For Such a Time as This | Recognizing Our Purpose | Esther 4:1-17

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Good morning, good morning, we talked, Good morning to you, and. Good for you, buddy. Hey, good morning everybody. We are the Bible Guys, and welcome to another episode. Man, we are gonna be looking into Estra chapter four. It's one of the boldest moments of standing uh for God and for good in the entire Old Testament. So the Jews are on the verge of annihilation, and the fate of an entire nation hangs in the balance, and the balance and it rests in the hands of one young woman. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. Hey. Before we get to that, we're gonna go ahead and do a segment just for fun called would you rather? I like this segment? I like because it gives us two awful choices, WHI says most of the time, and it forces us to pick one of the other over the other. Would you rather number one? There's only five of them. The first one is would you rather Jeff climb Mount Everest or drive to the foot of dive dive or excuse me, dive to the foot of them Mariann Trench. I don't know what that is. That's the deepest place on the planet. It's the deepest spot in the ocean. Oh so the highest mountain or the deepest the highest or the lowest spot on Earth. Yeah. Yeah, so dive to the foot. So it's saying dive is a excuse, No, you can't. It would crush you. Submarine dive, Yeah, yeah. It would crush you. So it's it's it's deeper than the height of Everest. I think, by the way, you have to be a submarine. By the way, Uh do they build things that don't collapse? I don't know if there's any any human holding subs that go that deep, but we've sent aliens, say UAVs down Oh yeah. Wow, okay, So would I rather well than how could I go if I'm a human? I don't know. Maybe that there's a sub now that can do it. Maybe, Okay, what would you rather do? I think I don't know. Both of them are scared. I think if the technology was there, maybe the Mariana Trench. I would literally have to pick the one that gave me the least amount of chance to die. Well, I think they both. Yeah, very dangerous. Yeah, I'm gonna have to say Mount Everest just because I feel like we have we have more of a chance to fight snow and gravity than we do probably the ocean. So Everest is twenty nine thirty one point seven feet. Thirty tine thousand. Okay, So for twenty nine so thirty grand twenty nine thousand, yep, thirty one feet okay. The Mariana Trench is thirty six thousand, thirty seven feet deep low sea level. Wow, that's that's an extra seventeen thousand. Sweet. Wow, isn't that amazing? Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I I don't desire to do either one of those things. By the way, all right, number two, you ready, we're gonna move on. Would you rather publish a best selling book? Yeah, that's pretty good or direct an Oscar winning movie. Oh, this is set up for me and you come on, I'm gonna choose the movie. You're gonna choose the book. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yes, yeah, yeah, of course I'm gonna do the Oscar winning movie. Yes, yes, Oscar winning movie. You probably make more money. Yeah, well that's not why though, I don't know. I just would much rather direct a. Movie than write a book. Than write a book, although I like, I like the you writing a book. Though I like to read books in the evening. Do my dad when he died, I introduced him Louis Lamore. I think I mentioned that here recently. Back when I was teaching, we didn't have TV. So I just read and read and Red Red Red, and I stumble on Louilamore. Start reading a little more books. He's wrote one hundred and fifty boos or a hundred and forty books, something like that, So I started. So when he died, he had every single Booklemorrol, and he made a note of the dates because he read through him twice of the dates he read those books. And so now I have them all in my office. So I've been going back and rereading those. I like reading, man, I like you. Know what I discovered. I have to read in the day. Really, if I read anywhere close tonight, I get sleep I get sleep I get sleepy. I could be like eight o'clock at night, when I normally wouldn't fall asleep already, but I start reading at night, and I start to get sleepy. Wow, But if I read during the afternoon, I'm like, I'm completely awake, and so, yeah, I don't know what it is, but I over the years, I have to do my reading in the day. Okay, in that well, yeah, that is well, so you want to read. Would you rather have a laugh that sounds like a foghorn or hiccups that sound like a rubber duck. That's a great question. I choose the rubber duck. Really, yeah, I don't know, because hiccups are a lot less common. Well, well, and beyond that, the laugh would shake the building. You ever been by a fog horn when it goes off? Yes, yes, I actually have. You can feel it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I'm gonna choose the rubber duck too. You convinced me, Yeah, yeah, yeah. At first I was going to say, it'd be great to be able to have that kind of power in your laugh. Yeah, but laughter is so common, right, So okay, all right? Number four? Would you rather live one hundred years in the past or one hundred years in the future? Well, how could I know? Do you get to pick? How do I we get to set the rules? We get to set the rules? Do you get to pick when in