The Invisible Hand of God - Part 2 - The Impact of One

[Music] [Music] and [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right well good afternoon everyone morning afternoon whatever it is today good afternoon everyone and welcome to the well here at STS a happy that you're joining us here today you're coming in and a fun fun fun series that we're doing called the invisible hand of God what we are talking about is one of the best lessons of all time which teaches us about how God's hand even though we may not see it as always working in our lives and as I shared last week when we kicked off this series it's a personal lesson that God taught me back what is it now seven years ago back in 2010 and I'm so excited to share this lesson with you guys because I'm telling you trust me on this one if you get this lesson if you can get this one if you can understand that God's hand may not be always seen but it is always active and God silence doesn't equal God's absence it'll transform your life and it'll give you new power a new strength and new courage to do great things for God in the meantime so what we're talking about here is talking about the story of Esther and I would imagine that most people are semi familiar with the story but just for the sake of those who aren't we kicked off the story of Esther last week and lastly we had a lot of fun with it because last week the story of Esther in Chapter 1 and 2 is a fun story it's a story about basically a little orphan girl who is born as a Jewish captive in the in Persia where her people are basically enslaved in captivity but she somehow through the luck of the draw when this world that this nationwide beauty pageant to be the next Queen so we're talking about last week Howard is the ultimate reality show because four hundred contestants for one spot and the winner doesn't just get a date with the king but the winner gets to be the queen of the nation Esther won that competition and we ended the story last week with the king throwing a great party because Esther had he had found his queen now the story if it was a made-for-tv movie or if it was a fable or a kids book it would after that say that they got married they had a party and they lived happily ever after but in this story it's not happily ever after and today we get that dun dun dun moment of the story because the plot thickens too a-and evil enters into the story today this story goes from Cinderella to double-oh-seven at the top of the fingers and Esther finds herself in the middle of this conspiracy to eliminate an entire race off the face of the planet to commit genocide in her country and she finds herself in the middle of and she has a choice and her choice is very simple either stand up and speak or sit down and hope for the best either stand up take a risk put yourself out there and say this is not right someone needs do something about this or sit back and say you know what there's not really much I can do so let me just protect myself take care of myself and if we're honest this is a choice that all of us have on a daily basis maybe not as glamorous or maybe not as high-profile as Esther maybe we're not in front of kings and rulers maybe we're not in courts and palaces but every single day that we see evil in the world injustice in the world racism in the world darkness prevailing in this world we have a choice and the choice is sit back take care of myself do nothing or stand up and speak now it is somewhat fitting that this message is coming today I don't know anything about anything anyone who knows me knows I don't watch news I don't like I ESP an is where I get my source of news and when it makes it onto ESPN then I know it's real big stuff I don't know exactly what happened but I late last night there's about 11:45 I heard that something happened in Charlottesville Virginia and I don't know all the details don't ask to get me to give a comment or what happened what happened but all I know is that there's a lot of evils and there's a lot of hate and there's a lot of anger and there's a lot of violence and for me personally I have a little bit it hits me a little bit because I spent four very memorable years of my life down in Charleston Virginia where I went to school so for me the thought of that city which had such pleasant memories to me pleasant memories that don't need to recite them all because the college years my parents sit right there the thought of that II that city and all the evil and all the hate does something inside me and the question that each one of us needs to ask is the one confronted with evil when confronted with something in front of us where darkness is approaching what do we do now the easy answer is what can we do right what can we do that's the easy answer what can we do but here's my proposition for today that I would try to only hopefully convince you this by the end it's that just because there's nothing we can do doesn't mean there's nothing that we should do just because there's nothing that we can do doesn't mean there's nothing that we should do and I want to show you the story of Esther and how she proves that for us and the reason why is because of this last week our message from last week is that the invisible hand of God is always working the invisible hand of God is always working but no matter what you may see the invisible hand of God is always working and today what we're going to see the reason why even when there's nothing that you can do there's something that you should do is because the invisible hand of God is always working and the means by which it works is people