The Invisible Hand of God - Part 4 - The Invincible Hand of God

[Music] all right well good morning everyone good morning welcome to the well here at sts a let me start off by apologizing for the technical difficulties we've had lots of them here today so I appreciate y'all's understanding between video and sound and different things going on but that's okay we will never let that stuff bother us because we're not here because you're not here because we have the best sound system or because have the best video or because we're whatever but because the Spirit of God is right here and the Spirit of God is working then we're happy to be here right we're excited to be here and what we are excited to be here about today is specifically what the Spirit of God has been working on us and teaching us through these past few weeks is about the invisible hand of God okay and I know I'm kind of invisible right now can we help me out here returning those lights on if you guys can there thank you just one of those days that's okay okay thank you guys thank you we're talking about the invisible hand of God and what we have been seeing over the past several weeks as we've been studying a great story from the Old Testament the story of Esther which if you're just kind of tuning in today strongly encourage you to go back and read it we call it a book but it's really not a book it's more like a short story okay at best because it's it's like you know ten fifteen pages and it taking out know that much time to read and in this series what we have seen you tell me if I'm wrong many people have come to me and said wow I never looked at the story from that way and wow it's so engaging and so exciting and I can see so much and people have been really saying like it's great to dig into the Word of God hasn't it been great to dig into that Word of God that way let me tell you what I've personally loved more than anything else I love that everywhere I go now everywhere I go go visit someone in their home go out to have lunch with someone talk to someone over email whatever it may be I love hearing people say you know father Anthony this this and that in my life pray for me this may be the invisible hand of God in my life or people say you know what this and this happen at work there's the invisible hand of God I love the people of God which is us talking about the Word of God and I love the word of God being a part of our day-to-day fabric not just something that we read on Sundays I love that it be and everything that we do we look for the hand of God and we see God so here's what we want to do before I get into today's message as I announced earlier this week stall next week starting the Tuesday after Labor Day we are going to do a challenge as a church family you may not be part of our church family but I encourage you to join us in this challenge and the challenge is this we want to read the entire New Testament from Labor Day to Christmas the entire New Testament from Labor Day to Christmas and then the goal is going to be to read it from Labor Day to Christmas that's five days a week not said well give you two days off five days a week to give you a couple a little bit time to catch up and we're gonna do it together and there's power and us doing it together so that you can just show up at lunch and say hey did you read what I read today in mark chapter six and you say hey you don't believe what I read this is a can we talked about yesterday when we're all on the same page there's power to it so if you have never been able to establish the habit of daily Bible reading but you know you need to this is your chance to jump on board alright so get excited about that and you can get more information at the connection table or on the app and then the secret goal I'll tell you this but don't tell anyone okay there's just ruin us the secret goal is if we accomplish that then we're gonna do next year in 2018 is read the entire Old Testament as well so that means in a year and a half time and a year and a half time you will have read the entire Bible some of you lived many years and a half's and your lives and never even come close to that so here's a chance okay though we do it all together and that takes roughly or if you're wondering how long that's approximately a 15-minute ad a commitment five days a week anybody can do that so I hope you would do that because one of the things that I told you in the beginning of this series I don't know if y'all remember I said it in week one and I believe it with all my heart as I said that the more we see the work of God and the lives of others the more we'll have confidence and trust in his work in our life as well remember when I said that the more how is that you're able to trust God's work in your own life is when you see how he's worked in the lives of other people people who have gone before you have seen worse circumstances than you and when you see God work time and time again and you have confidence that's why some people come to me and they tell me about their hard time or their circumstance or whatever and my question is hmm okay someone tells me you know this thing happened at work and you know for a pray for me and my job whatever and I'm like hmm are you reading your Bible and they're like what's the Bible have to do with work like does the Bible have like resume tips in order like what what what do work or struggling hmm are you reading your Bible because to me it's not about getting an answer from the Bible but it's about understanding the ways of God because God works in similar ways god works in unique ways for sure but there's patterns and when you commit to the Word of God I promise you this when you commit to the Word of God I challenge you commit to the Word of God I am challenging you to commit to what I'm telling you to commit to being encouraged to being inspired to having your faith built up like that's what you're committing to because the more we see the work of God in the lives of others the more we have faith in his work in our own life and let's be honest isn't that the best part of Esther isn't that why we love Esther like it's not so much a story of Esther it's the story of all of us can't we all see ourselves in Esther in some way haven't we all been in this situation at some point time in our life where it seemed key word there seemed like darkness one some of us to say we feel that way right now where it feels like darkness has defeated