A SHEROE'S COURAGE

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 4)

13 Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. 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.”15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.” 17 So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.

BIG IDEA: (S)HEROES DEMONSTRATE COURAGE WHEN IT MATTERS MOST!

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.

AWWW, SO COURAGE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF FEAR, BUT THE CONFRONTATION OF FEAR, AS ONE DOES WHAT MUST BE DONE! COURAGE!!!

HOW’S YOUR COURAGE?

DO YOU FIND YOURSELF EMBRACING WHAT MUST BE DONE WITH THE LOOMING UNCERTAINTY OF WHAT MAY BE DONE TO YOU?

HOW’S YOUR COURAGE?

PERHAPS NOT COURAGE TO FIGHT IN A BATTLE OR TO OVERTHROW A SYSTEMICALLY RACIST INSTITUTION, BUT COURAGE NONETHELESS,

TO LIVE & TO SHARE YOUR FAITH CONSISTENTLY

COURAGE TO LIVE HOLY WHEN OTHERS MAKE UP RULES AS THEY GO ALONG...

COURAGE TO SERVE WHEN IT’S UNPOPULAR…FORGIVE WHEN IT’S UNHEARD OF...PRAY WHEN IT’S RISKY…WITNESS WHEN IT’S POLITICALLY INCORRECT!!!

BELOVED, HOW’S YOUR COURAGE?

THE SITUATION IN OUR SERIES HAS GONE SOUR!

MORDECAI HAS SNITCHED, BUT GOTTEN BLESSED! ESTHER IS STILL CONCEALING HER ETHNICITY…AND KING AHASUERUS IS STILL OBLIVIOUS TO ANYTHING WORTHWHILE...

HENCE, HAMAN’S RISE TO THE FOREFRONT IS EMINENT.

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 3)

5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage. 6 And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed repugnant to Haman to do away with Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.

AS WE STUDIED ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT, THERE SEEMS TO BE A PARALLEL PLOT TWIST…A SIMILAR SERIES OF EVENTS AT PLAY:

THE COMMAND

THE REFUSAL

THE FURY

AWWW, SO HAMAN’S EGO REVEALS THAT HAMAN IS (IN FACT) EVIL!

PERHAPS THIS REALITY WAS REVEALED TO MORDECAI...HENCE A REFUSAL TO BOW....

VS. 8-11 - SHOW US HAMAN’S EVIL (10) IN HOW HE LIES TO ENFORCE THE RETALIATION AGAINST THIS PEOPLE. HOW HE’S WILLING TO PAY (OUT OF HIS OWN WEALTH) TO ENSURE FULFILLMENT! BUT ULTIMATELY, THESE VERSES REVEAL THAT HAMAN ISN’T JUST EVIL! HE IS THE ENEMY OF THE JEWS!

MAN’S EVIL LEADS TO HATRED CLOAKED IN LIES!

AWWW, THE EDICT IS ENACTED - THE LOT IS CAST - THE DATE IS SET FOR THE ANNIHILATION OF AN ENTIRE PEOPLE...

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.

AS WE PRESS INTO CHAPT 4, WE SEE THE PEOPLE WEARY AND WORN! THE LOT HAS BEEN CAST! THEIR FATE HAS BEEN SEALED! NOW THEY MUST WAIT FOR THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 4)

4 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly. 2 He went only as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate. 3 There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict reached. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

MORDECAI IS SMART AND IS LED...

WE MUST SEE GOD’S SOVEREIGN HAND AT WORK IN THE UNFOLDING OF THESE EVENTS…

(EVEN THOUGH GOD ISN’T MENTIONED - HE’S THERE! EVEN THOUGH PRAYER AIN’T MENTIONED - THEY’RE PRAYING)!

MORDECAI’S ACTIONS…(VS. 1-2)

ESTHER’S ATTEMPT (VS. 4) MORDECAI’S REFUSAL...

MORDECAI’S COMMAND (VS. 8):

APPROACH THE KING

IMPLORE HIS FAVOR

PLEAD W/HIM PERSONALLY FOR HER PEOPLE.

ESTHER - THE SHEROE’S CHALLENGE!

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 4)

10 Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, 11 “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned—the death penalty—unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live. I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last thirty days.” 12 Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

KEY PRINCIPLE: FAITH & FAVOR CAN GREATLY IMPACT FACTS!

ESTHER’S CHALLENGE IS REAL! THE LAW IS THE LAW...

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.

MORDECAI’S WISE WARNING (VS. 13-14)!

BELOVED, PLEASE DON’T FORGET OUR BIG IDEA (FROM LAST WEEK): GOD PREPARES US AND POSITIONS US FOR HIS USE…YOU DIDN’T JUST LAND WHERE YOU ARE IN LIFE BY CHANCE! REGARDLESS OF OUR POOR CHOICES - OUR LACK OF COURAGE - OUR DISOBEDIENCE! GOD’S SOVEREIGN HAND IS AT WORK IN ALL OF OUR LIVES… HE’S POSITIONING YOU - HERO - FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!

YOU’VE GOT JUST ENOUGH HOLINESS TO CONTROL YOUR RATCHEDNESS TO MAKE YOU AN EFFECTIVE WITNESS TO THIS CULTURE!!!

ESTHER - ESTHER - ESTHER…SEEING THE CHALLENGE OF HER PEOPLE, WHILE SENSING THE DANGER OF MORDECAI’S COMMAND, OUR SHEROE RISES TO THE OCCASION!!!

BELOVED, THERE’S GOING TO COME A TIME WHEN YOU MUST SIMPLY “DO SOMETHING!”

ESTHER SAYS: (VS. 15-17)

Y’ALL PRAY!

WE’LL PRAY!

I’LL GO!

HERE’S OUR TAKEAWAY:

ESTHER WAS:

IN THE RIGHT PLACE

AT THE RIGHT TIME

TO FULFILL THE RIGHT ASSIGNMENT