the means by which the invisible hand of God works is people normal ordinary people not famous people not rich people not politician people not government people ordinary people are they hand and the feet and the eyes and the mouth of the of God so when God wants to work and God wants to change and God wants to do then God doesn't just come down and lightning God doesn't just come down and shake stuff up what God does is he sends people people like me and you and he fills those people up and then he sends them off and he sends them off into a place and says just do this one thing and be faithful and doing this one thing like we received Esther stand up and speak don't be silent front of evil stand up and speak and you never ever ever know what will happen when ordinary person is willing to stand up and speak for what's right you may not just see the invisible hand of God you may be the invisible hand of God and I want to convince you today that seeing God's hand isn't as much fun as God's hand what's the greatest joy I have in life the greatest joy I have in life the greatest joy I have in life is life and up here and I'd give a sermon not giving this that's not the great spur is that when I finish and I put my blood my sweat my tears you know how much work I put it like I put a lot into this and then someone comes to me afterwards and says you know what father Anthony what you said spoke to me and I was going through this and you know what God touched me to what you said that's it that to me that's my salary that's my paycheck I like myself I'm not saying to take that away but I'm saying that's very good part of it too that's what it's all about like that feeling if you've never had that feeling that someone comes to you and says you know what I was down and I felt the encouragement of God through your hug that that's the greatest feeling in the whole wide world not to see the invisible hand of God but to be the invisible hand of God for somebody else's life and I'm telling you you have a chance every single person you know how many times after we before the well okay after we finished the liturgy in the morning I oftentimes stand up here and I say you know greet someone in the church that you never met before say hello gifts on a hug hello a smile you never know what it'll do I'm telling you I could point right now because - right now I know they're here amongst us there are several people in this church who say that I'm a member of this church and the reason is because I came and I was really embarrassed to come and I didn't know anybody and I felt awkward I didn't know and then somebody came and said hello to me and put me at ease and I say oh that's very strange I don't know you're friends with that person and they say I'm not I haven't spoken that person since our first date but that person opened the door for me to be a member of this church family you never know you never know what any small thing that you do may be the invisible hand of God working in somebody else's life second chronicles chapter 16 verse 9 one of my favorite verses - the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him translation the eyes of the Lord running up and down these aisles up and down these seats and is looking for someone whose heart is committed to him it says you know what I'm willing to be used by you and God will show himself strong God will do mighty things in the world so the person says I'm willing to be used I'm willing to be the invisible hand of God I'm not just praying to see the invisible hand of God I'm praying to be the invisible hand of God and somebody else's life my question to you is did you ever think that could be you you know it's sad to me is it so many people Christians churchgoers we live as if God is dead we say God is alive we believe that but we live as if you did we live in such a way that God will never do anything through me God will never use me in any mighty way like me I'm just a normal ordinary person you got like your Pope people your mother Teresa people your Nelson Mandela people like those kind of people God uses those kind of people for me no no like God is only alive in their lives but not in my life because I'm just a piddly whatever so what are you trying to do in life what's your goal what are you aiming at I get a job now make some money be successful okay you got that then what that's a turn-on sunset so maybe find me a wife find me a husband have a kid or two fence whatever it may be okay and then what that's not satisfying that's why we jump from thing the thing to thing to thing to thing because that doesn't satisfies because you know what satisfies us you know what hits that deep deep deep deep deep spot is being used by God and God choosing me and God looking and finding a heart says you know what I'm gonna use this person to do something mighty and I say you know what I don't wanna be famous I want to be rich I want a half a fence or whatever maybe 2.5 kids I want to be used by God I want to be used by the king and I'm telling you God wants that for each and every single one of us let's go back to our story of Esther recap story of Esther has five main characters we've already voted one off the island all right we have King as you Harris alright who is the king of Persia a Persian Empire most powerful Empire in the world right now he's the most powerful man his old life was Queen Vashti he gave her the boot last week because she stood up and she was strong and she did what was right and she paid the consequences for it but that doesn't mean that what she did was wrong in God's eyes but she