Made For This Moment

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Y'all, that silly video almost made me cry.

Why'd I have to get emotional?

Well, thank God for our moms.

Amen.

If you're a mother here today, we want to say thank God for you.

And we also want to recognize that for some of you here, you've lived long enough or been through some things in life, and there is a mother in your life that's not here.

And we want to say thank God for that mother and all the moms.

CCW, can we give a hand clap today for all of our moms?

I found a cute little uh thing here, nine things that moms would never say.

Here we go.

How on earth can you play that video game, son, from so far back?

Get closer to the screen, would you?

Just leave all the lights on.

It makes the house look so much more cheery.

Let me smell that shirt.

Yeah, it's good for another day.

Go ahead, honey.

Any stray dog that comes along, we can keep it.

Well, if Timmy's mom says it's okay, well, that's just good enough for me.

It's not like I'm running a prison around here.

I don't have a tissue with me, just go ahead and use your sleeve.

And at all costs, don't bother wearing a jacket.

You wouldn't want to lug that thing around all day.

No, son, you don't have to eat those nasty vegetables.

You need to save more room for cake.

I want to say, moms, this as we jump in today.

Everything that you do matters for everyone, everywhere, forever.

This is a big lofty statement, I understand.

Everything that you do matters for everyone, everywhere, forever.

Let me pray.

Father, we love you, and we are thankful for each and every mother here.

We're thankful today to be able to worship you.

And God, um, what a blessing and privilege it is.

I thank you, God, that uh for many children, the first bit of Jesus they ever see is a mother who loves.

And a mother who sees the very best in her child, no matter what they're brought, and they never give up, they just keep on caring.

Thank you, God, for that picture, that nurturing picture.

We pray that you would uh bless the reading of your word today and help us to receive exactly what you have for us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Want you to turn your Bibles to Esther chapter four this morning, and we're starting off with an explosive disaster.

Point number one is that we're jumping right into the problem, and we're gonna see what happens as we dig through here.

And Esther, go to chapter four because we're gonna spend more time there, but I'm gonna read a few things that happen in Esther chapter three, verse five, nine, and ten.

Basically, Esther has become the queen, and as she's become the queen, she was hiding something from the people, and she was hiding something from her king.

And so we see in Esther chapter three, verse five, Haman is one of the king's men.

When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay homage, homage to him, Haman was filled with wrath.

Look at verse 9 and 10.

If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I'll pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the king's treasuries.

So the king took his signet ring from his hand, gave it to Haman, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

So an evil decree has been put forth, and that decree is that everyone is to bow down to Haman, the king's second.

And so everyone except for Mordecai does this.

One man who wasn't is Mordecai.

Mordecai wasn't about to bow, he wasn't about to go down on his knees before this other man.

He was one willing to stand and step up and speak up.

Now Haman is irate because this happens, and he looks to get rid of Mordecai.

So his plan now is to get rid of Mordecai, but not only that, his plan is to take Mordecai and any of his people.

And so we see that as this continues.

I want you to look at chapter four.

So ensuing is this struggle in chapter four.

Look at verses one through three.

We're going to get somewhere, I promise, but just gotta start right here.

It says When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and he put on sackcloth and ashes, and he went out in the midst of the city, and he cried with a loud and bitter cry.

He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.

And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning amongst the Jews, with fasting, weeping, wailing, and many laying in sackcloth and ashes.

This is letter A, the site of great remorse.

So Mordecai is Esther's uncle, and he sees and hears what's going on, what's taking place.

He rents his clothes, he's in sackcloth and ashes, and he's crying because of the sinfulness that he could see of society.

I want you to see the picture here.

The picture that is the same for us today is God hates the sinfulness of society.

God hates sin.

Sin separates you and me from a holy God.

Haman is this picture of the epitome of sinful society.

Haman is a racist who wants to get rid of a people group because one man would not bow down to him.

He is Hitler centuries before Hitler ever came into being.

If you look at the decree in chapter 3, verse 13, it says, You are to go out and to kill and annihilate every man, woman, and child who does not bow down.

Think about the arrogance it takes for this to take place.

I want you to look over with me in Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

When you think about the way that Haman is operating, this verse came to mind.

