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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Providence. Here's part 1 of this message series. God's method in our madness. God's method in our madness. Esther is the book that we're gonna go to because when0:12 it comes to the Bible's books, there is 1 book that totally encapsulates this idea that God is ultimately in charge0:24 in spite of all the crazy that we see around us, and that book is the book of Esther. Now 13 years ago no. No. No. 14 years ago, I preached on this book, and I0:36 referenced some of my notes from back then. And I remember that when I was teaching this book 14 years ago, that I read through the first, oh, 2 and a half chapters,0:48 and I got done and I said to myself, what in the world am I supposed to tell God's people from this text? It was it was that it was 1 of the worst1:00 study weeks. I remember it to this day. It was 1 of the worst sermon preparation weeks of my life because this opening to this book is just1:12 that crazy. Okay. So I wanna read 1 section. We will be covering chapters 1 and 2 throughout this message, but I wanna read 1 section together because we do this every week. We stand for the reading of God's word. So1:23 would you stand with me at every location? Stand for the reading of God's word. Just 1 portion of the book of Esther, chapter 2 actually, and we're gonna read just this this key turn of events in this ancient kingdom of1:35 Persia. Here's verse 1. It says, after these things, when the anger of king Ahasuerces had abated let me just call him king Xerxes because it's easier to say Xerxes than I think I just butchered it as1:46 Aharasuerus. I can't say that enough, very clearly. So let's just call him king Xerxes, the Greek name. So after these things, when the anger of king Xerxes had abated, he remembered Vashti, that was his1:58 queen, and what he had done to her and decreed against her. Then the king's young men who attended him said, let beautiful virgins be sought out2:10 for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful virgins to the harem and Zeus of the citadel under the custody of Haggai, the king's eunuch, who2:22 is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given to them, and let the young women woman and let the young woman, singular, who pleases the king2:34 be queen instead of Vashti. This pleased the king. Of course, it did, and he did so. This is amazingly God's2:46 word. Let's pray. Father in heaven, speak through this text over our year, over the beginning of a brand new year, a year that I2:57 know and I believe everybody is already anticipating is gonna be filled with craziness, is gonna be filled with political pandering, and power plays, and all kinds of paranoia. But3:09 in the midst of it, father, I pray that we will learn in the first month of this year that you are in charge.3:22 Help us to see Jesus, him and him only. In his mighty name we pray. And everybody said? Amen. God bless you. As you know, have a seat in the presence of the Lord and in the3:34 presence of each other. Let's talk about providence. I looked up the word providence in some dictionaries. Now I'm gonna reference some Bible dictionaries. And and here are some of the Bible dictionaries. This I'm gonna3:44 give you a definition in just a moment, but here's what some Bible dictionaries define providence as. What is it? 1 1 Bible dictionary said, the continuing and often unseen activity of God in sustaining the3:55 universe, providing for the needs of every creature and preparing for the completion of its of his eternal purposes. I like that 1. Here was another 1. God's activity throughout history and providing for the needs of4:06 human beings, especially those who follow him in faith. I like that 1 too. But I came up with my own definition, and here's what I wanna use as a working definition for this whole series. Alright. Providence is, write4:17 this down, the soul satisfying truth that God is working no matter what the world is doing. God is working4:30 no matter what the world is doing, and it is so satisfying for God's people. And Esther is exhibit a4:42 of this reality that though your world seems crazy, God is still in control. Where are we in the Bible? Well, if you look at my Bible here4:54 on stage, you will see that I am about halfway through the book, halfway through the Bible. That's where Esther is. This is by design. Because what it is showing us is where in5:06 history Esther's events happen. Here's where it happens. It happens about the halfway point of Israel's history according to the Old Testament. Israel is the nation that God rescues out of5:17 Egypt in Exodus with signs, wonders, miracles, and then they get this kingdom, and it's given to them by God. And it's a prosperous land, the promised land, and they