did pay the price for it she got kicked out but God invisible hand was working through that and through the invisible hand of God when Queen Vashti went out opened the door for someone new to be the Queen and that's when the King did the search across the whole country and Esther the Queen Esther the beautiful orphan girl gets chosen as the Queen one out of 400 girls gets chosen in a very unlikely way now Esther is a Hebrew she's Jewish she's living in a country of pagans and she does nobody knows that she's Jewish because if they did they may not accept her and her uncle Mordecai who are about to see in the story today is the one who even advised her that said when you go to the palace don't tell anybody you're Jewish so you're starting to see some seeds for what's about to happen as the plot thickens here today we're going to pick up the story in the end of chapter 2 we're going to read a random random story that has nothing to do with anything I'm going to talk about here today but it will be important for next week's message when we get to chapter 5 so just we're going to read it and it's one of those like put a pin in it kind of okay until next week but just so we are thorough here Esther chapter 2 verse 21 in those days while Mordecai sat within the Kings gate two of the king's eunuchs big fan and teresh these are thugs okay big fan and teresh they just have thug names all right big fan and teresh doorkeepers became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahaz you Harris so the matter became known to Mordecai who told Queen Esther and Esther informed the king and Mordecai's named two thugs plotting to kill the King more to high Mordecai hears about it tells his niece Esther says go tell the King and when an inquiry is made into the matter it was confirmed and both were hanged on a gallows and it was written in the book of The Chronicles in the presence of the king this has nothing to do with today's message but we're gonna see this next week chapter 3 y'all ready here's the fun stuff after these things King I had your hairs promoted Haman I just told you Mordecai saved the King's life and the next verse says King has promoted Haman that's kind of strange the son of Hamor dasa the agra gate we'll see what that means in a second and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with we're going to try to read this story as if we don't know how it ends maybe some of those extra don't know how it ends but it ends good don't worry ok and we're going to read this story as it actually happened hey wait a minute God we know that Haman is the bad guy ok we're going to see that in a second and we know that the good guy Mordechai did something good and the end result is because Mordechai did something good Haman was promoted what are you thinking if you're in watching this story right now if you're watching this movie hey God wrong what like mistake God made a mistake or God fell asleep or God doesn't know what he's doing or maybe the invisible hand of God works in ways that we don't understand verse 2 and all the king's servants who are within the Kings gate bowed and paid homage to Haman for so the King had commanded concerning him the Mordecai would not bow or pay homage work I could smell this guy as a rat from the start he said I'm not going to pay this guy in the homage verse three over skip to verse five when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage Haman was filled with wrath but he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone for they had told him of the people of Mordecai meaning the Jews instead Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus the people of Mordecai this guy's not messing around one guy didn't bow to him he had his feelings hurt and his next course of action is I'm going to wipe them all out from the face of the planet we have to have a little background here why does why did Haman hate all the Jews Haman was an aggregate right that's what we saw in verse one AGGA guy without getting into the long history means a descendant of a king who was called King Agag which hundreds of years earlier there was some drama between Samuel and Sol versus a gag a gag with the king of the bad guys the Amalekites and Saul was the King of the Jews and they went to war okay and Saul tried to spare King Agag and then Samuel slaughtered him in a brutal kind of a lake earlier earlier earlier here go back to the time of Moses when he crossed the Red Sea moving into the Promised Land that wilderness experience and he had a war with the nation called Amalek a gabite equals descendant of Amalek meaning their families or their tribes or their cultures their people have been at war for years my point is to show you this my point is to show you this Haman had no reason to hate the Jews other than one reason which is what this is very important why did he hate the Jews because he hated the Jews because he was taught to hate the Jews because from a young age he was taught by his mom and his grandma and his great-grandma and whoever before whoever before whoever before these people are not like us they're bad these people are wicked these people are evil we don't talk to them we don't deal with them and if you get the chance to take them out you take them out Nelson Mandela mentioned him earlier once famously said that hate is not an inborn characteristic or feelings it's a taught it's a learned behavior you have to be taught to hate you don't grow you know you're not born naturally hating another culture or another race or another ethnicity and this guy shows us what happens when you have a little