9:30 AM - "Who Knows" Esther 4:14 - 3-14-21

[Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so so so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] good morning you all changed your clocks i see or maybe you came came to first service and here you are we're glad you got here either way would you stand as we worship and welcome those of you who are joining online good afternoon good evening wherever you are as we gather together to worship the lord this morning let's pray god we come into your house um we want our hearts and minds to be focused on you god be the receiver of our worship the only one worthy of worship and praise this morning i we pray that you're the focus as we lift your name up be blessed as you hear us sing amen let's sing [Music] he is almighty god greater than all we see greater than all we ask he has done great things race to life our god is able in his name we overcome for the lord our god god is with us god is [Music] he has done great things [Music] grace [Applause] [Music] god is with us he will go he will never leave [Music] race to our life [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is we want to teach you guys the new song please sing along once you catch on see him king of heaven son of [Music] shoulders carried for us carried for us [Music] father forgive them spoken for us spoken for us when he said it [Music] just is [Music] breaks forever [Music] then he rose [Music] [Music] oh the war has now been god reigns forever [Music] is [Music] [Music] everyday [Music] is [Music] is [Music] every knee [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] he is [Music] amen he's so worthy of our worship we're going to continue to sing to him this morning but we're also going to take a moment to dedicate our tithes and offerings to the lord if you brought a tither offering please drop it in the back before or after service if you would like to give online there's several ways below that you can give on the screen let's continue to sing [Music] recreation suddenly articulate with a thousand tongues to lift one cry then from north to south and east to west we'd hear christ be magnified were the whole earth echoing his eminence his name would burst from sea and sky [Music] we'd hear christ be magnified [Music] oh christ be magnified let his praise arise christ be magnified oh christ be magnified from the altar of my life christ be magnified [Music] when every creature finds its inmost melody [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] christ be magnified [Music] magnified [Music] i'll stand strong and worship and if it puts me in the fire i'll rejoice cause you're there too i won't be formed by feelings i'll hold and if fast cross brings transformation i'll be crucified with you because death is just a doorway into resurrection and if i join you in your sufferings then i'll join you when you rise when you return [Music] magnify [Music] christ [Applause] of my life [Music] all christ be magnified [Music] oh jesus that's our prayer that you would be magnified in us lord that you would increase that we would decrease [Music] lord we would declare that we are crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ lives in me oh jesus would you shine through us in all that we do would you live through us would you love through us would you proclaim your goodness and your greatness and the truth of your gospel to the world through us we pray we worship you this morning lord amen would you say hello to a few people this morning before you're seated if you're with us in person if you're with us online say hello to some people online this morning hey cco bernadette here with this week's announcements are you new to calvary chapel we want to invite you to come to our new member lunch meet and greet on sunday march 28th at 1pm we will provide a boxed lunch that will be compliant with current covered restrictions you will have an opportunity to hear about the history and vision of our church and meet some of the pastors elders and ministry staff we will be happy to answer any questions that you may have about the church or how you can get plugged in to register go to our website at calvaryoxnard.org or the church center app ladies we have another four week session for connect groups starting on march 25th we'll be going through the she reads truth bible study on the book of ecclesiastes where solomon beautifully details our struggles under the sun and ultimately discovers the purpose of life in the character of god the group will meet on thursdays from 5 to 6 30 pm in the family building check-in area sign up on our website soon as space will be limited please note that masks will be required on friday april 2nd we are joining with six other oxnard churches this year for our good friday service the service will be hosted here at calvary oxnard from 12 to 1 pm and masks will be required lastly mark your calendar on resurrection sunday april 4th we will have two family services we will have an 8 30 indoor service and a 10 30 outdoor service with an indoor option bring your own chair for second service and in the event of rain we will have three regular services there will also be no sunrise service well that's all our announcements for this week be blessed as you go about living in god's grace good morning turn your bibles please to the book of esther chapter three so we got some good news uh it looks like on wednesday of this week we're going to be back in the red tier they're going to announce it on tuesday and then it starts on wednesday and so that means some more businesses will be opening up and hopefully we can get back to the gym yes looking forward to that uh i i want to do an unofficial poll this morning uh our you know our elders are constantly before the lord seeking him for direction on how we conduct our services but at the same time uh we use information to inform that decision as we seek him and so i i'd like to do an unofficial