get a king, his name is David, and David exalts the5:29 nation and defeats all their enemies. And then they get another king, Solomon, and Solomon brings wealth and prosperity to the whole nation. And then slowly, they devolve into this horrible, idolatrous, terrible culture.5:41 And before you know it, the God who saved them from from Egypt is now handing them over to the Babylonians, and they go into exile in a famous date in history5:53 in BC 5 86. They go into exile. They are they are stripped out of their land. They are handed over to their enemies, and they are subjugated once6:04 again as God disciplines them and shows them that if you abandon me, if you forget the 1 who made you and created you, it's not gonna go well for you. And that's where we6:16 are. Now we're about, I would say, 100 years after that event, 4 86 BC. Now here's what's happened since then. There was a king named Cyrus on the throne6:28 of Persia, the nation that we're talking about in Esther, And he said years earlier that the Jews could go back and rebuild their their country. They could rebuild their city, Jerusalem. They could rebuild the walls and6:40 their temple. This was an amazing opportunity. And many of them went back, and many of them went were were dying to get out of exile. So they they went back with joy in their hearts, and they started to build the temple6:49 and and rebuild their life. And I wonder who's here at at Waters Church this morning or or this evening, and you're saying, man, I am here to rebuild my life. 20 23 was horrible. I am here to rebuild my life. I want God7:01 in my life. Okay, well, guess what we're talking about today? We're talking about the people who didn't go back. No, no, no. Like I said, this is 100 years later. Some Jews went back and some stayed in7:12 Persia and the story of Esther is gonna focus on 2 of those Jews who said, Yeah, I'm good, I'm fine with being here.7:25 And that's kind of ironic because Persia is not the place you want to be if you're a God fearing Jew, it's not. Let me give you some historical facts about Persia that are not in the7:36 Bible. Okay, here's some historical facts. I never even knew this, I looked this up this week. Did you know that Persia was the first nation to invent irrigation? If you water your lawn, you can7:48 thank the ancient Persians. Persia was the empire that first developed, check this out, a a empire wide postal system. If you've ever8:00 mailed something, you can thank the Persians. Persia was the nation that developed some of the initial science. This is so phenomenal. The initial science that in8:12 that that we use to this day to refrigerate our food. That comes from ancient Persia. Now they didn't have electricity, but they they, you know, designed things on how to refrigerate and8:24 preserve their food. They had the first, empire wide banking system. Their architecture is still in use across the world, and museums8:35 all around the entire world hold significant artifacts from ancient Persia to this day. In fact, some of Persia's architecture8:47 is still studied and replicated by modern architects in our time. What I'm first trying to tell you is that this was an impressive empire.9:00 But when you read about it in God's word, and and this is this is a fact about the Bible, a fact about God, that ultimately, God has the9:11 final say on what a nation is or what a person is. You can have the praise, you can have the degrees, you can have the9:23 prominence of your society, but can I tell you that it really doesn't matter what your society or your family or other people think about you? What matters is what God says about you. It doesn't matter what we think9:33 about America. It matters about what God thinks about America. It doesn't matter what you think about your neighborhood. It matters what God is saying about your neighborhood. And so when we approach the Bible and we we9:43 see Persia on the pages of Esther, we find that this very impressive, at the time, largest empire dominating 500000009:54 people in the ancient world is literally a crazy house, animal farm. That is what it is. 3 biblical10:06 facts about Persia. This is what the scripture's gonna show us. Number 1, write it down. It's a culture of pride. It's a culture of pride. Now let let's let's look at the text, and please bear with me as10:18 we read a lot of text today. In verse 1 of the of the book, it says and I'm reading from the New Living Translation because it's much easier to read. It says, these events happened in the days of King Xerxes. And look at10:29 the look at his resume. He reigned over 127 provinces, stretching from India to Ethiopia. Now Ethiopia is modern day Libya. So from India, Asia, all the way to Libya. At10:41 that time, Xerxes ruled his empire from his royal throne in the fortress of Susa. In the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. He invited all the military officers of Persia and10:51 media, as well as the princes and nobles of the provinces. The celebration, check this out, some of you are gonna like party animals, you're gonna love this. The celebration lasted for 180 days. That is a 6 month11:02 party. A tremendous display, the Bible says, of the opulent wealth of his empire, and the pomp and splendor of his majesty. Man, that is just pride, pride, pride,11:14 pride, pride, pride, pride. 