bit of a grudge and you pass that grudge on from generation to generation grudge turns to anger anger turns to hate hate urge to murder murder turns to plan conspiracy to genocide that's why Jesus said in old days you've heard it was said you shall not murder I tell you do not be angry because I know that anger eventually leads to murder and that's we see here with Haman aimer Haman was a high official in the government but he was controlled by a childhood hate that was just given to him by his ancestors sad situation verse 7 Haman didn't waste any time he decides he wants to write them all you know sometimes you say I'm going to kill you okay then you do nothing about will Haman like just something about it in case in the first month which is the first which is a month of Nisan in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus they cast poor that is the lot before Haman to determine the day in the month until it fell on the twelfth month which is the month of Adar basically what happened is this they said as we all do you if you want to justify your sin you can find a verse in the Bible or I prayed and got open the door like you can justify whatever you want God but they didn't believe in one God they believed in the God we want the gods to show us when they want to swipe the Jews off the face of the planet so they cast lots they started on the first month means let's roll the dice and if it comes up lucky snake eyes or lucky sevens then that means God wants it to kill them in the first month first month no so what do they do second month third month fourth month when did it finally come up the lucky numbers the twelfth month means what it means that God is always so good always so kind and always gives us a way out he gave them eleven chance to say not a good idea not a good idea January no not let's try that no mark they got all the way to December like if it didn't get December that it started to get in jr. so God was like okay enough okay we got to move the story on here you know how when you want to do your sin you can ignore every sign that God puts in front of you verse 8 then Haman said to King Ahasuerus there's a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people and all the provinces of your kingdom there are laws are different from all the people from all other peoples and they do not keep the Kings laws therefore it is not fitting for the King to let them remain and if it pleases the king let it decree be written that they be destroyed now I'll pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the Kings treasures there's no way it has you Harris the King will fall for this the guy didn't even say that they did anything wrong he's just saying basically they're not nice people let's kill them all let's see what our wise King has your Harris response so the King took his signet ring from his hand gave it to him and the son of Hamor death of the aggregate the enemy of the Jews and the King said to Haman the money and the people are given to you to do with them as seems good to you no King you are not that dumb are you you are that dumb the same bozo King who wrote a decree that wise have to obeyed their husband that was last week now just wrote a decree that this nation who I don't even know their names and n even tell me they did anything wrong now with any accusation against them should be wiped off the face of the planet and the bride who used so love Esther you just wrote her death sentence there's 12 and the decree was written according to all that Haman commands and the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces to destroy him to kill and to annihilate destroy kill and annihilate all the Jews both young and old little children and women in one day on the 13th day of the 12th month the King's couriers went out hastened by the king's command and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel so the king and Haman sat down to drink they just ordered genocide wiping off of all these people and then the head of drinks great conscience there but the City of Shushan was perplexed reflexed why perplexed bewildered confused because you just ordered his people wiped off the face of the planet without one crime listed all Haman did with Haman was smart what is every leader every king's weak spot that's where he hit him what would he say about these people he said your throne is at risk every leader is paranoid every King with paranoid that someone was trying to take his position and that's what Haman did and his King fell for it you're the people of God you're sitting there in the City of Shushan you have to be minding your own business doing your craft all of a sudden is wicked man comes in and declares y'all are going to be killed on a certain day so your death has been decreed on a certain date by a Royal Decree no one even knows your name but because that's what your mother is your father is on this day in the 12th month so you're going to live in fear for 12 months and then on this day you will be killed what's going through your mind what's going through your mind where are you God hello anybody what happened to all the promises you're my special people where'd that promise go God when I will never leave you I will never forsake you you're the apple of my remember all those promises all that stuff was fairytale all that stuff was made up there's stories that our parents told us but it's not really true or what's this one we messed up too bad for God to still care about us we must have messed up too bad we deserve it God left us we messed up too bad we've all been there haven't we we've all