Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So we would love for you to participate. If you would be interested, you can register to be a part of Campus Care Day again on our app or on our website as well. Men, we have an opportunity for you to get connected together as well. We've got a men's bowling night coming up as well on November 7th from 6 to 8pm at Incredible Lanes. And so we would love for you to participate in that with us. We're going to have a wonderful evening together. You can register through the app or online as well. And then thirdly, we want to let you know that we also have coming up knowing that the holidays are quickly going to be upon us with Thanksgiving, with Christmas.
We know that a lot of times with the holidays that can be a difficult season for many people, especially those who have gone through a season of loss of some sort. And so our grief share ministry puts on two meetings that we have entitled Surviving the Holidays. And if you would like to be a part of those and walk with people that also have experienced loss, November and we don't have a slide this morning, so I'd encourage you to write it down. November 14th and December 6th are going to be the days that we have our Surviving the Holidays Grief Share ministry. And so you can again register for that on the app. We would love for you to come and join us and be a part of it. With that being said, Thanksgiving brings a lot of things that are going on and one of the primary is our International Thanksgiving Dinner. And this morning I want to invite our local outreach director, Lindsey Hopkmeier to join us here on the stage and to share a little bit more about that with you. Would you welcome her as she comes?
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Good morning, Westgate family. So like Rob kind of mentioned, we're coming off of our Missions emphasis week and I know a lot of times when we have these exciting events and conferences, we feel so inspired and we're so excited to, you know, do something with what God is stirring in our hearts. And then sometimes you can feel a little bit lost afterwards. So I'm excited to share with you guys today about the International Thanksgiving Dinner that we have coming up.
And this is an opportunity where we invite students from University of Toledo. There's students and scholars from there, about 150 to 200. Just walk right through our door to experience this event where we serve an American just a traditional American Thanksgiving meal and enjoy getting to know them. And so I invited my friend, the Moore family. We've been friends for 15 years and ever since I've known them they have such a heart for missions, and so, of course, they have been involved in this event, and so they're just going to share a little bit about what it looks like to be a table host. There's lots of different ways to serve, and we'll explain that, but they're going to kind of hone in on serving as a table host. So, Marissa, I know you've had opportunities to serve overseas multiple times on the mission field, but you've also served right here at Westgate. So what has that experience been like? And how have you. How's that been serving with your family?
[00:03:01] Speaker C: International missions is awesome. I have a heart for that. I drove you along on a trip a few years ago.
But the great thing about ifriends Thanksgiving is that the nations have come to our church, and we can witness to them here. We can have a heart for international people right here in Toledo.
A great thing about this dinner is being able to serve with my family. We've done this for years, even when our kids were little. Just you have internationals coming from overseas. They might not get to see little kids very often. Now my kids are grown. But so serving as a family is really awesome. It's a simple way to show and share the love of Jesus, be the hands and feet for him.
When we do a table host, it's pretty easy. You bring dishes you can use disposable. You can use your grandmother's china.
I just kind of wander around my house, find a few cute things, throw it on the table, and then just talking, sharing a meal, just being genuine with these people from other countries, cultures, and religions.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: And I love one of the things that she said was how they. You don't have to go overseas to be involved in missions. And sometimes we can feel like, oh, missions is if I'm not called to go, I don't know how to be involved. But this is an event where God, he's brought them into our country, and now he's walking them right through our church doors to your table. And so what a blessing to be able to just take advantage of that and what God has done and that you all can be encouraged that just because you can't go, you can still welcome. All right, so now I'm going to ask these two guys right here. Blake, you have. You feel the calling on your life to maybe go into missions one day. So how has getting to know people from other cultures, including participating in this dinner, like, influenced how you want to share the gospel with the nations?
[00:04:55] Speaker D: Yeah, the influence is really great.
I Just say it's really opened my eyes to see different cultures.
And, like, these past couple years, I've just, like, the influence of our church on other people is very great. And this Thanksgiving thing is actually one thing. It was actually, like, the first thing that I saw real culture come to because it came to us because I was too little to go overseas.
And I just recently went to Costa Rica for missions field. And that just really opens my eyes to. To the different cultures and how differently we can reach out to them.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: And then we kind of talked in the first service probably, too. Your eyes are open how they're open to hearing about Jesus. We sometimes think, oh, no, they don't want to hear that.
They have their religion and that's how they've grown up. But honestly, they're open to hearing about Jesus. All right, Julia, so what's been your favorite part, being a table host and the international dinner?
[00:05:55] Speaker E: My favorite part is probably seeing all the many different cultures that come to see us, and we love to feed them and get to know them and making friends on the way.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: And I told her also in the first service, she probably also likes the decorating part because I know her well enough. She follows in her mom's footsteps. So that's always fun to, like, get it all set up. Right? Yeah. All right, so, Steve, if someone, you know, we're building it up, it sounds really exciting, but I have a feeling probably some people are still hesitant to want to do it. So what would you say to encourage. Encourage them to get past that hesitancy to serve?
[00:06:29] Speaker F: Right. Right. So. And I'll answer that question, but to preface that, I was thinking back to what Pastor Rob had said a few weeks ago about being consumers and being contributors. Right. We're all consumers. As we're sitting here this morning, we're consuming the worship service.
We're consuming the words that Rob's gonna have for us. Some of us have a coffee addiction, so we consume the W Cafe. Some of us have young kids, so we consume the. The ministry. But we're also called to be contributors in whatever fashion that looks like. We're at the body of Christ. We all have different parts. We all serve with different parts. Right. The body doesn't function very well if all the different parts aren't work together. Right. And it works better if all of the parts are.