6 months of partying to just celebrate himself. Man, that is what is happening in our world, isn't it? Celebrate you. Look at you. You're awesome. Instagram it. TikTok11:26 it. Post it. Like it. Follow it. Click it. You know what I'm saying? This is our world. This is what this is what ancient Persia was about. Verse 5. Now after the 6 month party for everybody, there was an after party for11:37 the insiders. This is kinda like the after party of the Oscars. Right? Here's what it says in verse 5. When it was all over, the king gave a banquet for all the people from the greatest to the least who were in the11:45 fortress of Susa. That's the inside clan. That's the capital city in Pan Am in the Hunger Games trilogy. And it says it lasted for 7 days and was held in the courtyard of the palace garden. Persia was known11:57 like Babylon for ancient gardens that were so impressive that people were just in awe of it. And and so Xerxes is not done partying. He wants to have an after party for 7 more days with his homies, with his people inside12:08 people. And so this is what happens. And then we get even more details, and this is just it just continues in verse 6. And it says, the courtyard was beautifully decorated with white cotton curtains and blue hangings,12:17 which was fastened with white cores and purple rizards to silver rings embedded in marble pillars. Gold and silver couches stood on a pavement, mosaic pavement of puffery, marble, mother of pearl, and other12:29 costly stones. Drinks were served in gold goblets of many designs, and there was an abundance of royal wine reflecting the king's generosity. This this is crazy. Okay.12:41 It is just party central, celebrate Xerxes central. It is a nation in love with self. And while12:53 Xerxes is having his party over in the in the sorority house, queen Vashti, verse 9 says, at the same time, she was giving a banquet for the women13:05 in the royal palace of Xerxes. Okay. A commentator that I read about this book said this, when you read Esther, it reads unlike any other book of the Bible. Because13:17 here's what Esther does that no other book of the Bible does. What Esther does is it it shows you, it doesn't tell you. It's not didactic. It's not saying,13:29 okay, here's how to please God, and here's what not to do to to here's what not to do to please God. It it doesn't do that. In fact, there's not a single command in the whole Bible about about God. In fact, God, this is13:41 crazy about Esther, are you ready for this? God is not even mentioned in the entire book. And and and Xerxes is mentioned 157 times. And on all by all accounts, on13:53 the surface of the book, it looks like Xerxes is absolutely in control and God is out of the picture. But by the time you get to the end of the book, it is patently clear that God has been14:05 working in unseen ways through the whole event, through all the crazy. Okay. And and and so you've got to read this book. The book14:16 is asking you to enter into this ancient world, this impressive world dominating empire, and and see underneath the surface, and see, peel back the layers,14:28 open the doors to the private bedrooms of this crazy crazy and corrupt empire and realize, as the Bible always14:39 says, that things are not what they seem. It's a culture of pride. Okay, number 2, it's ruled by14:50 pleasure. Write that down. Persia is ruled by pleasure. By the way, so far we're 2 points in, does this sound familiar? If it sounds familiar, can I get a good amen?15:03 K. Thank you. It's ruled by pleasure. Here's here's what it says in verse 8. This is so crazy for 1 simple reason. It says, by edict of the king. This is a royal decree.15:15 This is a law that the king lay lay down. What's the king putting a law down? We're gonna we're gonna fix our rows. We're we're we're gonna we're gonna take care of our, you know, handicap people. No. We're gonna15:27 make sure that people have equal rights. We're gonna make sure that people have dignity. No. No. No. Here's the rule. Here's the law. Okay? It says, no limits were placed on the drinking for the king had15:39 instructed all his palace officials to serve each man as as much as he wanted, as much as he wanted. Say those words with me on the count of 3. 