been asked the same questions evil darkness wickedness where are you God injustice where are you God hey where are you God don't you know what you're doing don't you see don't you have eyes let's be more practical let's be more honest forget about all the evil and justice in the world we don't care about that we do care but we don't really care why you allow my boss to treat me this way he's cheating me you don't see that injustice you don't see what my parents did to me abuse a parent distance house friends stab me in the back where are you God either you're no good or I'm no good or option 3 o the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out either he's not good you're not good or he's got something up his sleeve or the invisible hand of God is just warming up you know what I liken this to the invisible hand of God oh I was think of I brought this up last week but even more expand a maestro the conductor of the symphony all right the guy who just waves his hands is up kind of like this you don't see like he's doing anything you're over here y'all at different segments of the orchestra right here and the guy is saying you know what you know what I mean like you know bring it over here and then the people over there like hey remember me like I got a good answer like I'm really good where's myself here he's like keep it quiet you're like don't you care about me don't you love me and he's saying I got you in the right time I'm working I'm working I got a plan and if you stick with me then at the right time I'm gonna make you then I'm gonna bring you then I'm gonna make you I'm gonna bring you but if you walk out the door before I turn back around you go out and tell the whole wide world man that might sir didn't care about me that might sir just left me hang in there but my sir just all he cared about was those other people really or maybe you didn't wait long enough I'm show you a nice verse right here Galatians chapter 4 verse 3 even so when we were children we're in bondage under the elements of this world but when the fullness of time had come one of the most Explorer important expressions in the scriptures is when the fullness of time had come fullness of time when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive adoption as sons end of that passage adoption as sons beginning of that passage bondage under elements of the world slaves but slaves was never the plan it was always adoption of sons when the fullness of time had come we say it this way in the liturgy we say in the last days in the last days you manifest yourself to us who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death here we are death shadow of death darkness and listen carefully to what it says it doesn't say you showed up in the last days that God is not Robin Hood who leaves us over there and then sweeps in at the end to say the day no no no no no no there's a difference between arrives at the last minute and reveals himself at the last minute there's a big difference God is always present God is always working please don't see it God is not Robin Hood who sweeps in at the last minute God is the guy who's standing behind you following you around you know you don't notice that he's like caroms that's how God is he's with you at all times and he's working and he's in the story of Esther and his darkness and there's misery and there's evil there's injustice just like there isn't Charlotte's but just like there is all over the world it's like there's in your life in my life but God never leaves us he's right behind us and in the right time in the fullness of time in the last days he jumps out on the screen but if you want it to criteria to criteria for him to step out number one is trust number one is trust like I said that tuba player who walks out the room and doesn't trust that the maestro is coming back to him he didn't spend the rest of his life complaining that the maestro does know what he's doing and in the end it was a tuba players fault a wise person once said God is never in a hurry but he's always right on time God is never in a hurry but he's always right on time and I believe that if you trust if you wake the second before the answer looks just like all the other seconds way before that so an hour before a half hour before ten minutes before ten seconds before all kind of looks the same but the answer looks completely different and you're closer when you're ten seconds away so here's where I'm trying to say when I'm standing here and I say I don't know where the answer is here I'm closer here I'm closer here I don't feel it I see the same circumstances I'm not any closer to know but you're closer if you trust the invisible hand of God but in a second step not only trust act and this is what Esther teaches us today is we must stand up and speak we must fight for what's right we must not be silent in the face of injustice we can't you know why because when you choose to act actors get to go behind the curtain and when you choose to act in God's story they say hey let's say you know what okay come back here let me show you what I'm really doing you because well I didn't know that you don't tell the people who are just sitting in their chairs because they don't want to get into play so they're never going to know but you you act come back and you say I can't believe in you God says there's more of that and the more that we act more we see the hand of God that's we're going to see here with Esther continue our story chapter four the death has been decreed chapter 4 when Mordecai learned all that had happened