poll this morning i'm going to ask two questions first um how many of you don't don't raise your hands yet i'm going to give you the questions first okay the first question is how many of you are ready to just do away with the masks when you come to church on something no i said don't raise your hands yet i said don't don't use anything how many of you are ready now uh when you come to service whether whatever service it is to do away with the masks and the second question is how many of you say no i want to keep the mask on i i believe we should we should keep i will keep the mask on so first question how many of you are ready to do away with a mask raise your hands okay i just counted all of you all right good how many of you say no i want to keep the mask on raise your hand raise your hand okay we're not going to make this decision based on majority vote just to let you know again we're going to make this decision and and how you want us to make this decision we're going to seek the lord and the elders are going to seek the lord and we're going to take counsel together and discern god's heart and that's how we're going to make the decision and i would ask that you would trust us that we're following the lord's direction as we do this but at the same time we do want to be sensitive to where the body is in this okay and so that's that's what we'll do please pray for the leadership of your church that god would direct us and guide us we want to walk wisely in these very difficult days amen all right hey looking forward to resurrection sunday we are going to have a glorious time and remembering the meaning of the resurrection the difference that it makes in our lives uh this morning we're gonna we're here in the book of esther let's stand as we read from chapter three uh beginning with verse 12 through the end of the chapter then the king scribes were called on the 13th day of the first month and a decree was written according to all that haman commanded to the king satraps to the governors who were over each province to the officials of all people to every province according to its script to every people in their language in the name of king of hazarus it was written and sealed with the king's signet ring and the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces to destroy to kill and to annihilate all the jews both young and old little children and women in one day on the 13th day of the 12th month which is in the month of adar and to plunder their possessions a copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province being published for all people that they should be ready for that day the couriers went out hastened by the king's command and the decree was proclaimed in shushan the citadel and so the king and haman sat down to drink but the city of shushan was perplexed lord we pray this morning that as we look now at the story of esther and we realized the challenge that was set before her by her cousin that we would realize the same challenge is presented to us oh lord speak to us that we might be found faithful in your name we pray amen go and have a seat stay right in that text that's where we're going to pick it up but here's where i want to begin this morning once before time all that existed was the vast quantum field a limitless dimension of potentiality a disturbance in the field kind of like a burp caused a ripple that produced an infinitesimal subatomic particle the energy of which acted on the field to create more ripples and more waves that produced many more subatomic particles now all of this happened so fast in such a small space that it reached critical mass and it exploded in a huge explosion the big bang matter was flung out across the rapidly expanding universe a new force began to act on this expanding matter and mass one of attraction between these particles known as gravity and it began to gather together in gaseous clouds that condensed to form galaxies and stars and planets now one of these planets just happened to be circling a yellow dwarf star at just the right distance that something unusual happened it allowed the emergence of life though statistically impossible the laws of probability against it life began it happened like this as the planet cooled it formed oceans and continents and on the continents mountains formed now rain fell on the mountains and at night it froze expanding causing the stone to crack and as it continued to crack over a long period of time rocks formed one of these rocks tumbled down the hillside banged into other rocks that had been caused by this process over a very long period of time and as the rocks banged against each other eventually one of them was in the form of a of a little well it looked like a little key was kind of square and more banging caused a symbol to be etched onto the front of it uh very much in the shape of a five and and it looks suspiciously like a a key from a keyboard a more banging of rocks together produced more buttons and and a frame for the buttons to fit in and eventually there was a a bunch of buttons in a in a board with other symbols on them some number symbols some math symbols more banging caused this keyboard to connect to a base that had a circuit board in it and vala a calculator absurd of course it is yet the complexity of a calculator comes nowhere close to that of a jellyfish or a dandelion let alone a human being no one believes that this calculator came about from the scenario that i just presented no one believes that the engineering of a calculator requires a engineer a designer that which is made by virtue of its existence requires a maker and yet the secular materialism that rules the public square today that is the belief that all that exists is the physical universe that says that everything came from nothing complex life is the result of nothing more than random chemical reactions over a very long time you see the materialist claims that given enough time anything