Esther - Part 3 - The Feast of Almost Happened - Pastor Raymond Woodward

we are in part three of a short series on the book of esther a beautiful little book one of only two books in the bible named for uh female characters ruth and esther and esther in particular is the story of a jewish girl originally named in the hebrew tongue hadassah and she became an orphan somehow and sometime during the tumultuous years after king nebuchadnezzar destroyed jerusalem and carried all of its citizens away to babylon as captives time passes and babylon kind of fades out of power and persia now becomes the dominant world empire and esther has been raised without parents in that foreign land she's been raised by her cousin mordecai who's really more of an uncle to her and esther has kept her jewish identity secret all that time eventually we've already talked about this and it's very familiar story she's chosen by king ahazura set of hundreds of young women to replace a rebellious queen named vashti and that's how it comes about that this orphan girl moves into the palace in shushan literally becoming the queen of the persian empire the book of esther is the story of one courageous young woman who risks her life literally to save her people from certain annihilation and the events of this book give rise to a feast called purim which the jews have celebrated annually ever since that time the word per means lots dice the casting of lots and it specifically refers to the casting of lots by a wicked man named haman when he was trying to determine a day of the year when the jews could be slaughtered you see as the king's prime minister next in power to the king all the people were supposed to bow to haman and everybody did except a guy named mordecai and because mordecai wouldn't join everybody else in bowing to haman haman hated him and so through deceitful manipulation haman had a decree of destruction issued in the king's name and it could not be altered because that was the law of the medes and the persians once a law is made once a decree is issued it cannot be changed and so that year unfolds with some very terrible news we think we've had it bad in this year of 2020 because we face down a pandemic and the year didn't begin and the year didn't continue the way we thought it should but imagine if there was a decree of destruction on everyone in your race on everyone that shared your ethnicity that's what it was and the jews would be robbed and the jews would be slain in just a few months and there was nothing that anyone could do about it except esther and that's why mordecai gave her this challenge for if thou altogether holdeth thy peace at this time if you don't say anything esther then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the jews from another place mordecai had enough faith to say god is going to deliver us somehow but if you don't speak up esther you and your father's house shall be destroyed and here's my point esther who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this who knows if it was god behind the king that day when he chose you out of all the maidens in persia who knows if it was god that orchestrated that that you would be chosen and sit in the palace who knows but what that's the hand of god setting you up so esther i think you're come to the kingdom for such a time as this can i tell you in this tumultuous era of time when everything seems to be shaking and quaking and there's all kinds of turmoil and trouble panic and anxiety i think the church of the lord jesus christ is not ill positioned i think we're perfectly positioned to help people to be a voice to people to be a light to people and we have come to the kingdom for such a time as this now haman was fixated on destroying mordecai the very same way the devil is fixated on destroying every one of you the devil doesn't like that you're serving jesus the devil doesn't like that you're in church the devil doesn't like it when you lift up your hands and praise god you know why because everybody else in this world is marching to his drum and bowing to his agenda and when the saints of god refuse to bow to the currents of culture the devil's not very happy about it and he's fixated on you haman was the son of hamadatha the agagite according to the story most likely he's a descendant of agag who was the king of the amalekites and the amlekites were one of the most enduring enemies of god's people throughout the whole old testament they were descended from esau and their first encounter with israel was an unprovoked attack in the sinai desert right after israel a fledgling people has just got set free from egypt in what we call the exodus and they're just on their way they haven't even really become a nation yet and amalek attacks them unprovoked and amalek continued to attack the hebrews any time they saw an opportunity and they were ruthless they were cruel and they were aggressive they were bent on one thing and that was the genocide of israel one rabbinical source says that their name amalek or amaliek literally means people who lick blood in a malevolent mockery of the israelites in a malevolent mockery of their covenant of circumcision when they captured a jewish man a soldier in battle they would sadistically mutilate his body now cowardly king saul had refused to destroy amalek when he had the chance and now an agagite an amalekite has risen one more time and that spirit is still trying to annihilate the jews haman is referred to four