So can I ask you to do something really quickly? This might be a little odd, but I'm going to try to get this point across a little better than I did. The first service. Can Everybody take your dominant hand.
Just maybe go like this. And then can you do this motion?
All right, one more.
Take your dominant hand, and then do this motion.
So if you can do one of those two things, not to steal your thunder, but if you're hesitant about serving, but you can do one of these two, then you can participate during the dinner.
You can scoop the green beans, or you can open a door for somebody. So something to think about as to whether or not you're hesitant or resistant to it.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: Now, that's so simple and actually so profound because it really is that it's that easy.
I can overthink things. Don't overthink it. You just serve a meal, you open a door, and you just smile. So Stephanie's going to share with us. Now, we talked about being a table host. There's other ways to serve as well. So she's going to take it from here and kind of explain what those are and then how you can sign up.
[00:08:25] Speaker G: All right, first step, I need you to mark your calendars for November 22nd. That's when this event happens. And there will be things happening in the building all day long from 8 in the morning until 9 at night where you can plug in.
So just a quick tour of the building. In the main kitchen, we'll be having our cooking crew, cooking 18 turkeys and bunches of sides. And if you say, you know what, I don't want to cook in that big kitchen, that's fine. We also need people to donate homemade food or frozen turkeys that you can help with. And then in the main entrance way, we have our registration team will be welcoming the nations, helping them, escorting them over to the table tables in the atrium where our table hosts will be sitting, receiving them to enjoy the evening with them. Plus, we need setup crews and cleanup crews and so many other things on the entrance tables. On your way out today, you can find one of these half sheets that can give you a lot more information. And you can always go to the app or to westgatechapel.org thanksgivingserve to find out more. Also, we'll have people in the cafe area. If you're like, you know what? I just want to talk to a human. We're there, too, so come and find us. And talking about talking to other humans, I'd like you to stand up right now, find a neighbor and ask them if there was a country you could travel to to enjoy their native food. What country would you ahead?
[00:10:19] Speaker H: Blessed assurance Jesus is mine.
He's been my fourth man in the Fire Time after time born of his spirit, Spirit washed in his blood.
And what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough.
So I trust in God, my Savior, the one, every voice who will never fail.
He will never fail.
I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
Do you believe that I'm perfect submission all is at rest.
Yes, I know the author of tomorrow is all in my step.
Yes, he has to. So this is my story.
This is my story and this is my song.
I'm praising my risen king and savior all the day long.
Yes.
Oh, I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
He will never fail.
I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
His word tells us if we knock, the door will be open. If we seek, we shall find. Amen.
I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard. Justified you answered I sought, sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought and he heard and he answered that's why I trust him, that's why I trust him. I I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him. That's why I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail he will never fail.
Yes, I trust in God, my Savior.
Fail yes, he will never fail. Never failing. Oh, I sought the Lord I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I saw the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answer that's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I saw the Lord and He heard and he answered I saw the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him. That's why I trust in God, every voice My Savior, the one who will never fail.
He will never fail.
I trust in God, my Savior.
Fail he will never fail.
You will never fail.
You will never fail.
Yes, Amen.
Amen Amen.
Church, family, can I ask y', all, do you believe that?
I want you just to take just a few moments. We're take just a few moments here.
I know there are many times in my life where it's really hard to see God's faithfulness on display when you're going through it, right? It's really hard to see that on display in that rut, in that hard season.
But then when I look back, I see his hand all over it.
I see him carrying me through all of it.
So I want everyone just for a few moments, bow your heads, close your eyes, and I want you just to think of. Of all the ways God has shown his faithfulness to you.
We should be overwhelmed with this. Just think of all the ways God has shown his faithfulness, his blessings, his mercies. To you.
Sa.
Jesus, my redeemer There is no more for heaven now to give he is my joy My righteousness and freedom My steadfast love, My deep and boundless peace to this I hope My hope is only Jesus for my life Life is
[00:19:00] Speaker F: holy Bound to his
[00:19:04] Speaker H: oh, how strange
[00:19:06] Speaker B: and
[00:19:06] Speaker H: divine I can sing.
All is mine yet not I But through Christ in me.
The night is dark but I I am not forsaken for by my side the Savior he will stay I labor on in weakness and rejoicing for in my need his power is display to this I hold
[00:19:56] Speaker E: My shepherd will defend me through the deepest valley he will leave O the night has been won and I shall overcome yet not I But through Christ.
I know I am
[00:20:35] Speaker H: forgiven the future sure the price it has been paid For Jesus led and suffered for my pardon and he was raised to overthrow
[00:20:55] Speaker F: the
[00:20:55] Speaker H: grave to this I hold My sin has been defeated Jesus now and ever is my queen all the chains are released I can sing I am free at night but through Christ in me thank you, Jesus.
With every breath I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know he will renew me Until I stand with joy before the throne Judas I hope My hope is only Jesus all the glory ever more to him when the race is complete still my lips shall reveal at night I But through Christ in me to this I hold My hope is only Jesus all the glory ever more to him when the race is complete still my lips shall reveal Not I But through Christ in me when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat Not I But through Christ in me
[00:23:08] Speaker E: yet not I But through Christ in me yet not I But through Christ in me
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Amen.
Amen. You may be seated.
Church. Before we, before we take our offering this morning, I just want to say to you again, thank you for your investment in our missions emphasis week over this past week. It was such a great time of learning and also getting to spend some time with our partners and just seeking the Lord and saying, God, what part would you have me to play?
But even more, last week I asked you as a church family to be generous in our love offering with our international workers, and your generosity blew me away.
We raised $20,000 in that love offering for our international workers.
And I say that just to say thank you.