It says this, these are some things that God hates.

Now, if there's any time to pay attention to something in Scripture, this it says, These six things the Lord hates, seven are an abomination to him, and these are what they are.

A proud look.

My did Haman have a proud look.

This man will not bow down to me.

I want his life.

A lying tongue, hands that are quick to shed innocent blood.

He wants a decree written that all of these people be annihilated because they will not, he would not bow down to him.

A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift and running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among his brethren.

Haman is like a picture here of everything that God hates in a person.

He brings this decree, and it's a picture of the sin decree that falls on all of us.

You see, God hates things that separate us from Him, His presence, and being able to know Him.

And so Romans 5.12, we have a sin decree that was written.

Romans 5.12 says, and by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin.

Romans 3.23 says, For all, that's everyone, has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We all have this decree in our life.

And Haman is a picture of somebody who's trying to put forth this curse on a generation of people.

Haman is the antagonist in the story.

And we're going to see in just a little bit the protagonist.

But we see Haman coming against all of this.

And let her be as this we hear the sound of a great roar.

What does that mean?

As Mordecai comes in verse 1 through 3, it says he has this bitter cry.

Now, Haman, or I'm sorry, Mordecai is maybe right next to Esther, one of the godliest pictures in this story.

I love the picture of Uncle Mordecai.

And Mordecai comes into the city and he's just weeping.

Now I want to tell you, church, there's some people I've come across, and you can just get cold and you can get numb to things.

And scripture says in Psalms 51, 17 that God loves a broken heart, a contrite spirit.

God can work with brokenness.

The Jews were weeping.

The Jews were wailing, a great roar coming because of a genocide.

I don't want you to miss the weight here.

We're talking about an obliteration of a kind of people that was signed.

And the symbolism of the weeping and wailing, another place in scripture that uses this terminology, weeping and wailing, is in a place one day called hell.

It says weeping and gnashing of teeth will take place.

There's weeping and wailing because of the decree.

There's weeping and wailing because of our sin decree.

And one day that's going to take place.

Well, King Ahaswerus signed the death sentence.

And I want you to know something.

For me and you without God, sin signed our death sentence.

Romans 6 23 says, For the wages of sin is death.

There's a payment that has to be upheld.

So we see Mordecai walking in with sackcloth and ashes, which is an outward sign of an inward feeling.

And so he's wearing this.

He's mourning and fasting over the news of what's going to come.

And I want to tell you, it's going to get better.

I know it's dark right now, but I was thinking about Mordecai and his tears, and I thought, thank God for people in your life who've paved the way in tears.

I thought about my mother on Mother's Day this week.

And I thank God for a mother who sowed in tears.

I was reminiscing about the type of teenager I was.

I was a messy teenager.

How many of you could raise your hand and say you were a messy teenager?

I'm not talking about messy like dirty.

I'm talking about just like a mess.

Anybody with me?

I was thinking about all kinds of stories.

There's many, but my mom's belief in me and faith in me, despite the mess that I was, there was one time I was in a room.

We had a second bedroom.

My sister had moved out.

We were in that room.

My friend was over, my cousin was over, and I was over.

And I'm sorry to miss this, but I'm just being real.

We were smoking up some sigs.

Okay?

Just being real cool, smoking sigs.

Mom threw open the door.

Sure, billows of smoke was coming under the door.

We thought everybody was in bed.

Mom swings open the door.

I happened to be in the right place.

I stepped back behind the door.

I dropped the sig burning, stomped out in the carpet.

My mom's looking around these, what are you two doing?

And I'm like, that's right, what are you two doing?

Can you believe this, Mom?

And my mom later, I remember on the car, she was like, I can't believe they were doing that.

Why didn't you stop them from something?

I'm like, I don't know why they were doing that.

They were just trying to be cool, mom.

But she had all faith and I wasn't even involved, right?

She had all faith in that child.

And I thought about a mother's, there's a burn hole in the carpet, right?

Until just a few years ago.

That was my burn hole.

And I'm telling you, I I had no shoes on.

I missed it, it burnt my foot.

But I thought about that mother's love.

She never stopped believing in me.

And I thought about my mom has definitely seen the worst in me.