light whether it's out in society and you see the racism and the bigotry and the prejudice or you see ills of society Wars you see greed you see selfishness you maybe a more personal way you see addiction you see illness you see suffering maybe an a where is God when and then you fill in the blank where is God when this is my second miscarriage where is God when so-and-so's ruining my reputation at work where is God when there's no end in sight to whatever we've all been there well the good news for us is that Esther's been there too and actually when we something when we look at the story of Esther we see with all due respect to all your circumstances you ain't see nothing like Esther soul your darkness is bad but Esther's darkness was worse your darkness is difficult but Esther's darkness was literally the end of the world like it is life or death but we learn a lot from Esther because what Esther shows us is that even though our circumstances may be hard we are never alone isn't that the worst part of it what's the worst thing for every child the worst thing for every child is to be lost you ever been you remember that I remember one time when I was young I was probably seven eight years old something like that I got lost in the mall just lost and I wasn't really lost I just couldn't see mom or dad and they were right somewhere but I just couldn't see I still remember it vividly I remember anything ask my wife I don't remember anything but I remember that day and it was two minutes the worst two minutes of my life because that feeling of by myself I'm all alone got a fend for myself as before home alone had come out so we didn't really know what to do back then and isn't that if we're honest have so many of us feel when it comes to God I got him by myself here I fend for myself at work I just saw the situation of my own well what Esther teaches us we see in her story we see in our own story is that we're never alone and we're never truly lost and whenever in darkness and darkness never wins but the key as we see with Esther here's our key verse for this entire book for those who are here Esther 4:14 was the hinge upon which this story turned okay Esther 4:14 was the middle of the story which we saw I think was week two and now is when Esther had found out the bad news about there's a plan to wipe her race off of the planet I mean the King signed a decree to kill all the Jewish people the nation of Israel wiped them off the planet and Esther at first hesitated and said I don't know if I can do anything about this I don't know if I can speak to the king and then Mordecai her uncle says if you remain completely style at this time here's the key relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place 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 question difference between us and Esther both of us felt lost both of us felt confused both of us felt like darkness had one difference between me and you and Esther difference is this she how could she be so confident that a relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews how come she was so confident that even though it's dark that she's not gonna lose that even though she's losing that she will not lose in the end how could she be so confident you know the answer cuz she read her Bible and she committed to reading the Bible on a daily basis because she knew her history and she saw that she was not the first person to feel like darkness had won and she's certainly not the last Moses felt that way when he was running from the bad guy in Pharaoh and he had the Red Sea in front of him and he felt like you know what dark one good guys loose darkus didn't win good guys still win in the end Joseph felt that way when he was thrown in the well by his brothers darkness win good guys lose no never David felt that way Saint Paul felt that way so many people great people before me and you have felt that way in every single time God is glorified God never sleeps that as the psalmist says that weeping may remain for a night but you know what comes in the morning joy always and she knew that and that's what we need as well like that's what I want for you that's where I say we need to read our Bibles we need to be in our Bibles on regular basis so we have that same confidence the goal is to study our history to understand our present all right and here's our theme verse here for this this series is romans 11:33 oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out this is why we read the Bible why we commit to the Bible and today well we will see is that as as with Esther as with Joseph as with David as with so many greats as with me and you is that God's hand for sure is invisible but it comes a point in time where the invisible where the maestro who's just kind of doing this from behind the scenes there's a time when the maestro steps onstage and you know what happens when the maestro steps onstage the invisible hand of God turns into the invincible hand of God and that's what we are going to see today let's jump back into our story let's recap where we are with the details just for those who weren't here we are on chapter 7 of this story and what has happened at this point is you have a lady named Esther who through a chance circumstance which we don't believe in chance we believe in invisible hand of God has become the queen of Persia she's become the queen of the most powerful nation the Persian Empire her husband King has a Harris it's kind of a buffoon alright and he's the kind of guy who is wielding his power and he just kind of acts first and things later he had been tricked by a guy named Haman Haman was an evil guy who hated all the Jews has harris promotes Haman up in his ranks and he becomes like a top advisor Haman convinces the King to sign a decree to wipe all the Jews off the planet and kill them all he has an appointed day in a point in time Esther finds out about this and her uncle tells her you got to do something you're the queen you got to say something and if she says no I can't say anything because if I go to the King uninvited then he's gonna kill me you can't just knock on the Kings door and say hey you got five minutes it's not how it worked you had to be called into the presence of the king and the Queen is not gonna be called in to like the cabinet level meetings and to discuss politics and stuff like that Queen had her role this was not her role so she said I don't know what I'm gonna do