:51,560 Kill my lovely Esther? 537 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:54,560 I mean, that's all I get. 538 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:55,560 Esther? 539 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:56,560 Kill Esther? 540 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:00,560 Now, if you were to say the Jews and without Esther, he probably would have talked about 541 00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:06,560 Esther? 542 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:08,560 Kill my radiance star? 543 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:09,560 Oh, no. 544 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:11,560 Oh, who is going to kill Esther? 545 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:13,560 She said that wicked Haman. 546 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:22,440 Haman like, oh, the king let the Haman, he was so mad he could, he even stormed out. 547 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:26,040 He stormed out and Haman was just like, Haman just turned. 548 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:31,600 Haman went to Esther and was pleading for his life and he was pleading for his life, 549 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:33,120 but he was grabbing on Esther. 550 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:38,800 The king stepped back in and he was like, he said, and now you're trying to. 551 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:43,400 He thought, he thought Haman was trying to take advantage of Esther. 552 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,640 He said, how dare you even in my own household? 553 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:50,000 Now you're trying to, first you're trying to kill her. 554 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:54,400 Now you're trying to take advantage of her right here in the palace? 555 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:56,400 Oh my God. 556 00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:07,640 And the eunuch said, well, hey, Haman has already built gallows, you know, for Mordecai. 557 00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:10,400 The king said, oh, say no more. 558 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:14,720 He said, hang him there. 559 00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:17,200 You see how God turned this thing around? 560 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:23,160 The very thing that he wanted to do against the people of God, against the person of God, 561 00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:24,160 that's what God did. 562 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:29,600 He turned it around and did once, that's what God does for his people when your enemies 563 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:33,360 come at you and you go before God. 564 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:38,040 God would turn those things around and the thing that your enemies do towards you, God 565 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:42,440 would do it to them. 566 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:48,160 The gallows that Haman built for Mordecai, he hung upon. 567 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,440 The ditch that your enemies dig for you. 568 00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:55,120 That's what they are falling to. 569 00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:57,840 That's what kind of God that we serve. 570 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:06,480 All you have to do is trust in him, have faith in him, have the courage and to stand when 571 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:08,720 you can do nothing else. 572 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:16,120 Stand, guard yourself up, put on the helmet of salvation. 573 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:17,120 Yes. 574 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:25,720 The battle of truth, charge your feet with the preparation of peace, the sword of the 575 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:26,720 spirit. 576 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:27,720 Yes. 577 00:44:27,720 --> 00:44:28,720 Yes. 578 00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:33,240 Put on the whole armor of God. 579 00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:34,740 Yes. 580 00:44:34,740 --> 00:44:40,040 Go forth and allow God to fight you. 581 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:42,560 The battle is not yours. 582 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:49,240 God is only asking you to have faith in him, trust in the Lord. 583 00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:58,080 And Esther, wow, what Esther turned out to be, she thought that her promise, in the 584 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:13,400 first place, was a promise for your life. 585 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:23,360 She thought that her promise was queen, but she was a Christ like, she was a savior for 586 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:24,360 her people. 587 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:25,360 That's what her full promise was. 588 00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:26,360 Esther was a savior for her people. 589 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:27,360 She saved her people from annihilation. 590 00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:32,020 And yeah, Esther inherited the image she thought would be會 is even better, even though the 591 00:45:32,020 --> 00:45:35,080 edict was written and they could not overturn the edict, guess what God did. 592 00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:41,720 God made a better edict that the Jews could defend themselves and they went and annihilated 593 00:45:41,720 --> 00:45:47,080 their enemies, they annihilated their enemies so much so that their enemies, many of the 594 00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:48,800 people, they became Jews themselves. 595 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:55,120 And so that is a type ahead of salvation. 596 00:45:55,120 --> 00:46:00,120 Whereas people are converted and they become what? 597 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:02,680 Same, come into the church. 598 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:04,640 And that's what God wants us to do. 599 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:06,640 He wants us to go out. 600 00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:11,640 And he wants us to go out and to go out and evangelize 601 00:46:12,820 --> 00:46:17,820 and go out to get people to come in and to be saved. 602 00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:21,880 Salvation, that is the ultimate goal. 603 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:26,880 That's the ultimate goal of being a steward. 604 00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:32,240 It's for us to go out and to advance the kingdom of heaven 605 00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:35,360 here on earth. 606 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:41,800 That's what your servitude will do. 607 00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:48,160 It will allow people to see your action, your works. 608 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:52,960 They see it in you and people want to do, 609 00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:55,760 what must I do to be saved? 610 00:46:56,720 --> 00:47:01,720 Salvation, not only did she, was she a savior to the Jews, 611 00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:06,800 but they bought people in who wanted to be like the Jews 612 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:11,800 because Mordecai became very powerful, very powerful. 613 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:14,640 The second in command. 614 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:16,860 And they didn't want to upset Mordecai 615 00:47:16,860 --> 00:47:20,640 and people, they became some of them, a lot of them, 616 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,520 they became like the Jews. 617 00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:26,200 They adopted a lot of their customs 618 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:28,480 and they became like the Jews. 619 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:30,680 And so this is salvation. 620 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:34,840 When we look at it in the sense of the church, 621 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:39,840 what we're supposed to do, to go out, to go out, 622 00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:44,840 go out and to speak the word. 623 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:49,120 You don't have to be a pastor, you don't have to be a preacher. 624 00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:53,480 You can go out and speak the word. 625 00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:58,480 But more importantly, live it because people are not, 626 00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:03,160 they're not looking at or hearing a lot of times 627 00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:07,840 what you say, they're looking at what you do. 628 00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:12,840 Your actions carry more weight than your words. 629 00:48:13,420 --> 00:48:16,820 Because if you go out there and you say things 630 00:48:16,820 --> 00:48:19,020 and then people see you doing things 631 00:48:19,020 --> 00:48:22,700 that are contrary to what you say, 632 00:48:25,020 --> 00:48:28,660 then you are double-minded. 633 00:48:30,300 --> 00:48:33,820 And if you are double-minded, then you are what? 634 00:48:33,820 --> 00:48:38,820 Unstable and no one wants to follow anybody who's unstable. 635 00:48:39,940 --> 00:48:44,940 And so I challenge you to make your walk, 636 00:48:49,060 --> 00:48:50,780 follow your talk. 637 00:48:51,980 --> 00:48:56,980 Make sure that when you go out and profess Jesus as Lord, 638 00:48:56,980 --> 00:49:01,980 that you have the walk to follow that talk, so that you do not 639 00:49:05,700 --> 00:49:09,780 bring shame among to the body of Christ, 640 00:49:10,980 --> 00:49:15,980 because we don't want to give the Holy Spirit a black eye. 641 00:49:16,740 --> 00:49:20,760 We don't want people to look dimly on God. 642 00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:24,860 Ensure that when you look at this 643 00:49:24,860 --> 00:49:27,020 and when you look at the promise, 644 00:49:27,020 --> 00:49:30,180 entering into God's promise for your life, 645 00:49:30,180 --> 00:49:32,380 make sure it is the full promise. 646 00:49:33,260 --> 00:49:38,260 Make sure that you're not just at a sub promise. 647 00:49:45,260 --> 00:49:46,760 It's the full promise. 648 00:49:51,380 --> 00:49:52,500 Make your eyes closed. 649 00:49:52,500 --> 00:49:53,340 Thank you. 650 00:49:53,340 --> 00:50:22,340 Thank you.