Maybe the closest thing that a child gets to see to Jesus Christ is that love of a mother.

A mother who, Romans 5.8 puts it this way: in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

It wasn't because we did something good and earned it, right?

In your marriages, somebody can do something.

They can do enough of the wrong thing, and you'll say, I'm done, right?

I've never heard really a mother that I know of saying, you know what?

That's the last straw.

I'm done with my kid.

Mothers visiting their children in prison go, I love you.

And they never have anything but hope for their child.

That's just like Jesus.

He says, While we were yet sinners.

So thank God for moms today who do not give up on the prodigal.

Thank God for moms who pray.

Thank God for moms who never give up.

They cry at the reach of sin, but they have hope constantly for their child.

And so we see Mordecai crying and weeping at the sight of what's coming.

Well, now we get to be introduced to Esther as she walks into the scene.

So I want you to look down there.

I'm going to read verse 14, and then we're going to go back to some previous scripture, but 14 is so good you have to see it.

So Mordecai sends this letter to Esther, and that's what 14 is.

It says, For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place.

They're God's people.

And listen to me, for you and me today, listen, God is going to do what God wants to do.

You can be a part of it, or you can be background noise, but God is going to get done.

And so Mordecai says, relief and deliverance will come.

It's God's people, it's God's plan.

But listen on to what he says further.

Then he says, it could come from another place.

But you and your father's house will perish.

You'll die.

Yet who knows?

Hear this church, whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

And so we see letter A, her strategic purpose.

Esther's strategic purpose.

Esther is a name.

Her Hebrew name is Hadassah, means star.

And Esther was born with a preconceived purpose.

It had to be a woman in this scenario.

It's a purpose.

And it had to be a bold woman who lived on purpose.

I thought about that, and I want you to turn over for a moment to Psalms 139.

It's a known passage.

Esther had to live in her purpose.

Look at verse 13 of Psalms 139.

Hear me especially today, ladies.

For you were formed.

You formed my inward parts.

You covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise you, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from you.

When I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, your eyes saw my substance, and then in your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet they were none of them.

How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God, how great is the sum of them.

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.

I want to tell you today, before you were conceived, there was a plan for your life.

Before you were conceived in your mother's womb, there was a plan written down by God.

It says in a book, you were, listen to me, you were knit together.

You were planned to make an indelible mark in history right now, for such a time as this.

You were hand-fashioned by God.

And you are particularly you.

God made you with a purpose.

Mothers, we can't be here today without you.

Before you're in your mother's womb, he made you a nurturer, he made you a comforter, he made you to impact a circle like no other.

So I want to say, verse 14, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

You're wonderfully who you are.

And Satan wants to whisper often in your ear.

Satan wants to say things to you that you're insignificant, that you don't measure up, that you can't compare, that the mirror that you're looking at.

God never made, listen to me, ladies, God never made one mistake.

In fact, when he was done with creation, he said, everything that he saw was good.

And he looked at man again and he said, This is very good.

And man looked at woman and he said, Whoa, this is good.

Can I get an amen from the guys?

You're wonderfully you.

So don't listen to a lie from Satan or culture about your looks, your skin, your body, your hair, your ability.

God planned you.

And when you think about that today, I think a lot of people struggle with comparison.

Looking for perfection as the measuring stick.

And I want you to understand God is the measuring stick.

And God, who doesn't make a mistake, planned you.

So don't let Satan steal one second of your joy.

We celebrate you.

So I want you to go back to verse number eight.

Here's her destiny.

Her destiny is to repeal the law.

Look at verse eight.

It says he also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go into the king to make supplication to him and plead before him and the people.

And so Esther was called on to go before the king with a legal matter.

Look at verse 9 through 11.

So Hathatch returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai, then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a command for Mordecai.

All the king's servants and all the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king who has not been called, he has but one law.

Listen to this put all to death except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live.

Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.

And so Esther's purpose is to go before the law for the king about this law that's been made, that Haman, evil Haman, has brought about.

So we see letter B is this stressful predicament.

Esther's stressful predicament.

Any ladies today has some stress this week.

I thought so.

We got a few that raised their hand.

There's been some stress in your life.

For Esther to come before the king, it was illegal and punishable by death.

