Godly Leadership is a Powerful Thing!
God Remembers: • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 7 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Intro:
Intro:
We have spent 10 weeks walking through and praying through the book of Esther!
We have spent 10 weeks fasting week after week asking that the Lord would REMEMBER US!
WHICH REALLY MEANS THAT WE WOULD REMEMBER HIM!!
He never has forgot us!
Just like he never forgot the Jews in the Persian Empire during the time of Esther.
I have heard so many people through these 10 weeks tell me…
That God has used this series in Esther to deeply Encourage them!
They have said….
“I can look back through my life and see the PROVIDENTIAL HAND OF GOD ON ME”
“I know God is working in my life right now, even in the places that I do not see Him.”
“I know God is at work RIGHT NOW for SUCH A TIME AS THIS”
Today, we are finishing the book of Esther!
And just as the Jews turned their mourning into rejoicing….their fasting into feasting…
WE SHALL DO THE SAME THING!
Through the month of NOVEMBER….we are no strangers to feasting!
We will have several feast….church feasts, friends feast, family feast….you name it!!!
We will be so tired of Turkey that we wont eat it for another year!
BUT I WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU THIS MONTH!
Rather than just feasting for feasting sake…..FEAST UNTO THE LORD!
MAKE YOUR GATHERINGS INTENTIONAL!
We have fasted with a longing for the Lord’s movement in our life and church
Now, let us feast in thanksgiving and rejoice in His movement!
BE INTENTIONAL WITH…
Why you are together
Giving thanks for being together
Making Christ most important!
WHAT IF…
Your primary reason of gathering was not because of an American Holiday…..
BUT WAS BECAUSE of using the holiday TO HONOR THE LORD!
I say all of this because Godly Leadership is a Powerful Thing!
And you have the opportunity to Lead in your family, especially over these next two months!
Think about the great leaders through Scripture…
17 So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
18 I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me. They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened to do this good work.
26 And Moses stood at the camp’s entrance and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him.
10 When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
15 But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship—the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”
May God allow us to bring the power of GODLY LEADERSHIP into our families!
PRAY!!!
We are going to look at what this Leadership looks like!
1 King Ahasuerus imposed a tax throughout the land even to the farthest shores.
2 All of his powerful and magnificent accomplishments and the detailed account of Mordecai’s great rank with which the king had honored him, have they not been written in the Book of the Historical Events of the Kings of Media and Persia?
3 Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus. He was famous among the Jews and highly esteemed by many of his relatives. He continued to pursue prosperity for his people and to speak for the well-being of all his descendants.
I. A Godly Leader leads others to LIFE and LIBERTY.
I. A Godly Leader leads others to LIFE and LIBERTY.
By God’s grace, MORDECAI lead his people to a place of Life and Liberty!
They were promised DEATH and yet, were given LIFE.
Mordecai’s plan could have been…
Let me find a way to get my cousin Esther….and lets get out of town….lets get to Jerusalem.
But that was not it….rather he told Esther
14 If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”
Mordecai lead his people TO LIFE by having full ASSURANCE THAT GOD WAS REAL AND ACTIVE
His Faith lead them to LIFE!!!!
Not only were they given Life, but LIBERTY.
The people went from EXILES to a PEOPLE HONORED…as Mordecai was honored!
What a powerful leader for the Jews!
Do you LEAD others to LIFE and LIBERTY?
This is not just to be a powerful leader….BUT THIS IS OUR CALLING as a BELIEVER!
18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
We are Christ’s Ambassadors that are PLEADING ON CHRIST BEHALF, “BE RECONCILED TO GOD.”
What is this reconciliation!?
IT IS LIFE AND LIBERTY!
Reconcile means to be restored, brought back together again!
Christ has brought us back together with God!
In the Garden, there was LIFE
It was breathed into our nostrils
In the Garden, there was LIBERTY
It was freedom in God!
A perfect relationship with Him
Not slaved to sin nor shame
However, the Fall takes us from LIFE AND LIBERTY to DEATH AND SLAVERY!
But Jesus reconciles us back to God and GIVES US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION!
Were we are TO LEAD OTHERS to LIFE and LIBERTY!
Speak words of LIFE that promise RECONCILIATION IN CHRIST.
Tell them of the LIBERTY that comes from BEING RECONCILED IN GOD…
Not to be burdened with laws, traditions, and legalism….BUT THE TRUTH…
1 For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.
32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
A Godly Leader leads others to LIFE AND LIBERTY through CHRIST!
10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
As you FEAST UNTO THE LORD….
LET JESUS BE PREEMINENT!
Meaning….FIRST BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE!
Meaning….EXALTED ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE!
Meaning….THE FOUNDATION UNDER EVERYTHING ELSE!
Meaning….THE REASON BEHIND EVERYTHING ELSE!
Let Jesus be BEFORE, ABOVE, UNDER, and BEHIND everything you do during this season!
II. A Godly Leader leads with CONTINUAL PERSISTENCE.
II. A Godly Leader leads with CONTINUAL PERSISTENCE.
Esther 10:3 “ He continued to pursue prosperity for his people and to speak for the well-being of all his descendants.”