times in the book of esther as the enemy of the jews and that makes him one of the strongest pictures of satan in the entire bible hebrew letters have a numerical value and it's interesting to me that the numerical value of haman or haman as the jews would say it the numerical value of haman is 666. which the bible tells us is the number of the antichrist and haman haman he is controlled by this spirit of the antichrist which wants to wear down and wear out the people of god through constant opposition daniel gives us a prophecy about an event that is still to come in our history and that's called the tribulation it is on its way you feel kind of the the the beginnings of it almost now that there's going to come a time of great turmoil and anxiety and trouble on this earth it's called the tribulation but let me tell you something although daniel's prophecy deals with the tribulation in the future that spirit of antichrist is already at work in the world today here's what daniel said he shall speak the antichrist that spirit shall spread speak great words against the most high but he won't be just content to attack god he shall wear out the saints of the most high and then he continues now i know that saints is referring to the jews but can i tell you the spirit of antichrist does not make distinction the antichrist would like to wear you out the devil would like to wear you down john even said this at the end of the new testament era he said little children it is the last time and as you have heard that antichrist shall come even now there are many antichrists and that's how we know it is the last time i know the antichrist is still to be revealed and if you've got all kinds of theories as to his identity i'll leave that to you and the prophecy scholars and a few of the prophecy theorists i'll leave that all to you but i know this on the authority of the word of god that whoever the antichrist is and whenever he will be revealed and wherever he comes from the spirit behind him is already loose in the world today and there are many antichrist spirits against the people of the living god and that is how we know we are in the last time john also said this he said every spirit that confesses not that jesus christ has come in the flesh is not of god and this is that spirit of antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come watch and even now already it is in the world but you are of god little children and you have overcome them every spirit of antichrist every attack of the evil one every plan and scheme and plot of hell you have overcome them why because you're so strong good and religious no because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world but i came to address you today and say if you're feeling strangely exhausted by a thousand little things if you're feeling like your battles are raging on and on and on with no end in sight if you're suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the pressures and the stresses of the world and if you're feeling confused and maybe even a little anxious about the times we find ourselves in and if you can feel a subtle but steady opposition to your walk with god you listen to me that is the enemy trying to wear you down and wear you out it is the spirit of the age it is the spirit of antichrist trying to wear out the saints of the most high god so what do we do about that pastor well just like esther you will not win a battle with your enemy based on your own strength the only way you're going to win over the devil the only way you're going to win over the world in your own flesh is you've got to have a relationship with the king i said this last week and i'll just run it by you again if your enemy is the king's enemy then your battle is the king's battle you don't have to fight it all alone you don't have to fight it by yourself you don't have to do this on your own haman's name is a combination of haman which means noise or tumult and amman which means agree or affirm and amman is the same root word from which we get amen so be it i agree i affirm that haman is also similar to the hebrew word harem which means war or destroy and this is how words work in most languages but particularly in ancient hebrew haman's name haman it it means all of these different shades of definition and meaning you see haman made a noisy boast that he was going to do the jews in and he even signed an agreement a decree that the jews would be destroyed by war you see his name it prophesied what he was going to do but here's what haman was not counting on he wasn't counting on a little girl named esther getting involved but when the lady who knew the king got involved haman's days were numbered fast forward probably about almost 3 000 years the devil has made his noisy boast against the church you hear echoes of his words in culture mocking christianity discrediting jesus tearing the bible limb from limb and absolutely demeaning anyone who would dare to follow jesus of nazareth the devil has made a noisy boast and he has the agreement of the world system as well but do not let the devil's word be the last word because if the lady the church if she ever stands up because she knows the king the devil's days are numbered as for me my joyful noise and my amen and my boast will be in the lord and as the young people sing this is how i fight my battles this is how i lift up a warfare tactic this is how i take charge of my weapons i worship my way through the opposition i know