and then her uncle liked it a verse I told you said you go okay because if you don't then you're going to die and all of us are going to die but God's gonna bring or you're going to die and God's gonna bring relief from somebody else and we saw last week that the what Esther did is she took action by taking the most powerful action you can take if you want to see and be the invisible hand of God the most powerful action you can take is waiting and she waited and when she waited and she got first she went to the king and she said King I need to talk to you she could have died right there and the King said okay what is it you want and she said what I want is let's have dinner together tonight it's the king said okay I've dinner together and then they have dinner together and then the Queen says add a dinner the King says okay what is your request name whatever it is you want and Esther says I won't have dinner again tomorrow night and that's what we left the story last week with Esther saying I'd like to have another dinner why a stir you're waiting why you keep waiting well clearly and her time of fasting and prayer God revealed to her just wait just trust me there's a plan like we talked about before waiting is not waiting for grass to grow waiting is waiting for a cake in the oven it's not ready yet Esther give it a couple more minutes give it a little more time and what we're gonna see today is what happens when the timer ding goes off on that cake all right in the meantime while she is doing this dinner after she finishes the first dinner Haman bad guy goes out of the dinner feeling kind of proud of himself smellin himself feeling like I'm kind of the man around here he sees Mordecai who he hates Mordecai before wouldn't bow to him now Mordecai doesn't even stand for the guy and he psalmist sit down and work I did like this okay when he walked by and Haman went crazy and Haman said imma kill this guy and I can't wait for the 12 month to kill this guy imma kill him tomorrow and Haman came up with a plan that the next morning I'm gonna go to the king and I'm gonna ask for Mordechai to be hung and Haman is feeling good about himself so he says you know what King will grant this request little did he know that the timer just went off on the oven in the cake and while Haman has this great plan the ding goes off and God starts working that same night that same night just happened to be that same night King Ahasuerus couldn't sleep had a bad dream a nightmare so he says bring me the books to read they bring him the books to read the history books he reads about one time when his life was it was attempted to be a sassy was attempted be assassinated and a guy named Mordecai saved his life who is a Mordecai and they said that's that guy and he said how did we were more reward Mordecai and they said we didn't reward Mordecai so that same night the King said the next morning I will reward Mordecai Haman walks into the court the next morning and says King I need to talk with you and King says no actually I need to talk with you I have somebody I want a reward Haman in his mind thinking who he wants the reward is himself so Haman says here's what you do if you want to reward somebody give him a nice rope give him a ring problem parading him all around town on the horse and say this is the man and the King says that's a great idea I want you to do that for Mordecai and there's one of those like that the punk light comes out ok are the people the candid camera comes out says no way and Mordecai gets paraded around town by Haman and that's where Haman started to realize he might be in trouble this is where we finished last week if Mordecai this is more this is Haman's wife if Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is of Jewish descent you will not prevail against him but you will surely fall before him that was where we started last week we left last week it turns out that even though it appeared the darkness had won had darkness won was the game over God was just getting warmed up we're gonna learn two lessons here today as we finished up this story here's our first lesson what appears as the end is often only the beginning what appears as the end is often only the beginning appears as the end what appears as the end is often just the start of what God wants to do what would you say to someone who watches a movie goes into a movie theater to our movie walks out up after about an hour and says that movie made no sense the movie didn't wrap-up conclude or anything it just kind of left everything hanging well we say that person oh it said person who reads half a book and says you know what that book made totally no sense whatsoever like nothing was resolved of all the issues person watches half a sitcom half a game show like what what do you say a person who walks out halfway through something and says it doesn't make any sense you would say hey buddy it ain't over yet we're still in the middle of story well I say to you that so many times we do that to God God how do you allow this to happen god this doesn't make any sense God you left me and what God says is the story's not over your life is not over your life wherever it is you are some of us are in Chapter three some of us in chapter 30 I don't know where you are in your life okay but you're somewhere in your life but there's still more chapters to go get to the end of the story and then judge the author get to the end of the movie and then judge the producer but you have no right in the middle of the story if Esther in the middle of the story if the story stopped a week ago we'd walked out and said you know what God doesn't love his people God left Esther darkness truly winds doesn't pay it doesn't pay to be with God really or is it just you haven't gotten to that right chapter yet well today we hit the right chapter the chapter we're all waiting for in life where God shows us what appears as the end is actually often only the beginning and what God does with Esther which he does with so many of his faithful servants is what is what we read about here in Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 when bats have happened to Joseph as you meant evil against me but God meant it for good that's what Joseph said and that's what we're gonna see with Esther is the very thing that the bad guy planned the very end the tool of the enemy that he used to plan to kill you God will turn back around and use it to destroy him and the