I've been here for the last month, but you ain't been here in Sunday school class, I know that. No, it's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I wanted to go ahead and give you an update on the Bibles through Beams Missionaries, how they give them out to the missionaries. The first time we sent money for 40 Bibles, We had trouble for some reason getting the receipt back for that. That's the reason we didn't send any more for a while. But we got that back and now we're sending another $640. So that's a total of $960 for 120 Bibles since we started doing that. So I wanted to give you all that update. I don't like to do it if we can't keep track of it. I want to make sure we're able to keep track of it before we send any more. So again, we're at 120 Bibles and we've sent $960. I don't think you could spend a better $960. And that's people getting a Bible that doesn't have one, especially. All right, here we go, Brother Dennis. We're going to hang Haman this morning. He's been waiting execution for a month now. And the Bible was quick, but we're taking a long time to get it done. So we are on C, I think number 3C in lesson 6, Haman punished. Esther 7, 9, and 10. And Harbinol, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified. Alright, we finally got him hanged. He's gone. He's gone now. Now we're going to get on with the rest of the lesson. Really, everything looked bleak for the Jews up until right now. Now we're going to go the other way. The sentencing for Hayman was planned by God before Hayman had the gallows made. Hayman was making for somebody else, but God knew who they was gonna be used for. We could say, let me get this screen here right. I'm glad that it worked, because I didn't get it ready before now. But here we are, just a second. Hayman indicted. I don't know why the, The PowerPoint says Haman indicted, and the book says Haman punished. But that's what it is. Either one. That's what we got anyway. All right. So, like I said, God had planned this. God knew what was going to happen. And we could say that it was imminent. Nothing had to happen first before this had happened. It happened when God wanted it to happen. It's just like the second coming of Christ is imminent. He can come at any time. There's nothing that has to happen first for Christ to return. As a matter of fact, there's nothing that had to happen first since he left, since he rose back up into heaven. Nothing had to happen before he came back. And so now it's been 2,000 years, so now we really know. It's time. We're expecting. It is imminent that Christ is returning. Say that word with me. Imminent. Imminent. Again. Imminent. One more time. Imminent. Now then. Sounds like Bro. Smith, don't it? I just thought of that when I was doing it. I had this wrote down before you ever come. But now then. I didn't know this. So did we say imminent or imminent or imminent? The last one is correct. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about the last one actually. But which one of these applies to God? All three. Imminent, the first one means in all things. And God is in all things. He's everywhere. And then the second word, imminent, means the most powerful as in the government's eminent domain to take your property if it supposedly benefits the public. They can do that. You can't do anything about it. You might as well forget it. You can take them to court. They're still gonna take your land. But God is eminent over everybody. He is all-powerful over everyone. But again, the last one up there is the one we're talking about today. God's punishment on Haman was imminent. Nothing had to happen. God knew what was going to happen. He had it set up. And it was time to happen. And it happened when God said it would happen. Now, Bill Dennis would have rather done it about 4 or 5 weeks ago. Maybe 8, 4 or 5 months ago now. But we've been talking about it. He said, when are we going to hang Haman? But God in His sovereignty made the wrongs right. And we can trust God to do the same for us. Now, you may have been sometime in your life in just a dire situation as Mordecai was in. Probably not. You've probably been in some dire situations. But we can take to heart and for our relief that when we see what God did for Mordecai and know that he can do that for us too. God's just as strong as he ever was. He's still in the miracle business. This trust frees us from being eaten up by bitterness or taking vengeance into our own hands. You see, if we didn't trust God to take care of it. Now we know God can't. But we have to trust God to do it. And we have to leave it in His hands. If we don't do that, then it's going to eat us up. When people do us wrong, it's going to eat us up. It's going to affect every day of our lives if we don't. Romans 12, 17 through 19 says, Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as life in you live peaceably with all men. Now that tells us you can't live peaceably with some people, but don't let that be your fault. And verse 19, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Being treated, being treated with evil, page just jumped, excuse me. I mean, it really jumped. Forgive me, I'm sorry. It jumped like eight chapters. But it's never right to do evil because we have been done evilly. Okay, now we're on the right track. Alright, being treated with evil is never a reason to do evil. Now, number three is relief for the Jews. Now, Haman is executed. But we have to remember, there's still a law on the books. And in Persian law, you cannot change the law. There is still a law on the books that says on the 13th day of the last month, all Jews will be killed. And they