Prayerful Encouragement

Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

Lighthouse believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.

We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.

Take your Bible tonight.

Look at Luke 22, please.

Luke 22, thank you for being in church tonight.

If you don't know, there's some sickness going around our church.

And we just need to pray that God will uh help in all that and heal some people up.

And uh I've been packing the vitamins down too.

I don't know if it's doing any good, but just pack them down.

And if nothing else, it's good emotionally and mentally, amen.

Luke 22.

I want to show you one scripture tonight.

I'm gonna make a few comments, ask you to turn to a couple scripture, but tonight, would you have the mindset that we want to go over this in prayer tonight?

And by the way, not going over it like from the pulpit, but like going over it in our minds as to the Lord in prayer tonight, lifting up prayer to the Lord.

Praise the Lord, we have the opportunity to pray.

Would you agree with that?

Luke 22, one verse, and then we're going to go in the Old Testament just for a few minutes.

Luke 22, and look at verse 43.

43.

And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven.

And what did that angel, what was that angel strength uh sent to do?

The Bible says that angel appeared unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

Brethren, if Jesus Christ needs strengthening from time to time on the earth, how much more do we?

That's not the only time God, the Father, sent an heavenly messenger to help the Lord.

And I hope you don't mind me saying that.

I know God in the flesh, Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.

But what's so amazing is that after his fast, uh, God sent angels, the father sent angels to minister to him.

And here he's in the garden and in great agony, getting ready to do something that, brethren, we don't even, we can't even comprehend yet.

As we see through a glass darkly by faith, we don't even comprehend yet what the Lord was doing for us.

I know we know the the words and the terminology and the basic concept, but brethren, the actuality, we we only, we are just human, we can only understand so much.

But we do know this that the angel came to him and purposely strengthened him.

And he didn't stop, verse 44.

Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.

That's enduring hardness.

That's being a good soldier, that's continuing on.

He said, being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.

Brethren, may we in some way tonight pray more earnestly.

And it says in his sweat was it were great drops of blood falling to the ground.

I don't think we're gonna get to that earnest point tonight, but may we tonight pray with a little more earnestness.

May God strengthen us to do that.

Um, I um I want you to know, first off, tonight, please, just uh a short message.

The conference that we have coming up is primarily for our church.

I don't say that selfishly, but primarily it's for our men, our women, our teenagers, our young people, our families, our new Christians.

Primarily, this conference, and and why we have this is for for our church.

But we're not being selfish.

We're not we're not saying it's all about us.

Praise the Lord, we can invite people to visit our church for our conference.

But it's not just our conference, it's what God instilled in this church to do many, many years ago.

And so we have we have guests coming in.

And I like what Brother Northcut's saying as we prepare the house for our guests.

So we're doing the physical preparation, we're doing planning, we're doing uh who's gonna do what.

Uh, tonight we're gonna do some spiritual preparation of prayer, but I want to talk to you just for about five minutes about our preparation of our attitude.

Brother and I, we want to have a good attitude.

You say, what kind of attitude would she have?

Um, first of all, the the attitude is they're coming to be strengthened not to hear our problems.

You know, if I invited someone to our house and my wife and I were having some problems in our family and with our children or something like that, when they walked in and we sat down, I wouldn't be discussing in front of my guest or those guests with my wife those problems.

What do you mean?

I you say that's ridiculous.

I know.

Even more ridiculous would be to discuss our problems in front of our guests.

What do you mean?

Uh, if you have any problems with another person in the church, it's not time to discuss them in front of our guests.

Well, but but this is going on, and and what we need to take heed of is this, please listen.

Uh, if there's a problem going on in the kitchen or in the nursery or in in the music or in the ushers or in the this or in the that, with guests around, we should not be discussing it.

We we ought to, we ought to, we ought to say, no, let's take that off to the side.

And that's not something our guests need to hear about.

Come on, are you with me or not?

I'm not gonna bring people to our house and then discuss problems that we're having in our home in front of our guests.

You say, now, why do you say that?

Because people do it.

I'll say it again, because people do it.

I'll say it again, because people don't think that the guests are listening in, but they are.

My wife and I don't discuss marital challenges that we have in front of my children.

We ought to not be airing out our problems to the guests.

Uh oh, they're so-and-so.

Oh boy, you know what?

I'm gonna ask him about my pet peeve and see what he thinks.

That's not a time to do that.

What do you mean?

