Sermon Tone Analysis
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INTRO:
LET ME CATCH YOU UP TO SPEED:
2:19-23 - A plot against Xerxes is uncovered by Mordecai.
Esther warns Xerxes.
MARK THIS - IT’S HUGE…VITAL TO NEXT WEEK.
Chapter 3 - Haman is promoted to 2nd in command.
Mordecai refuses to bow down and pay homage.
Haman gets mad & talks Xerxes into signing an edict calling for the death of all Jews.
4:1-3 - Mordecai tears his clothes, wears sackcloth & ashes & weeps and mourns.
There comes a point when God makes clear what He has been preparing me for and that can be scary.
I know…I know…that’s not super deep or profound.
But it’s so true, isn’t it?
Again.
Let me remind you of something we talked about last week - the truth that God prepares me one step at a time and that my preparation for what He has prepared for me won’t necessarily come over night.
In fact, it usually won’t.
It’s here that Esther finally understands what God has prepared her for.
And, guess what…it’s been 6 years since she was taken from Mordecai.
6 YEARS!
CROCK-POT vs. MICROWAVE…Kristy likes the crock-pot.
I like the microwave.
You know, what?
If I’m honest, the food from the crock-pot tastes MUCH better.
But we live in a microwave world.
We want stuff NOW.
We’ve got fast food, we’ve got instant downloads, we’ve got high-speed internet.
We don’t like to wait.
We’re busy.
We’ve got schedules to keep.
Sometimes God is a microwave God.
Sometimes he works fast.
We like that.
But, at least in my life experiences, God is more of a crock-pot worker.
Think about where you were 6 years ago.
Think about how much has changed in your life over 6 years!
I’ve gone from 1 kid to 3! 6 years ago, I was still in seminary!
And it’s scary…THE CROSSROADS OF FAITH.
Everyone whom God uses has come to this point…and everyone who has forfeited seeing God do unbelievable things has, too.
Jesus never promised that following him would be easy, safe, or comfortable.
“Let us be clear; the will of God is not always the safest place to be, but it is the only place to be.”
(Nik Ripken)
God will accomplish His purposes with or without me.
God’s plans aren’t dependent upon me.
In fact, it’s really not about me anyway.
Here’s what I want you to understand…God doesn’t prepare me for His plans for me just for my sake.
There’s always something else.
Think about this - look at what Mordecai says, “deliverance…for the Jews.”
God was going to rescue His people with or without Esther.
You never know who God wants to use YOU to reach/minister to/etc.
It’s bigger than just us.
A.W. Tozer compared God’s sovereign purposes to an ocean liner, leaving NYC, bound for Liverpool, England.
The people on board the ship are free to do as they please, but they aren’t free to change the course of the ship.
“The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history.
God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Disobedience is costly.
You will miss out on a blessing.
Obedient living is one of the scariest but MOST AWESOME things.
You will experience disciple - Jonah.
Me coming to TRBC.
Me coming to TRBC.
Faith doesn’t just involve trusting God in the what but also in the how.
Here’s Esther’s issue…it’s clear what she should do.
She knows she’s got to intervene.
She’s, really, the only one who can approach Xerxes and have an influence on him.
But, again, if she went in to see Xerxes without an invitation, she could be executed!
THE HOW IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE WHAT.
Prayer & Fasting
Patience is NOT one of my strongest qualities.
What do we tend to do? Rush in…fools rush in, right?
Prayer & Fasting
A personal testimony about fasting & prayer (PLUS…we’ll talk more about this next week!)
It is the most focused and closest to the Lord I’ve been in a long time.
You need to have a purpose.
If you’ve ever watched the high jumpers in the Olympics, you will realize that that there are two kinds.
The regular high jumpers jump about seven feet.
They run and throw their backs over the bar.
But there is another kind of high jumper.
They are called pole-vaulters.
They jump about eighteen feet.
They back up.
They look down the runway.
But they have that pole in their hand.
They start running down the track, stick the pole in a hole in the ground, put all of their weight on that pole, and use the pole to lift them to a level that they could not lift themselves on their own.
Some of us have mountains.
There is a crossbar and we have tried to high-jump in the flesh.
We have seen that mountain and we have backed up.
We have said, “Mountain, you are not going to keep me down any longer.”
We grit our teeth with the power of positive thinking, New Year’s resolutions, and resolves not to repeat our mistakes.
We take off and we jump two feet when there is an eighteen-foot bar.
Some of us have been jumping that same two feet for fifty years and the bar is still up there.
In fact, it keeps going higher every year.
Maybe what you need is a pole vault.
You need something that you can lean on when you get to your problem so that you can go higher than you can go higher than you could ever lift yourself.
Maybe you need a pole that will help you jump over the mountain.
The pole vault for the bars in your life are prayer and fasting.
Lord, I don’t want to go one step without you!
SOME OF YOU MIGHT BE AT THE FIRST CROSSROADS…DO I BUY INTO JESUS?
DO I GIVE HIM MY LIFE?
IT’S GOING TO COST YOU.
YOUR LIFE.
BEING A DISCIPLE.
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