can't change it. So a little bit of a dilemma there. Even after the sentencing of Haman, the king still had a problem. Because of this decree, it was irrevocable to eliminate the Jews. So we're going to look at, that's Relief of the Jews, number three, and we're going to look at Mordecai's destiny now. So, after revealing her race, after Esther revealed that she was a Jew, she told the king her relationship to Mordecai, the Jew that had saved the king's life on Esther 8, verses 1 and 2. On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman, the Jew's enemy, unto Esther, the queen. And Mordecai came before the king where Esther had told what he was unto her. And the king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther sent Mordecai over the house of Haman. So now we have Haman executed and now Haman and Esther now own everything that Haman owns. Not only that, but he also has his position. He is second in command to the king. Only the king has more power. That's quite the turnaround. Now in the book of Esther, it takes place over several years. But here in this chapter, it's only in a few moments how things turn for the good of the Jews. Now you may have someone in your life that mistreats you. And I'm not talking about physical abuse. We're not supposed to take physical abuse. A lot of people have the wrong idea about the husband being the ruler of the house, that whatever he says goes. As a matter of fact, I knew a man one time, I hadn't seen him in years. He said that if a man told his wife to go with him and rob a bank, She would be sinning if she didn't do that. That's not right. That's not right. That took all confidence I had in him away when he said something like that. We're not to go against God's laws no matter what. God's laws are supreme and we know it's not right to rob a bank. And it's not right to physically abuse people. But we do get abused in other ways. We get mistreated. If you're a Christian and you stand for the Lord, you will be mistreated. Remember that one day the trials you face and the misdeeds against you will be forgotten when you are in the presence of the Lord. The hatred that Haman had for Mordecai no longer mattered, did it? It no longer mattered because God took care of it. And that's what we have to do, we have to allow God to take care of it. Like I said, going through the book of Esther, as we only take a small portion week by week, it's taking a long time. And sometimes when we've been done wrong, it seems like it's taking eternity for God to take care of the problem. But we have to trust God to take care of the problem. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 17 and 18. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now he says light affliction, we have to compare our affliction to the affliction of Christ. Ours is light. Ours is very light. Verse 18, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. We know what we have in store for heaven. We have it in the Word of God. We know that. And that's what we are to look to. That's what we are to trust in. Romans 8 and 18, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So if you live for God, you are going to suffer persecution. But also, if you're a born-again child of God, you are going to spend eternity in heaven with Him. So, Mordecai is now in the position of Haman. He has the king's ring, and again, second only to the king. Remind again that promotion comes from God. This new position for Haman outside of the sovereignty of God was absolutely impossible. Psalm 75, 6 and 7, for promotion, cometh neither from the east nor the west nor from the south, but God is the judge. He put it down one and sessions if they are necessary to do his work. You do not need to pull strings, know the right people, bribe the powers to be, by the powers that be or manipulate people to obtain high position. If you need promotion to do God's work, God will see to it that you get it and you will obtain it in an honorable way. So when you're talking about doing the work of the Lord, it's never right. You say, well, if I had their position or if I had that person's position. Don't try to get their position. Do what God wants you to do and allow God to put you in the position that he wants you to be in. Sometimes in occupation, on a job, there may be one position for people to be promoted to, but several people that qualify for that promotion. And then one person gets it, and then some of the others say, well, that's not fair. Well, it is fair. There's only one. Now, they might have made a bad choice, but fair is not part of it. Unless somebody cheated, then I guess it'd be fair. But it's not just because you didn't get it doesn't make it not fair. In life, if you are trusting the Lord for promotion, you will get the promotion God sees you deserve when God knows you need it. Sometimes you just don't need that promotion. But do you have your faith in God to give you what he wants you to have? So Mordecai was given deliverance from his enemy and promotion from the king. But what about the rest of the Jews? God had plans for them too. So they're still in dire straits. So be the Jews' deliverance. So Esther came to the king one more time to plead for her people. Esther chapter 8 verses 3 and 6. And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears, to put away the mischief of Haman, the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? So the king gave freedom to the Jews, And verses seven and eight, King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman and him they have hanged upon the gallows because he laid his hand upon the Jews. Write ye also for the Jews as it