is possible and so life simply happened what we call life is really nothing more than just a bunch of chemical reactions that are self-propagating and the idea that they have is well listen given enough time it'll happen now here's the problem physicists and cosmologists have realized that no matter how much time you give it would never result in the creation of life our universe is supposed to be billions of years old and they say that is not nearly enough time to produce life have you ever guys ever heard of the multiverse that's where the multiverse comes from as physicists and cosmologists say there's no way that our universe is old enough to produce complex life as we see it today there must be an infinite number of universes and certainly in an infinite number of universes that are billions of years old in at least one of them life would have arisen and guess what we happen to be in that universe the problem is time does nothing time is just a scenario of events it doesn't do anything put a dozen chimpanzees at typewriters and they will never produce a shakespeare play no matter how much time you give them now friends even the famous evolutionist charles darwin recognized the problems of the materialist view on the origin of life he said that there was no way that evolution could really account for the development of the eye nevertheless he said it must have happened here's what he said that the whole idea that the i had arisen by chance was to use his word absurd and that it gave him a cold shudder but it must have happened because well they're our eyes the only reason that darwin said it happened by chance is because he refused to accept the existence of a creator no one is so blind as he who will not see you may wonder why i start a message on the story of esther here because there are there's only one of two possible options either god does exist or he doesn't exist wherever you land on that one thing has huge consequences it's the most important thought that you have because it drives every other thought and the choices that our thoughts propel the existence of god specifically the god of the bible is the main idea that shapes the story before us today now verse 14 of chapter four is our goal but it requires some context the setting for our story is the winter palace of the persian empire at the height of its glory and the persian ruler at this time is a man by the name of xerxes that's how history knows him that's his greek name uh if you saw the movie 300 that's supposed to be xerxes but trust me the real xerxes was nothing like the guy in the movie 300 not even close his hebrew name is a hazaris and that's how he's referred to here in the book of esther a hazarist needed a new queen and so they held a persian version of the bachelor they picked a jewish beauty by the name of esther who kept her identity as a jew secret esther was raised by her older cousin mordecai who was an official in the persian court now like every great story there is a villain that we're introduced to in chapter three his name is haman king of hazardous promoted him to be second in the persian empire second only to him and commanded that everybody bow before him when all did mordecai the one who raised esther he refused to bow for reasons they'll go back hundreds of years to their ancestors haman's ancestors and his ancestors that's a story we don't have time to get into tonight you can listen to the study from last wednesday night for why there's animosity between these two men but enraged at mordecai's insolence at refusing to bow to him haman decided to not go after just mordecai but all his people all the jews of the persian empire and he manipulated the king into signing a decree calling for a holocaust to annihilate all jews in the empire the date was set for that holocaust at 11 months out just under a year out now mordecai suspected that isolated in the palace esther didn't know about the decree so he sent a message asking her to help and her response is what do you expect me to do i mean yes i'm the queen but how am i supposed to help in this challenge he told her that she had to go before the king and intercede on behalf of her people and therein lies the problem let's pick it up at verse 11 of chapter four esther says all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king who has not been called well he has but one law put all to death except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live yet i myself have not been called to go into the king these 30 days it's interesting that that rule of the persian court is actually recorded for us by the greek historian herodotus this was a well-known rule of the persian empire no one was allowed into the inner court where the royal throne was unless they were summoned by the king now if you wanted an audience with a king there was a process you had to file a request and that was submitted to a bureaucracy and it could take months to get approval to come before the king now the jews don't have months to wait if someone wanted an audience they might go in unbidden but that was considered a presumption on the king that was punishable by death unless on a whim the king decided to show mercy and he would do so by extending his scepter towards the person showing that yes you can approach me now that rule applied even to the queen esther had little hope of an audience with a hazaris because he hadn't called for her in a month his initial fascination with her that had made her queen it's dimmed now over time and he's finding comfort if you will in his harem verse 12 and so they told mordecai esther's words this entire exchange that's taking place between mordecai and esther is going on through intermediaries through messengers that are going back and forth verse 13 and mordecai told them to esther to answer esther do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other jews while esther had kept her jewishness a secret from a hazaris some