very thing they were supposed to be meant to be that your destruction lunda being your means of salvation we'll see that today with Esther let's get back to our story all right did our Esther chapter 7 Haman last time had realized that he's going to be in trouble he did the Mordecai thing now we go back to Esther and her dinners so the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther and on the second day the banquet of the at the banquet of wine the King again said to Esther what is your petition Queen Esther and it shall be granted to you what is your request up to half the kingdom it shall be done this is now the second dinner this is the third time he's asked what is it that you want now the waiting is done it's time to act verse 3 then Queen Esther in boldness and strength and courage and faith in God answered and said if I have found favor in your sight O king and if it pleases the King let my petition be given to me let my life be given to me at my petition and my people at my request Kings like what you talking about for we have been sold my people and I to be destroyed to be killed and to be annihilated had we been sold as male and female slaves I would have held my tongue although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss basically what she's saying in that in those two verses right there it's saying like I don't want to bother you mr. King but there's something really bad happening and I'm destined to die look at the king the great man the great king the great powerful ruler so a king has tears answered and said to Queen Esther who is he and where is he who would dare presume it is hard to do such a thing I heard a problem here with this sentence King a she Harris you signed a decree to wipe a people off the face of the earth and then she says I'm destined to die and he's like who like how many of these do you sign you just white people off the earth like left and right like you don't even know who you decreed to be wiped off the earth what kind of King what kind of that's why I said he's a kind of a buffoon but no worries remember the verse that showed you last week buffoons may be here and they may be higher buffoons over them but higher official watches over them all and watch now the highest of high officials step on to the stage walk in the courtroom and he comes with a boom verse six and Esther said the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman boom then Haman was terrified before the king and queen you bet your wife you should be terrified Haman because you big boy are going down next verse verse seven then the king arose and his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden but Haman stood before Queen Esther pleading for his life for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king our buffoon King for the first time in his life discovers that his wife is Jewish really sharp guy k the wife he loves so much he just discovered her entire heritage she's Jewish for the first time in his life here's an invisible hand of God here's a miracle this is a miracle the first time we seen this story Nikita has Harris gets angry and what does he not do he was not signed a decree right away he goes and takes a walk for the first time in his life he breathes he thinks maybe he said a prayer I don't know but he doesn't make a right decision and this is the municipal hand of God because as he's doing that God is making his decision very easy for him next verse Haman is pleading for his life verse 8 when the King returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was pleading for his life then the king said well he also assault the queen of all I am in the house I almost want to say I feel bad for him because this has been a difficult date you know you just have like one of those bad days like I was saying we had the a VE we had the meat like Haman started this day by parading Mordecai around town his absolute worst thing in the whole wide world then he discovered that his plot of genocide also includes the Queen I know how he's gonna be accused of assault on that very same Queen you see the power of waiting like just pause the story for one second you see if Esther had spoken the day before did you see bearsy that waiting is not waiting for grass to grow waiting is waiting for paint to dry waiting is waiting for the caterpillar to become a butterfly God's plan for your life butterfly but it takes a little bit of time got plan for your career God's plan for your marriage God's plan for your life it takes a little bit of time so if you jump and you rush in the oven and plot the cake too early you ruin the cake if you pull the caterpillar Julie you ruin the butterfly God's plan is beautiful in its timing but we have to wait through it sweet verse nine as the word left the king's mouth they covered Heyman's face that's a sign of things to come okay now harbin are one of the eunuchs said to the king look at the gallows fifty cubits high which Haman had made for Mordecai who spoke good on Kings behalf is standing at the house of Haman what the eunuch the servant says hey there's a gallows out there that's what they used to hang people on that Haman built why would Haman build that to kill Mordecai Mordecai who saved my life well this becomes a no-brainer of what happens next then the King said hang him on it so they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai then the King's wrath subsided you see how it works okay minute ago I said the day couldn't get much worse for him and I was wrong okay just just got much worse you see how God works the and actually know the end for Mordecai the gallows no actually Mordecai that's the beginning that's just the start it's the end for that guy Haman is now dead God wins people of God win right story over everyone lives happily ever after right no Haman was just part of the problem but there's a much bigger problem what's the bigger problem that we still haven't solved the decree like Haman is dead but the decree is still in effect that all the Jews get wiped off the face of the planet so this story goes on chapter 8 now on that day King Ahaz he Harris gave Queen Esther the house of Haman because now he had killed in the enemy of the Jews and Mordecai came before the king for Esther had told him how he was related to her so the King took off his signet ring which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman so now Esther is safe and Mordechai is safe everyone lives