Because when we ask you these things, desire is just simply to say, ask God what he would have you do. And you respond with such generosity that blesses our international workers. And they wanted me to express to you their thanks for just how you loved them so well in the time that they were here, but also for your generosity, because that gift will go so far in their ministries and in their personal lives. And so thank you for your participation in that. We're coming to our time of offering together this morning. And you are a generous church. And you, as you give, enable us to have reach to the nations and into our community and to disciple people here within our walls. And so thank you for your attentiveness to the Lord and allowing him to grow you in that area of generosity so that he can continue to grow you as you follow him and multiply what you give to reach other people. So let's just take a moment to thank God, to worship him together. Would you pray with you have been so generous with us through your son, Jesus Christ. How could we not, Lord, give you everything, all of our hearts, all that we are in worship to allow you, God, to have every aspect of our lives.
And Father, for many people, we acknowledge that giving of our financial resources is probably at times one of the most difficult things to do. It requires a step of faith to believe that you will still provide for every need that we have. And so I thank you for how you're teaching us, God, as a congregation, to rely and to trust on you. And Father, I give you praise for just the gift that was given last week. Lord, would you take and continue to multiply that gift with our international workers? That, Lord, it would be used in a very powerful way to bring people in very dark places in our world to a saving knowledge of your son.
And Lord, as we give here together this morning, we do so with hearts of worship again wanting you, Lord, to multiply not just to multiply money. We want you to multiply lives, coming to know you in our community and our friendship with others and here within this body of Christ. And so, Lord, we give as an act of worship, of surrender and displaying for you, God, our dependence and our trust in you. And so be glorified as we worship you this way this morning. We love you, Jesus. We pray it in your name. Amen.
We're going to take our offering now. And so our offering buckets are here on the center aisles always. You can pass those out to the sides. They're in the corners in the balcony, and we'll pass those in. Let's just continue to worship the Lord with joyful hearts this morning as we take our offering.
Well, again, it is great to be here with you this morning. We're going to be diving into a new series together this morning. Hopefully you were able to grab some sermon notes on your way in that you can use to follow along this morning. We're going to be in the Book of Esther. If you have your Bibles there, you can start to turn.
As I was thinking leading into this series, I was reminded this week about the trip that Rochelle and I just took for our anniversary a few weeks ago.
We were gone for 12 days together, flew over to Rome, and it was a great trip, but it had a very interesting beginning when we were sitting at home about an hour before we were supposed to leave. We were flying out of Chicago. And so we were kind of timing things up. About an hour before we were supposed to leave, I just happened to look at my phone and have a notification from the airline company that they booked us on a different airline and a different flight that was an hour earlier. And so Rachelle and I started throwing our stuff into the car. Thankfully, we were ready, not waiting until the last minute, got into the car and started driving as quick as we could to Chicago. When we get to Chicago. Of course, our flight was delayed for hours and so we sat in the Chicago o' Hare Airport waiting for our flight, but nervously because we had such a short time to get to our connecting flight. So even as we were walking onto the plane, I looked at the pilot and I was like, can you step on it? Because we're going to miss that flight to Rome. So we fly to Germany, and when we get to Germany, we have got about a couple minutes to spare. So I begin with Rochelle. We're just moving as quick as we can to our next gate. We get there with one minute to spare and we try to go through to walk in, but they wouldn't let us through. They said, you got to go up to the desk first. So we go up to the desk, and as we're standing at the desk, the lady says, you need to give us permission to put your luggage onto the plane. I'm like, let's do it.
So I watch her check the boxes. They turn green. And I looked at her, and I said, now, this means my luggage will be on the flight, right? And she said, yes.
Lies.
So we get on this plane, we have a wonderful flight to Rome. And when we get to Rome, and we're standing at the baggage claim, everybody gets their baggage, but ours is nowhere to be found. So we go up to one of the desks, and we begin to ask questions. And it turns out that our luggage did get left in Germany, and so we had to fill out this paperwork. It was painstaking. And then at the end of filling all this out, the lady was super kind, but she looked at me and she said, now, just so you know, you can't call me, but here is a phone number that you can call in order to find out what is going on with your luggage and stay up to date if you have any questions. I'm like, okay, that feels good. This is kind of a yucky situation. We're getting on a cruise ship in two days. But I trust that they'll take care of things, I think. So we leave. We go to our hotel, and the first thing we have to do is go, okay, we've got to go find a store somewhere and start buying some things. So we go looking for clothes. It's 95 degrees in Rome, and they've already put out their winter clothes. Okay. I don't want turtlenecks and sweatshirts to go around Rome in 95 degrees. So we had a hard time finding things to wear. This picture. The next day, restricted. Michelle and I did our Coliseum tour. I only showed that much of her dress, because we call it her Amish dress. It was the only thing that we could find.
She wasn't too proud of it, but as the time went on, we began to become a little more concerned and a bit more frustrated, because every time I would call that phone number they gave me, nobody would pick up. It would ring and ring and ring and ring, and I would sit there, literally in our hotel room. One night, I just put it on speakerphone for two hours. It just rang. Nobody picked up. Didn't matter what time of day it was. And so I went down and I began having conversation with the hotel staff, and they said, oh, they never pick up that phone.
Really? They give it to you. They say, call, and there's no response. They're completely absent. Silence is all you get.
Well, we began to get nervous, and I couldn't visualize myself wearing neon Royal Caribbean T shirts all week long. So we began to talk with them about going out shopping again. The stress level was really high. They were trying to tell us shops to go to. And lo and behold, as we're getting ready to walk out the door, my phone rings, and it's a Rome phone number. And I answer it, and it's this guy that says, I have your luggage. I was like, where are you? I think that's the only English that he spoke.