1, 2, 3. As much as he wanted. This is the law15:52 of Persia. Have as much as you want. If it feels good, do it.16:04 YOLO, baby. Come on. Let's party. Oh, we're gonna have a party. Then after party, we're gonna have after party, and we're gonna drink and drink and drink, and we're gonna get, we're gonna get high, and we're gonna16:12 toasted and roasted, we're gonna have a whole bunch of fun, and then afterwards we're gonna go out, we're gonna cause mayhem in the streets, we're gonna steal a street sign, we're gonna spray paint a building, we're16:22 gonna come home, we're gonna talk about how cool that wild night was. This is ancient Persia. This is the most impressive empire on the face of the earth at that time.16:35 And instead of bringing human rights and dignity and sobriety to the people, it's dominated. It's ruled by scratching the16:46 internal lustful itch of mankind. Whoo. Sounds familiar. Okay. The third one's really gonna sound familiar. Are you ready for this? Number 3, it's dominated by16:58 the pea brain. Now I'm big for alliteration, so I had to find a p word that was a synonym for stupid people, and this is the 1 that17:11 I could find. It's dominated by the p brained. Now this is not on the notes, and it's not in the screen, but I'm going to read from the Bible verse 10. And if you have a Bible open by the way,17:23 good New Year's resolution. Bring your Bible to church. Amen. Okay. Esther 1 verse 10 says, on the seventh day, this is his after party, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he's drunk, he commanded17:35 Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Biktha, Abagtha, Zithar, and Carcas, the 7 eunuchs who served in the presence of the king, to bring queen17:46 Vashti before the king with her royal crown on in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. So this guy has a gorgeous wife, a gorgeous queen, and he's drunk, and17:58 he's hanging with his dudes, he's hanging with his fellas, and that's never a good combination. And so he says, okay, guys, look, you you think you guys have hot wives? Check out my queen. And he's like,18:10 hey, middle man, go get me my wife. Tell her to come here. We're the royal guy. I wanna show everybody how beautiful she is. And there are some commentators who believe that the text is pretty clear that when he18:22 says wearing the royal crown, she was to wear the royal crown and only the royal crown. So this is a little bit of a porn show. He is literally18:34 pawning out his wife. Well, ladies, what would you do? Queen Vashti does the right thing. Actually, mad respect for queen Vashti. Look what verse 12 says. But when they conveyed the king's order to queen18:46 Vashti, she refused to come. This made the king furious, and he burned with with anger. Okay. This is this is Persia. This is the most important18:58 people on the planet at the time. And it is quickly as the scripture pulls back pulls back the curtain from the facade of all of his power, pop, and19:09 ceremony, you're seeing a culture of craziness. Let me summarize what goes down from here. Vashti says, no. I'm not coming to be your showpiece wife. I'm19:21 not a trophy wife. I'm queen of the kingdom. That and Xerxes is ticked off. He's like, oh my god. And the bible says that he confers with his advisers. He said, what? And this is the first19:33 line of dialogue in the book. The first line of dialogue in the book is, what can I do by law to punish Vashti for not coming and showing off her19:45 beauty for my drunken friends? You see, Esther is showing us more than telling us. And so this again is not on the screen, but it says, Mehuman19:56 answered the king. Now listen to the advice that he gets from his from his friends. He says, queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but also every noble and citizen throughout your empire. Listen to this, guys.20:08 Every woman everywhere will begin to despise their husbands when they learn that queen Vajrayti has refused to appear before the king. Before this day is out, the wives of all the king's noble20:20 throughout Persia and Media will hear what the king did and will start treating their husbands the same way. There will be no end to their contempt and anger. And then it gets even crazier. It20:32 says, let there be an issued royal decree that Vashti, and I'm summarizing, Vashti is to be deposed as queen and that the king is going to ban her forever from his20:43 presence, and then he's gonna go find himself a new, hotter, and of course, younger wife to replace her,20:56 and this is Persia. And here here is the last verse of chapter 1. This is the Bible. Okay? And21:08 it says this. Verse 22. He sent letters to all parts of the empire, to each province in its own script and language, proclaimed. This is a royal edict. This is a21:19 presidential speech. This is an Oval Office speech. This is