happily ever after no because the people are still in danger verse 3 now Esther spoke again to the king fell down at his feet and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of him the Agra gate and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews and the King held out the golden scepter towards Esther now here this is why she would read the next verse now I'll explain verse five so Esther arose and stood before the king and said if it pleases the King and if I found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes let it be written to revoke the letters devised by him in the son of Hamid otha the Agra gate which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who were in all the king's provinces for how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen stop right here in the story okay because this seems like yeah King just write a decree or just write saying like okay like my bad like change the law that was gonna wipe them off but there's a problem and for those who study the scriptures and read the Old Testament before you know that the Persian Empire had a rule that said once something was written into law it could never ever be erased we're to go back to the story of another story during this Persian Empire which is the story of Daniel and you've heard the story of Daniel in the lion's den Daniel also lived during the Persian Empire under the King Darius and another wicked person had convinced King Darius to sign a similar decree which said that anyone who prays to any God over the next thirty days should be thrown in the lion's den and what these do is they used to build up the Kings ego okay be like because they thought the king was God so to say like how could anyone pray to anyone except you and just you and worship you so you'd say yeah you know what you're right and he signed the decree little did he know that his right-hand man who was Daniel Daniel was like the right hand of the king was Jewish I would pray to the God of Israel every single day he signed the decree everyone who gets does this goes in the lion's den it's found out that Daniel is praying to the God of Israel so now the king is in a bad situation let's read what it says we're here we can go to Daniel chapter 6 now O King established the decree and sign the writing this is the bad guys who told this to the king so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians which does not alter you'll see that phrase expressed over and over the laws and the Medes and the Persians once it's in writing it cannot be changed or altered verse 14 and the king when he heard these words was greatly displeased with himself meaning when he found out that the king that this the thing he signed was gonna kill his best friend Daniel the king when he heard these words was greatly displeased with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he labored till the going down in the Sun to deliver him so the king the most powerful man in the world wants to save Daniel so this should be like an easy one writes the Kings best friend then these men approached the king and said to the king now O king that is the law of the Medes and the Persians the no decree or statute that the King establishes may be changed 4:16 so the King gave the command and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions watch how serious the law is but the King spoke to Daniel saying your God whom you serve continually he will deliver you then a stone was brought in they laid on the mouth of the den and the King sealed with his own signet ring and with the cygnets of his lords that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed here you have the most powerful man but he can't change the law for his best friend why because that's the way it was once it was in writing that was it let me ask you a question everyone think very hard about this Daniel there's a law that says he goes into the lion's den Daniel's picked up by the bad guys and he's thrown in the lion's den the door sealed and it is sealed shut the king himself says there's nothing I can do to solve this let me ask you a question is there any solution to this problem is there any solution to this problem like the king says nothing I can do the King there's nothing I can do like he's in the lion's den there's the lion the door is shut like okay the solution was maybe the lion like had a broken leg no he didn't ever cook maybe the lion you know was asleep no lines honestly maybe the door would break and he could run out no maybe the Second Coming would come maybe there's your solution no saint coming no broken leg no door broken is there any solution to this problem the answer no but no solution doesn't mean no solution it just means no solution I can see is there a solution for Daniel nope there is no solution the king himself said there's no solution people on the most powerful man in the world there's nothing I can do there's no solution but no solution doesn't mean no solution no solution just means no solution I can see Daniel didn't die in the lines to God found a way shut the mouth of the line no probably easy and what happened for Daniel and that lines den was what was coming to kill him no solution God shut his mouth God picked Daniel okay the next morning the king came and saw that Daniel was still alive Daniel walked out of there and you know got thrown in there the people who threw Daniel it so the very same end of the road became the beginning for Daniel in the end for the bad guys this is the same way that like I said Moses when he ran into this red seat and that was the end for Moses there's no solution need no boats there's no helicopter hovercraft still too early there's no solution but just because there's no solution just means there's no solution that I can see because what God does is he parts the sea you go through bad guy go in bad guy die the thing that was meant to kill you saved your life same thing with Joseph in a well Joseph's brothers threw him in the well no solution for you Joseph no solution that you can see here's the solution you're trying to kill me well God used this well to make me the second man and all the land to Egypt and now you are the ones who gonna come and serve me see how God words no solution doesn't mean no solution just means no solution I can see I wanted right now like if I had my way I'm gonna bring you some verses from the Bible I had like 30 okay but I limited myself to four but I could have