Dr Carlton P Byrd, For Such A Time As This

[Music] is [Applause] i want to invite you to take your bibles and go with me to the gym esther and we're going to the book of esther and we're going to esther chapter 4 verse number 13 esther chapter 4 verse number 13 verse number 14 esther chapter 4 verses 13 and 14 just two verses of scripture we're going to read them now and i will read it in your hearing the word of god says then mordecai command it to answer esther think not with thyself the thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the jews verse 14. for thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the jews from another place but thou in thy father's house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this and that's what we'll tag this sermon today for such a time as this we're praying god we thank you we're grateful for the music that has inspired us today and the reminder that we must praise you for your grace and your mercy we thank you for the conversation we've had today with our special guest we thank you for all that has been said and done our worship and giving our worship in prayer but lord we need a word from you right now speak speak to your people speak to the computer airways speak through the internet speak through smartphones speak through the television broadcast may your people not see me but see thee living and working through me forgive me my sins and lord as we always say when we get to the appeal when we get to the pill just lord show up and show out show up and show out and prick someone's heart today they might surrender and give their life to you not i but christ be seen be felt be heard we praise you and we thank you begging for forgiveness of sin it's in jesus name we pray amen and amen for such a time as this many people read the bible and when they read the bible they read the stories of amazing men noah and moses abraham and isaac jacob and joseph elijah and elisha david and solomon peter james and john the apostle paul and jesus the christ himself but today let me be clear that the bible also has lots of stories of incredible women too i wish i had a witness in this place strong and brave women who led armies and challenged kings prophetic women who heard and obeyed the voice of god wise women who made difficult decisions and led the people back to god loyal women who stayed faithful to god even when their situations seemed perilous women who did the right thing no matter what anyone else did but changed the course of history forever and so on this sabbath let me begin by saying don't forget the women don't think that we made it where we are as men as a church as a community as a people without women show me a franklin delano roosevelt's and i'll show you and and eleanor roosevelt's show me a bill clinton and i'll show you a hillary clinton show me a warn christopher and i'll show you a madeleine albrights show me a john roberts and i'll show you a sonia sotomayor show me a chuck schumer and i'll show you an elizabeth warren show me a jeff bezos and i'll show you a mackenzie scott show me a ted wilson and i'll show you a sandra roberts show me a john bradshaw and i'll show you an elizabeth talbot and it's not just our cousins but we've got some strong black women too show me a barack obama and i'll show you a michelle obama show me a colon pow and i'll show you a kamala harris show me a martin luther king and i'll show you a harriet tubman show me a hakeem jeffries and i'll show you a sheila jackson lee show me a steven reed and i'll show you a keisa lance bottoms show me a raphael warnock and i'll show you a stacey abrams show me a robert smith and i'll show you an oprah winfrey show me a tyler perry and i'll show you a shonda rhimes show me a billy d williams and i'll show you a cicely tyson show me a lester holt and i'll show you a joy read show me a lebron james and i'll show you a candace parker show me and alex bryant and i'll show you a brenda bilingi show me a seth bardou and i'll show you a sony a moxie creighton show me a van dion griffin and i'll show you a kimberly man show me a leslie pollard and i'll show you a prudent spoiler show me a carlton bird and i'll show you a danielle bird don't get it twisted women are more than just child bearers child nurturers food preparers or homemakers women are leaders preachers teachers presidents professors doctors dentists accountants attorneys judges pharmacists senators congresswomen mayors mothers and wives all wrapped up in one in my profession we've got a lot of people who want to limit the calling and anointing on women but if god has called them to preach let them preach if god has called them to pasture let them pasture joel 2 28 says and it shall come to pass afterward that i will pour out all my spirit on all flesh not some flesh but all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions praise god for women i said praise god for women today because women play a vital role in scripture as well all throughout history god has placed women in specific places for such a time as this one example of this is esther queen esther now it's interesting my friends that out of all the 66 books in the bible only two esther and ruth are named after women but somebody knows it's not always about the quantity it's about the quality i wish i had somebody in this place so while there are only two books named after women in the bible women are all throughout the bible i want to be clear with any biblical misogynist out there that just because only two biblical books are named after women doesn't mean that women are to be less than or inferior to men because in the bible there are two books esther and song of solomon that never mention the name of god in them but that doesn't mean that god is less than or inferior just because the name of god is not mentioned in esther or song of solomon nor does it mean that god is not all throughout these books because if you read the book of esther carefully in the book of esther any reader with some level of discernment comprehension and understanding recognizes that god is the main character in this book in fact in the book of esther god is putting himself on display even though he is a name read esther yes the book tells esther's story but the book is about