you know, the king is talking. Listen up, everybody. And here's what he has to say. The21:31 proclamation was that every man should be ruler of his own home and should say whatever he pleases.21:45 Things are not always as they seem, and this is the crazy world. This is the nuthouse that is leading the world21:58 in the time of Esther. I wonder who here looks at your world and says, God can't possibly be involved in this mess.22:10 By the way, it gets even linear because they come up with an idea in chapter 2. This is not on the screen as well. But the the idea in chapter 2 is, verse 1, if you got your bible, it22:22 says, after his anger had had subsided, he began to get lonely, and he began to think about what he did to Vashti. And he can't go back on his word, and he's got no wife. And so his advisers come to him again, and he22:33 says, okay. Here's what we got, and we've read this. Let's let's look for a girl to replace her, and we'll bring all the beautiful virgins in from the kingdom, and then you can watch them. And there's gonna be a a talent22:43 competition and a swimsuit competition and an eating down competition, and you are the only judge, queen, King Xerxes, and you're gonna get to pick. You will hand 122:55 final rose to the girl of your choice. This is the these are this is the ruling class. This is the23:07 inside the Beltway, Washington DC insiders of ancient Persia. And the and the again, Esther is showing us, not telling us, and here's what it's showing us.23:19 The book opens with this amazing display of pageantry and power and prestige and pomp and and how Xerxes and Persia is ruling23:31 the world and everybody is there to celebrate how great this kingdom is. And it quickly devolves into an episode of The Real Housewives of Persia and the first23:43 season of Bachelor in ancient Persia. That's what we got here. Here's some truth. Are you ready? Here's some truth.23:56 It's a joke. It's a comedy because it's a country ruled by pride, by24:08 pleasure, and by pea brained people, and it is a lesson for every single person. It looks so impressive,24:20 but it's just a joke waiting to happen. Ladies and gentlemen, let me get a little bit more personal. Do you know what America is? For all of our power,24:32 for all of our opportunities to have pleasure, for all of our you know, calling ourselves the greatest country on the on the face of the earth, we are a nation of pride, we are24:44 ruled by pleasure, and we are dominated by the pea brained. When you consider that the best that we have to offer you to rule this country is a pre dementia24:56 82 year old man or a New York narcissistic playboy billionaire. Those are our choice and we can't seem to let them go. We can't seem to let them go. I mean, it's like25:08 we're asking to become a comedy for the rest of the world to watch as we devolve just like ancient Persia. And let me get a little bit more personal to25:19 everybody listening to me at every location. If your life is dominated by pride, is ruled by pleasure, you are pea25:31 brained, and you are a joke waiting to happen. Your your life needs the Lord. You know what you need in 2025:42 24? You you might need physically a new diet and exercise, but here's what you really need. You need the Lord to lead you. You need to put your feet on solid25:54 ground because my my Bible the old song, not by Bible. The old song says, all other ground is shifting sand, but on Christ, the solid rock, I stand. He's the 126:07 who will keep you strong in the midst of a crazy perverse culture, and he will guide you through it all. So that's the setting for this story. That's the26:18 setting for this series, ancient Persia, a joke waiting to happen. And we can derive 3 points about God's providence, and then we're done. Number 1, write this down. God's providence26:30 can and will operate in imperfect environments. Because I think I'm talking to somebody today who you look at your family and you say, there's no way God can do anything with his family. Wrong. Yes, he26:42 can. Or I'm talking to somebody who and you look at, I don't know, your small group, and you think, it's a mess, and I got all these people, and they're just always fighting and bickering, God can't work. Yes. He can.26:54 Or you're you're looking at your country. You're looking at this nation, and you're saying, the Lord has left the building. There's no hope. We're done. We're finished. It's over. No. No. No, friend. Come on back.27:06 Come on back. Because even if America goes the way of every other ancient empire, can I tell you? Can I remind you that God's people27:18 endure? Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And gates are a27:29 defensive structure, not an offensive structure. It's not that the gates of hell are gonna attack the church. Gates don't attack. Gates protect. And so what Jesus is saying is that as the world rises and falls and empire27:41 takes over empire and kings are just deposed by other kings and presidents are voted out and voted in, and all these things happen, the shifts of power happen in the halls of of America's, you know,27:52 leading institutions know this, that the church of Jesus Christ is gonna grow and expand and take more territory in every28:04 generation. And that's my hope for you in 20 24 that you will know that God can and will operate in your imperfect environment. Write28:16 it down in another way for me because I just this was in my heart, and I got a pastoral burden for you. Write this down. God is still working in spite of the crazy in your world. He is.28:28 If he can work in ancient Persia, he can work in your living room. He can work in your office building. He can work wherever his28:40 people are. Point number 2, God's providence can and will operate through imperfect people. So you have imperfect environments in28:51 Persia, and then you have imperfect people. And, again, I I told you that the drama of this story centers on 2 Jews, Mordecai29:03 and Esther. They're cousins, but 1 is probably significantly older than the other because Mordecai actually adopts Esther into his house after her parents die. And I want I29:15 I can't overstate this. These are these are Jews who decided to stay behind in Persia as 50000 of29:27 their fellow Jews ran for their life back to Jerusalem to go rebuild the promised land. They they knew they were devoted. They knew God called them to that land, not this land, not this29:39 crazy Persian culture. They ran for they got back Ezra led them, and Nehemiah led them, and Zerubbabel, and Joshua led them back, and they were busy already by edict of Xerxes' grandfather to29:51 rebuild their temple and rebuild the walls and rebuild their society and bring back their nation from from from oblivion. But the ones in our story30:03 that are focused on, ladies and gentlemen, are 2 people who didn't go back. Mordecai. Scripture says in verse 2,30:15 verse 5 of chapter 2, there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jarrah, the son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite. Okay.30:26 Couple things in the text that you don't see maybe on the surface, which is he he's a he's a descendant of Kish. Do you know who else came from Kish? Saul. He's a Benjaminite. Now in the30:38 ancient warfare between the tribes as to in Israel, who was gonna dominate which tribe, it was Benjamin at first with king Saul, but then ultimately, it was is the tribe of Judah and king David who dominated overthrew.30:50 And 1 of the people, by the way, who who mocked and ridiculed David as he took the throne was Shimei, 1 of the sons of of King Saul, and31:01 so this is Mordecai's heritage. He comes from the tribe that lost the throne, and and so here's what I thought about the text,31:15 that Mordecai, maybe he stayed in Persia because he had a good thing going, and he wasn't from David's royal tribe, and maybe he had a good31:26 job, and he had benefits, and he had a pension and he thought to himself, yeah, no, that's not for me. I'm not going I'm not going back to rebuild. I got a nice house, I got31:38 a I got a duplex, it's a brownstone, it's got 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. I mean, you can't even find that anymore, the the the real estate values have gone so high. I mean, maybe that's maybe that's what he is, but what I'm31:49 trying to tell you is this guy is not this guy is not a Joshua. He's not a David. He's not a Moses. He's not a Nehemiah. He's32:01 a guy who kind of goes with the flow a little bit, and yet God uses him. And this maybe is the best news someone needs to hear32:13 in 20 24. You're not the loud, outspoken Christian who always makes his faith known to everybody. You're not a Daniel.32:25 You're a Mordecai. You got a good job, you got a good thing going, you got a good business, and yes, faith and Jesus are very important to you, but you're not the guy who's gonna break through the wall and lead32:37 God's people out of Egypt. You're the guy who's gonna just kind of silently do his business and be upstanding and honorable and kind of just live32:48 amongst the crazy. Can I tell you something today? Can I tell you in 20 24, God can and will work through you?33:01 And, the second person in the story is Esther, his cousin. Verse 8 verse 8 of chapter 2. So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed what order and edict? This is the order33:13 this was the the casting call for the bachelor, the casting call for the pageant, the beauty queen pageant, miss miss Persia. Okay. So when this happened,33:25 when many young women were gathered in Susa, the citadel, in custody of Haggai, Esther was also taken