put 30 up here and we spent the rest of the ages reading Bible verses because if you don't read the Bible this is again this is why we need to read the Bible to see what the Bible says because the Bible says no solution done mean no solution fees in 320 now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think above all that we can possibly imagine according to the power of the works in us so you think this is the best solution maybe this was made God is not even on the same planet as you when it comes to thinking solutions that's what Isaiah says another next verse I say maybe not our next piece we'll get through him second because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men all right it's first Corinthians 1:25 there's an isaiah one in there somewhere no I missed the Isaiah one it's in your handout isn't your handout look at Hannah's there Isaiah 55 9 first the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways my thoughts and your ways you're not thoughts or not my thoughts your ways are not my ways all right you think this is the best solution you think if I'm the King I'll do this you think if I'm the greatest I'll do this I and all that kind of stuff because right here my foolishness me and my dumbest least creative day me and my like ah day I'm lightyears ahead of where you are on your smartest Albert Einstein want to be like father Anthony kind of smart dick first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 I has not seen ear has not heard nor is entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him like it even close ain't even close and I could have kept going oh the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God how his ways our past judgments past finding out his ways unsearchable we can keep on going but I just leave you right there Daniel didn't die in the lion's den Esther will not die in this story because even though there is no visible hope there's invisible hope and just between me and you the invisible hope that's the one I'm gonna lean on I'd rather stake my life on the invisible hope than the visible one any day any time let's go back to our story Esther chapter 8 verse 7 then King Ahaz your hair is said to Queen Esther and Mordecai that Jew indeed I've given s to the house of Haman and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews you yourselves write a decree ah King Ahaz Harris the dumbest guy in historic comes up with an idea the dumbest guy comes up with an idea you yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews as you please in the King's name and seal with the Kings signet ring for whatever is written in the King's name and sealed with the Kings signet ring no one can revoke so wait a minute wait am I waiting my way King what's your idea well I can't erase this decree we see I'm the king and I can write whatever decree I want and in fact the only thing I know how to do in life is write the crease that's like the only thing I do like it's someone like rubs me the wrong way I write a decree against them so how about I write another decree and I'm not really that smart and I killed all the people around me who were my advisers so won't you write it I'll say invisible hand of God don't take just nobody take this personal a woman given the power to write a decree for the Persian Empire back then that's invisible hand of God and that's basically what the King says verse 9 so the king scribes are called at that time in the third month as they were and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews the sat traps the governors the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia 127 provinces and all to every province in its own script every people in their own language and to the Jews in their own script and language what did it say next verse by these letters the King permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives to destroy kill and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them both little children and women and to plunder their possessions and on one day and all the provinces of King Ahasuerus on the 13th day of the 12th month so the edict the decree was that you can defend yourselves say okay what's mind-blowing about that remember who are the Jews in the Persian Empire they're slaves a slave even if he's attacked cannot fight back so they are given permission even though y'all are second-class citizens I will give you permission this day that if you kill any of my people that you will not be punished for that you are allowed to say okay but wait a minute but still like Persian Empire versus slave nation look at the next chapter chapter 9 now it makes sense now in the 12th month that is in the month of Adar on the thirteenth day the time came for the king's command and his decree to be executed on the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them the opposite occurred and that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them so on the day that these guys are supposed to attack the King said you guys can fight back but how is this nation gonna fight back this slave nation against his powerful army well the first thing it says is is they won how did they win let's keep reading the Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm and no one could withstand them because fear of them fell upon all people and the officials of the provinces the sat chaps the governors and all those doing the kids work King's work helped the Jews because the fear Mordecai fell upon them ah see how that works y'all catch that here we are a slave nation and we're given permission to fight back but how are we gonna fight back they're big and they're strong and we're weak how about we help you the King Kings officials military army came to support the Jewish slave nation against their own people and that's why the good guys won this day first four and five so for Mordecai was great in the king's palace and his fame spread throughout all the provinces for this man Mordecai became increasingly prominent best the Jews defeated all their enemies with a stroke of the sword with slaughter and destruction and did what they pleased with those who hated them the same hand that wrote the death sentence same hand wrote a decree to cause his armies to defend the very people that he decreed to die just one question just one question who thinks of this stuff like this is Hollywood this is no like if you were to see this as a movie you'd say oh there's no way we would