last chapter of Esther. Esther chapter 10. It's a very short chapter. All right, so does everyone have what they need? All right, Esther chapter 10. So let's give our attention to God's never-changing word. Esther chapter 10, King Asherah imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. and all the acts of his power and might in the full account of the high honor of Mordecai to which the king advanced him. Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus. And he was great among the Jews and popular with a multitude of his brothers. For he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people. Completes our reading of God's word, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this whole book. Lord, we pray that today you would sink deeper. Seeds have been being planted over the past couple months. Lord, that they would get down and then sprout and do great things in our lives. Lord, I do ask this in the name of Christ, amen. Amen, don't close your Bible, keep it open. You're gonna need it the rest of this service. All right, so wives, I have a question for you. Is your husband forgetful? Is your husband forgetful? My wife's in the nursery, I can answer for her. Yes, absolutely. Many times, I go downstairs, she asks for tea, she asks for water, and I come back up, and I'm clueless, and I haven't went down for anything. And so I'm forgetful, but to not let them off the hook. Husbands, does your wife ever forget anything? Don't nod too big, you'll get elbowed. But do you ever ask her to pick something up during the day, and she just forgets? Parents, your kids. Do your kids ever, you give them a chore to do? Do they always do it? Sometimes they forget, don't they? But kids, don't your parents sometimes forget? Dad, will you come play Legos with me? And we never showed up. So we have to all admit, now all together, we're basically forgetful. If I asked you, if you remember the outline of the sermon from six weeks ago or eight weeks ago, even I don't remember that, right? We're all pretty forgetful. So we've come to the end of the book of Esther. And so what we want to do is kind of look back over the book before we move on and just let it sink in a little bit deeper. So we'll review some of the highlights. This chapter here is actually very, very brief. I'll just quickly explain it. Verse one. He's collecting taxes. So some things have changed and some things haven't. We're still in Persia. It's, you're still in exile. You know, King Ashurus is basically about himself and he just, so he has power and he can collect taxes from Ethiopia all the way to India because he's conquered all these people. So that hasn't changed. Verse 2. What does it say? It says, hey, all this is recorded in the history books, right? The book of Chronicles, the Kings of Media and Persia. The funny thing is, often the Bible refers to other historical documents, you know, to give reference, you know, to say this is, the big word is historicity. It's history, right? This really happened. The funny thing is, the Bible has been preserved way better than most other books. So we actually have, many times we don't have the other history book, but we have the Bible because it's preserved. But this is real history. This is no fairy tale. Verse three, Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to the king. And look, it says about him, he sought the welfare of his people and he was very popular with them. Well, for any of you that are just joining us for the first time, this is like walking in on a movie that 10 minutes before it's over, right? And you're like, well, that was a nice movie. I have no clue who Mordecai is or why it's so great, right? So what we're going to do is we're going to go back. And so you came the right week. This is the Cliff Notes version of the whole book. We're going to hit all of it. Let me look, let's look real quick. And I want, I thought of this question. What do I want, what do we really want to remember? And so if you have been with us this whole time, think, what was your favorite piece of the story? What was your favorite application? Was there a service that, a sermon that really stuck with you? What's your favorite part? We do this to our kids. What, was it when, and we'll hit them. So as we go through, you get a second chance. As we go back through, make a note. You can circle it, you can just make a mental note like, yeah, that one was the one that I, now I remember what I forgot that that was important. So you can remember. Look on page seven, look at that question. What if God puts you where you are for a bigger purpose than you thought? What if God puts you where you are for a bigger purpose than you thought. If so, then these four things. Don't be assimilated or be intimidated. Secondly, remember that you're here for such a time as this. Third, take risks courageously. And fourth, remember our God of great reversals. Let's look at that first one. Don't be assimilated or intimidated. So a little history before the book, so Esther begins with the Jews living in exile in Persia, right? They were all in the promised land, didn't obey God, God kicked them all out. So they're out in Persia and the king, King Ahasuerus, gets so