of the palace staff knew once the pogrom began once the killings started she would most likely be outed by someone there in the palace maybe by one of those jealous women in the harem that was jealous of of her position as queen verse 14 for if you remain completely silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the jews from another place but you and your father's house will perish mordecai knew that god had promised to preserve his people though haman's conspiracy would surely see the death of many thousands of jews god would preserve himself a remnant but esther well she was in the best position to help her people dangerous times demand daring action mordecai wanted esther to rise to the occasion and so he spoke those fate bending words around which the entire story of esther is written look at the last part of verse 14 he says yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this you know those words have been quoted many times since mordecai first spoke them when he did first speak them he meant them as a supposition as a possibility who knows he says maybe this is why you are queen maybe this is why god made you beautiful esther so that you would be one of the young women that was selected by that beauty for that beauty pageant to find a new queen who knows maybe this is why the previous queen vashti was deposed maybe this is why a thought arose in her her mind when when a hazara summoned her to come so that he could parade her before his nobles maybe this is where that thought came from to refuse him to refuse the summons maybe this is why esther your parents died so that your cousin mordecai would raise you and would form a connection with you so that this decree could be discovered by you so that you could do something about it who knows maybe maybe a hazardous hasn't called you for an entire month so that when you come in before him and he sees you he realizes oh no it's been a month since i've seen this babe i need to spend some time with her and so he will extend his scepter to you who knows maybe god really is in control and the best thing to do is to step out and to trust him and friends this brings us back to where we started today either god exists or he doesn't if he doesn't the universe is a meaningless collection of atoms and endless chemical reactions what we call life is nothing but a collection of randomness so there's no real right and wrong there is no good and evil there's no purpose there's no meaning there's no goal we are insignificant meat sacks on a little ball of mud circling a sphere of burning gas in an empty universe there is no god but if god does exist then the universe and you are here for a reason there is meaning purpose and a goal you're not the result of atoms banging against each other in an otherwise empty universe you are a human being created in the image of god so that you could enjoy an eternal intimate relationship with your creator history isn't a meaningless sequence of events with neither origin nor end history is his story one in which you and i are called to have a part please hear me you do not live here and now by chance despite what a parent or a sibling may have told you years ago when you were young you are not a mistake you're not you have a divine assignment you have been created by god who is all about intention and meaning and purpose because god is god his will will ultimately be done everything is going to come to pass just as god has decreed the question is will we follow the course that and the plan that he has set for us will we do what we're here to do your life your story is no less the path that god set for you than that which he set for esther you've been called to the kingdom of god for this moment for now for here and your entire life has been preparation for this moment all of it the good and the bad the pleasure and the pain the joy and the sorrow all of it has been a part of god's grooming of you to bring you to this moment as you are growing in the grace and the truth of god so that you could fulfill your calling your unique calling and role in the plan of god now listen god's plan is going to be done his will is going to be accomplished amen it's going to be done the question is will each of us will you and i fulfill the purpose and intention that he has for us you can either resist it or you can go with the flow this is why romans 8 28 is so important to us as you look back over your life if you know what you can say with me god is able to make all things work together for what good for those who are the called according to his purpose all things god is able to take even the evil the bad the sorrow the grief of your past and turn it to good that doesn't make what happened to you good it means he can turn it to good we're not putting you know we're not rewriting something here we're not saying that the evil that happened to you was was caused by god or that it was his will god never wills evil he never wills sin but god is god he's able to take what the enemy means for destruction and turn it to good because he is a good god the proof of that is the cross the greatest evil ever in all of creation the greatest evil when we took god come as man and hung him on a cross to do away with him the greatest evil the greatest crime god has turned into the ground of the greatest good our salvation if god can work the cross you must know that he can take the hard things of your past and turn them to good don't let your past sit in the hands of satan as a child of god you take it out of his hands and you put it in the hands of god and you say god redeem this and make me today what i need to be that i can fulfill my calling and my role so here we are as history moves to its grand climax the battle between good and evil is rapidly heating up the spirit of antichrist is moving and end times haman that is casting his shadow across the world threatening a final holocaust and this is the moment that god has called