the future or when in the No. No. In other words, it's one hundred years back or one hundred years forward. Yeah. So it's saying like, would I rather be alive in nineteen twenty five or twenty one twenty five? Correct? Oh well what's for you? Well, how do I know? Twenty one twenty five might be in a nuclear shelter somewhere. Well, you'll be in heaven maybe or something. Yeah, I don't. Know, but what if? But what if there is that nuclear before there's a tribulation? I sometimes think I was born out of my time? Yeah? Yeah, do you ever feel that way? No, Like, if I could just choose the time to go back, it'd be the nineteen twenties for real, I promise you. With no air conditioning. Oh they had little air conditioning. Yeah, but yeah, I would choose go back twenty Yeah. You remember you remember Back in the Future part three? I remember that it happened. Okay, So they're sitting down and Shamus, which is Marty McFly's like great grandfather. He's like, would you like some would you like some rabbits? And he went out in shot rabbit and he puts it in front of him and They're in this eighteen hundreds cabin and he's literally picking up the shotgun pellets, right, and it's just normal. That's what they're doing. They're all just picking them out, and it's like, no thanks. We used to hunt rabbits and that's how we did it when I was growing up. That wasn't in the eighteen hundreds. Dude. Well, what I'm saying is in the nineteen eighties. There's a lot of things that were cooler in the nineteen twenties and thirties, but there's a lot of things that were not. I think it would have been super exciting because flight was just beginning. Automobiles, skyscrapers, ships that could go, you know, superliners, radio record players with light bulbs, which means that you write all these It would have been so exciting. You have no flying, though, and the music was great. So now you're going to give up traveling for tti and flying over to the middle. You just get on the boat. You got to go a long time. Yeah, yeah, hey see you in five weeks. Yeah, no thanks, no thanks. I saw the future. Okay, you're picking the future. I picked the number five. Would you rather have thin crust or deep dish pizza. That's a tough one. Oh man. Those are my two favorite kinds of pizzas. Yeah, I'm going to go with thin crust for me. Thin crust the best. So you know, I'd lived in Chicago for a long time. I've eaten all of the pizza places, and I know there's lots of people with dumb opinions about pizza. So the best deep dish pizza, yeah, I think, when you get it right, is Connie's Pizza in Chicago, which is like fifth or sixth down on most people's list, but it's my favorite. Yeah, so deep dish, I would go deep dish. Dude. One slice weighs like three pounds. It's crazy, it's so good. Wow. Hey, you know, speaking of dumb. Opinions, dumb opinions, you know whose opinion wasn't dumb? Mordecai had the right opinion. He has some good opinions. Yet what to do when it comes to Haman's Well. We Are in Esther chapter four, We Are, and it says when Mordecai learned about all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on burlap and ashes, and went into the city crying with a loud and bitter whale. He went as far as the gate of the palace, for no one was allowed to enter the palace gate while wearing clothes of mourning. And as news of the king's decree reached all the provinces, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fast, had wept and whaled, and many people lay in burlap and ashes. When Queen Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordechai, she was deeply distressed. She sent clothing to him to replace the burlap, but he refused it. Then Esther sent for Hathetch, one of the king's eunuchs who had been appointed as her attendant. She ordered him to go to Mordecai and find out what was troubling him and why he was in mourning. So Hathach went to Mordecai in the square in the front of the palace gate. Mordechai told him the whole story, including an exact amount of money Hayman had promised to pay into the Royal Treasu for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai gave Hatach a copy of the decree issued in SUSA that called for the death of all Jews. He asked Hatach to show it to Esther and explain the situation to her. He also asked Hateach to direct her to the king, to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people. So Hatech returned to Esther with Mordechai's message. Then Esther told Haitach to go back and relay this message to Mordechai. All the king's officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the King in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the King holds out his gold scepter. And the King has not called for me to come to him for thirty days. So Haitach gave Esther's message to Mordecai. Mordechai sent this reply to Esther. Don't think for a moment that because you're in the palace, you will escape when all the other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, But you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this. Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai, go and gather together all the Jesus USA and fast for me. Do not drink or eat for three days night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though is it against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die. So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. Yeah, wow, Yeah, some of the greatest phrases in the Bible really courage. Yes, I think you're right. I think you're right because one of the best lines is who knows if perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this? Right, because you know what he's doing is he's recognizing that, you know, maybe this is God's orchestration in your life. Who knows, Maybe maybe you are to use your influence for this reason. Maybe maybe this is the reason why you're in the spot. And I think that there's a lot of times where we don't feel like maybe we we don't recognize our importance. Right, we don't have to be queen or king. Right, But like for instance, uh, just literally just last night last night, Uh, there was a situation where I was with a good friend of mine who's you know, I've been one of his pastors for you know, twenty years or whatever. And uh, and we're with him and his son, and we're at this restaurant, and uh, this server comes over and make some comments. And I knew this person, the server, and so I decided to speak up. And I just decided that I'm going to leverage my influence and my relationship with this person to try to make a difference. So ultimately it ends up with the church invitation, right, it ends up with, hey, yeah, let me show me your church. I showed. I showed her the church on the on the phone, and she's like, that's incredible, you know. And so I'm really hoping right now she's gonna be our And it's just these small, teeny tiny, microscopic moments that obviously don't even compare to this massive moment in Hester's life, which her decision is going to control and dictate the future of an entire nation. But guess what, my decision might end up being a situation where God uses to dictate and control the eternity of an entire family. Right, so who knows what might happen? I have no idea. It was at stake. So who knows, Maybe she comes and becomes a Christian, because I'm pretty convinced that she doesn't know God at this point. Maybe her boyfriend fiance is going to become a Christian. And then who is maybe they raise up their children in a Christian home and all of a sudden, their entire legacy starts to change all because of this moment. And by the way, isn't it true that that's the story of our lives? Right? Like I'll never forget when I was sorry to take this, but but I was. I remember being in the mall one time and I and I was going up the escalator and then down the escalator. Is this kid that that somebody brought the church that visited my youth group. You know, we had a small church here, two hundred people whatever, right, and we had a big friend day kind of a thing. And this kid's name was Sean Willis, and uh, he had only come one time as a guest from somebody. And I remembered him and and and I remembered his name. And as he was coming down the escalator, I wasn't going to say anything because I knew he wouldn't know me, and he didn't see me. And I decided in that moment, I was like, hey Sean, and he's like, who. Are you again? I'm like, you came and visited my church. And now now he he has a son, he has two sons, and now their entire home, their entire home are Christians. Their entire legacy. He went to Bible College, right, he went into ministry and and uh and now he was for an airline, but he still does ministry. But but now, in his entire story that he tells says, he goes, Chris, what if you wouldn't have said anything to me on the escalator at them all that day? He goes, thank God that you decided to say hi to me on that escalator. Right, So he points to the entire legacy to this single moment where I felt like God wanted me to say, hey Sean, remember me, I'm the youth pastor guy. Right, And that's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about, like the moment last night at the restaurant. I'm talking about every single time that God nudges you to do something, to leverage your influence, to leverage your relationships, to do something small that you think is so small in the moment that could change the entire legacy and history and eternity of somebody's life life because you and I have no idea what's at stake when God nudges us to do something. And so just as Moricai said, who knows if perhaps you were there for just as such a time as this? Yes? Right, So maybe God you there on purpose? Right? And it's not just talking about you, it's every listeners, the circumstance you're in front of him, the moment, the person you're around, in the moment that little nudge from God. Respond you think of a good thing to say, say it, You think of a good thing to do, do it. You think of an opportunity to maybe offer to pray for somebody, do it. Don't wait, because maybe you're there just for that purpose, right, And then you know I was thinking through. I had a pastor when I was a teenager. His name was Jim Fisk, and he drove a Irock xy Camaro, and I thought he was yeah, he was just he was such a cool guy. Yeah. I was friends with his daughters and all that. Our families were really close, and I can remember him preaching about this one time, and he was a man of action. He just he would just do things. It just got things done. It's always kind of that guy, always hustling and all that. And I remember him preaching to our youth group one time and he was the lead pastor, so it was exciting. He came, he got a bus, he put us all on the bus, drove us to