he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went into the midst of the city he cried out with a loud and bitter cry every culture has their own way of mourning Eastern culture always been a good one okay we don't you like we vocal and we visual okay like sackcloth and ashes and they poured dirt on themselves and like he's really doing it he went as far as in front of the Kings gate for no one might enter the Kings gate Clovis a Claude and in every province where the king's command and decree arrived there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting weeping and wailing and many lay in sackcloth and ashes why great mourning because there is no hope there is no hope if the King changed his mind it's too late once it's in the decree just I was so with Vashti once he wrote it in the decree that's it decrees don't get changed once it's put into writing that's it the king cannot change his mind so really really there is no hope in this situation Esther verse 4 so Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her and the Queen was deeply distressed Esther sitting in the Prophet no clue about any other stuff because the Queen done just walk out and go to the market ok the Queen sits there and she's secluded ok and the servants you know go whatever she needs so the servant comes says hey let me tell you what all is abuzz in the city the servant told her she would deeply distress so what she does is she said I need to talk to Mordecai my uncle but he can't come in and she can't go out so she sends a messenger go ask Mordecai what's going on Mordecai tells the messenger this and this and this and he tells her everything that happened he gives her a copy of the decree and he also gives her a command for say Mordecai also gave him me and gave the servant a copy of the written decree for their destruction which was given at Shushan that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and that he might command her to go into the King to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people Mordecai says no problem you're his wife tell him bad decisions and today ok we're living in the world today this is an easy one no matter what the guy decided to tell her and before Dave the daybreak it did changed but Esther understand something that maybe we didn't quite understand verse 11 this is all the king's servants and the people of the Kings Provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king who has not been called 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 he's thirty days which he basically tells us is this okay before you jump down her throat for being a coward not being a coward she's doing the smart thing why is there not like wives today okay wives then sorry we're like like you saw the house of the pageant to choose her it gets rid wise we're not seeing it people they were seen as servants they played a role the king would call upon the wife to play her role when he wanted her then he would send her away but why didn't walk in to like that the cabinet meeting and say excuse me can I talk to you honey like that's not how it worked anyone who goes to the King uninvited is deaf you can't just walk into the King say yes I'm it like it's death even for the Queen and what would she show you would say when she got in there oh by the way I'm Jewish too please don't kill us like what watch it Mordecai says next we're going to see the power of trusting and acting trusting and acting trusting and acting for some Mordecai and Mordecai is her uncle but he's like her parents he'd like her dad because her parents died when they were on Mordecai razor and look what a father says to his daughter do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews for a few remain completely silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place trust but you and your father's house will perish yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this I'm going to break this room down it's gonna take a little bit of time most parents would say what most parents would say what to their daughter who has now chosen as queen and nobody knows she is Jewish and she's in the palace say what run and hide protect yourself don't tell anybody you're Jewish we're all old we're going to die protect your so every dad would say that protect yourself don't let them know you're the queen don't let anybody know you've your life your whole life in front of you the Mordechai thought there was more to the story than meets the eye he saw that the invisible hand of God was working I don't know what he's doing but he took you from over there he got rid of this Queen over here he put you in her spot he let this guy come here and then all of a sudden I'm doing the math I don't know what's happening but God put you in this place till you have to act and he tells you two things in this one sentence right here first thing he says is don't you think for one second that what you have the palace the safety the protection the servants don't you think for one second that you earned any of that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and how often is it in life how often is in life that God gives us and then when he asked forced us to do something with it or ask for it back we say no thank you don't touch my stuff touch my stuff how many times God would give you a nice position work promotion career business whatever then should be generous with your money it's not all for you it'll touch my money do what I want with my money I'll help you I want help I'll donate what I wanted I might donate my money oh really God gives you a relationship boy of your dreams girl