us to live who knows but that this was the reason that we live now here who knows well i propose now you know that this is the moment that god has called you to live this is the place that god has called you to live and all that hinders us is what what stalled esther fear fear one of the greatest disasters of history took place in 1271. nicolo and mateo polo the father and the uncle of marco polo visited the kublicon the ruler of china in the far east the khan was attracted to the story of christ and he said to the polos go to your pope and tell them on my behalf to send me a hundred men skilled in your religion and i shall be baptized and when i'm baptized all of my nobles and great men will be baptized and their subjects will receive baptism too so there will be more christians here than in your lands the polls returned to europe with the khan's message but nothing was done because of fear no one went for the next three decades then finally marco and three priests set out for china did you know that but the priests turned around and went home when the journey became difficult and polo went on by himself think what a difference would have been made in the 13th century if those priests had continued on or the hundred priests that kublai khan had asked for had made that journey and covered china and the far east with the gospel of jesus christ friend don't give in to fear step out in faith trusting in the god who didn't just create you he created you here and now now you want just to find out what happened with esther come back wednesday night and we'll see what happened to her as she takes this challenge from her cousin mordecai and goes in before the king what will happen come back wednesday and let's find out let's pray lord i ask that you would give each of us the grace to receive the message the lesson today i asked lord that you would banish the lies that are so accepted in our time and place our culture in this moment that we're just here by mistake that we come from nothing and go to nothing but in in between we find infinite meaning and purpose lord deliver us from that lie and realize that even before the universe existed we were already in your mind and heart and that everything is proceeding just as you have ordained and while the enemy works to hijack your plan he can't because you are faithful lord find us faithful speak to each of us about our calling about our role about the part that you want us to play in your great story and give us the faith and the trust to step into the story that you are writing for us oh lord when you come find us faithful we pray this in your name let's all stand and worship him you are here moving in our midst i worship you i worship you you are here working in this place you are here moving in worship you are here or moving in this place light in the darkness my god that is who you are [Music] light in the darkness my god that is who you are you are here touching every heart you are here [Music] healing every heart [Music] you are here mending every heart [Music] my god that is who you are you [Music] light in the darkness my god that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are that is who you [Music] when i are see it you're working and even when i don't feel it you're working never stop you never stop working never stop never stop working even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel it you're working never stop never stop working never stop never stop working never stop never stop working never stop never stop again that is escape light in the darkness my god that is who you are that is who you are that is who you [Music] are all creatures [Music] lift up your voice and with us him hallelujah [Music] oh praise him hallelujah [Music] oh [Music] rejoice [Music] oh hallelujah [Music] their creator bless praise praise the father praise the son [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah oh hallelujah [Music] of princess king of all he descended from his throne into the world the son of god was born in my frame he bore the cross [Music] to despise the shame clothed in sin [Music] his robe was stained and by his blood [Music] now i am free now i am safe oh my jesus paid the highest price the lamb of god was my love he deserves my life for [Music] of jesus prince of heaven king of all he descended from his throne into the world the son of god [Music] his rope was stained [Music] now i am safe foreign oh he deserves my love he deserves jesus and there's no greater sacrifice [Music] i surrender [Music] there's no greater sacrifice lord i'm laying down in my life [Music] [Music] held its breath and creation mourned his death but then jesus rose and now that he lives i am alive thank you lord all of men held its breath and creation warned his death but then jesus rose and now that he lives [Music] and he deserves my love [Music] god you have paid the highest price to buy us back for yourself god so we pray that we would be the living sacrifices that you have called us to be that we'd be filled by your spirit and empowered by you to live the lives that you have called us to live god let us be bold in that challenge let us be bold and the fact that we know that we have a maker that made us and knows us and loves us and has a plan and a purpose we don't just want to sit back and watch our lives go by we want to be a part of what you're doing and what you're calling us to do so jesus i pray you'd fill this place with bold people of faith that would follow you and we pray this and ask this in your perfect name that no we know that will empower us in the name of jesus amen amen if you would like prayer for boldness please come forward we'd love to pray with you if you'd like to pray and you are online please email us and we will see you next sunday

Channel: Calvary Chapel Oxnard

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Length: 72min 45sec (4365 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 14 2021