the antichrist spirit is seeking to wear out the people of the most high god but if you're exhausted there is holy ghost energy for you today if you are confused there's holy ghost peace for you today just after esther became queen mordecai uncovered an assassination plot by two of the king's own guards his chamberlains mordecai reported it to esther and esther reported it to king of hazueras and the men were hanged and the king was saved and it was all written down in detail in the chronicles of the persian empire and it was promptly forgotten all about and much later after haman had been promoted to prime minister and after haman had already launched his plot to destroy to destroy mordecai and all the jewish people and after esther had bravely gone in before the king risking her own life if he didn't raise that scepter to accept her and even after hazuris and haman had been invited by esther to a banquet and after everything seems to be going haman's way he thinks he is the big man on campus he alone has been invited to a banquet with the king and the queen but even after all of that and even after everything seems to be unfolding for haman and ev everything's going his way and everything's coming up roses for this enemy of the jewish people he is still fixated on mordecai esther 5-9 then went hayman fourth that day joyful with a glad heart he was excited to be invited to a banquet but when haman saw mordecai in the king's gate that mordecai wouldn't stand up nor move for him he wouldn't get up and then make obeisance to to haman he was full of indignation against mordecai this evil man is so fixated on mordecai he's got everybody else in the whole kingdom bowing to him everything else has turned out okay for him all of his plots and plans seem to be coming together but he's fixated on mordecai can i tell you something about the devil he doesn't care how many people he has in the world how many professors and celebrities and politicians are spouting his nonsense he doesn't care about that he is fixated on the people of god it bothers the devil that you're here this morning it really messes him up that in the middle of your everyday ordinary life with your trouble and your trial and your pain and your tests that you can lift up a hand and worship god that drives him crazy he's fixated on you he's fixated on the people of god he doesn't care that he has millions in the world deceived by false religions and millions ensnared in addiction and perversion and immorality he doesn't care he's already got them he is fixated on you and so it didn't make his day when he saw mordecai not cooperating with the masses and that's when haman went home pouting and haman's wife zaresh and all of his friends advised him hey haman let's build a gallows 50 cubits high now that's a cubit so that's a tall gallows and we'll ask the king for permission to hang mordecai on that tall gallows and of course morde or haman assumes that the king's going to agree after all up to this point in the story he's let haman do anything he wanted thus far but something really odd happened in the palace that night very simple but very consequential that night while haman was building his tall gallows and by the way some scholars say that haman as the prime minister he probably lived next door to the palace of the king so haman may have unwittingly caused his own problem because that night while haman is over here with his friends building a gallows the king can't sleep i don't know if it's because he heard construction but he couldn't sleep and so the king asked in the middle of the night for the chronicles of the persian empire to be read to him good bedtime reading it'll put you right out and it just so happened that mordecai's good deed was the page that the reader turned to and that whole episode of mordecai saving his life was brought back to the king's memory and so the next day when his prime minister haman comes whistling into the palace with his little plot in hand the king has a question for his prime minister so haman came in and the king said unto him what do you think we should do for the man that the king delights to honor now you know what haman thought haman thought in his heart now to whom would the king delight to do honor more than to me haman cannot imagine that the king would possibly be talking about anybody else but him so he spreads it on thick oh here's what we should do king i think we should bring your royal robes and your royal horse and your royal crown and we should dress that man up so he looks like you in royal robes and a royal crown and put him on your horse and parade him through the streets and get an important man he's setting himself up get an important man and let him lead that horse and let him shout like a town crier this is what we do for the man that the king delights to honor imagine haman's horror when the king said do even so to mordecai the jew and so here's haman there's funny stuff in the bible here's haman gritting his teeth and he has to do what the king said so here's haman shouting about this guy named mordecai not only does he not respect him he is fixated on destroying him he has lost launched a plot and a decree to wipe this guy out but before mordecai dies haman has to walk through the whole city say this is how we treat the man that the king delights to honor after he completed his distasteful task haman rushed home in shame and in mourning because all of a sudden the tables were beginning to turn