into the king's palace and put in custody who had charge of Haggai, who had charge of the women. Now now the headline33:36 of Esther's life is 1 word, beauty. She's gorgeous. She's she's a hottie. And yet the truth is, and I I want I want33:48 you to go with me into the text, guys, because we're invited to see. We're not told what to know or believe in this book. And I wanna ask every mom and dad listening to me right34:00 now, if Esther was your daughter or adoptive daughter, as she is for Mordecai, would you be okay with this?34:11 Answer, no. No parent in the right mind. Now you can read the text yourself, because it's crazy. They got to go through 12 months of beauty treatments. They gotta have34:23 all the things done to them. And then what happens is, here's how the pageant goes down. There's there's no, you know, evening gown competition and bikini competition and talent competition. No. There's just 134:35 competition. Each 1 of these girls goes for 1 night to sleep with the king, and in the morning goes back to the harem, and then he picks.34:47 What parent on earth would be okay with their daughter doing this? Now some of you will say, yeah, but she was forced to do it. Okay. I I understand that. She was forced to do that, and there's no doubt she was probably34:57 forced to do it. But I will remind you that this is during the exile in Israel. And so what was also happening in other exile exilic books in the35:09 Bible, I'll give you 1, is called Daniel. And you will remember that in Daniel, you have Jews in Babylon who are being forced to do things. Jews named Shadrach,35:21 Meshach, and Abednego, who are forced to bow the knee to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. And they don't bow, and they're thrown into the fire furnace. And God miraculously delivers them. And in Daniel chapter 6, you see35:32 Daniel, and he is forced not to pray to his God. And what does he do? He gets up and he opens his doors and he prays on his knees to God. And they throw him into a lion's den, and he stands for God,35:44 and he resists the forces of the empire, and God elevates him and saves him. And then there's Esther, and she doesn't put up much of a35:55 fight, and she just kinda goes with the program. And, no, there's no outright sin except for maybe sleeping with this king, but she too36:08 is at best just a bit more of a casual follower of the Lord, and yet God uses36:20 her. God's providence operates in imperfect environments, and God's providence operates through imperfect people. And here's 0.3.36:33 God's providence does not have to be seen to be certain in our lives. I've already told you that God's name is not mentioned in the book of Esther, not36:45 once. There's not a single mention of him. And yet, when you're done reading the story, it is 100 percent clear that God has been calling the shots the36:57 whole way through. I wonder who needs to hear that in 20 24 right now. You don't see God. You don't feel him.37:09 You don't have the visible, you know, display gifts that people like me have on stage preaching the word, or you're not called to be a missionary, and you're not on the mission field,37:21 and you're just going you're living in Persia. You're just doing your thing. You're not you're not doing bad bad, but, you know, you're doing a thing. You're doing your your life. You're living. And you think, where's37:30 God? He's working. He's working. He's working in spite of what you see. Even when I can't see it, you're working. Even when I can't feel it, you're working. You never37:42 stop, you never stop working. I mean, that's what we sing. Right? He never stops even when you don't see him. And so here's what the scripture is for you in 20 24, in a in a37:54 year of noise. Here's how I'm wrapping this up. Psalm 46 10, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in38:06 the earth. So many times, I want the God of Exodus, the God of plagues and fire and hail and burying38:17 Pharaoh's army in the in the waters of the Red Sea. But that's not the god of Esther. The god of Esther is quiet and under the surface. And some of you, and this is a pastoral concern for me for you, you have told me38:29 this. You have said, I don't feel God. It is not about feeling him. It is about trusting him. It is about faith in him, and faith is not a feeling.38:41 It's a conviction that in spite of what I feel, he's still in charge. He's still doing something, and he could still use me because his grace38:53 is greater than my sin. Or Isaiah chapter 30 verse 15, thus says the Lord God, the holy 1 of Israel, in returning you will find rest, and you will be saved in that. In quietness andShow more
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Guest Message - Pastor Geyser Pastor Tim Hatch
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