believe that no one would believe that there's no way that could happen who thinks of that answer God see how great our God is how great our God is good guys win wipe out all the bad guys Mordecai we're gonna fast-forward to the very end right now Mordecai after this great victory declares a day of celebration and it's a day of celebration that they celebrated that day and to all generations actually to this day still the Hebrews the Jewish nation celebrate a certain feast and as it's based on this alright the only thing that was left was they had to give a name to this feast and I want to read three verses that tell us how they named his feet what would you name the feast what would you name the feast of when your nation was delivered and his great joy came let's read one says verse 23 so the Jews accepted the custom which they had which had begun as Mordecai had written to them the custom of celebrating because Haman the enemy of all the Jews had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them and cast poor that is the lot okay remember that that was back in chapter 2 I want to say I remember exactly what chapter when Haman cast the poor's can't think of it like dice and he said I want to kill all the Jews what month should I do it on so he would roll the poor okay and lucky sevens no that didn't come up so the second month the third month and he kept rolled and finally the lot came on the 12th month so the poor pyou are capital P is the dice or the lot casting had cast the poor to consume destroy them but when Esther came before the King had commanded that he commanded by letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head watch now so they called these days for him after the name pork they called it for him they named it after the lot question has anyone ever heard of a boll weevil I never heard of a boll weevil okay some people actually have okay are you people who raised your hands from the south no let myself but don't know the movie okay the boll weevil is a two-inch beetle on the ugliest things you'll see on the planet you're ugly they're nasty and they are destructive if you live in the south and you're a cotton farmer they feed on cotton and when boll weevil kind of like the locusts when they invade they kind of wipe everything out when it comes to the cotton stuff boll weevil became famous in a city called enterprise Alabama and we some people from Alabama okay anywhere to enterprise Alabama right y'all can look me up on this one I found on Wikipedia so it's true city called enterprise Alabama loves the bull weave it is their mascot for this city the boll weevil is like they have statues around town for the boll weevil you say that's kind of weird cuz it's an ugly bug you know same it's even more weird about it is enterprise Alabama used to be a very strong cotton town that was their number one product until the boll weevil came and one year in the late 1800s when they were expecting what's called a bumper crop which means a big harvest and they are expecting a ton of cotton this year all the conditions are right the boll weevil rolled in the town and destroyed the entire crop wiped him out like I said like the locusts destroy the economy and threatened to destroy the entire town of enterprise Alabama so why is it they love the boll weevil so much because the people of enterprise Alabama were very resilient and they when the cotton cropped had gotten wiped out they didn't give up they started planting new things and started planting tobacco they learned how to plant peanuts a whole bunch of other stuff and they ended up picking up the pieces and the economy which had been destroyed was not only restored but was actually made better because now especially when the boll we were left for the following year and cotton came back now they had diversified their agricultural economy and now they were not solely reliant on just one kind of product but now they had learned to farm different things that's why you thought I was joking if you go into the middle of enterprise Alabama you'll find a statue a monument to the boll weevil can I read you what one person from the city of boll weevil who tells his story what he wrote he said all things work together for good to the Christian all things work together for good to the Christian even our boll weevil experiences listen what he says this is powerful sometimes we settle into a humdrum routine as monotonous as growing cotton year after year then God sends the boll weevil he jolts us out of our groove when he must find new ways to live financial distress great relieve Minh physical infirmity loss of position how many have been driven by trouble to be better husbandmen and to bring forth far finer fruit from their souls listen carefully to a farmer who lost everything from the boll weevil the best thing that ever happened to some of us was the coming of our boll weevil without that we might still be a cotton sharecropper and outside of this statue in case you don't believe me stands this - the boll weevil Monument December 11th 1919 is when they built it in profound appreciation of the boll weevil and what it has done to the herald of prosperity this monument was erected by the citizen of enterprise Coffee County element coffee county in law I believe that we all have boll weevil experiences in life we all have the worst thing ever at the worst time ever delivered by the worst person ever all of us we go through experiences in life where we say not now why now what do you think in God the worst time and what we probably said at the time is my life is ruined this thing has destroyed my life some of us may be saying it right now but ask yourself did your life end when that happened can you think back to a time where your life was quote over where you hid the dead-end where there was no solution and can you look back on it today and say well maybe there was a solution maybe it wasn't over the way I thought it was I bet you this and I'm taking my life in my hands as I say this cuz I know there's some people here I've gone through some serious stuff I say this to people all the time and I hate saying it cuz I don't like saying it but it's true so I say I would bet you this could oftentimes the worst thing that ever happened to you turns out to be the turning point of your life it was for these citizens of enterprise Alabama it was for Esther Esther had no hope she reached the point of death the lot had been cast the