To approach the king was a death sentence in many cases.

Now I want you to have some background information on the king.

The king was a rage-filled, noted lunatic who liked him some Jack Daniels.

You get a picture of how the king was.

In fact, the first queen left the king because of it.

Vashti was kicked out and left because the king went into a drunken stupor in chapter one.

It's in there.

You can read about it.

And Esther, if she was to go to this type of king, she'd have to first reveal her lie about her ethnicity.

And she would also have to call out the king's best man.

And so Esther has this stressful predicament for such a time as this.

I came across this reading this week and I thought I'd share this about a time such as this.

There's a courthouse that stands in Ohio in a really unique location.

Raindrops fall on the courtroom roof, and the raindrops that fall to the north of the building go into Lake Ontario, going one direction, while those falling on the south side of the building fall into the Mississippi River.

And the peak of a gentle wind determines the destiny of the raindrops, and the difference is over 2,000 miles, depending on where the wind blows.

And I want you to hear something today.

It's the smallest act sometimes that impacts a child.

Sometimes it's a kind gesture that sets in motion an impact that changes lives here in eternity.

And so Esther is sent with this idea that she's got to go stand before the The king.

Something that can take her life.

I want you to look at verse 14 through 16.

So, what is Esther going to do?

How is Esther going to approach this?

And how is she going to make the best of this situation?

Now, Esther doesn't have to do it.

Esther receives the letter from her uncle, and she can take that and move on.

She can take it and throw it away.

But I want you to see Esther's response.

Now I said to you already, but you can remain silent at this time, but who knows it says whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai.

Listen to her response.

Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast for me.

Don't eat or drink for three days or three nights.

My maids and I will fast likewise, and so I will go to the king, which is against the law.

Listen to this line, and if I perish, I perish.

So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther had said.

Her spiritual power is let her see this morning.

Of all the lines that Esther gave, this one I love.

I love right here, as Esther sums up this note from her uncle, she says, if I die, I die.

One of the most, I'm like, when I sing this, I'm like, Esther, you know, Esther in a fight.

Esther is cold-blooded.

Esther's like, if I die, if I'm going into a fight, I want Esther taking my back.

Y'all understand me?

This pumps me up.

The person you want at the back is the one that says, I'm going into fight.

If I die, I die.

If I gotta lose my life in this effort, then I lose my life.

Have you ever seen a mom defending her children?

Y'all seen this?

Would they call my baby?

What did I just hear?

That coach better if he if he doesn't get my kid in the game.

They know my baby's amazing.

When he just touches the ball, things happen.

They just don't understand.

Esther's got it in her, right?

If I die, I die.

Esther instantly becomes the mother of all Jews in this moment, right?

When you try to do something to my babies, the gloves come off.

But her spiritual power, the secret is found in this verse.

Look at what she asked them to do.

She says, I need you to fast for me.

For three days, I need you to fast.

There's spiritual power, church, and I think we live in a generation that sort of bypasses this idea of fasting.

Their spiritual power is found in fasting.

She says, Go three days, pray and fast.

In Ezra, they fasted to strengthen prayers.

In Judges, they fasted to get closer to the Lord.

In 2 Chronicles, they fasted for God's protection.

In 1 Kings, they fasted to humble themselves.

In Luke 2, they fasted to show love for God.

Now, Esther was not a perfect woman, but she understood what turned the ears of the Lord, and she said, You need to go to a fast.

I want you to pray and go to the Lord for a fast.

We start our year every year at CCW with 21 days of prayer and fasting.

I have a question to ask you when you think about your spiritual strength.

How often are you fasting?

Esther called for a fast.

I want you to turn to chapter 5.

We're going to look at verses 1 through 3.

See what happens after this fast takes place.

Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, so facing the entrance of the house.

So it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court that she found favor in his sight.

And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.

Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

And the king said to her, What is what do you wish, Queen Esther?

What is your request?

It shall be given to you up to half the kingdom.

So what we see here immediately, this fast takes place.

And I want you to understand when we're praying before the Lord, we get a hold of the ears of the Lord, and I don't believe in me calling out and me living a certain way, and God's just going to rain down favor.

But I believe in this situation, God gave his favor because there was a humbling, and the people fasted for something, and immediately following her fast, she went in and stood in the firing range.