tackle b bought everybody taco bell then the whole youth group. It is like eighty kids or something, and then we got we went back and he taught us this. And I don't even know why those two were connected, but this is what he did. And he said he talked about if you think of a good thing, do it. If you think of a good thing to say, say it. If you think of somebody who needs to hear the gospel, tell him. And he was talking about being a man or a woman of action. And he talked about this, have a predisposition to go, have a predisposition to do, have a predisposition to act. And Mordecai had said, don't think that you can just go. She had power at this point, she had some money, She had a bunch of eunuchs that would help her out. She could have gotten a carriage, loaded it up, got some and made an excuse. I'm just gonna run because nobody knew she was a Jew, right right, I'm going to go down to the beach. We're just going to hang out for a while. She could have tried to escape. Hey, Mordecai, come with me. And Mordecai is like, don't think you can escape, right, That's not God's plan. God's plan isn't for you to get away just so you can live. But that would be our first inclination, our first inclinationship. How do I get me and my family away? And he said, Mordecai goes, no, you're here. Don't you understand all the junk you've gone through being abused and taken advantage of by a king, but you got promoted to being the queen. All the junk that you've gone through might be just for this purpose, just to rescue the Jews. And she goes, I could die. He hasn't even called me in to talk to him in a month. I could die for this. And he says, don't think you're going to get away. Don't think you're going to live, right, So then she goes, Okay, if I die, I die. And it's amazing to me just that one message when I was a teenager, he talked about if I die, idea, I die, there's worse things than dying, and there is right, if you're truly a follower of Jesus and you believe in heaven, there's worse things than dying, Dying without any character, dying having failed your mission, dying it right, there's all these things and he just kind of started talking, that's worse, worse than going in and attempting to do a great thing. Uh, there's there's worse things than that. And so you know, live your life, live your life in a way that is willing to risk it all in order to do great things for God and to make an impact for the benefit of other people. And that that message is one of the messages changed my life because that's why I want to live my life. Right. Yeah, that's amazing. And so so this thing is, it's set up in such a way to where we're looking at xerxes character and she says, everybody knows that if you go into the King's presence, into his inner court without being invited, everybody knows you're doomed unless he decides to grant you mercy by holding out How obnoxious is this by holding out his gold scepter. Right, you may touch the gold sceptor your pardoning. It's like thor ragnarrok, I pardon you from life. He touches up with the melting stick as he dies. Anyway, Sorry another movie reference, but anyway, but think about just the just the awfulness of the situation with Hayman, and then think about the awfulness of Xerxes, where it says, oh, if I if I just walk into his presence uninvited, he's gonna kill me, right, that's horrible. If I die, I die. Literally, That's that's what you have to consider, right, because after all, he's the king, He's he's the god of the of the world. So while God's name is never mentioned in the Book of Esther, Mordecai's faith in God God, faith in the fact that God was orchestrating these events for in Estra's life. Oh tremendous that that's there. And then she says, okay, would you pray for me? That's all and fast. Let's all pray and fast. And that's demonstrating their commitment to God, where we only rely on you to take care of us and provide for us. We're not providing for ourselves. That's the idea behind it fast. But there's something really powerful about the collective group. It was it was her who did it. As you said this reply to Morcai, go and gather together all the Jews of Susa. So it's all the Jews and fast for me, do not eat, drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. So collectively they got together. And there's a tremendous amount of power when we pray together, when we fast together, when we all lean in by faith to God over the same thing together. And she knew that was her only hope. I just realized. That's another reflection of Daniel. Remember in chapter one when he says, give us more time to interpret the dream and then he says they spent all night praying and fasting. Yeah, that's pretty neat. So a lot of comparisons here. So that's great, And so it's going to set up this unbelievable moment where she approaches the king. We're going to find that in chapter five, And that's about our time, any last, any last sermons to take away from here. Yes, maybe you are in the office you're at, or in the neighborhood you're at, or in the school you're at for such a time as this, don't don't waste an opportunity. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And we never and we never know what's what's at stake. Yeah, that's right, that's right. All right. Well, hey, hopefully we'll pick up with you and you'll join us tomorrow on the Bible guys. Mhm h mh