decree had been signed her life was over but invisible hand of God I think Esther would say her boll weevil worst thing ever best thing ever because that's how God works as we wrap up this series I told you all in the start that it ends happy so there should have been no suspense right here you shouldn't be surprised that the good guys won this story I told you Esther's not gonna die and we said it from the start but what I hope what I hope is that we learned a few lessons from this I hope we learned that no solution doesn't mean no solutions means no solution I can see I hope we learn that the end what appears to be the end is oftentimes only the beginning and as we go back to their circumstances of our own lives as we kind of like now exit like we kind of clap for s turn back to our real life like the show is over now and the play is done and now it's like back to my circumstances my miserable life my lazy husband okay my nagging wife my illness that I can't shake my financial whatever my my-my-my as we go back into that we don't go back the same way we go back with a renewed sense of trust in God that God often times takes death and turns it to life takes dead-end makes it just the beginning it takes no hope it makes it a cause for celebration for generations to come oh yeah if I'm not mistaken one time he did that pretty famously right took death and be made it into life Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 the through death he meaning Christ might destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil and released those through fear of death who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage you see there was a time where death reigned over all of us and the devil had this weapon in his hand called death and no body could defeat it nobody could defeat it Moses tried couldn't do it Daniel tribe couldn't do it date like nobody could defeat this thing called death and then Jesus came into the picture and Jesus took death head-on and death was a bad word before but now death is not a bad word death is no more bad word for us and we like Esther we celebrate the day of death we celebrated Esther celebrates a feast called poram what's poor him poor means the day we were destined to die we have a daily a yearly celebration called the day we were destined to die and we do too in the Christian Church as well it's called Good Friday the crucifixion and we hold the cross up in pride we tattoo it we're wearing around our necks we make the sign of it all the time we are proud of what was our death sentence it is through death that we find life just a great song I went to this conference back in October no make I went to a conference in May and I heard a song and ever since I heard this song I listened to it all the time I don't listen to music but I like just listen to this I go find it on YouTube I listen to this song all the time it is the best song and a whole wide problem at the time I heard of the conference I didn't like it because I just felt it was too loud okay because whatever I'm like the old guy like turn it down look that's me but then I heard it nicely it's a song called death was arrested you should go listen to the song when you go home one of the lines in it the whole point of the song is about how there was this thing called death it was defeating us and then Jesus came and handicapped her and I handcuffed to what I keep saying handcuffed death and he took it and put it as a prisoner and I'm gonna bring you just one line and put it on your handout as well it touches my heart so much and is the story of Esther it says I won't sing it I'll just read it says our Savior displayed on a criminal's cross darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost but then Jesus arose with our freedom in hand that's when death was arrested and my life began why I love this so much when you go looking for on the YouTube there's one that's like live well I don't really that good band is like inside out or something like that when they're singing the song they sing those first two lines darkness for joist as though Heaven had lost and then they shut all the lights and it's silence for like a minute maybe I meant maybe five seconds but you know I'm just dead silence lights go off dead silence and then BOOM to come back with the Jesus rose now I like that so much cuz I think so many of us are in that moment of silence right now and so many of us can relate to that moment of silence where truly it appears that our Savior even God himself has been killed our Savior on a cross darkness wins but I'm telling you it comes back every time every time I read the story of the crucifixion he rises on the third day every single time I've seen the movie every time never once that he stays and never wants the people of God stay with no hope you who hold the stars in the palm of your hand you who take care of every sparrow and every bird and every flower and every everything Lord you hold up as the crown hold us up as the crown of your creation and say that you will never leave us or forsake us you'll always be with this Lord and I pray that through our study of Esther that we'd remember this lesson that you are with us always and you'd help us to trust and you give us the courage and the and the faithfulness to stay close to you Lord and to never get ahead of you to wait when you want us to wait to act when you want us to act but build our faith and our trust in you lord and continue Lord to work your invisible hand in our lives open our eyes Lord to see the wonderful things that you're doing day in and day out in US and around us and never let us to be blind people who complain and just don't see your work in this world we pray these things in the mighty name of your son and with the prayers of all of your saints here says 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 the evil one in Christ Jesus our Lord for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen

Channel: STSA Church

Views: 3,384

Rating: 4.8139534 out of 5

Keywords: The Well at STSA, Orthodox, Sermon, Esther, The Invisible Hand of God, Christianity, Orthodoxy, Orthodox Christianity, Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic, Fr. Anthony Messeh, Abouna Anthony Messeh, Sts. Timothy and Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Mission Church, The Well, God, Jesus

Id: BXl00o_EA6Q

Length: 51min 22sec (3082 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 27 2017