god god's awesome power god's miraculous movements god's mind-blowing mercy god's divine deliverance god's astounding actions don't get it twisted today the book of esther is about god but to understand this book about god you have to first understand the context surrounding esther's story as lovers of prophecy a prophetic church we are you will remember the great image king nebuchadnezzar saw in daniel chapter 2. the head was a gold the breasts and arms were silver the belly and thighs were a brass the legs were of iron and the feet were a mix of iron and clay each metal you will remember represented a different kingdom that would rule the world at a specific time the head of gold represented babylon the breasts and arms of silver represented medal persia the belly and thighs represented greece the leg of iron represented rome and the feet of iron and clay represented the ten divided kingdoms of the earth the interpretation you will remember was that the world would be globally dominated first by babylon then by medo-persia then by greece then by rome and then by the remaining ten divided kingdoms the context of the book of esther begins during the time of dominance by media persia mito persia had conquered babylon in roughly 538 bc and they settled into domination of a world for a little over 200 years before they were replaced by the greeks who later were replaced remember by the romans now initially the medo persians under king darius had conquered greece back in 550 bc but later darius's armies were defeated by greece at the famous battle of marathon in 490 bc mad that he and his armies were defeated by the greeks history says that darius was determined to get back at his greek enemies so what does he do he's going to go back and make the greeks pay for winning the battle at marathon that famous battle where a man ran 26 miles which is where we get the distance of modern day marathons i wish somebody would appreciate that history today hallelujah darius wants to get back at the greeks but before he's able to get back at the greeks history says he dies and so his son xerxes takes over xerxes trying to finish what his daddy started gets 250 000 persians together to fight they reach athens in greece but the greeks ultimately beat xerxes and the persians remember this is in harmony with daniel 2 because just like the persians defeated the babylonians the greeks would ultimately defeat the persians because remember head of gold babylon breast in arms of silver medal persia and belly and thighs of brass grease xerxes loses to the greeks so the persian empire is then defeated for good now somebody's watching this say pastor bird what does all this have to do with esther i'm so glad you asked xerxes the persian king that i've been talking about his name is kasey arsah khasi arsha in persian in hebrew it's akasev ross but in english in english it's our surus and that's the name you'll find in the book of esther ahazaras so xerxes kasiarsha aka rash and ahazrus are all the same person so then the king in the book of esther is xerxes or a hazaras hazarus the son of darius who fought the greeks and ultimately lost the persian empire to the greeks in esther chapter 1 it begins by telling us of the massive kingdom of a hazaras several years into his reign he calls a six-month strategic war planning summit in the capital city of shushan he does this because he's making preparations for the invasion of greece because remember he wants to get back at him and he's confident at this summit that he's going to be victorious over the greeks he ends this six month planning summit with a seven-day banquet he plans to have an extravagant celebration with the best decorations the best food and the best dishes but he also wants the best entertainment and his version of the best entertainment is putting his wife at the time queen vashtai on full display he commands queen vashtai to show up on the seventh day of the celebration and present herself but vashtai tells her husband the king i'm not coming to your party i'm not here to let my dignity in my class be compromised by walking in front of some intoxicated perverted men the king is furious how dare she tell him the king her husband what she's going to do because back in those days women were to do as women were told the king is livid and he's concerned that his queen's actions would start a women's liberation movement it's all in the bible because if the queen got away with this kind of behavior then every other woman in the empire would feel empowered to do the same so what does the king do he demotes her she's no longer the queen he then announces he's gonna get a new queen and he makes it clear that no one better disobey the king not even the queen or she will be replaced now for four years there's no queen but the bible says in esther chapter 2 that the king's staff members tell them it's time to select a queen they tell them to call all the beautiful young virgins of the land to come to shushan and after a period of time let the young woman who pleases the king most become queen the king like this a hazarist like this and and he agrees to it so all these women come to shoeshine for a beauty competition and there have to be thousands of women women because remember it was every mother's and father's dream for their daughter to be the queen and it was every young lady's dream in the kingdom to become the queen now in chapter chapter two of esther we then learn of morty kay i and esther they're both jews they both live in shushan they're cousins but morty kay i is about 15 years older than esther esther's parents died when she was a little girl which means it left her an orphan so then mordecai raises esther as if she were his own daughter esther was beautiful the bible says just gorgeous she was noticed by the king's staff so she was selected to be in the group that was goes on to the next round of the competition that goes later to the king's palace to live so she can continue to participate in the beauty contest for for the queen now god's name is not mentioned in this book and god's name is not mentioned yet in this story but god is moving history says that there were about 400 virgins who were taken to the palace and they were going to be there for a year working