angry at his wife, he deposes her. Her name was Vashti. Kicks her out, but later, he got lonely. And so, this is, turn back to chapter two. You're just gonna go through the whole book of Esther, so just keep flipping pages. Esther chapter two, verses two to four. This was his genius plan to find a new queen. Verse two said, let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. This is wicked. He's basically just gathering all the pretty girls from his huge nation, putting them in a harem, and then one by one deciding which is his favorite. So wicked. And it says in the end, let cosmetics be given them. Let the young woman that pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. So, you got this Jewish man, our two main characters of the story were Mordecai and Esther, right? How do they respond to this really strange situation? One word, assimilate. So they did, they assimilated, assimilate, they blended in, they were chameleon, looked like everyone else. So they're still in chapter two, look at verse, beginning of verse eight. So in the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered to Seuss to the citadel, Mordecai said, hey, this is my daughter. You aren't sticking her, no. Esther was also taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Haggai, who was in charge of the women. And the young woman quickly pleased him, Haggai, and won his favor. So here she is, she's getting honor in the harem. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food. Pause there. Jews only eat kosher food, right? I think Esther like raised her hand. Excuse me, can I see the kosher menu? No kosher menu, right? She just blends right in. She just eats their food, definitely not kosher. So keep looking. And when seven young women were given to her, she was advanced. It says, Esther had, this is important, Esther had not made known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. He said, hide who you are. That's what happens when you assimilate, right? You hide who you are and you just fit in with everyone else. And this happens everywhere. Kids, does this happen in school or with your friends? Is there pressure to fit in with everyone else? There absolutely is, right? And so, and it happens with adults, happens in our workplace, right? The jokes we make, the jokes we laugh at, the gossip that's told, gossip we laugh at, right? Isn't it true? There's pressure. Peer pressure is not just a thing for kids, is it? We all face that. The pressure to assimilate, to fit in. And so I pose that to you. How are you tempted to assimilate? Where you work or on your street, is it what you value? Hey, we value the same things. And what you talk about, or is it what you don't talk about? Most people don't talk about their relationship with Jesus, right? And so why would I ever talk about that? That would really be uncomfortable. That's what she did. She just hid. No one knew that she was a Jew. I mean, I guarantee she had to break a lot of Old Testament laws to fit into a harem. And that's where our story began. You know, what's the difference between assimilating and being an ambassador? We still have ambassadors. They're actually the opposite, aren't they? So to assimilate, you want to fit in with everybody. Ambassador, you better not fit in with everyone or you've failed at your job, right? You're not a Tunisian or a wherever, right? If you're the American ambassador in Tunisia, your goal is not to fit in with all of them. Your goal is to say, hey, you want to know what America thinks? Just ask the ambassador, right? So it's true of us. So 2 Corinthians 5 says, toward the end of it, it says that we are ambassadors of Christ. Is that true of you? If you're a believer today, it is. You're ambassador of Christ. You represent Christ. And so do you see that it just completely fails at the job if you try to assimilate with everyone else. We're gonna be salt and light. Scripture uses lots of language that we aren't supposed to assimilate. This was one of the big things we saw early in the book. But there's a different area, right? On the one hand, be assimilate to fit in. On the other is to be intimidated. And we see a lot of intimidation in this book. Flip over to chapter three. The villain of our story, what's his name? Kids, what's the name of the villain of the story? Haman. Yep, so Haman. Chapter three, verse two. And all the king's servants who were in the king's gate bowed down. Why are they all bowing down? They paid homage to Haman because the king had commanded concerning him. King said everyone bow down to this wicked man Haman. But Mordecai did not bow down. or pay homage. And kids, if you have that thing, follow along. See if you, as we go through the whole sermon, see if you can see where we are. In chapter three, the big numbers kind of help you know. Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, why do you transgress the king's command? Kind of sounds like peer pressure, huh? Like everyone else is doing it. Why aren't you doing it? And when they spoke to him day after day, they tried to wear him out. He wouldn't listen to them. And they keep going. to see whether, so then they go to Haman and see if Mordecai's word will stand. And he told them that he was a Jew, was Haman. He gets so angry. It says, when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. Second most powerful man in the nation is filled with fury. And he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So as they, so as they had made known to him, the people of Mordecai, this guy's a Jew, So this is definitely a lot of peer pressure, intimidation. Has anyone ever tried to intimidate you? People have tried to intimidate me. It's not fun. I mean even as a kid and as an adult. Adults, don't they still use intimidation? They use it at work. on the street, right, whatever it is, and it's not, it's not a comfortable thing. Mordecai is trying to be intimidated. So on the assimilation side, not great examples, right? But on this, they are. Mordecai is a great example. He didn't give in to intimidation. So for all of you who've been here the whole time, just stick with me. The thing you're listening for is, where do I really need to hear this, okay? So this, I know we talked about this eight weeks ago or seven weeks ago, whatever it is, but think what, God, where, what do you need to do in me? I'm gonna tell you about myself in a second, but first this verse, Psalm 56, three and four. This verse has been meaningful in my life. I have struggled greatly with fear in my life. Kids, I don't know if you experienced this, when I was a kid, I was really scared of the dark. Even in my teenage years, I wouldn't admit it, But I was really scared, right? I just didn't like the unknown. I started with fear, both people, the unknown, all kind of stuff. And this verse was very helpful to me. Listen to it again. In God whose word I praise, in God I trust, I'll not be afraid. What can man, another translation says, what can mere mortals do to me? You see what Mordecai was able to do was say, hey, you know what? Haman's a man. He might be powerful, but he's not, he's nowhere compared to God. God is so much more powerful. I can face this guy because God is all powerful. It's a great help in intimidation. When someone's intimidating, you remember, hey, they might be big compared to me, but they're nothing compared to God. All right, so this is kind of a low point. We've got Esther who's assimilated. She's compromising left and right. We've got Mordecai and Haman is now hating him and wants to kill all the Jews. Not very exciting moments. That brings us to our next point. Secondly, remember you're here for such a time as this. Remember that you're here for such a time as this. In chapter four, turn to chapter four, we have this transformational interaction between Mordecai and Esther. This is probably the most famous verse from the whole book of Esther. It's Esther 4.14, look at it. So this is a conversation between Mordecai and Esther. Mordecai knows about this plan to kill all the Jews and he's trying to convince Esther to help. So he says to Esther, Remember in this book, does it ever mention the name God? No. It doesn't mention it. Anywhere. This is probably the closest that Mordecai is saying, I am confident that if you don't help, God's going to raise up help from somewhere else. He just leaves out the name God. Then he goes on. He says, if you don't help, you and your house will perish, but God will help from somewhere else. That last sentence. And who knows whether you have not come That's a great line. That's a great question, isn't it? Think about Esther's situation. She's compromised so much. When we talked about this, we looked at this passage. And this would be like a businessman who's like cut corners and like cheated his way to the top. And then so a Christian comes to him and says, hey, I know you cheated your way to get here, but God's put you here for just the time as this. Right? You're going into a board meeting, you need to stand up for truth. Did God really put him there for such a time? Yes. What do we learn from this? God can use us no matter how we got to where we are. The reality is we've all sinned. Right? None of us, our hands are clean and how we got to anywhere. Right? And God uses people that have compromised along the way to still do his will. This should be encouraging to all of us. Brothers and sisters, you must ask yourself, who knows whether you have not come to Cane Bay for such a time as this? That's the question you need to ask yourself. You're here and God's accomplished his purposes. That's the question I asked in the beginning, remember? That's at the top of page seven. What if God puts you here for a bigger purpose than you thought? The million dollar question is, well what would that bigger purpose be? What is God doing? I'll tell you. Here's what God's doing in Cane Bay. God is in the process of calling people to himself that he wants to save. Right now they're asleep. Right now they're watching golf. they're out on a boat, what they don't realize is that the God of heaven is after them and he is starting churches in this community and putting people like us together who then go and reach our neighbors because he's in the process of saving them. Who knows if you have not come to Cane Bay for such a time as this? The question posed by Mordecai to Esther is still relevant today because God is still about