But he said, I'll be there in one hour. And so we got our luggage. You'll see it here in the next picture. Oh, all the angels were singing. It was wonderful. Rochelle and I did a dance. We went and celebrated at the Trevi Fountain that night with our normal clothes, and it was great. But let me tell you something. The most frustrating aspect of that was being told, here's a line that you can call, and we will have information for you to help you.
Have you ever been through circumstances in your own life where you're walking through hard stuff and you've been calling out to God and all you get is silence?
Or you feel like, where is God? In the middle of this difficulty or this trial that I'm walking through, I thought I was supposed to be able to just pick up the phone and call, but it feels really quiet, and I'm not quite sure what to do as we go through this series together in the Book of Esther. And you'll see the slide here on the screen. It's entitled Trusting the Unseen Hand of God.
One of the most striking aspects of this book of the Bible is that not only is God never mentioned, but God also never speaks. And yet his people are going through some incredibly difficult and trying circumstances.
And it reminds me of my own life, and maybe it reminds you even of your own life in those moments where it feels like God is silent.
What I think we will find as we go through this series together and this morning is really going to be a setup to the entire series. I am going to in the next 25, let's be honest, 30 minutes give you a lot of information to set up the book so that we know how to read it correctly. But one of the things I want you to catch is this. The undergirding theme of this entire book is not only the fact that not only is God's name not said, not only do we not see him speak, but his hand is actively working behind the scenes in the same way that it is in each of our individual lives, even when it feels like he is silent. So let's dive into this together. If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Esther. If you have your notes, pull those out with me. And we're going to begin here because in Esther, chapter one and the first chapter really begins talking about what is happening in the kingdom of Persia at this time.
And we need this background to really understand and interpret the book well. So what you're going to see here in the beginning verses is the grandeur. Fill this in in your notes. The grandeur of human power and greatness on display. We're going to get a picture of one of the superpowers of the world and its king and just how incredible and wealthy and powerful this king and his kingdom were. Esther, chapter one, verses one through four say this.
This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Kush. At the time of King Xerxes.
At the time, King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa. In the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials.
The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, the nobles of the provinces were all present. For a full 180 days. He displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of His Majesty. Now I want you to look at this map that is on the screen. But Xerxes, the king of Persia at this time inherited all of this land mass that you see. There were 120 provinces, it says, that stretched from India in the east all the way to the far side of Turkey in the west, which would have been kind of the area of Cush down there also by Egypt, 127 provinces that he ruled over. And he himself ruled directly from Susa, as we read here, which was the capital there in the southern part, middle part of the empire.
What we need to understand is contextually about what is going on is this letter A in your notes. Persia at this time was in conflict with the Greeks. Okay.
Xerxes father, Darius had actually sought to conquer Greece because the Greeks from Athens had assisted the provinces of Ionia in a revolt against Persia. Darius then, because of his anger, mustered an army against Greece. But the army itself was actually slaughtered in a battle called the Battle of Marathon. So Darius and his army come back to Persia. And what Darius does is he decides he's going to collectively pull together a multinational force from inside this massive country that he has. And he is going to again go after the Greeks. And this time, in his mind, he's going to put them down. But he was distracted because the Roman revolts that began in Egypt. So he started to try to quell those revolts. And in this time period, Darius himself dies of poor health before he can actually get to that conquest of Greece. So now enter in his son Xerxes, who replaces him in letter B, where we pick up in our text that Xerxes is preparing the kingdom for war and rallies support for that war for 180 days.
The text here tells us that he gathered the nobles, the officials, military leaders, princes and Governors of those 127provinces in Susa to rally support for this military campaign against the Greeks. It encompassed many different people from many different languages and ethnic origins and religions within this massive empire spanning from modern Pakistan all the way to modern Turkey.
And this corresponds what we read in the text actually corresponds to the historic and massive war council that was written in the annals of history and led by Xerxes. Likely what happened is that these leaders from all over these 127 provinces would come on a rotating basis over the six month time, not all at once. But he was. What he did is during the time that they were with him, in the six months, he put the fullness of his wealth and of his power on display so that he would gain their loyalty to his cause. His desire is that they would go back, that they would draft their citizens into this multinational force, and that they would exhaust their own treasuries and wealth for this massive overseas war against the Greeks. This is what we call dangling the carrot. He brings all these people in and says, look at all the wealth of the kingdom. And if you join me in this, this wealth will be yours. You guys know what I'm talking about, right? Dangling the carrot. It's what I did with my kids when they were young. Each of my kids when they were young. I told them, hey, if you promise me that you will not smoke, drink or do drugs before the age of 21, I will give you picture, please. 1000.
Okay. Told them that when they were young. I also told them, and if one of your siblings fails in that conquest, then the money will trickle down and stack for the rest of you. So they rooted against each Other their whole life. Okay, But I was dangling the carrot. The riches can be yours if you join me in this quest.
Well, I'm proud to say that at the age of 21, my son, son Garrett, fulfilled that quest. And I was honest to what I promised. When he was a wee young man, I also looked at him and said, if you're lying to me, you're going to hell. But so Garrett, though, got to enjoy the spoils of following through. Do you see, like, I call that dangling the carrot, right? There is something for you in this, if you will join me. This is exactly what Xerxes is doing with all of his leaders.
He's looking at them and saying, the wealth of this kingdom will be even greater and will be yours if you will join me in this endeavor.
Well, Xerxes displayed his wealth to show he could make good on his promise and reward anyone who would be loyal to him. Letter C.