on themselves to look good as possible to smell as good as possible to use perfume to use lotions to use cosmetics to enhance their skin to enhance their hair they would be giving special lessons on court etiquette how you act when you're around royalty how you talk when you're around royalty how you walk when you're around royalty and when the year was over all of these 400 women would be presented to the king and he would make them his choice and one of them would be made queen the day has come that it's esther's turn it's time for her to appear before the king esther walks before the king now remember the king has seen thousands of women not just the 400 that made it to the next round but he has seen thousands of women from all over the persian empire who wanted to be queen it was just the final 400 who make it to the palace the king sees esther and after he has seen esther he would never be the same again he's wooed by her beauty smitten by her charm taken by her grace she's fine and she's the one he selects esther to be his queen now i need you to understand friends what's going on here esther a jewish orphan esther not a persian is elevated to the highest position that any woman could have in the entire world at that time again god's name is not mentioned but god is moving mordecai tells her to keep her jewishness a secret because there was a lot of prejudice in the persian empire just like there's a lot of prejudice in the world today people mad in america because we have a black woman as the vice president of the united states she hasn't done anything wrong she hasn't been in her position even for two months the only thing that's wrong for some people is she's the wrong color but she can't do anything about that because god made her who she is she's been made in the image of god in the likeness of god she's black she's classy she's charming she's articulate she's smart she's beautiful and she's a woman esther is jewish she's classy she's charming she's articulate she's smart she's beautiful and she's a woman esther is crowned king but because he's concerned about his cousin who he has raised as his daughter mordecai hangs around the palace more chaos hangs around the palace because he's raised esther as his child and he doesn't want anybody messing with his child i can relate i have three daughters to talk about me to mess with me to mistreat me is one thing but when you talk about my daughters mess with my daughters mistreat my daughters we gonna have some problems i wish i had a witness in this place mordecai hangs around the palace to get whatever word he can from esther and about esther and while he's hanging around the palace he learns that two of the king's door keepers big fan and terrace are their names that they plan to assassinate the king because these were royal officials who guarded the king's private quarters they had access to the king and could kill him which reminds me it's not always those on the outside you've got to watch but sometimes it's the ones on the inside that you got to keep your eyes on i wish somebody knew i was talking about remember friends on january 6 the attack on the united states capital didn't come from the outside it came from the inside it wasn't international terrorists it was domestic terrorists it wasn't one political party trying to kill persons of the other political party it was people in the same political party trying to kill one of their own in their own political party i wish i had time more to ki here's a big van and teresh's plan he tells esther esther tells the king when the matter is investigated it's true big fan and teres are then hung on the gallows mordecai's actions are written in the royal record because loyalty needed to be rewarded just as much as disloyalty needed to be punished again god's name's not mentioned but god is moving we're now in chapter 3 and we meet a man by the name of haman haman is a persian haman is on the king's staff the king likes haman and haman is elevated in the kingdom but there's bad blood between haman and mordecai haman is an agagite and mordecai is a jew and there's bad blood between the two going back 1 000 years in their history to israel's exile or exodus from egypt somebody will remember that after israel is delivered from pharaoh's oppression they're in the wilderness and they're attacked by the amalekites the amalekites were descendants of esau and because the amalekites attacked the jews god cursed the amalekites and god's curse said that one day the amalekites were going to be extinct 400 years later saul conquered the amalekites saul captured their king who was a gag saul was supposed to kill acad but he didn't do it he let aeg live and because saul didn't kill a gag like he was told to do saul incurred the lord's displeasure and for that and many other things that saul did that displeased the lord the throne was removed from saul's family so then the prophet samuel stepped in the bible says that samuel hacked aha a gag to death in pieces hacked him to death in pieces haman was a descendant descendant of ag almost 1 000 years had passed since the curse hundreds of years had passed since the hacking of agag but haman knew his family history he knew it was a jewish prophet samuel who had hacked and killed his royal ancestor mordecai was a jew to make matters worse mordecai was a descendant of kish kish was from the fr tribe of benjamin benjamin was from the tribe or family in line of saul both haman and mordecai knew their history and so there was beef between the descendants of saul and the descendants of ag and both haman and mordecai had not forgotten now because of haman's standing in the royal palace when he walked in everybody bowed down but mordecai didn't bow he didn't bow because he couldn't stand haman this made haman's blood boil so haman then strategizes to kill not only more to ki but also more to chaos people because if he just kills mordechai mordecai's people the jews would later come and kill him so haman goes to the to the persian astrologers and magicians and tells them to come up with a day where they can execute the genocide of the jews they give them a date haman then goes to the king and tells him that throughout the persian empire there are jews who are a threat to his