She went to the inner court, which is the place where she could go and lose her life.

She went into this inner court and she came before the king, and he held out his scepter, which was a sign of peace between he and her.

Now I want to tell you, I have faced judges.

And I've gone to the inner court and I've never had favor.

They've always been for speeding tickets, and I've never had favor.

I've always had a fine.

Never had favor.

But I came to think of it after reading this.

I've never fasted before I went before a judge.

From now on, if I speed, y'all hear me, Heather?

I'm going into a fast.

I thought about God's favor in my life and the way that it has sort of panned out.

And you can look at favor in a lot of different ways, but God's sovereignty in my story has been that God, in my flesh, I would go so deep, so far.

But God would grab a hold of me and my failings and find me out.

Every time, Benji, that I try to do something wrong, God find me out.

All through my young life, teenage life, it's like God had his hand on the back of my knee and said, Oh, you're only gonna go this far.

And God would lay these things bare.

And I thought about that sort of favor, right?

And say, Well, that's not favor.

For me, it was.

God would not let me fall in my flesh.

I've had one leg over the fence.

Anybody like that?

And all I just needed was a strong breeze, and God just pushed me back over in my own flesh.

I don't know why.

But God decided to bring favor, and Esther had God's favor.

Well, let's see what happens further.

Look at verse 4 through 8 there in chapter 5.

So Esther now has the ear of the king.

She's before him, everything's sort of on the line.

Look at what it says.

So Esther answered, If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.

Then the king said, Bring Haman quickly that he may do as Esther has said.

So the king and Haman went to the banquet and that Esther had prepared.

And at the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, What is your petition?

It shall be granted to you.

What is your request?

Up to half the kingdom, it shall be done.

Then Esther answered and said, My petition and request is this.

If I had found favor in the sight of the king, and it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them tomorrow.

Alright?

So I want you to see the wheel spinning and what's going on.

Alright.

So we see the favor of God.

We've seen the fasting.

Now Esther thinks in terms of food.

All the men say, Amen.

So Esther is no dummy, and obviously she's a Southern Baptist.

So she draws together plans for two potlucks.

She begins making a plan.

She gets them in for the food and some PFC.

That's Persian fried chicken.

Don't look at me.

It's right there in the text.

And she says, Now I want you to meet with me for another banquet.

Alright?

Turn your Bibles over to Esther chapter 7.

Esther 7 · chapter mention

What's gonna happen?

The fasting has taken place.

We see God's favor.

Esther could have been killed, she wasn't killed, and she says, I want you to meet me for two banquets.

She had the first one, and now they're coming back.

Look at Esther chapter 7.

Esther 7 · chapter mention

So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther.

And on the second day at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, What is your petition, Queen Esther?

It shall be granted to you, and what is your request?

Up to half the kingdom it shall be done.

Then Queen Esther answered and said, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given at my petition, and my people at my request, for we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.

Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss.

So we see this third thing is about the enemies being destroyed.

Letter A this morning is this discernment at the dinner table.

Esther was bold.

And I think maybe before Esther went in, maybe Esther prayed one more time.

Maybe Esther prayed a prayer like Psalms 27:1, the Lord is my light, my salvation, whom shall I fear?

Psalms 27:1

Maybe she prayed like Proverbs 28:1 says, the wicked flee when no man pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28:1

But Esther goes in and she comes without hesitation.

She comes boldly.

How do I know that?

Because it doesn't say for a second that Esther hesitated, that she contemplated, that she danced around the topic.

No.

The king said, What will it be, Esther, up to half the kingdom?

And I love what she says after this.

We see her boldness again.

She says, King, I will give my life.

I will give my life at this request.

Esther said before, if I gotta die, I gotta die.

But she says to this, I will give my life at this request.

And I got thinking again about moms.

And I thought, how many mothers give up everything?

Give up anything, give up their time, give up their career, give up their all their effort and energy so that their children can be okay.

And Esther is a picture of the mother of these Jews at this place.

She says, I will give my life at this next request.

So you we know what's coming is bold.

And I love this.

Look at verse 5 and 6.

So King Ahaswerus answered and said to Queen Esther, Who is he and where is he who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?