Well, they're so-and-so, and he probably knows.

I'm gonna ask him about my doctrinal pet peeve and see what he thinks.

It's not time to do that.

That's not what they came here for.

They come to be strengthened, not to be burdened.

They come to be fed and to edify and not to hear our dirty laundry.

Is it okay to say that?

I hope it is.

And if somebody says, Well, I'm having a grumpy day, I don't care what anybody says, please keep your mouth shut if you're grumpy.

I'm gonna do the same.

If I have a grumpy day, I'm gonna stick my hands in my pocket and keep my mouth shut.

And I'm saying that facetiously, but brethren, they don't need to come to grumpiness.

This is uh, brethren, they're they're coming, spending money, time, effort, and they're coming, and I want to tell you, it's not just pastors, if you look at the list.

Many workers, many ladies, sometimes families.

Uh, some are bringing brand new Christians that have never been to a conference before.

You know what they don't need to hear?

They don't need to hear two ushers discussing, well, I'm just so frustrated, I just never know, and they just change it up there.

Brethren, if we change it up here and you're an usher, have a good spirit about it.

I'm not on the ushers because they do a good job.

Uh, may I say, our hosts, those that are hosting, it's not time to talk about our problems as hosts.

Oh, this is my opportunity to talk to so-and-so.

No, they didn't come for that.

They didn't come to be burdened, they didn't come to hear more, they didn't come to hear your opinion about President Trump, the Supreme Court nominations.

What's going on, the border problems, the what we're doing.

They didn't come to hear all that.

We came to hear about Jesus.

Come to Jesus.

Perfect song tonight.

And they didn't hear, they didn't come to hear about what Fox and CNN are fighting about.

My point being is, hey, if you hear some of that going on and talk about it, all that and everything, let's, let's, what we ought to be saying to them is this how are you?

How are you doing?

What what what can we pray for you about?

What can I do for you?

Please look, there's something in our church that we don't want.

We don't ask men or women, how many you're running?

How many comes to your church?

You know, what what problems do you have in your church?

Brethren, it's not our jurisdiction.

We don't want to ask them how big or how large or or or or that, and we don't want to talk about who we are and what we are.

You say, what do we want to talk about?

Come to Jesus.

We we want to talk about the Lord, we want to talk about good things, we want to talk about positive things.

I want to show you uh an attitude.

Is it okay for me to say that?

Look, somebody needs to say it.

And and you say, nobody does that.

Everybody slips once in a while.

If there's a challenge in the nursery, we we don't discuss nursery problems with the guests right at the door.

We go and back back behind the room, we close it and we we work out what we have there.

And you say, you're talking about the nursery.

It could be nursery, look up here, it could be food services, it could be kitchen, it could be bookstore, it could be music, it could be you name it, it could be anything, it could be staff, it could be, you name it.

I'm not just labeling one, whatever it is.

There's no toilet paper in the bathroom.

Well, go find someone and get some in there.

We're gonna have red shirts, blue shirts, all kinds of shirts, checking everything out.

But if we weren't out of something, man, I tell you what, just take it upon yourself.

I'll go fix that before anybody sees it.

I'll take care of that.

If I ran out of toilet paper at home, I'd go find the toilet paper and put it in there real quick.

Amen.

And I wouldn't be saying to my wife, why didn't you have it stopped?

I wouldn't do that to her.

Are you with me or not?

Man, with all that we're doing, and and I'll I'll list some of the things we've done on Sunday night so you know.

I just saying that there's an attitude, an atmosphere that we want to have.

They know we have problems, we just don't want to tell them what they are.

Amen.

We want to speak about, come to Jesus, talk about Jesus.

Look in your Bible at Deuteronomy 3.

Watch this if you would.

Strengthening is the concept tonight.

Strengthening.

So when the Lord needed strengthening, the Lord, God in heaven, the Father sent an angel to strengthen our Lord so he could pray more earnestly.

So he could continue on in the garden.

He was already praying.

But it got to the place where he needed to be strengthened to be able to pray more earnestly.

And sometimes we need to ask God, give me more strength to pray more earnestly.

If you wouldn't, uh in Deuteronomy chapter 3, watch what uh was being said and was being done, if you would.

Deuteronomy 3 · chapter mention

And Moses is getting ready to send Joshua into what's next.

And what we have to think about is men are coming in, women are coming in, families are coming in, evangelists are coming in, missionaries are coming in, we're coming in, we want to edify each other, but we want to say something along these lines.