To further consolidate, support and thank his subjects for assisting in the lavish hospitality of the the previous 180 days, Xerxes threw an opulent banquet, the text tells us, for another seven days. Again, the intent was to display wealth, to display power, to build confidence.
This war against the Greeks would be no small endeavor. It would take an enormous army and everyone's buy in. It would also take incredible perseverance to overcome the other superpower of the world at that time, which was the Greeks. And so let's pick up in Esther chapter one, verses five through nine, it says when these days were over, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days in the enclosed garden of the king's palace for all the people, from the least to the greatest who were in the citadel of Susa. Listen to this. The garden had hangings of white and blue linen fastened with cords of gold and silver on a mosaic or I'm sorry, fastened with cords of white, white linen and purpose material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother of pearl and other costly stones.
Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other. And the royal wine was abundant in keeping with the king's liberality. By the king's command, the royal wine, or I'm sorry, each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished. Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes. This again was incredible. Power and wealth on display, even like some nations would do today as they parade their military and their might in front of the people. Essentially, what he was doing is what they're doing, saying we are the greatest nation to ever live and we will destroy our enemies completely. Now here's what's crazy. Letter D. The original readers of this would have known that Xerxes would return from Greece four years later in defeat, having completely depleted his royal wealth. In 480 BC, Xerxes won two incredible victories as he began to move into into Greece. One on land and one at sea. And it paved a perfect path right into Athens. And his goal was to immediately go after Athens because of how they had happened in the previous revolt during his father's reign. And so when he gets to Athens, unencumbered, they burn Athens to the ground. However, at this point, he believes he's won the war. And so Xerxes was actually tricked into sending a massive navy right into the straits of Salamis. Xerxes, it tells us from history, sat on a golden throne on a hillside to watch this battle. But the smaller, more agile Greek navy completely destroyed a huge chunk of his massive warships. This caused him to have incredible fear and to retreat back to the empire himself, believing that that his passageway would be cut off if he didn't move quickly and that he would ultimately die. So he left a massive war force with his generals there to try to finish it out. However, within a year, the Persian army went to a final defeat against the Greeks. Now, let me ask you this question. Why give such incredible detail of the wealth and the power of the kingdom? To understand what was going on at this time. The people who read this letter knew what the.
So why is it so important to give the detail of the wealth and power of the kingdom? Well, for the Jews who remained in Persia, they were beholden to the power of a pagan king.
And the purpose here is to display the incredible limitations of human power and greatness. We are given this incredible picture and even though they know what happens in the future, as they're reading this, he gives a different picture of just how feeble that power was. What we're going to see next note. The limitations of human power and greatness are exposed.
Rather than cut to the chase with what the readers would have known about what happened four years later in comedic fashion, what the author actually does is shows just how easy it was to usurp the power of this great king and his Nation. Esther, chapter 1, verses 10 through 12.
On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was high in spirits, from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him, Mehuman, Byztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abigath.
I knew I was going to mess up. Going fast, Abgatha, Zethar, and Carcass, to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. But when the attendants delivered the king's command to Queen Vashti, she refused to come. And then the king became furious and burned with anger.
Letter A. What Xerxes wanted to do here was to parade his wife as a trophy of his greatness. Their quest for centuries has been of considerable debate. Rabbis who originally wrote about this text believe that the request was that Queen Vashti would appear before all of these high officials with only her crown on. In other words, to show up naked in front of this group so that the king could show how beautiful that she was as a pagan with no morals and in a drunken state. The king himself had absolutely zero morals, grounding even his own wife would be nothing more than a trophy to him of his wealth and of his power that he possessed. But letter B. Queen Vashti embarrassed him by refusing his authority.
Vashti refused to be his possession, to be gawked at by a horde of drunken officials.
And this incensed the king. To refuse a command of the king in this regard, in the presence of. Of the officers of the whole kingdom, was a serious offense and even more an embarrassment to the king's massive ego. And herein lies the irony that the author begins to display.
Great King Xerxes, man of untold wealth and power, one of the leader of the greatest superpower of the world, can't even get his wife to do what he says in a comedic fashion. The authority reminds us of this important truth. Letter C. Human power is never absolute.
Never.
What does the king do in his moment of frustration? He goes to his advisors and says, what should I do with my wife? I don't know how to deal with this. Oh, the irony of the moment. Not even the most powerful in the world knows what to do with a scorned wife. Well, what do they think?
It seems that as we continue to read the text, that his advisors are more concerned about what their wives are going to do because of Vashti when they find out that she refused. They can literally feel their power slipping between their fingers like sand on a beach going through those fingers. And so Vashti, they come up with this plan that she will be vanquished and then they send a decree out that every man is to rule over his household and to try to empower them with that.
Here's the important thing to catch Letter D. Chapter one serves as a strong reminder that the apparent supremacy of human power does not have the final word.
Whether it's the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Seleucids, the Romans, the Mongol Empire, the Spanish Empire, the King dynasty, the British Empire, whether it's Hitler and his reign of terror in Germany or the ussr, all of them have arrogantly prepared, proclaimed to be the greatest and the most powerful nations ever. And yet they lie between beneath centuries of dust and dirt. What an incredible warning. Is it not even to the United States of America.
Name whichever empire, nation or government you wish as the mightiest, the greatest and the most powerful. Human power is never absolutely, and it never holds the final word. If we find ourselves putting our hope in men or in nations or kings and kingdoms of this world, we are hopelessly fooled into believing that that is where the greatest strength is. Listen to what the psalmist says about God in Psalm chapter 2, verses 1 through 6. He says, why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up and rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their chains and throw off their shackles. But the one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.