liketh you in the king's name and seal it with the king's ring for the writing which is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring may no man reverse. So he is giving Mordecai had the authority to write a law that would override the previous law because you can't revoke it. And Mordecai was very wise in what he did. The king allows the Jews to defend themselves. And this is in Esther chapter 8 verses 9 through 14. We're going to read verses 11 and 12. wherein the king granted the Jews, which were in every city, to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spool of them a prey, upon one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, namely upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. So he says, all right, It's on the law that they can kill you, but you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to let you kill them first. And he's going to give them the power to do that, and he gives them the okay to do that. So all of a sudden now, the desire to be against the Jews changed. Not for everybody, because they did end up killing some. So he countered the earlier decree. And again, it went out to all 127 provinces. And in C, the Jews delight. So Mordecai was honored with great respect and jubilation exploded amongst the Jews as they heard this new decree. And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white and with a great crown of gold and with a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. In every province and every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day." Everything changed for the Jews in chapters 7 and 8. They were condemned. Now they are protected. All hope had seemed lost, but now, in a miraculous way, they have hope again. In verse 17 it says, And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. So see, that's always God's ultimate goal, is to see people come to Him. Not only did he save the Jews, but he also had people to convert over to Jews. As many Gentiles saw this sequence, they realized, wow, their God really did come through for them. I want what they have. And that's what we're supposed to do as Christians. We should live in a way that makes others want what we have. It was a mass conversion of Gentiles and God received the glory. Remember, you don't know what the Lord is doing in the hearts of those that scoff, those that abuse, those that talk about you. You don't know what He's doing behind the scenes. Imagine what would happen in our country if Christians fasted like Mordecai and the Jews and sought God's intervention for revival as the Jews fasted and prayed for Esther. God can deliver you from whatever you are facing today and he can use your testimony to point others to him. When God does something for us, we should praise Him for it, give Him the glory. That doesn't mean you have to go around and tell everybody, but between you and God, you should acknowledge to Him, thank you God for doing this for me. We're going to get just briefly into Lesson 7, and we'll hand out the outline next week So we have lesson seven, lesson eight left, and then we're going to study the life of Peter. But as a verse for lesson seven is Proverbs 11.10. When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth, and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. Now, if you want to read Reread this week what we're going to be studying. It'll be Esther chapter 9 verses 1 through 22. Be good to read that and then you'll be more prepared for next week's lesson. As goals for this coming lesson, we need to learn and see how God takes our trials and brings beauty from our darkest nights. Understand the Christian significance of making holiday times to praise God. You know, we see the word holiday, which means holy day, but there's not much holiness in these holidays. Purpose to remember their salvation and the blessings of God even while facing trials. And we're gonna talk about the protection of the Jews, the praise of the Jews, and the pondering of the Jews. And the lesson is titled, From Morning, that is M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G, to a Good Day. We'll close a little bit early today. I do want to remind you, there is a sign-up sheet out there for Senior Saints Lunches this Tuesday at 11.30. It'll be at Hoyt's, but please sign up for that if you want to go. So lunch with the pastor this coming Tuesday at 11.30 at Hoyt's. Please sign up. And then, I did, yeah. And the giving statements are here. If you haven't received yours yet, they're out there on the table. So you can get that. And also, if you haven't signed up for visitation teams, you need to do that, and you can do so out there through today, and we'll take those up this evening, and we're gonna make the teams from those lists and sign up. If you want a t-shirt, put your size down. If you are going to hand out cracks or write letters and you don't want a t-shirt, just put an X there for size and that'll be just fine. Some have done that. And if you want to do letters regularly, which is at least 100 letters seven times a year, $25 each time, If you will write your name, put letters beside that, I'll contact you and get you set up to do that. All right, let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this time that you've given us. We thank you, Lord, for the book of Esther, Lord. Lord, that it teaches us, Lord, that you are always in control, Lord. Lord, that you love your people, Lord, and you want to show favor to your people. Lord, I pray for the rest of the services today. Lord, I pray for your will to be done. Pray for souls to be saved. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.