Look at verse 24.

Verse 24.

And he says, This, O Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand.

For what God is there in heaven or in earth that can do, that can do according to thy works and according to thy might.

You know what he's doing?

He just sent up some praise.

He just sent up some.

I want to acknowledge who you are, God.

And may I say tonight, when we come to prayer, we need to say, you know, you've just begun to show us your greatness, Lord.

You you what what kind what other God is there in heaven?

There's only one God in heaven.

Brother, we don't believe that Mary's in heaven praying for us.

We don't believe that Buddha's doing anything, or Confucius, or please don't get offended, but Allah, or even a Mormon God, or Roman Catholic God.

Come on, there's a lot of falsities out there, is that right?

But we got a God in heaven that wrote this book.

And he's alive tonight.

When we talk to him, he listens.

And may I say, what what other God is there?

And he then then he charged Joshua something in verse number 28.

After he acknowledges God, and after he says, You've showed us so many things, then God says to uh to Moses, he says, uh, I want you to charge Joshua, verse 28.

Charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him.

For he shall go over before the people, this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou wilt seek.

Brethren, may we have a mindset that those that are coming in, encouraging them, strengthening them, and getting them ready for whatever they go back to face.

Whatever they go back in their future.

Whatever they, some of them are got, I've got brochures on my desk of building programs we're praying for, and some of those men are coming in, and and and missionary adventures and endeavors, and some of them are coming in, and what we want to do is we want to see them get strengthened and get encouraged in.

And what we don't want to do is bring any gossip or backbiting or busybody stuff, or did you hear about that?

Or I read this on the internet about so-and-so.

May that never come up in our conference.

May that junk be left in the junk pile.

I mean that.

Put that under trash and delete it.

Get that out.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, then great.

Because we don't need to know what personalities aren't getting along.

Brethren, humans don't always get along, but I want to tell you, when they come into our church, they they ought to hear an attitude and a spirit of maturity.

Not busybody stuff, not gossipy stuff, not backbiting stuff, not envying stuff, not soap opera stuff.

Come on, are you still with me?

None of that stuff.

We want them to come in and be encouraged and be strengthened because they've got to go out and do something.

And what they do is eternal.

And we need to honor and respect them that way.

I want to I want to tell our church this when ladies come into their visitors, it doesn't matter what they do in the church, we're gonna respect them.

I am so happy that we have so many things that we're gonna do for our ladies.

Little handouts and and and little gifts and purses and pampering and tea and then the messages they're gonna get, and a spirit and a friendship and uh and uh and something that would say we care about you.

I don't know what they're gonna get in the way of the pampering stuff, but I don't I know this.

Uh you know, ladies getting their nails done.

It's like, well, what did that do?

May I say that would fall under encouraging.

Wouldn't it?

Come on, ladies, talk to me.

I'm a man, I don't know.

I'm I I don't get my nails done.

Maybe some of you guys do, and I'm not against that.

But I'm thinking if a lady gets her nails done or whatever they get done, however they do that, I see my wife doing hers, you know, doing a little filing thing, digging under there, doing all that, putting the paint on that makes the house smell.

You know what I'm talking about.

Why does she do that?

I think it makes her feel good about herself.

It's not just flashing to everybody else.

There's something about that.

There's something about that that's cultural.

And it's uh when we do that for the ladies, or whether we do whatever we're doing with their hair or whatever we're doing with this or that, uh, may I say it's I think it falls under the category of encouraging and maybe strengthening in a way that's important.

Take your Bible if you let 1 Chronicles 22.

Stay with me.

1 Chronicles 22.

You're doing well tonight.

Not a long, long message.

1 Chronicles 22.

The concept of encouraging and strengthening comes in so many different shapes and forms.

1 Chronicles 22.

Here's another one getting ready to pass something over in 1 Chronicles 22.

And it's a David, and he's getting ready, he's talking, he's gonna talk to Solomon, he's gonna talk to him more than once.

You'll see that in verse number 7.

That David said to Solomon.

And so David's gonna do something to get ready, get Solomon ready, get his attitude ready.

And remember, we don't know if we have Solomon's walking through the door, what they're gonna go back and do for the Lord.

Notice verse 11, please.

1 Chronicles 22, 11.

He says, Now, my son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God as he hath said unto thee.

And then may I say to you, verse 12, this is what we want to pray.

Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding.

And may I say, as we pray through this list tonight, uh, we ought to pray and say, God, encourage them, strengthen them.

But but on these pages are people that are of all different places.

And Lord, would you give them wisdom?

Would you grant them understanding for what they need to go back to do?

What they're building, who they're building, the ministry they're building, the outreaches.

Brethren, we we have literally people coming in that affect different parts of the world.

And that's not makes us important.

The world is a small place when you get out and travel a little bit.

But some of these people coming in, like from Australia, New Zealand, different places like that, they're affecting Sri Lanka and different mission places over there, if you would, that they go and they minister to.

And maybe we don't get into that part of the world, but those that are coming in, if they're strengthened and encouraged and God gives them wisdom and favor, they can go back with some understanding and do something for God, and who knows, maybe they need a little pick-me-up right now.

Maybe they need a little lifting up right now.

Because uh everybody goes through something, and and I know a few of the things that people are carrying when they come in, not everything, but I gotta tell you, our attitude in here when they come in ought to be let's lift them up.

Let's lift them up, let's say something nice to them.

Let's let's, hey, if you joke, make sure it's clear that it's a joke and not an offense.

I'll say it again.

Make make make if you joke, make sure the levity doesn't turn into an offense.

Like, like, so they come in and they come in from a different part of the world.

To them, we have an accent.

Who knows who's driving on the right side of the road or not?

What do you mean?

Well, we say this is the right side, and they say that's the right side.

And be careful if you joke about it.

Make sure you smile like you know they know you're joking.

Like you're not putting them down.

That you're not, that you're not thinking you're better than they are.

You know, somebody with a southern accent doesn't mean that they're dumb.

Are you still with me or not?

I met some very wise people in the mountains.

They know a lot about a lot.

And I respect them for where they're doing it, and their their language is a little bit different, but I want to tell you something.

They've got great minds and hearts for the Lord.

I I I hear sometimes I have to I have to ask somebody from a different country, what'd you just say to me?

I don't mean that offensively, but what did you say?

And I I I didn't quite get it.

And slow down just a moment.

I'm not being offensive, I just want to know what they said, and I'm not gonna, in my mind, say, you know, something about their language.

Because everybody communicates in different ways, and there's different terminologies, and that doesn't make them that doesn't make us superior to them.

May we never have a superior attitude in our church.

That's pharasidical.

May we never look at ourselves as as smarter than somebody else, or wiser than somebody else, or our church being better than another church.

Come on, are you still wearing?

Me because we're not in competition, we're all serving the same king.

I hope you hear what I'm saying.

Uh, the flavoring of a church, the the way, look, don't don't judge the way somebody dresses.

What do you mean?

They come in, they might have uh clothes that aren't as fine as you yours.

They might wear the same thing every day.

But it's what they have.

I went to one place and and I was preaching, and and the pastor got up and said, Well, y'all look good.

He said, You got your Sunday go-to-meeting clothes on.

And I thought, your Sunday go-to-meeting clothes?

I haven't heard that in a long time.

Your Sunday go-to-meeting clothes.

You know, some of them only have one suit.

Some of them may not come in a suit.

Maybe they'll get one from Sam the suit man.

A suit's not everything.

It doesn't show a heart.

Come on, is that right?

Hey, when I was in Samoa, we wear uh we wore uh not a suit.

If you're in Samoa and you go to church and you go to the suit on, they're kind of looking at you like, what's wrong with you?

You wear something nice, but it's not a suit.

So it's a cultural thing.

Are you still with me?

And uh, they're gonna do the best they can.

They'll have their Sunday go-to-meeting clothes on.

Respect that.

Say something nice about it.

I gotta tell you, uh, some of the clothes that used to be old and out of style, they're back in fashion again, and I'm out of style.

The idea is, brother, that that should be not a big deal with us.

There ought to be something we look at somebody and be able to say something good to them about what's going on in our life and their life.

I want you to look at this.

So we're praying for wisdom.

We're praying for them to prosper.

And notice that, just turn the page over there, and uh, notice he comes at, he comes to Solomon again.

Look at 1 Chronicles 28, almost finished.

1 Chronicles 28.

In 1 Chronicles 20 28, in verse number 9, he's gonna talk to Solomon again.

He's gonna talk to Solomon again, verse number 9.

And thou, Solomon.

Now he's gonna talk to him in front of the whole congregation.

