Uncertain - Esther
Esther 4:13-16 NLT
13 Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. 14 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?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”
Hitting the High Points...
- Vashti deposed - refused the kings request
- New Queen - Pageant winner
- Cousin Mordecai - saved the king from assassination plot
- Hateful Haman - Purim (54 boo's) king of Persia's #2 man
- Disrespectful Jew - Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman
- Death warrant for Esthers People - Haman plotted to kill all the Jews...
- Mordecai's plea to the queen - save your people by goin to the king...
- Passing notes - "I can't go uninvited" "...for such a time..." "if I die, I die"
- Banquet #1 - Esther stops short... "come again tomorrow"
- Sleepless night - the king remembers that Mordecai saved his life while Haman plots to kill Mordecai
- Great Reversal - Haman forced to honor Mordecai
- Haman dejected - complains to his wife
- Banquet #2 - Esther announces a plot to kill the Jews... "I'm a Jew and so is the man you honored today"
- Haman executed - on the sharp pole he set for Mordecai
- Edict - Jews fight back ... Persians convert
The Book of Esther
- why tell this story
- God never mentioned
- finger prints of God
- even when we can't see God, God is at work
- 4:14 "...made queen..."
- 4:16 "...fast for me..."
- UNO - reverse
Do you believe that God is at work in the world today?
Do you believe that God is at work in your life today?
Do you believe that your are where you are...
and have what you have...
and know what and who you know...
and are who you are...
for such a time as this?
Blessing:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you :
wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness :
protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing :
at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing :
once again into our doors.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you feel like your life has purpose?
- Have you ever asked God, "Why?"
- How are the presence of God and the purpose of life connected?
- Do you think God calls people to specific moments for specific purposes?
- What is God asking you to do? What purposes does God have for you? ...for us?