The passage proclaims that the One enthroned in heaven laughs. He laughs at the arrogance of humanity that believes that their power is absolute. He laughs at those who believe that the future rests in our own hands.
And that is what we begin to see here in Esther. Xerxes is convinced that he holds the power to command whatever he desires and what he doesn't want.
That there is another throne that is above his own, a throne that cannot be threatened, a throne that cannot be conquered, and a king whose purposes can never be overturned. And this really becomes the theme for us, undergirding the entire book of Esther.
It is the sovereign power and providence of God. Write that somewhere the theme is the sovereign power and praise Providence of God.
Mankind can plot and scheme, nations can flex their muscles, rulers can issue decrees, but none of them possess the power to overturn the purposes of God. We have looked here in chapter one at the incredible power of an earthly king who thought he had it all. And yet he was terrified when his wife disobeyed his orders because it was assigned of just how fragile that power was. Well, what does he do? As we continue reading in chapter two, we see that the king searches for a new queen in Esther, chapter two, verses one through four. Read with me. It says later, when King Xerxes fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. Then the king's personal attendants proposed, let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Haggai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women. And let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. And this advice appealed to the king and he followed it. Does this sound easy, eerily familiar to you? Maybe like this.
Gather all the ladies.
Go on a few dates, have your choice. All right. It might be just a little bit different than that.
Actually, quite a bit different. Keep reading with me in verse 5.
Now, there was in the citadel of Susa, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai, son of Jair, the son of Shema, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin, king of Judah. What we see here in this text, letter A, is that Mordecai and Esther, as they're introduced into the story in chapter two, were descendants of Jews who had been taken into exile by the Babylonians. We are introduced to Mordecai, a Jew.
His descendants had been exiled from Judah to Babylon. And when you were exiled from Judah to Babylon, the whole goal of the Babylonians was to assimilate you into their culture and their way of life and to strip you of your former identity. That was the way that they destroyed nations. It wasn't just dropping bombs and, you know, or doing what they did to destroy cities.
They also attempted to strip you of your, your very identity as a people in order to completely destroy a nation. This is what they did. Well, we know from history that the Jews continued to live in exile in Babylon. The Persian empire rises up, overthrows Babylon. And in biblical history and historical history, we know that Cyrus, the king of Persia at the time, tells the Jews that they can Go back to Jerusalem. And so some of them begin to return. Return. However, we know that some did not, and we aren't given reasons even here in the text as to why not. For many of them, it could have been that they were already established, they already had jobs. It would have been too costly to make that move. It would have been easier. They had been assimilated into a way of life and into a culture we are not told. What we do know is that they're not returning was not necessarily a negative, but we find that Mordecai and Esther are part of this group of the Jews who are still in exile, living in the land. And in Esther, chapter two, verse seven, it continues and says Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.
What we see here, letter B, is that Esther is described as an orphan. She's lost her father and mother, and she had striking beauty.
The passage doesn't tell us how her parents died, just simply that she is now having has been taken in by her cousin, and along with him she lives among a Jewish population settled in the Persian Empire.
And this fact silently reveals a very important truth. Letter C is that Esther's story belongs to a much larger story, the Book of Esther. And this is a danger when we read this book. The Book of Esther is ultimately not a story about Esther and Mordecai as moral heroes for us to follow.
What we need to understand is that they are players in a much larger story that is being told. It is ultimately a story about God and His people, generally who he is going to save. We will see that in the weeks to come. But Esther and Mordecai are simply players in a much larger story. Why is this so essential for us to understand?
Because the truth is, I believe that it's a story that each of us needs to understand in our own lives, that oftentimes when we go through difficulty, as we will see Esther and Mordecai will do, or even God's people.
When we walk through seasons where it feels like God is absent or God is silent, we often only look at ourselves and how things are affecting us. And we forget that in God's economy, our lives are part of a much bigger story that he is is writing that has purposes that go beyond even our own individual lives.
This is true of Esther and Mordecai. And as we understand their Jewish heritage and we see the story play out, we begin to understand that what is happening is serving a much bigger purpose than just their individual lives.
So refrain from just moralizing. Esther and Mordecai look through the bigger lens of what God is doing in this story.
So we see as the story continues, that Esther is taken into the royal harem and she becomes Queen Esther. Chapter 2, verse 8 says when the king's order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Haggai. Esther also was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to the Haggai who had charge of the harem. What it tells us, letter A is this. Esther was taken into the harem. Now you'll see the Hebrew word for taken up here on the screen, Laka. It is in the passive voice. And in the passive voice, as you look at this next slide, what it tells us is that she was taken by circumstances that were beyond her, her control.
Now there's no doubt that as women were rounded up for this, there would be some women who no doubt would have gone willingly, freely consenting to the process.
They might have been in poverty in the places where they were and saw this as an opportunity to go in and have a lavish lifestyle living within the kingdom and possibly maybe even to become the queen of, of the king. But yet, even though that's a possibility, there would be many who would be taken against their will with an enormous power imbalance between the king and the women, which is incredibly troubling.
The passage tells us that Esther was taken in the passive voice, circumstances beyond her control. And it tells us letter B, that she spent one year receiving beauty treatments. Now when we continue here in the text, verse 12 says, before a young woman's turn came to go to King Xerxes, she had to complete 12 months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women. Six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
The purpose of this was to soften scent and beautify their skin in preparation for their time with the king. It reveals the extravagance of the Persian royal luxury. And only the best could go before the king.
And this is where the text begins to become a little troubling for us. Letter C. Because what we read is that Esther participates in what is essentially a one night sexual tryout to win the king's favor. I know that sounds like that is definitely not the kids book version, but in the historical Reality, that is exactly what is happening in this passage. Look at verses 13 through 18 with me.