And he says this in verse number 10.

Thank you for staying there.

He says, verse 10 to Solomon, this is David getting him ready to go.

Take heed now.

He says, Listen to me, take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build in house for the sanctuary.

And then he says something pretty profound but simple.

Be strong and do it.

Be strong and do it.

Don't just talk about it, be strong.

Get strengthened and do it.

Remember, uh, Jesus was praying.

He'd already been praying for a while, and the angel came, strengthened him, and it says he prayed more earnestly.

He was strengthened to do what he was doing in a better way, in a greater way.

I shouldn't say better, but in a in a more earnest way.

And whatever it is they're doing when they come in, we we want to say to them, we pray you get strengthened to be able to go back and even do more.

That's not like we're laying a heavy burden on them to be born.

But, brethren, please look up here.

Listen, it's called a leadership conference.

Who would come to a leadership conference but somebody wanting to do something?

What?

If they're coming and paying to come across to a leadership conference, it must mean they want to lead.

They want to do something, they want to build something, they want to do something more for the Lord, they want to do something in their family, they want to do something in their church, they want to do something.

I mean, if we label it, lazy conference, can't wait to see you.

Who's gonna show up?

Or mediocre conference.

What do you mean, mediocre?

Or do nothing conference?

You say that's ridiculous.

I know.

It's called leadership conference.

People want to come because they want to do more, they want to learn, they want to be inspired, they want to hear preaching.

Please, I gotta tell you something.

Most of the men and women coming are not coming to be socially seen.

It's not like a cocktail party.

It's not like a thing where I'm gonna go to be seen.

I'm gonna go to shake hands.

I'm gonna go, you know, to hobnob with the somebody so they see me.

That's not what this is.

They're not coming.

Now there's gonna be social out in the fellowship hall, but that's practical.

We we we have them in church and everything, then we take them out there and we feed them so they can be ready to go and come back to church.

The idea is it's not a big social mixture.

Will people meet each other?

Will people friend each other?

Will people encourage each other?

Yeah, but it's not a it's not a popularity thing.

It's not like, hey, we're going to the White House.

Boy, I want to be seen.

It's not that type of thing.

It's they want to come and learn to go back and build something and do something and and give God glory.

Would you agree with that?

Now, I want to I want you to look in the book of Esther, and this is the last place we're gonna look tonight.

You're doing great.

I hope this makes sense.

Esther four.

Esther, the book of Esther, chapter four.

And this is the last thing that I want to give you to maybe pray about tonight.

Esther chapter four.

So he was in the garden praying, and God sent an angel to strengthen him that he can be pray even more earnestly.

So the point is this they're already doing something, and they're come to get strengthened to do even more.

I need to tell you this too.

Some of the pastors, missionary evangelists coming in, they're bivocational.

I want to make sure everybody understands what that is.

Some of the pastors, missionaries, missionaries, wives, pastors' wives, they're bivocational.

What does that mean?

The pastor not only pastors, but he works a full-time secular job.

Please don't forget that.

Some are taking off work, who are pastors and pastors' wives.

This is their getaway.

This is their time they're getting away, but they're coming to get away to learn something to go back and do.

But they're going back to not not just pastor, but they're going, they go back to work.

Like, like work.

Like some of y'all work today, like secular work.

Are you getting what I'm saying or not?

Say amen.

Because some some live in places where they have to work.

The church isn't busy big enough to pay them a full-time salary.

That doesn't make them any less.

That doesn't make us any better.

I want to tell you, some of the men I respect most in this country, they they they pastor 30 or 35 people and they're faithful and been there for years, reaching a community.

And I want to tell you, they they work a job and they labor and they're building a family, growing a family, trying to build a church, 40 people, 45 people, and and and their vision, we're talking about doing this and doing that and doing this.

Man, their vision is they're gonna add a restroom to their building.

There's a pastor coming, and their building project this year is they're adding an upstairs restroom because they don't have one in their building.

They have a downstairs restroom, but they don't have an upstairs restroom.

And they're so excited about that upstairs restroom.

And I'm excited with them.

Why?

Because some of the older people can't make it down the stairs.

So they're they they're giving money to build an upstairs restroom.

Now look, that's not something where we go, huh?

That's something where you go, wow, that's great.

That's wonderful.

And you know who's building it?

The pastor is.

They're paying for the materials and everything, but he's doing it after work.

I was just at a church in uh in December.

