Good morning. Good to see each one here this morning. They have demoted me to a smaller full pit. Get adjusted to the right distance here, get in the center. Good to see you here this morning. Remember, pastor, he will be here for this morning's service. Continue praying for him. He's still recovering from whatever virus or whatever it was that he got a hold of, allergies or whatever. But continue to pray for him. So we'll be in lesson five of God's got this. And our verse to start out the lesson is Proverbs 21 and one. And it says, and we'll be probably throughout this lesson, this week and next week, we'll be saying this two or three more times. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. And it doesn't matter we're talking here about Persian, the king of Persia, but whatever king, whatever leader of whatever country. They can't do anything that God does not allow them to do and sometimes they end up doing things they don't want to do because of God's sovereignty. But, has everybody got an outline now for number five? Okay. Mr. Nevo here needs one. The title of this part of the lesson is The Favor of God. And I'm glad that as God's children, we can have the favor of God. As far as overview for the lesson, you know, when we do, there are certain steps and stages in our life that can cause extreme anxiety. Some of them we know is coming. Some of them we don't know is coming, going to happen. when we face a difficult situation of many different things through our lives. And sometimes if we're not relying on God closely, terror more or less can strike our minds and really just stop us from being able to do anything. But God invites us to seek Him. The God who has the ability, again, to grant us favor with any of us. He can grant any of us favor. He sees where we are and He is willing to direct our paths if we turn to Him. As far as goals for this lesson is to understand the importance of prayer when dealing with difficult situations. A lot of times, instead of praying, we just wind up this brain and just let it loose and start thinking and trying to figure it out on our own. And then to purpose to seek the Lord's wisdom for every decision. If we will do that, if we will purpose in our hearts and our minds to seek the Lord's will and not just the big ones. If we'll think about when we've got a small decision to make, to follow the Lord's will. When we catch the big ones, it'll be automatic. And then be encouraged in knowing that God sees the righteous even if they are not recognized by people on earth. You know, you can do good and do good and live right and live right and nobody ever say anything about it. But if you claim to love God and do wrong, you'll hear about it. But we cannot live, that can't be our desire to do good and for somebody to say something about it. It may never happen, but God knows what's going on. Then as far as the outline, three things in this lesson, Esther's petition of the king, Esther's plot regarding Haman, and God's plan for the people. So, so far in Esther we've gone through the part where Esther has been brought into the palace with around probably 400 other women for the king to pick out a new wife and she is chosen as the most beautiful woman in all of Persia and he chooses Esther to be his wife. So she's in the palace. Her cousin who raised her keeps the king's gate. He is outside the palace. and we've also found out about Haman who hates her cousin Esther's cousin's name is Mordecai and Haman hates Mordecai and has now gone through a plot to trick the king into allowing him to put into action a plan to eliminate all Jews, not just Mordecai, but all Jews on one day, and it's about 11 months from the day that he passed the law, and that time is coming. And so, at that, Mordecai, puts on sackcloth, covers in ashes, and that is a form of prayer the way that they used to do it. It was very common in that day. We'd think it crazy if one of us come, we've seen one of us out somewhere with sackcloth on and ashes on top of our head. We'd think, we've lost it. But that was very common in that day to show that you were praying earnestly to God, and he was doing that. It says that he cried out with a loud voice. praying to God to reverse the law that had been put in place to kill all the Jews. And of course, we know that God is not going to allow that to happen. He never said He would not let any Jews be killed, but He has said that all the Jews will not be killed because we know that Christ is going to come through the lineage of the Jews. And this hasn't happened yet in the history of the Bible. This is before Christ, so we know that's not going to happen. So now we come to chapter five in Esther and we'll read the first 12 verses here. Now it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's house over against the king's house and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house over against the gate of the house. So let me bring one more thing to get to where we are now. Mordecai is praying, Esther finds out why he's doing this, because everybody outside the palace knows the Jews are to be killed, but Esther inside the palace, she doesn't know this yet, so he sends her word what's going on, and they converse back and forth, and he tells her, you're in the palace, you are the one that has to go to the king, but we also know that if anybody approaches the king without being asked, he could have them put to death, even the queen. So, this is where we're at. And so, she's in the palace and she's come up. Now, when she comes up, she doesn't bust her way in. She more or less just stands back at the back of the room that he's in where he can see her, okay? And it says she has put on her royal apparel. In other words, she is showing him that she knows she's got to be dressed right, she's got to act right, when she comes before the king. Verse 2, And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. So he could have had her put to death because he didn't ask her to come in. But instead he extended out his scepter and she touched the scepter and recognizing the fact that he has accepted her and she recognized the fact that she knows what he could have done. But she found favor in his sight. Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, Queen Esther? And what is thy request? It shall be given thee to half the kingdom. So he's made her a pretty big promise here. Whatever you want, Esther, just let me know what it is. And Esther answered, if it seemed good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for them, or prepared for him. So she's prepared a banquet for Haman. And Haman is the one that hates her cousin. He's the one that had this law put into place to kill all Jews. One more thing, the king doesn't know, Haman doesn't know that Esther's a Jew. Then the king said, cause Haman to make haste that he may do as Esther has said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, what is thy petition? And it shall be granted thee. And what is thy request? Even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be performed. Then answered Esther and said, my petition and my request is, If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said." So she's not ready to tell him what she wants, but she's going to tell him tomorrow. Then went Haman forth that day, joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself, and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends, and Zeres his wife, And Haman told them of all the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and the servants of the king. Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king into the banquet that she had prepared but myself, and tomorrow am I invited unto her also with the king." Whatever, of course, if you've read the chapter, then you know what's about to happen, but she is planning this. She's making a very big deal out of something, but Haman the king still don't know what it is. When we make big decisions, such as marriage and career changes and other major decisions that have lasting results, we know that we have to try to get it right. We see several individuals in the Bible that did things, major decisions, and didn't make the right choice. We know that Adam was wrong when he ate the fruit. And then we see Noah was right when he built the ark. But then Abraham had a child by Hagar. Moses obeyed God and delivered Israel out of bondage. And David obeyed God and killed the giant. So we see both sides of the story. We see some men, high in prominence, very prominent in the Bible, make very bad choices. And we see where men make very good choices. And so we have to realize there's times when we make choices in our lives, we need to do it in the right way. We need to make the right choice. Now we see here in this we're going to study about Queen Esther that made a very good choice in her life. And again as we closed in chapter 4 we've seen that Haman was about to attempt to take the lives of the Jews. And of course this decree ushered in a mourning of all the Jews who were mourning at this time all over the 127 provinces of Persia. hundreds of thousands of Jews across 127 different provinces that Persia had conquered. We'll read chapter 4 verse 3 again. And every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. Now some of the Jews had lost hope but Mordecai still had hope and he believed that God would redeem the children of Israel. And he challenged Queen Esther and said that he tells her that God has placed her where she's at for such a time as this. And Esther made the courageous decision to take action even if it cost her her life. So now we see number one on your outline, Esther's petition of the king. Get this thing up to speed here. Esther's petition of the king. Now Esther was again prohibited from approaching the king. We talked about that already. She hasn't seen him in 30 days, so she's afraid to go into the king. But again, Mordecai tells her, you must go in. But Esther knew the one that had the power to turn the heart of the king. And again, Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he will. And so again, we know that The king could have had Esther put to death, but God controlled what he did and allowed her to come in. And then A, Esther's petition of the king is, first of all, prayerful. In chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, she tells them, go gather all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and that's the capital and the palace is also named Shushan. But in the capital, Susanna, fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. Now, we don't know, and the Bible doesn't tell us anything about what happens in those three days, but no doubt they were seeking God's favor. Proverbs 16, 1 and 3, the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. And in verse 3, commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. So, our day-to-day tasks, our day-to-day steps, when we commit those to the Lord, then our ways will be established. I'm going to skip that part right there. Prayer is the key to moving the heart of God. God wants us to talk to Him. Sometimes we feel like, well, it's not important. There's nothing that's of too little importance to talk to God about. If we need to talk to God, we just talk to God. Oftentimes, the difficulties that we go through are God's catalyst to bring us to Him. You can think that if everything went good in your life, you would stay close to God. You can think that all you want to, but you're not right. And that's what the Bible tells us, and we know that. When everything goes good, that's when we start getting away from God. We have to have some difficulties in our life to remind us to rely on God because we're just human. Just because we're saved, if we are saved, then that doesn't automatically make us rely on God. God doesn't make somebody get saved and after you're saved, He doesn't make you follow Him. Our loving God wants us to come to Him. D.L. Moody said, some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. The way to trouble God is to not come at all. And then an anonymous quote, if Christians spent as much time praying as grumbling, they would soon have nothing to grumble about. So we need to be prayerful. And then the lesson says she was deferential. I didn't know what that meant. means respectful. So she was respectful. After the three days of prayer and fasting, she used great wisdom and deference to enter into the king in the proper way. The Bible tells us that she put on her royal dress. It means that she knew the capriciousness of the king and I wasn't sure about that word either. That means as we have already learned that he liked shiny and glamorous things. We already knew that. So she dressed in a way to impress him. To gain his favor. It probably was a garment of purple. and gold showing her royalty and probably in that day was a very, very expensive dress. Warren Wearsby said Esther was concerned whether the king would acknowledge her presence and grant her an audience. If he didn't, it could mean immediate execution and she knew how unpredictable his moods were and we've already studied that, how he's, you know, show him something he likes if you want him to do something, right? Give him money, right? He'll do it. He also said Esther prepared herself to meet the king. If you knew you were going to meet the president of the United States at the White House, you would prepare for the meeting. So just imagine that that's what you're gonna do. You would put on what you thought was your best clothes. You would know the president's gonna be dressed nice, everybody there's gonna be dressed nice, so that's what you would do. So that's what she's doing. And then she showed a calm demeanor. Esther