And this is how she would go to the king. Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem, to the care of Shazgaz, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name. When the turn came for Esther, the young woman Mordecai had adopted the daughter of his uncle, to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. Now, the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.
The process was one night.
You would come at night, leave in the morning, you would have that tryout, and then you would be sent to the harem with all the other concubines, those who had slept with the king.
And most of them would never see the king again.
They would just simply live their lives in the royal palace.
But what we see is it's different for Esther.
Esther is chosen.
And in that choosing, letter D. The ambiguity of the text leaves us perplexed. If we're honest, the ambiguity of Esther's thoughts about her situation raises questions about her observance of God's law and her practices as a Jew.
She was taken into the harem. She received beauty treatment, special food, and seven servants.
She spends a night with a Gentile king.
She does not protest.
She could successfully hide her identity as a Jew. She apparently had adopted Persian dress and customs, at least to the extent that she was indistinguishable as a Jewish woman.
And unlike Daniel and his friends, she doesn't seem to put up the stop of, I'm not going to eat that food. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to be with this pagan king, even at the expense of my life.
The passage though, is silent on these matters.
And here's why I believe it is letter E.
Because really what it does is the point is not to look at Esther and say you were good or you were bad. But it reminds us of this truth that God's providence works through vulnerable and imperfect people.
God's providence works through those who have been taken advantage of and it takes place through even those who have failed in some way, shape or form.
And that is a beautiful and glorious truth for every single person in this room.
That God is working and he is working through our lives to complete his purposes, no matter the mistakes that we may have made or the failures that we have experienced at the hands of other people.
And what we see here is this truth. The unseen hand of God is always at work behind the scenes of our lives.
When we read the Bible, we often read incredible stories of how God spoke to his people or displayed his power in supernatural ways, or how Jesus did incredible miracles. And we might think to ourselves, well, where's God in my circumstances? Why this situation happening to me? Why am I not encountering a burning bush or the parting of a sea, or even just hearing an audible voice from heaven to give me some sort of direction? Where's the miracle that I have been praying for? This is one of the things though that I love about the Book of Esther. I love the Book of Esther because it's raw life. It takes place over a long period of time where powerful godless people are doing powerful godless things to others and injustice is being perpetrated against good people.
There is nothing flashy and it seems as though God is silent or absent.
Or is He?
What Esther gives us a clear picture into is what normal everyday life looks like for those who follow God and who follows Jesus through every circumstance of life.
God is working.
It's what we call his providence. He's working. He's moving and shaping the world around us to carry out his eternal purposes for our collective good and his glory, even in the midst of incredible brokenness.
I want you to see this. Think about how God's hand is moving behind the scenes and all of the things fault falling into place. Because let me end the story for you. God is using Esther and Mordecai to save his people. His providential plan is to powerfully use them to save his people from certain death.
And look at all the pieces that fall into place. Letter A Vashti's removal, her removal from this position of Queen. The frustration of the king leads to letter B, the proposal made from these wicked men to find a new queen. And this is what caused Esther to be caught up into this situation, not of her choosing, something that I believe she probably had no desire to be a part of, but that would ultimately lead to let her see her elevation.
This elevation would lead to a position of influence within the kingdom and with the king that would be necessary, absolutely necessary for the salvation of God's people.
If we continue looking at the end of chapter two, we see as well that Mordecai's discovery also plays into this and verses 21 and 22, it says, during the time of Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. Bighana and Teresh, two of the king's armies officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. But Mordecai found out about the plot, told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
Incredible that even in this moment, Mordecai being set up as the one who saved the king. In these moments of small little pieces, they're all being put together in order to, at the end of the story, help us to see how God providentially is moving the pieces into the place to produce a greater story in each of their lives. Letter E. In all of this, God's plan is being worked out for his glory and for his people's good.
You know, I have walked through seasons in my life that were incredibly powerful, painful.
I have gone through seasons of rejection, incredible loneliness, betrayal by friends, job loss, financial difficulty, moving away from family.
I've had the cancer word said to me, gone through marriage struggles, yes, pastors experienced that fear for my child's health.
Times where the brokenness and all other people's lives have brought pain into my own life.
And honestly, moments where my own brokenness has created incredible seasons of difficulty and hurt.
The truth is, is that living in a broken world and being broken people, life can throw us really some hard things.
But in the midst of all of those experiences, all I ever wanted was a way out.
God, where are you, Lord? Why are you silent?
God, why will you not answer me? Why are you allowing this to happen to me? Why won't you rescue me?
And yet I can tell you as well that on the other side of those moments in my life, some of them that were resolved for the positive, and others that have left scars that still remain, I have been able to see how God has used each One of them. Those. Those experiences to shape the person that I am and to prepare my life to make an impact in the lives of others for his glory.
And in all of that, I have learned to trust him in deeper and more significant ways.
And I'm going to venture to guess that since we live in a fallen world, and especially because I'm preaching, I'm.
There will be more challenges in my life to come where all of this is put to the test.
But I will tell you this because of my experience of God and of his faithfulness and learning to trust, I will approach them knowing that God is providentially working every circumstance of my life to accomplish his good purposes for eternity in. In my life, but also in the lives of others. Because my story is part of a much bigger story.
And I say that to you today, your story is part of a bigger story.
And even in the midst of the brokenness of this world and the things that you are walking through, God is providentially using it to shape your life and as well to prepare you for a life of impact that will have eternal purposes.
I want to ask you, what is that situation for you today where it feels like God is silent?
Maybe it's something you're walking through now or something you've gone through recently. And I would ask you this question. Will you choose to stand on God's word today, knowing and believing that he is not absent, but that he's working?