And Esther said, The adversary and the enemy is this wicked Haman.

So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

No hesitation.

Completely bold, she points her finger at Haman's face and she said, This is the adversary.

It is this wicked enemy, Haman.

To have some Christians today, church, that would boldly look at truth in this manner, to have Christians today that would look at wickedness and not change the subject, would not skirt around things that would call sin sin.

Esther gave all she was, ready to die, and she says, It's Haman! It's Haman.

Well, look at verse 7.

Then the king arose in his wrath and his anger from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden.

But Haman stood before the queen, Esther, pleading for his life, for he saw the evil was determined against him by the king.

So the king goes to deliberate at his deck.

He has a lot to think about.

Number one, Haman is his friend.

He signed the law that Haman put in place.

It was a decree with his name on it, that anybody that did not bow down to Haman, they were to be annihilated.

If anyone comes against him for this matter, his name is written on it.

And past that, how does he get away with fixing this with no blood on his hands?

If someone comes against his queen, that's a personal attack.

So he's out there deliberating at what to do in this situation.

And you gotta see the hand of the Lord in this, you're gonna see in a moment.

But he flippantly signed this law, and it would say he doesn't care much about the Jews, but his reputation is on the line.

Look at verse 8.

When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was.

Then the king said, Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house?

So picture the scenario here.

Haman falls.

Now that's curious.

Haman falls right at the wrong time.

The king spins around, comes in, and Haman fell.

Now there are things going on, I've said this in the past few weeks, in the heavenlies.

And at just the right time, I don't know if an angel had just the right size sandal and stuck his leg up, swept the leg.

I don't know what happened, but for whatever reason, or if he just tripped because he was clumsy, but Haman falls.

And as the king spins around and sees Haman strewn on the lap of Esther, he gets, remember, he's an irate kind of guy and he loses.

He spins around, and in a moment, now, there's not a whole lot of things that get me really angry, but I'm gonna tell you, if a man is strewn across Heather's lap, I'm gonna put my hands up and we're gonna be ready to go.

You're gonna see kamikaze wrapped up in five foot five.

We're coming.

I'm gonna hurt a knee.

He says, Will he also assault the queen right in front of my face?

And in next verse, come the guards.

Immediately the guards come in and they bring a sheet and put it over Haman's face.

And you need to know what that means, right?

Do you know what happens when you get a sheet put over your face?

That's it.

That's the end.

It's terrifying for wicked Haman.

I want you to see this picture and then I'm gonna finish up.

You see, the king's wrath requires blood be shed.

Sin, the decree of sin requires that blood be shed.

And so Haman was hung on gallows that he prepared so that he could put Jews on them, so that he could put Mordecai on them.

And in chapter 8, we see that the Jews were given their emancipation.

But I wanted to take you back, and I want you to see it one more time.

The theme of the book is found in verse 14 of chapter 4.

You can remain completely silent.

Relief and deliverance will arise from someplace.

But Esther's purpose was found here, yet who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

In the 1960s, there was a scientist named Edward Lorenz, and he popularized a theory called the law of sensitive dependence upon initial conditions.

Many of you obviously have studied that.

It's also known as the butterfly effect.

The butterfly effect says that a butterfly can flap its wings somewhere on planet Earth, sending molecules in motion that send molecules in motion that pass through winds and patterns across and somewhere on the other side of the planet, because of this butterfly flapping its wings, and a hurricane can take place.

The law of sensitive dependence upon initial conditions.

I have a nephew named Camden.

And Camden, while he was in our home, received Jesus as his savior.

He received Jesus as his savior with my son Wyatt sharing with him the ABCs of salvation and how to be saved.

And I thought about how Wyatt came to know the Lord.

Heather and I have brought our children up in church.

They've been around the gospel their whole life.

Well, one night after Awana, Wyatt figured out that he was a sinner and wanted to know how to be saved.

I thought about how Wyatt heard those things from his mom and his dad.

And I got into my story thinking about how it is that I came to know the Lord.

My mom.

I was screaming in a car ride headed to Kmart, and I said, We need to go home.

And my mom took me to her bedside and led me to the Lord.