empire and they need to be destroyed the king thinks it's a great idea and he gives haman his seal stamp so haman can authorize the genocide of all the jews in the persian empire we're now at chapter four we're now where our text of scripture is there's wailing and there's national teeth among the jews that on a specific date they're going to all be killed more to ki is upset he tells esther what's going on he tells her you've got to go to the king and you've got to plead for your people but see it's really not that simple because in persia nobody including the king including the queen went before the king without a personal invitation in fact anybody who went into the presence of the king without being invited could be killed on the spot so esther would not only be breaking royal protocol if she just went to the king without an invitation but she would also be risking her life and the only way her life or anyone else's life would be spared is if when she walked in the king extended his golden scepter now you need to understand this context esther was not only fearful because she hadn't been invited to see the king but she hadn't been the history says invited to see the king in 30 days which suggests then that the king was a player that the king had must have seen many other women because he hadn't seen his wife for 30 days and i don't know how long a husband can go 30 days without seeing his wife the king hadn't gotten around to seeing esther for a month and she didn't want to get to upset her husband because he's the same one who demoted vashtai for disobedience to his commands but yet her cousin her dad is telling her to go before the king but does she listen to her cousin or does she listen to her family remember the bible says that she's supposed to leave and cleave from her family and be joined to her husband but this is bigger than mordecai and a hazardous this is about god and satan this is about right and wrong this is about truth versus era then recites our texts in verse 13. think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the jews for if thou all together hold us thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the jews from another place but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this in other words friends what mordecai is telling us there is don't think you'll escape in the king's palace any more than all the other jews your dad if you do and you're dead if you don't because they're going to find out that you're jewish and you're going to be dead if you don't do anything if you remain silent if you remain quiet you better believe that relief and deliverance will come for the jews from another place but you and your father's house you won't survive but god has called you to this kingdom god has called you to this moment for such a time as this that's why when people are suffering we can't be silent that's why when people are suffering we can't be quiet we can't be complicit we must speak for those who can't speak for themselves we must fight for those who can't fight for themselves we have can't have that attitude i've got mine so you get yours no people are asking me all the time why are you always speaking up so much for people why are you always speaking against racism you better be quiet you're going to forfeit your future you've got a bright career a bright future ahead of you just be quiet things will work themselves out the sad thing is this is some of our people telling me this but i tell them god has called me to speak up god has called me to help so even if the corporate church doesn't go to houston i'm going to houston even if the church doesn't go to jackson i'm going to jackson even if the church does not march in downtown huntsville i'm gonna march in huntsville because the lord has called me for such a time as this to speak up for what's right to speak in against injustices against my people and all people so let the chips fall where they may but i'm gonna do what's right because it's right and besides that if i don't do it they're gonna get us all anyway they're gonna disparage us all anyway the church gonna vote us out all anyway are you hearing what i'm saying esther then says in verse 16 go get all the jews in shushan and let's fast and i will go to the king which is against the law good trouble and if i perish i perish but even if it costs me my life i got to do what i've got to do and i've got to protect my people now notice i wish i had time notice in the text that esther does not mention prayer she only mentions fasting and there can be however no fasting without prayer i wish somebody knew what i was talking about for three days she prays and she fasts let me put a kickstand here for a minute just give you some little social advice i believe many marriages would do better if more husbands and wives practice this principle of praying and fasting before approaching their spouses with big requests don't just go in and start talking pray first and then talk y'all don't hear what i'm saying lord how should i say this lord how should i approach this in fact i believe that that's good advice not just for married folk but single folk everybody pray before you talk chapter five begins esther goes in to see the king she walks in she's graceful she's beautiful she's charming he looks at her and his mind goes back to when he first saw her he's got a smile on his face and without hesitation he extends the golden scepter and then he says esther oh queen what is your request because baby i'll give you half of the kingdom now you know esther must have been a bad mama jammer if he's going to give up half of the kingdom just by him looking at her are you hearing what i'm saying but esther doesn't want half of the kingdom faggester doesn't want any of the kingdom esther just wants to save her people esther then asks the king for a banquet with her him and haman in haman's honor the king agrees at this banquet the first banquet the king asks esther what she wants but the timing isn't right that's what some of us have to realize sometimes that our timing is not god's timing god's timing is the best timing so she replies she says oh king i just want another banquet tomorrow i want another banquet tomorrow with you with me and haman again in haman's honor but