his prayer. He's not done. The story's not over. Yes, the Bible's done. But his story isn't over. Until Jesus comes back, the same story's going on. He's still gathering people. He's still reversing things. And we're gonna see that more in a second. This is the vision of our church. You know what the vision of our church is? For us to strive to experience the full life that's found in Christ alone. They think they're having a full life on that boat. They are not. Their life is empty right now. That we have it. It's in Jesus alone. And we want them, we want to experience it, we want many others to experience it in every neighborhood of Cane Bay. And also Charleston. So if you're in Nexen, if you're beyond that, if you're in North Charleston, that includes there. And to around the world. Our hope is, is that we'll send people out, whether they move or whether they drive to us, because we want to see God drawing people to himself. And the last line says, for the glory of God alone. That will be great. I hope never, no one ever knows who Hope Community Church is. I hope they know that Jesus is alive and well and moving. So here we go. We got Esther, this young, assimilated girl who's compromised left and right. And we have, and she's had this massive change of heart. And that brings us to our next point. Point three, take risk courageously. Take risk courageously. Okay, so that's what Mordecai said to Esther. How does she respond? Chapter four, verse 16. She says to him, go gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, that's the capital. Hold a fast on my behalf and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it be against the law. And if I perish, I perish. Those are bold words. This young compromised girl. If I perish, I perish. She's ready. She's done with the compromising. But don't miss it before we move on to what happens next. What did she ask? What did she tell Mordecai? She said, go and fast. She said, fast and pray for three days. Some of you were here in February. We did that as a church. You might remember being really hungry someday in February when we fasted and prayed. I personally have seen God do really cool things. We as a church saw God do cool things after we fasted and prayed. God has a pattern of just listening when his people will come before him, and Esther knew this. This was already true in the days of Esther. She sought the Lord's favor, and that's what we do. We'll continue to do it. If you missed a chance last year, we'll do it next year. You can join us then. So what happens next? So they fasted and they prayed. 411, jumping back a few verses, she's going to go to the king unannounced. But look at 11, it says, So of course, he does extend the scepter. and then the story goes on. But let's pause there. What risky thing might God call you to do? Think for a moment. Think about your life, your circles, your neighborhood, your workplace, your family. What risky thing might God call you to do? You probably are not called to go to any emperors and risk your life, right? But there's still risks. There's still risks to take. And sometimes they're scary. So think for a moment. What risks might God call you to take? Now I can't answer that definitively. You're all in different situations. There's at least one answer that I think is pretty much universal, is that I think all of you have neighbors that don't know Jesus. Pretty fair assumption, right? And so one thing that God has called all of us as ambassadors, an ambassador who never opens his mouth is not gonna be much of an ambassador for any country. And so one thing that God has called all believers to do is to talk about him. That is scary. I'm a pastor and it's scary for me. Right? It's uncomfortable. But I've never regretted doing it. Not everyone's responded well. I've often, as I've gotten older, I've become more winsome and more gentle and work into conversations more subtly. But still, it's very uncomfortable because some people really don't want to talk about Jesus or think about Him. And they're basically rebelling and hiding from Him. And so they don't want to talk. But that is a risk. It's called all believers. But there's other ones. There's other ones. As you thought, many of you thought of something already. Please don't forget that. Please don't walk out of here and forget the risks that the Lord might be calling you to do. Part of my job is I get to ask you the question. And the Spirit's churning in your hearts. That's the cool part. Right? He's calling people to do things that scare them. So back to Esther. What's her plea? She goes, she gets the golden scepter. She says, chapter five, flip over to five, verse four. Esther says, if it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I've prepared for the king. So she has a feast, they come. What does she ask of the second, or the first feast? Come to a second feast. We have the second feast. What's she gonna do? What's the big ask? Now the antis are really getting high. Look at chapter seven, verse four to six. I mean, just imagine you're Esther. I mean, it's just hard to even fathom this. You're Esther, chapter seven, verse four. She's talking to the king, and remember who's sitting right there, is