and it was just then the bible actually says this at that moment the king's servants as haman is sulking and whining and mourning and hanging his head in shame the servants arrive to bring him to a second banquet with the king and esther and it's during that meal that esther points her finger at haman and she says in front of the king the adversary and the enemy of my people and me is this wicked haman you know the story if you're a bible reader haman ended up being hanged on the gallows that he had built for mordecai at the order of his own king it looked like everything was going his way right up until the very last moment i was reading this week and they say that one of our modern sayings may actually come and have its roots from the book of esther give a man enough rope and he'll hang himself because the king had the final word not haman now on the feast of purim today our dear jewish friends most of the time they're pretty stoic and reserved they've been through a lot in their history but on purim today when the book of esther is read when they come to the name mordecai in the story they cheer it's pandemonium in the little synagogue but whenever haman's name is pronounced they make a terrible noise his name meant noise and forever after the noise blots out his name it's in keeping with their obligation to blot out the name of haman forever and so if you look in the jewish encyclopedia or other resources they actually give suggestions for the adults and children attending synagogue on purim number one write haman's name on the bottom of your shoes and then stomp his name into the ground number two blow a shofar a trumpet to drown out his name number three beat on a drummer if you don't have a drum bring pots and pans and bang them together for all you handymen and women this might appeal to you this is a suggestion from the jewish encyclopedia bring a tin can filled with nails and shake it loudly every time they say the name haman they even have a custom of making a dummy of haman so they can beat it hang it stomp on it punch it and then burn it and you get a little embarrassed when we say you need to shout the name of jesus and shame the devil you need to lift up jesus high because the devil might be listening to you music come on back there are several annual feasts of the jews several of them there's passover unleavened bread first fruits pentecost trumpets day of atonement tabernacles hanukkah and purim and all of these feasts celebrate what happened for israel they celebrate the deliverance from egypt they celebrate the giving of the law they celebrate the wandering in the wilderness and how god provided they celebrate the cleansing of the temple that's hanukkah they all celebrate what happened to israel but the feast of purim is the feast of almost happened it's the feast that celebrates what almost happened can i tell you today as we gather here in this sanctuary on this beautiful sunday in the month of july 2020 still in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that a lot of people are so terrified of i'm glad to be gathered here today to celebrate what god has done and what has happened for us and how he has delivered us but i'm equally glad and equally blessed to stand here today and say we got some things to celebrate that didn't happen to us or that almost happened to us it's in scripture it teases around the edges proverbs 5 and 14. i was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly the psalmist said the writer proverbs solomon he said i almost backslid right in the middle of church almost psalm 119 they had almost consumed me upon the earth but when the enemy was coming in i i refused to forsake your precepts could have happened would have happened maybe should have happened but it only almost happened psalm 94 unless the lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence i almost came to church and just sat there like a proverbial bump on a log and endured the preaching enjoyed the music and just kind of waited out the time i almost dwelt in silence but then i got thinking when i said my foot slippeth thy mercy o lord held me up i almost came to church and didn't do much i almost came to church and didn't worship i almost came to church and didn't lift up the name of the lord because i was so concentrated and fixated on my issues and my problems and my pain and my hurt and my frustrations but then i got thinking you know what there have been times of my life i almost slept and fell i almost slipped and backslid i almost slipped and walked away never to return to god but every time his mercy reached him and lifted me up so i'm just here to thank god for what almost happened but didn't happen [Music] [Applause] oh oh my [Music] [Applause] god [Applause] [Music] i'm sorry to be pentecostal i apologize for being apostolic but i really don't care because the lord has been too good to me there's a lot of stuff that has happened and i'm grateful but there's a lot of stuff that almost happened and i'm equally grateful that that didn't happen [Applause] [Music] one more one more stay standing that's okay psalm 73 verse two and three asaph brother milford stairs used to call me asaf because i was the choir director loved that old elder asaph was the choir director for david and this is one of his psalms he said but as for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well ni slipped because i got looking around at everybody in the world and they seem to be doing better