showed deference to the king through dress, but she also remained calm in spite of her dire situation. Now remember, the law's been passed, the law's been written down, it's been sealed. She's going to die. And all the Jews are going to die. When she came in, she was basically as far away as she could get, but still get the king's attention. Like I said, she didn't just charge in. More important than her appearance was her inner preparation. And we know, of course, that she went through the three days of prayer to find out from God what she needed to do. So, off today, people are looking for a change They go to protest and mad and yell, just look at the guy that killed the CEO of the healthcare company. That's the way people try to handle things now. And then when they brought him in, he was yelling and screaming, but that's not the way to handle things. Proverbs 15, 1 and 2, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools pours out foolishness. There's four reasons Esther could be calm in the face of danger. Number one, the Jews had been fasting and praying for three days, asking God to intervene and save them from annihilation. So she'd been talking to God, she'd been praying to God, she'd been asking Him for direction. And she was confident that he had given it to her. She went to him in prayer, being confident she would get direction, and then she was confident that she had that direction. Esther knew that God had covenanted with the Jews to deal with their enemies. Genesis 12, 1 and 3. He'd already told the Jews he's going to keep them alive. Esther knew that the God of Israel was a forgiving God who would hear his people when they humbled themselves and prayed. And that's what we need to do. We need to humble ourselves and pray. Never think that we deserve for God to do something for us. And then last, Esther saw God's favor in that he had already allowed a remnant of the Jews to return to their land and rebuild the temple. Now we talked about that earlier in this lesson that part of the Jews had already gone back to Israel to rebuild the temple. Part of them were still there in Persia. When you are aware of a need of God's peace, that is a signal to turn to him and commit the stresses that are Commit the stresses you're under to Him in prayer. So how do you know when you need God's peace? It's when you don't have peace. If you don't have peace about something, you need God's peace. You need to go to Him. Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God which patheth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Many times Christians love verse 7. Everybody loves verse 7, right? And the peace of God which patheth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. But you got to read verse 6 first. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. You ain't talked to God, you ain't prayed to God, you had no idea what he wants you to do, but yet you think he's gonna put his peace on you. No, you gotta go to him first. Again, Warren Beardsby, one of the greatest needs in the church today is for intercessors who will pray faithfully for a lost world and for a church that desperately needs revival. And the church desperately needs peace on the decisions in their lives as they live them. And then C, we see that Esther was favored. When the king saw her instantly, he gave her favor. The Lord had heard the prayers of his people and he worked on the heart of this ungodly king. Our God has the power to do that. Proverbs 21, one again, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water, he turneth it withers whoever he will. again he lured the scepter out to her for her to come in and she come in and she approached the king with the hope that he would do that and he did and then he made a very lavish invitation Esther what do you want just let me know up to half the kingdom you can have it Esther did not immediately ask for what she ultimately wanted. She said, I'll tell you tomorrow, basically what she said. Esther knew her husband, the king, was distracted and attracted to her beauty. And then number two, Esther's plot regarding Haman. Remember, she's going in to try to flip this law that is going to have all the Jews killed. And Haman is the one that did that. She responded with another kind gesture and invitation for the king and Haman to a banquet. Now, so here's the picture. She's already... She's come in to the king and she's asked, please have Haman come and we'll have a banquet. She's dressed in her royal apparel. She's said everything proper. She's done everything proper. So, I feel for me and I need to tell y'all something. Okay? You need to realize this. Now, y'all already know what's about to happen if you read chapter. But let me tell you this. If your wife comes in to you dressed in a way that reminds you of your first date and invites you to invite your friend that she hates to dinner, prepare to say goodbye to your friend. Letter A, Esther requests Haman to a banquet. Esther answered, if it seemed good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him. Inviting Haman to the banquet was wise because it boosted Haman's pride. Now the king said, Esther, you can have anything you want up to half the kingdom. I just want Haman to come to dinner. That'd make you feel big, wouldn't it? That'd make you feel important. She can have anything she wants, but what she wants is for me to come and have dinner with her. She's swelling his head. Now, the entire Old Testament wasn't written at this time, but Esther would have known the Proverbs. Proverbs 16, 18. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. So she is building up the pride of Haman. And then B, Esther requests a second banquet. Then we read those verses a while ago where she said all I want to do is just bring Haman back tomorrow and have another banquet and then I'll tell you what I want. So here's Haman's already been invited to one and now she's having me back again. Two days in a row I'm going in to dinner with the king and the queen. But she calls that banquet just to make sure he's gonna be there for the second banquet. Let's think about what Haman just heard. Knowing what we know about Haman so far, he already thinks everything's about him, right? He's already went, everything is about Haman. Again, the king offers her anything she wants, and she just asks for a private banquet. Amen must be thinking something like, wow, she must really think I am it. I am the man. So we'll quit there for today and we'll pick up there. with the second banquet next week. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day as you've given us. Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings that you bestow upon us, Lord. And Lord, may we come to you, Lord, when we have decisions to make and ask your guidance. And may we do it in all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.