Haman, wicked Haman. Verse four, and we have been sold, she says, I and my people to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we'd been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not worth comparing with a loss to the king. Then King Asherah said to Queen Esther, who is he, where is he, who has dared to do this? And Esther said, can you imagine your Esther? She said, a foe, an enemy, this wicked Haman. I mean, Haman is right there. He's the second most powerful man. And she's a woman. That'd be really scary. And she did it. God gave her courage to do it. So if you're from all the ladies and the girls in the audience, I ask you, Can God use a woman to do something great? I give you the book of Esther. Yes, he can use women to do unbelievable things. He uses, there's no one, and children too. Children too. God uses children and people that are not in positions of power, right? She is the queen. We already know what happened to the first queen. Queens in this nation don't really have a real strong place, seat at the table. But she takes it because she knows that God... Here's the question. Was it really a risk? I question if it was a risk at all. Here's my logic. Of course she could lose her head. Right, right. There's that from the earthly perspective. But if there's a sovereign God that's in control over everything and he wants you to do something, is there any risk at all? No. Right? I mean, if he's in control of everything, he's going to make it turn out the way he wants. Different way of looking at risk, huh? If God's in control of everything and he calls people to do things, even scary things, yes, there's risk from an earthly perspective, but from a divine perspective, there isn't. Does that make sense, the logic of that? Remind yourself of that next time you think you're supposed to take a risk from God. Make sure you're taking the right risk, certainly. So speaking of this sovereign God, that takes us to our final point. Point four, remember our God. of great reversals. Remember our God of great reversals. Let's rewind a little bit. Remember the situation. There's this irreversible edict to annihilate all the Jews, right? That Haman had gotten the king to sign off on and agree to, right? And so they're all gonna be annihilated. Haman, before that second feast, okay? So we're rewinding a little bit between feast one and feast two. Haman got so mad, he had a 75 foot gallows built. Kids, look in the bottom left corner of your page, you'll see it. So he has a 75 foot gallows built. What does he want to do with those gallows? He wants to execute Mordecai, because he hates him so much. All right, look at chapter six, verse one. But on that night, the king could not sleep. Any of you have had a sleepless night? God is sovereign over sleep. On that night, the king could not sleep. And he gave orders of all the things he could think of that could amuse him in the middle of the night. He said, hey, bring me the history books of my reign. That's unique, okay. Bring the book of the memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. Okay, now get this sequence of events. I'm gonna tell you the sequence of events. Okay, so the same night that Haman had that gallows built, the king couldn't sleep. Then he just happened to have the history read to him, right? And he just happened to open to the part where Mordecai had saved the king's life. So that's what was read to him. He said, wait a second, did we ever thank that guy? The guys there just happened to know the answer to that question. No, we never thanked that guy. And it just happened to be that the king can't make any decision on his own. We learned that from the book, didn't we? So he's really indecisive and he says, I need someone to tell me what to do. Who's in the court? Haman just happened to have entered at this point. He's here to ask for the execution of Mordecai, right? And so he calls him in. And the king just happens to leave out of his question the person he's talking about. All right, look at chapter six, verse six. I mean, the odds of all those are just unimaginably low that all that would happen on the same night. So Haman came in and the king said to him, this king talking to Haman, what should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? He left out the Mordecai part, right? And Haman said to himself, whom would the king delight to honor more than me, right? And he's so arrogant, like it's gotta be him, right? So then he goes on to like describe his dream day. I wanna wear the king's clothes, I wanna ride the king's horse, I want people to like say how great I am, That's what he tells the king. Here's their first great reversal. Chapter six, verse 10. Then the king said to Haman, oh, great idea, Haman. Hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you've said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew. I mean, you can't even imagine the terror that went across Haman's face. Did I hear the king right? Yes, you did, buddy. God's reversing things, you're in trouble. who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing, Haman, that you've mentioned." And this is the height of irony. In one moment, he goes from cloud nine to the pit