Now don't lose track of Camden over here, who was impacted by Wyatt over here, who was impacted by his mom and dad over here, who is now impacted by his grandmother, my mom, who's leading me to the Lord.

And I got thinking, how was it that my mom came to know the Lord and her life was changed?

My mom's told me my whole life that her and my dad were living it up, things were sort of getting crazy between them.

And I can't remember who invited.

I wish I could remember because it would help this story.

But she was invited to an old-fashioned revival.

She went to that revival, she heard the preacher preach, and for the first time it connected her heart to Jesus Christ.

And at that revival, she gave her life to the Lord.

And I'm telling you, that decision there impacted my dad, impacted me, my sister, and our whole family moving forward because of that decision.

Well, I got well, who was the preacher?

The preacher was a guy named Bobby Vinoy.

So this week I thought, I'm just gonna go for it.

I call Bobby Vinoy, who's still a pastor today.

Kennet Square, Missionary Baptist Church in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

I look up their website.

I'm like, there's gotta be a connection here.

I find a phone number, which you never get somebody's cell phone number on a website.

I call, I say, I'm looking for Pastor Bobby Vinoy.

And he goes, Well, you got him.

I wasn't ready.

I'm babbling about who I am and my situation.

Finally I said, Pastor Bobby, you know you preached a message that spoke to my mom's heart about Jesus.

She got saved.

My dad later got saved.

I got saved.

And I began to tell him what was unfolding in this sermon.

I said, and it just kept going.

I said, could you tell me about your salvation experience?

And he said, Oh man, in 1952, I can remember it like nothing else.

He said, it was 1952.

I was living in Fairfax, Virginia.

He said, we had the biggest house on the block.

He said, and I was far from God.

He said, I've been drinking and partying and everything.

And he said, and this guy shows up at my house, and because we had the largest house on the block, they were having a revival meeting.

He was one of our neighbors, and he said to my father, can you house these two pastors for the next two weeks?

Oh, what a bold thing.

You wouldn't hear that these days.

And his dad, he said, said to him, Well, it ain't up to me.

It's up to the woman of the house.

So he asked Bobby's mother.

His mother agreed to it.

And his dad, who wasn't in church, said, Son, I think it's only right that these men who are staying with us these few weeks, we ought to attend their meetings.

So Bobby said, I went to the meetings and I heard the word of God and I heard it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

He said, I heard it Thursday.

I heard it Friday.

He said, but Saturday afternoon, I wasn't gonna go.

He said, I got drunk Friday night.

He said, I went Saturday and at 2 o'clock, he said, Pastor Meadows got up and he spoke the word of God.

He said, I felt conviction for the first time of my life.

He said, when he preached that story, he said, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ.

He said, Brother, one year later, God called me to preach.

God used Pastor Meadows, and I started thinking, I wish I could get a hold of Pastor Meadows.

He's since deceased.

But my picture is this all the way to Pastor Meadows has impacted my story, my mom's story, my dad's story, my son and my daughter's story.

And I'm not even getting into Heather's story and that, and the people that impacted her, and how that and how they got to Wyatt, who got to Camden, and who knows who Camden will get to with this story.

And so what I'm telling you is this you've been placed here right now in this particular season, in this position in history to do something that matters.

And everything you do matters for everyone forever.

Everything.

Everything you do.

Moms, thank you for your undying and endless love.

Thank you for caring.

Thank you.

Each and every one of you, everything you do matters and has a ripple effect.

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes this morning.

You see, Jesus came and he was the greater Esther.

He came and provided a blood serum for all to free everyone forever, for all of eternity.

Even, hear me.

Jesus died even for evil Haman.

Haman was somebody's son.

A lot of people read this story and go, well, Haman got what he deserved.

But I believe this about my God.

That Jesus said, I wish even Haman would have understood who I am.

I want to challenge everybody here, especially our moms this morning.

I want to challenge you.

Now is your time to impact the world.

Right now.

The Bible says that for some you can live three score and ten.

I don't know the time frame of your life, but I know that you're here for this time right now.

It doesn't exempt anybody today.

Mothers, fathers, grandmothers.

Our time is right now, and everything you do matters for everyone everywhere.

Jesus is saying, for such a time as this.

We're excited you've joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community to grow with one another and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.