I know the pastor, literally with a couple of men, built that church, and it took him three years to build that building, and he did it after work.

During the day he works at a sawmill.

I'm talking about wood lumber, you know.

I'm cut cut trees.

And and and then at night he would go and they would work in the middle of the winter and the summer to build that building.

It's a beautiful building.

It looks like a picture postcard building.

With uh, you know, the the rising and a little steeple up there and everything.

And when it snows, it just looks like this pitch picture perfect.

And it took him three years to build that.

He and his wife down there.

She was handing tools, and then two men would show up, and they just kept working.

And the church has grown a little bit now, and grown a little bit now, but he's still working at a sawmill, has a great attitude.

I respect that so highly, and I hope you do too.

I respect that so highly.

If you would look at Esther, the book of Esther, Esther chapter four, and we're almost done.

Esther chapter four, something happens that I pray that we would pray tonight.

And in Esther chapter four, look at verse number 11.

Verse number 11.

Here was the principle in verse number 11.

Uh Mordecai, uh the basically the the man who had raised Esther, it was you know a situation where Esther's parents had died, and Mordecai had raised her, now she was in the place of being the queen.

Mordecai was coming in to say to Esther, now you have to go before the king.

You have to go before the king Esther, representing the Jewish people.

I know he doesn't know you're Jewish yet, but there's a degree against the Jewish people, and you have to, Esther, go before the king and petition the king.

And so Esther gets back to him in verse 11.

And in verse number 11, right at the end, Esther says, here's the protocol.

And the protocol is verse number 11, right in the middle.

Who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death.

So here's the protocol.

If you're not called or summoned by the king, and you come into the court, he's got to acknowledge you.

And if he doesn't acknowledge you, you can be put to death.

Let me say it again.

If you come into the king's court and he doesn't acknowledge you, he doesn't hold out what he calls the scepter, that which is depicting his kingship, if you would.

If he doesn't hold that out and bid you the invitation, there's one law, and you could be put to death.

He says, Except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live.

And then she says, And I've not been called to come to the king for 30 days.

Well, Mordecai goes back and says, You have to go.

You have to go in.

And Esther's concerned about this.

Now, I know you've read the story, you know what happens, but Esther's concerned.

Well, if I go in and he doesn't hold out the scepter, then there's a law and I could die.

Now, brother, it's hard for us to imagine that, but in those days, all it takes for one to die, and I mean everybody gets scared of whether the king's in a good mood or not.

So he says, you have to do that.

And she says, okay, here's what we're gonna do.

It was so serious.

Stay with me.

It was so serious.

She said, verse number 15, then Esther bade take this answer back to Mordecai.

Verse 16, go, gather together all the Jews, thousands of them, ten thousand that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me.

Here's what she says, the fast, neither eat nor drink.

This is not just a food-only fast.

This is we're not gonna eat and we're not gonna drink.

It's a total fast.

We're not eating, we're not drinking.

Three days, night, or day.

I gotta tell you, I don't want to, I don't want to uh take too much away from that.

When I was when I was a young Christian, my first year, I read that and I thought I should do that.

And I did a three-day fast.

No food, no drink.

I want to tell you, that's a rough fast.

That's a tough one.

I mean, on a day, day, day one, you get by okay, no food, no drink.

But by day two, you're you can start feeling your innards a little bit.

And the and and and you're not eating, and especially what gets you is the no drinking.

Like no dr no water.

Like a no water, no food three days.

And by the third day, you feel so drawn up and your head's throbbing a little bit, and I don't know what it is, but you lose a lot of weight in your face.

You look like E.T.

when it, you know, when it just literally, literally.

I looked in the mirror and it's like your cheeks go, they just suck in, and you just feel just like so drained.

I remember I couldn't wait for that three days to be over.

I want to tell you, I have a much healthier respect for Esther.

So if that was the case, the Jews for three days, day and night, no food, no drink.

Brother, may I say this to you?

That's serious.

That is serious.

She was worried about it.

She was concerned about it.

And then she said, Fast that way, and she says, I also and my maidens will fast likeways.

And so I will go into the king, which is not according to the law.

And if I perish, I perish.

And you say, I know the, I know what happens.

Well, chapter 5, verse 1, she gets herself all dressed to be able to present herself for the king.

You don't just go in haphazard before the king in those days.

She put on her royal apparel and she's going in there and she's standing there like she's supposed to with her royal apparel in the inner court, where the king's doing his business, if you would.