than me and have it easier than me i was envious at the foolish when i saw the prosperity of the wicked and asus spends the next 13 verses whining and groaning and moaning and complaining and then he says when i thought to know this it was too painful for me until i went back into the sanctuary of god and the minute the doors clicked behind my heels and i felt the presence of god and i looked at the people of god and i thought about my history and their history when i saw that then i understood those wicked people are going down those sinners have a destiny that i don't share but as for me i was almost gone but i didn't go and that's why i'm here in the sanctuary today i can't speak for you i'm here to celebrate what happened because there have been many times when god has delivered me out of the hand of the enemy and he's pulled me out of problems i created for myself and he's forgiven me of sins that i committed against him but i'm also here today to celebrate the feast of almost happened because there have been countless times i couldn't see what god was keeping me from i fought with him i argued with him i used every bit of my logic and tried to push god back so i could go my own way almost it should have been bad but it ended up good it should have been a defeat but it turned into a victory it would have been a mess but god turned it into a miracle i should have fallen i could have backslidden i would have yielded to temptation in fact it almost happened but it didn't happen jesus kept me from it and i'm here to celebrate what didn't happen [Music] think with me think with me i know some of you are standing that's okay we're almost done think with me the car accident and that other vehicle hit in just the right spot or you would have been wiped out the disease that could have taken your life and at the last minute it's like the doctors were puzzled by the quick turnaround we recorded our prayer time on wednesday night and they aired it in palm bay florida pastor david myers the wonderful church eastwind church there they aired it on thursday night because they've been praying every night this week against coronavirus because florida has been hit so hard among other states and i they aired it thursday night what we recorded wednesday night and friday morning i called pastor david he said there was an old elder he had basically every symptom of covet 19. he was at home he hadn't been to church yet he said he called me he said pastor i was watching that prayer meeting online and as i was watching god's people pray he said every symptom of covet 19 left my body and i've never looked back and i'm okay pastor and i'm going to be coming back to church that day that night that week that time of depression that fierce battle of temptation it probably should have taken you down it probably would have taken you out it certainly could have resulted in a vastly different end to your story it almost happened but is there anybody here that would join me today not only celebrating all the good things we know god has done but is there anybody who could grasp it in your spirit today and just join me and say you know what i'm going to celebrate my own little feast of purim today i'm going to thank god for what didn't happen i'm going to thank god for every time the devil didn't win i'm going to thank god for every time that the car didn't roll over and every time that i came out of the hospital and every time that i resist the temptation i'm going to thank god for what didn't happen it could have killed me but i'm here by the grace of god [Music] oh i wish you'd use your voice we say the little children use your outside voice and give jesus a praise in this room i thank god for what didn't take me down and what didn't wreck my life and what didn't mess me up [Applause] [Music] last scripture everybody stand with me please joseph said it to his brothers after joseph had been dragged through hell on his way to the palace but as for you you thought evil against me you devised a scheme to take me down and keep me down you thought evil against me but all the time you were plotting my god was preparing all the time you were scheming my god was setting me up you thought evil against me but my god meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive am not going to ask you to come to the front and do a come to the front altar call but i am going to ask every person from the back row of the balcony to the back row of the sanctuary from the left hand to the right and the right to the left i'm going to ask if you'd have your own personal altar service right now would you lift up every bit of praise you've got i thank god for everything he's done for me i thank god for how good he's been to me but i thank god for stuff i don't even have a clue about i don't know how god delivered me but i know he did i don't know how god saved my life but i know he did [Applause] i'm looking for some pentecostal apostolic people who would lift up a loud praise a shout if the jews can do it on purim if they can make a noise in the synagogue my goodness we can make a noise in an apostolic church jesus has been so good to me yes yes [Applause] [Music] you made a way

Channel: Capital Community Church

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Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching, esther, the, feast, of, almost, happened

Id: 4_7Oh4_YHu0

Length: 38min 6sec (2286 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 19 2020