Now this PROSPERITY was not just in class or social standing…BUT RATHER….It literally says HE CONTINUED TO PURSUE GOOD FOR HIS PEOPLE
Mordecai wanted the best for his people!
Not just socially and politically….BUT MORALLY
He wanted His people to TRUST THE LORD and to FIND HIS FAVOR!
And the WELL-BEING was not just that they were okay, BUT…Is literally says he SPOKE PEACE UNTO THEM!
Peace being the protection but also the wholeness God brings on a people!
Mordecai spoke this PEACE unto NOT JUST HIS PEOPLE…..but HIS FAMILY…DESCENDANTS
AND WHAT I WANT TO BRING ATTENTION TO IS….MORDECAI SHOWED A CONTINUAL PERSISTENCE!
He never gave up.
He simply persisted in his faith and in whatever the Lord had revealed!
I want to encourage you today to be a GODLY LEADER that LEADS with CONTINUAL PERSISTENCE!
No matter what you are facing…..continue to lead others with persistence!!!
I think of Paul…
23 Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death.
24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea.
26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers;
27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.
28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches.
PAUL LEAD WITH CONTINUAL PERSISTENCE
Listen to His words as HE ENCOURAGES US TO PRESS ON!
9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,
14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
BROTHERS, SISTERS….
PRESS ON….LEAD WITH PERSISTENCE!
Don’t stop praying for that loved one!….we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up
Don’t give into the pressures of those who do not believe….your labor in the Lord is not in vain
Don’t lose hope…..be steadfast and immovable!
Don’t stop because you are weary….Let us not get tired of doing good!
Don’t lose zeal and passion….excel in the Lord’s Work!
PRESS on dear brother, dear sister!!
A Godly Leader Leads with CONTINUAL PERSISTENCE!
III. A Godly Leader will leave a LASTING LEGACY.
III. A Godly Leader will leave a LASTING LEGACY.
Mordecai left a Lasting Legacy!
The writer of Esther says, “Have not the powerful and magnificent accomplishments not been written in the Book of the Historical Events of the Kings of Media and Persia.”
The rank and detailed account of Mordecai being honored by the King would be something that was read through every generation!
IN FACT, THINK ABOUT IT…..here we are today…HAVING SPENT 10 WEEKS LOOKING AT THIS LEGACY!
Godly Leaders WILL leave a LASTING LEGACY!
Now, sometimes it is recorded in the history books....
Mother Teresa was a Godly Leader recorded in the History books!
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Godly Leader recorded in the History Books!
However, there are other times that the LASTING LEGACY never touches the black and white pages of a book….nor is their name widely known…
However……THAT LEGACY GETS WROTE ON THE HEART of a 14 year old boy who sees the Gospel!
And that Legacy continues as God uses that boy from HIS PULPIT!
And that Legacy carries over into families literally across the nation that has been impacted by that Gospel!!
And that Legacy reaches his kids and their kids and generations to come….
AND THUS…..A GODLY LEADER has left a LASTING LEGACY…
Where it was never about their name….
But about the name CHRIST in which they were simply an ambassador for!
WHAT KIND OF LEGACY ARE YOU LEAVING!?
Here is the truth that I don’t even have to say…..
Our life gets away from us!
Me:
I am 30 years old and still feel like I am supposed to be a teenager
I am half way to 60 years old….it unbelievable to me!
I have 11 more years with Jaci before she graduates
Jayla is 3 years old….I was just holding her and feeding her…
IT GOES SO FAST….
You know its true!
Many of you are thinking, I have less road ahead of me than I have behind me….
Duane just told me this week….20 more years, I will be 80 years old!
Mrs. Ruby celebrated 100 years, and it went by like this…snap
LIFE IS BUT A VAPOR!!
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”
14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
SO I ASK YOU AGAIN….WHAT LEGACY ARE YOU LEAVING!
What will people say about me….
I hope people will say….he was funny, loved people, and loved Jesus
But here is the reality…most likely I will be almost completely forgotten in a few generations.
Think about….how many of you know the names of the GRANDPARENTS of your GRANDPARENTS? (Your Grandma’s Grandma or Grandpa)
Thats 3 generations from those alive today….and almost completely forgotten!
BUT THATS OKAY!!!!
My point is that our legacy IS NOT ABOUT OUR NAME, PERSONALITY, ACHIEVEMENTS....
THE ONLY LEGACY THAT HAS PASSED FAITHFULLY FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION IS THAT OF CHRIST…FAITH IN JESUS!
THIS LEGACY has traveled through THOUSANDS OF YEARS…..
WILL YOU BE A PART OF CARRYING IT FORWARD!
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
Invitation:
Godly Leadership is a POWERFUL THING!!!
Those who lead others to LIFE AND LIBERTY…..and do so WITH CONTINUAL PERSISTENCE…..will leave a LASTING LEGACY!!!
This GOSPEL that caries through the generations IS THE POWER UNTO SALVATION!!!!
If you want to make an impact, SURRENDER TO CHRIST!
First in SALVATION
Second in PREEMINENCE
WILL YOU BE A GODLY LEADER, through this season of FEASTING….will you FEAST UNTO THE LORD!