esther the king says we're already at a banquet we're already here together why do we have to do this again tomorrow god's name is not mentioned but god is moving haman is loving this two banquets on consecutive days in his honor haman's feeling good about himself he heads home but on the way out of the palace he sees his rival he sees his nemesis he sees more to ki and just the sight of mordecai gets his blood blow boiling he's had enough of mordecai and so he decides that he's going to kill mordecai the bible says he erects some gallows and decides he's going to hang and execute murder k.i the next day haman goes to sleep that night he sleeps soundly because he's dreaming about how he's going to kill murder k.i the next day now back at the palace and we're in chapter six the king is in his bed just like haman is in his bed but the difference between the king and haman is haman can sleep but the king can't sleep the king is tossing the king is turning and we don't know what the cause of the king's insomnia is but the king then does a strange thing the king tells his staff to go get the royal records and read them to him and maybe he says do this because reading the royal records would help put him to sleep again god's name is not mentioned but god is moving because remember friends it was put in the royal records five years earlier how mordecai was the one who exposed the assassination attempt on the king when the king starts reading the royal records he reads how mordecai saved his life he all of a sudden gets up and says what honor or dignity has been bestowed on mordecai for saving my life the king's servants answer nothing the king wants to change that now the king wants to rectify that now that now god's name is not mentioned but god is moving the next morning haman wakes up he gets dressed he goes to the palace for work and he goes to the king to ask the king to authorize the hanging of mordecai that he's built these gallows for already but before he can ask the king for permission to hang more to ki the king then asks him what do i do for a man that i want to honor now haman thinks the king is talking about him but the king is really talking about mourning k.i so haman answers and says give him the best robe and let him ride on the king's horses again god's name is not mentioned but god is moving the king then tells haman good idea you go and hurry up and get the robe and the horse that you suggested and give it to mordechai and leave nothing undone for what you have spoken haman thinking is for him it's for his arch rival haman then leads the parade for the very man he wants to kill somebody knows late in the midnight hour god will turn that thing around that he will work it out in your favor after the parade haman goes home to his wife and family he thinks he's gonna get some sympathy from them but he doesn't get it in fact his wife and his friends tell him you're the one that's gonna die the jewish man you're trying to kill is being honored by the king haman goes back to the palace for a second band quits he sits down at the king's table for another surprise the king asks the queen esther esther what do you want the timing is now right the table is now set at this second banquet esther doesn't hesitate we're now in chapter six esther responds please o king spare me and spare my people we've been sold to be destroyed and killed the king looks at his wife and he says who's threatening the queen's life who is he where is he now heyman is sitting there sweating his face has gone red because he doesn't know what's going to happen and remember he doesn't know that esther is a jew esther then looks him dead in the eye and she says the adversary and the enemy is the wicked haman the king is furious he goes back in the recesses of his mind and he remembers the decree haman made him sign a couple of months earlier how haman had misrepresented the jewish people as a political threat to the empire and how he had literally signed a decree into law that involved the murder of his own wife all of a sudden guards cover haman's face and guards take him out to the very that he had prepared for mordecai they put him on the gallows that he built for somebody else and he dies today let me remind somebody that too many of us are too busy setting traps for others waiting for others to fall and the same traps that we set for others are oftentimes the same traps that we fall in ourselves you can be so busy turning people against somebody else you better be careful that these same people don't turn on you the lies we spread on others the gossip we spread on others the dirt we do to others will come back to get us be not deceived god is not months whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap be ye sure your sins will find you out after haman was hanged mordecai and esther flourished in the persian kingdom of king a hazaras the king exalted mordecai to second in command and the king continued to love his queen against all odds esther and mordecai the jews had not just been spared but they had also been elevated god's name is never mentioned in the book of esther but god is always at work from the narrowing down of the thousands of women in persia to the 400 to the one jew esther for such a time as this to mordecai being in the right place at the right time where he could hear of the assassination attempt on the king for such a time as this to the king being unable to sleep that night and deciding to read the royal record and out of all the things that could have been read to him what is red has to do with mordecai being unrewarded for such a time as this to esther waiting the second time at the second banquet to tell the king of haman's plan for such a time as this friends god's name is not mentioned in the book of esther but god is everywhere and these are not coincidences these are not happenstances this is not random but i believe that i've got a witness watching right now who knows there is a designer there is a coordinator there is an architect there is a power behind all of this and that's a word for somebody god has you right where you are for such a time as this

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Length: 46min 19sec (2779 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 14 2021