of your dreams and then God says but don't touch before marriage you say why God want to get all my business my business how often we receive a gift of God and he asked for it back when we say no thank you second thing Mordecai tells her I love of Mordecai says deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place the Oni tells her he said look here you have a chance to be the invisible hand of God I know God is going to deliver his people how could Mordecai be so confident how could Mordecai be so confident that God will save his people the decree is written the decrees can't be changed how is Mordecai 100% confident in losing sackcloth and ashes how is he so confident you know why because he's read a book called the Bible because if you read the Bible you will see that this is not the first and it is not the last time that God's people are sentenced to death that God's people that someone came to try to wipe them off the earth this is not the first time that God people have been under attack with no hope and every single time God delivers his people how did he deliver his people now with thunder not with lightning not with earthquakes he delivers his people by people he brings up people well Mordecai's think God will deliver his people because he always comes through and maybe you're the person to do it Esther responds verse 16 said that she sends his message back to Mordecai she says go gather all the Jews were present and Shushan and fast for me neither eat nor drink for three days night or day my maids and I will fast likewise and so I will go to the king which is against the law and if I perish I perish James Bond got nothing on Esther if I perish I perish that's a great way basically what she says there is my life is not my own I will stand up and act and if I die I die I would rather die for God than live for myself and that's why Esther is the most beautiful woman Esther had no reason to believe God would save her Esther in her mind she is going to commit suicide right now she's going into the king and the likelihood is that the king will have her killed on the spot so all the other Jews get to live for 12 months but I'm going to go in right now and most likely i'ma end this story getting beheaded or whatever King does thrown in the dungeon whatever it may be when there is evil in the world and there is no hope it is easy to get cynical and say what can I do but like I said in the beginning I won't try to convince you to just because nothing you can do doesn't mean there's nothing you should do I don't think Esther's responsibility before God was lessened because their chance of success with minimal say that one again Esther's responsibility before God was not lessened just because their chance of sess was minimal meaning that God expects us to trust and act in such a way that we know that we're not on our own that is not just my action but my action it's my action pass khazin visible hand and sometimes sometimes God is up to something he just needs us to be willing to stand up and say you know what I'll be part of that I also think of the story of the widow with the two mites everyone knows the story of the widow two mites in mark chapter 12 a lady came now Jesus had opposite the Treasury mark chapter 12 verse 41 jesus said opposite the Treasury and saw what the people put money into the Treasury he saw what money people put into the Treasury that what it says he didn't say what you put into Treasury he saw how people put into the judgin there's a difference and many who are rich put in much then one poor Widow came and threw in two mites which makes a quadrants watch this assuredly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the Treasury sorry Jesus you can say she had a kind heart you could take she bore but you can't say more you can't say more someone put in ten she put in two you can't say more but you could say anything other than more you can say better you can say kinder you could say bigger smile you cannot say she put in more he says more you know why because in Jesus's eyes effort equals more than result effort equals more than result and what matters to him is not the result she did put in more because he wasn't counting the pennies he was counting the effort so she did put in more he wasn't looking at the final result the net balance at the end that's how we are we would say no the one who put in the the more then let's bring him on stage and clap for him and give him a plaque and make him donor of the month but that's how we would do but Jesus said I don't care about the end result I care about the process and her process was more her effort was more even though her result may not have been you me may never have a been get impact in this world we may never preach to thousands we may never give millions to charity we may never solve world hunger remain ever end racism or apartheid like Nelson Mandela did we may never free a nation we may never do anything big but that doesn't mean that you're sacrificing any less to God you may not solve world hunger but you may be very generous and charitable with the limited means that God has gave you and I'm telling you if you're faithful what is little that's big in God's eyes you may not preach to millions like I said earlier you may hug someone at the right time encourage someone on just the right day pick someone up smile on just the right day you may never end racism but you may build one bridge just one and you never know where that bridge will lead to and I'm telling you big little doesn't God doesn't see that well God sees his effort and even Matthew 10 