Verse 2, and it was so when the king saw Esther.

When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained what?

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.

Now there's a whole message in this.

What do you mean?

If he, if the, if the if the bride wasn't acknowledged, if the queen wasn't acknowledged, according to the law, she could be put, but she got herself already.

Not did she just physically look right, but she had been fasting three days and three nights.

She'd been fasting three days and three nights for God to give her favor.

And when she walked in, the king held out the scepter.

Don't you think when she walked in, her heart was beaten just a little bit?

Brethren, I don't know about you, but I think she's not over with the fast yet.

You, you, you, you tell me when you end the fast.

I think she's still in the fast.

You say, do you think she had a meal before you went in?

In my opinion, it's just my opinion.

I think she's still fasting and she hasn't eaten anything or drank anything for three days and three nights when she walks in.

That's just my opinion.

Why would you end the fast before that?

And when he walks in, she walks in, he sees her, and he holds out, and everybody watches as she walks up and touches the top.

And then you know what she's allowed to do?

Ask what she wants.

She's really, she's got to ask what she wants, but she's very wise about it.

She doesn't put it, she doesn't lay it all out at once.

If you study it, we don't have time tonight.

If you study it, she's very wise in how she does this.

She only gives them a little bit.

And she doesn't even mention Haman on that day.

She doesn't even mention being delivered on that day.

She's very wise what she asked that day.

But may I say to you, it's going to all happen again.

Look at chapter 8.

Not the fasting, but in chapter 8, stay with me.

Look at verse 3.

And Esther spake yet again before the king, fell down at his feet, besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman, the Agathite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.

Please, please.

Haman was highly lifted up in the kingdom.

He was a prominent person that the king had promoted.

Haman was promoted by that same king that Esther was going to expose him.

And she knew that the king had to make a solid decision to go against the one he promoted, that he had honored.

And so she goes in and she says, You know, Haman has this device against the Jews.

Verse 4.

Then the king held out the golden scepter.

The king held out the golden scepter towards Esther.

So Esther arose and stood before the king.

And it said and said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, third person.

And the same thing right before the king, third person.

If I be pleasing in his eyes, speaking about the king, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman.

What are you saying?

Brethren, I want to say this to you tonight.

I don't know if you're fasting or anything like that or plan on anything, but we need to realize that when Jesus was strengthened, he prayed more earnestly.

He was facing something.

And I pray tonight, as we pray for these, that we'll pray just a little bit more earnestly.

But may God give us favor and may we go with the idea that we're going before the King.

And I know He's not going to kill us.

God's not going to kill us.

But we're asking for His favor.

We're petitioning something not just for ourselves tonight.

And Esther wasn't just there for herself, she was there for her people.

You've not been to these churches, and some of them I've not been to, but we know some of them we're petitioning.

Like, for example, Brother Cheney has been in the islands down there many, many times on different islands.

There's a whole group coming up from the islands.

Brother Cheney will be down thinking about those in the islands, but not just the people at church, the surrounding community.

The culture.

The uh, please listen, the soccer field full of children that will come and listen to the gospel being preached.

And Brother Cheney will be with earnestness tonight as we're thinking about those that are coming in.

Brother, I want to tell you something.

They're sacrificing a whole lot to fly here.

We need to petition for them that they get strength, that they get understanding, that God would give us favor for on their behalf.

Come on, you stay with me tonight.

I've got friends coming from Australia and New Zealand and different places, and I know some of the things going on there.

And we need to have a petition tonight that God would give us favor for them.

Because when Esther represented herself as the queen, she was representing the Jewish people against Haman who wanted to destroy them.

And there's a devil out there wanting to destroy.

And we come tonight petitioning.

May we come in earnest.

And maybe God would, if you would, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, but may He would give us favor and power on their behalf.

So tonight, please, petition on their behalf.

Um, take this and look at some of the names.

And maybe you don't say all the names, but say a couple of the names.

Look where they're from.

I know you don't know their names and faces yet, but wouldn't that be something if you pray for somebody on this page tonight and then you run into them at the conference, shake their hand, they say, I'm so and so from uh the Cayman Island.

Really?

I prayed for you the other night.

Thank you for being here.

I pray you get strengthened and encouraged while you're here.

I pray God does something for you.

I pray God give you strength to go back and that you can accomplish the vision God has given you.

Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619 461 5561.