of despair. The dominoes have all lined up, as we've said a number of times, and they just start falling, as you might remember. That was the first reversal. Let's keep going. So as we already looked at, what happens at that second feast, she stands up and says, that wicked Haman, next thing you know, that gallows, who's hanging on it? Haman. Right, and so the man who intended to execute Mordecai is now executed on the very device that he built to execute Mordecai. What about his fame and fortune? All that went to Mordecai. Everything is reversed with Haman. Then there's this second edict that goes out that so Mordecai, King says, hey, write whatever you want, I'll sign off on it. You got my ring now, you can just sign off on it yourself, Mordecai. Chapter nine, so flip over chapter nine, verse one. There's now been a new edict written that allows the Jews to defend themselves when they're attacked. Chapter 9-1, Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict was about to be carried out on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain mastery over them, the reverse occurred. The reverse occurred. The Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. Jesus said in Matthew 20, so the last will be first and the first last. This is a story of the book of Esther. Reverse after reverse after reverse. As Brandon said earlier, there's no situation that you're in that God cannot reverse. Do you believe that? It's true. Book of Esther shows it to us. There's no situation that God cannot reverse. He did it very speedily. I could give you tons of examples from Scripture, but I won't. We'll look at those in other sermon series. There's lots of them. But I hope in your mind when you think of great reversals in Scripture, Esther comes to mind. I hope as we've gone back through these things, some have stood out and you said, oh, let me for a second time not try to forget that. I hope you've had that moment. You know, and though the reversals are magnificent in this book, they're minuscule compared to the great reversal at the cross, right? We've made that connection many, many times. That the reversal of the cross is way, way bigger. And I love that. I love that this, we get excited about this and then we get, we see, oh wow, the resurrection's even more. And so as we delight in the one, We can delight in the other. And so if you place your faith in Christ, this is a cool thing. So if you're here this morning and you aren't a Christian, this would be a great day to change that. God wants to reverse your story. I know some of you think your story's just fine. You've been living a really long time and it's going relatively well, but the reality is it's not. People put on a good face, but it's not. And so there's never a time that it's too late for God to make that reversal. Not for you, that your story would be great, but for His glory alone. And so I do, I do plead with you that that would be your story, that everyone here would be able to say that God has reversed my direction and reversed my life. If you're a believer, you know that, right? Can't you remember? I mean, even at a young age, you know that now I'm following Christ and once I wasn't. And so you think about those four points and how to apply them. You'd even pick one. If you have, I encourage you to be in this week and pray about it. If there's one of those, assimilation, intimidation, realizing that God has you here for a bigger purpose than maybe you thought, any of those. And as we serve this all-powerful God, and he's continuing to work out his great plan, he intends that we're a part of it. And always remember that he wins in the end. And so as we're preparing, we're closing the book right now. In conclusion, so this is the conclusion of the last sermon of a whole sermon series. God has bigger purposes for each of your lives than we've realized. And he wants us to see it and begin to walk in it more and more. So we would not be assimilated nor intimidated by the world around us. We would all remember that we're here for such a time as this. That we may all take risk courageously. The thing I can't answer is what that looks like. But I just know that He wants you to, to take risks courageously. And so the Holy Spirit's job is to help you know what that looks like. But I know He will. I know He will. For we serve the God of great reversals. Luke 1.37 says, for nothing, nothing will be impossible for God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that you've been stirring in their hearts. Lord, I put a lot of things out there. Lord, I pray that you've grabbed hold of them. In their hearts, you're grabbing hold of them. Lord, that they, that these seeds would really have sunk deeper. For some of them, they heard most of this over the past couple months. Some of them, they hadn't heard any of it. But Lord, I pray that all of them, me included, that you would help us think more like that. In that conversation between Mordecai and Esther, Lord, help us realize that we're here in Cane Bay or the surrounding area for such a time as this. And may you use us to take courageous risk and see you reverse things for your glory alone. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.