42 whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple a cup of cold water the one thing everything cost money this world the one thing that you don't have to pay money for is a cup of cold water you saying even the cheapest most insignificant thing if there's effort even that I say to you he shall by no means lose his reward here's my question for you what could God do through you if you are willing to trust him act what could God do through you if you were willing to trust and act what could God do through you if you said you know what God that's it i'ma hold anything back you say I do I'm willing to go out of my comfort zone I'm willing to speak when I don't want to speak I'm willing to act one on one act what could God do through you if you were willing to trust and to act maybe God could solve a dysfunctional family problem through you if you speak up an act maybe what God could do is he could change an entire office culture a work environment through you if you speak up an act maybe God could answer the prayer of somebody a mother a father who has been praying for years through you a mother or father was praying for their son or daughter for years you could be the answer that you may never even know but maybe you like Esther God says to you maybe you were brought to blank for a time like this maybe you were brought to this office for a time like this you were brought to this family for a time like this you were brought to this church for a time like this you are brought into this social circle for a time like this you were brought into the city for a time like this what could God do for you next week we're going to see the results of esther speaking up but i want to say and i hope you can understand me on this one that really it doesn't matter what happens next it doesn't matter the end result of the story is good the god saves his people through Esther's what I want to say is if Esther gets killed when she goes to the king it makes it doesn't make her effort any less it doesn't make what she did any any less valuable in God's eyes she took a step of faith and she said it doesn't matter what happens to me I'm willing to die for what's right and as far as I'm concerned today Esther dies and even though we're going to see her come back to life that doesn't make her death any less you know why I say it that way there's a parallel here between Esther and somebody else who laid down their life for the sake of his people and did come back alive and I won't give it away who it is I'll just tell you this the next verse chapter 5 which is we're going to start next week we just finished chapter 4 verse 1 begins as follows now it happened on the third day and that stuff in bags and I'm telling you that Christ's death was not made any less significant just because he rose from the dead like the fact that he came back to life be like okay the death of nothing he came back like no the death is the death the fact that the result is he is live the death is the death and Esther is the same the fact that she comes back to life in the fact that she's successful has not as no bearing on this all that matters is that she was willing to die for God versus live for herself the verse that I showed you in the beginning for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout this whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him God is working the invisible hand of God is always working and he is today looking for a vehicle to use to be his hand God doesn't speak through dreams and visions and lightning and thunder God doesn't work through meetings and programs and committees God works through people people who say I trust I believe and I'm willing to step up and act and I'm asking you are you willing to trust in to act I'm telling you from experience I'm telling you from experience the greatest thrill in life is to be in the hand of God to see that God is painting a picture and I'm the paintbrush okay and Here I am God's doing this that's the greatest feeling in this world and that's better than any hai that any drug can give you the name success any fame any anything is to be used by the king of the universe to say I want to use you to make an impact and someone else's life in the world and nothing better than that let's stand together and say a prayer name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God amen Heavenly Father Lord we thank you with all of our heart that you would see anything good inside any one of us and be willing to use us Lord just so much bad inside of us but somehow you see good to help us Lord to trust you but even though we don't see you in this world in our circumstances but we trust that you are working in ways that we'll never understand and will never comprehend Lord that the magnitude of what you're doing and the ways in which you work to help us to trust you Lord and give us the strength and the courage to act to speak up not change the world but maybe change our world and change our tiny little circumstances and a little environment and speak up for what's right and trust Lord that there's no greater feeling in this world and to be used by you we pray these things in the mighty name of your son Jesus Christ the prayers of all of your saints here's Lord as we pray thankfully our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil one in Christ Jesus our Lord for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever [Music] [Applause]

Channel: STSA Church

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Length: 48min 55sec (2935 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 13 2017