He's working to refine you and your faith in Him.
He's preparing you for a life of impact that will reverberate throughout all of eternity.
And my question is, will you choose to put your faith and your trust in him today?
Pray with me as your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed.
Before we pray, I want to remind you of this truth, that the reason that we trust him is because of all that he has done to prove that he is faithful.
Though the text does not tell us this, I venture to give that Mordecai and Esther respond as they do even in moments of silence where God is not mentioned or God does not speak, that they were able to rely on the fact that God had proven Himself for centuries to his people and proven Himself in their individual lives.
And I would remind you this morning that the reason that we can trust God is because he's proven Himself through Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that while we were still sinners, in rebellion, active rebellion against God, Christ died for us, that God has loved us so much that while we were in rebellion against him he sent his son into this world to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. He loved us that much and he wants us to be reconciled to him.
A God that would go that far for a broken creation shows his love and his care and his concern, but even more that his purposes are much bigger than ours. And that providentially, he is working out a bigger story in our lives. And as we go through the brokenness of this world, he's using each moment to deepen us and to prepare us.
So, Church, will you trust him in the silence?
Before I pray, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, would you just raise your hand if you are walking through something today where you have been like God, where are you? I can't hear your voice. Things seem silent. Just raise your hand, acknowledge where you are. All around the room and I pray for you.
Father, I just ask that your Holy Spirit would descend on this room and that as we consider the words of scripture this morning, that, Father, we would find ourselves in that moment where we don't know where. You are relying on who you have always been and that you have proven to us your faithfulness.
You have proven through your son, Jesus Christ. And so in the moments of silence, help us to trust God that you are working out a greater purpose in our lives, that you are refining our faith.
That, Father, even though our eyes cannot see it, you will use every circumstance of our lives, good and painful and difficult, for eternal purposes in the lives of other people as well. So, Father, remind us that our lives are part of a bigger story.
And. And teach us to trust.
Because, Lord, you have proven to us that you are good.
And so, Father, deep in our faith and our trust in you, that others would see you in us and give glory to your name. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[01:14:24] Speaker H: All my days I've been held in your hand.
From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head, I will sing of the goodness of God.
All my life you open face it.
All my life you have been so, so good.
I will see of the goodness of God.
I love your voice.
You have led me through the fire in darkest night.
You were close like no other.
I've known you as a father.
I've known you as a friend.
And I have live in the good this
[01:15:47] Speaker E: to God.
All my life you have been fai.
All my life you have been so, so good.
With every breath that I
[01:16:09] Speaker H: am able, I will sing of the goodness of
[01:16:17] Speaker F: God.
Your goodness is running after.
It's running after
[01:16:27] Speaker H: me.
[01:16:29] Speaker F: Your goodness is Running after It's running
[01:16:33] Speaker H: after
[01:16:34] Speaker F: me.
With my
[01:16:36] Speaker C: life
[01:16:38] Speaker F: down
[01:16:38] Speaker C: I
[01:16:38] Speaker F: surrender now
[01:16:40] Speaker H: I
[01:16:40] Speaker F: give you everything your
[01:16:45] Speaker H: goodness is running
[01:16:47] Speaker F: after it's running after
[01:16:50] Speaker H: me
[01:16:52] Speaker F: your goodness is running after it's running after me your goodness is running after it's
[01:17:03] Speaker E: running after
[01:17:05] Speaker H: me.
With my life
[01:17:07] Speaker E: laid down I surrender now I
[01:17:11] Speaker H: give
[01:17:11] Speaker C: you
[01:17:12] Speaker E: everything your
[01:17:16] Speaker C: goodness is running
[01:17:17] Speaker E: after
[01:17:18] Speaker C: it's running after
[01:17:20] Speaker H: me.
[01:17:29] Speaker E: All my life you have been faithful.
[01:17:34] Speaker H: All my life.
All my life.
Am able I will
[01:18:25] Speaker E: sing of the goodness of God.
I will sing of the goodness of
[01:18:37] Speaker H: God.
Amen.
[01:18:44] Speaker A: Amen.
As we close this morning, I know because I walk with a lot of you guys, that there are some hard things that people are going through. And as I ask that question for you to raise your hands, there were room hands all over this room.
I just want to encourage you to take that step of putting your faith and your trust in God, even in those moments when you can't see Him.
You know, every week we tell you our prayer team's here at the front.
These guys are here because God has given us incredible things in the body of Christ to be able to come together as a family, to walk with each other and to carry each other's burdens and to help lift each other when we feel like we can't go on.
And maybe today that's you.
Maybe you say, I have been struggling. I've been struggling to hear the voice of God. I'm not worried sure where he is, but I need someone to walk with me.
And this team would love the opportunity to minister to you today, to pray with you, to encourage you. And so I'd invite you, as our service closes, to come to the front. Maybe you have other needs, needs for healing. Or maybe you'd say, you know what? I want to put my faith and trust in Jesus for the very first time today. They would love that opportunity to pray with you today. So I invite you to come a church family. As the Holy Spirit speaks to us through his word this morning, my hope is that you won't just walk out of this room and not respond to that.
Allow the words that the Holy Spirit is speaking, that thing that he is moving in your heart to push you to deeper places of faith and trust in God, to know that providentially, he is working behind the scenes for your good and for his glory.
And as you develop that faith and trust, he will use it to develop the faith and trust of other people and to be a light to those who don't know Him.
So as you go out from here today, may you go in the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing and believing that you serve a God that is good, that loves you, who has proven it. And as you trust in him, may your light shine to the spirit world that others would come to know Him. God bless you. Have a great week as you serve Him.
