Risk is Right

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Wasn't that good?

Isn't it exciting to hear about camp?

I love camp.

I didn't share mine, but I'm gonna uh they say I'm uh I've been to camp one year, two years.

This is my 11th year at camp.

I'm a campaholic.

Um and so if you want to hear some stories, some fun things, I'd love to share with you.

There's uh your kids got out of the box and did some dares and pranks, and they're so spiritual up here, Sharon.

They're spiritual things, but I would love for you to hear some of the other things that went on at camp that you would surely get some good laughs for.

But I want to ask you to open your Bibles this morning to the book of Esther.

I could have had an invitation right there after those testimonies, but I'll go ahead and preach.

Turn your Bibles to the book of Esther, and uh I'm gonna talk to you.

Pastor Danny has so graciously allowed me to be in this place and um given me a chance to kind of give a mini series through the book of Esther.

So the next couple of weeks I'll be speaking through this book.

I encourage you, uh, it's just a few short chapters to read through the book.

Read through it a couple times as we'll be looking at it.

And uh man, the book is fantastic.

And I'm gonna talk to you for these weeks on this topic.

Risk is right.

Risk is right.

The Greek word for risk is kendinos.

And if you got something to write on or you want to write this down, the Greek word kindinos, k-in-d-y-n-o-s, means to dare or to enterprise, or to hope.

And it kind of doesn't sound like the way we think about risk.

We think about risk as something we associate with fear or something that scares us, and it says to dare or to enterprise or to hope.

Uh and an unknown poet said it this way There was a very cautious man who never laughed or played.

He never risked, he never tried, he never sang or prayed.

And when he one day passed away, his insurance was denied.

For since he never really lived, they claimed he never died.

For since he never really lived, they claimed he never died.

Inside the pages of Esther is a story of great risk.

It's almost Hollywood movie script material.

Because inside the story you have heroes, you have villains, you have plot twists, and you have a person who ultimately will lead to the halting of a genocide of people.

And I want to propose to you to prove in these next weeks, CCW, that risk is right.

I think the men will agree with me here that are married.

Every marriage proposal comes at a risk of being rejected.

Would you agree, men?

A risk of being rejected.

And I remember when I was preparing myself and I bought a ring for Heather, and it was October of 2004.

I was gonna wait for a while, but I think I lasted about nine days before I had to get it done.

So I got the ring, and then I planned a surprise trip.

She was still in school at Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga, and so I planned my surprise trip, and I had sent roses to her throughout the day at different times of day.

My plan at the end was that I would come in with the completion of a dozen roses.

So I had sent three to her, and then three more when she got to work, and another three at another time.

So I had the final three roses, and I called her on the cell phone as uh she was working at Outback Steakhouse, and I said, Man, I just wish I could see you.

I really wouldn't it be great if I just saw you right now and she said, Oh, you know, something that would be awesome, you know, kind of like whatever, and that's not really gonna happen.

She turned around out the door and I had roses in my hand.

All the ladies say, oh.

So I completed the dozen roses, and I think she kind of knew at that point why would somebody drive 12 hours and all this going on, but I didn't tell her anything.

I took her out to a nice meal at Jay Alexander's, and then I took her back to the place of our first date.

And I took a blanket out and spread a blanket out, and I had rose petals on the blanket.

I had some strawberries there.

And I got down on my knee, and I have to tell you that along that drive, and there were other moments, and that moment there was a part of me who was really fearful.

What if she doesn't say yes?

What if she doesn't?

And let me give you a little reason why.

Eight months before in February, Heather and I had been dating for about three and a half years, almost four years.

Eight months before in February, we experienced a breakup.

And so our relationship, there's some things that weren't quite right.

Most of them were on my part, of course.

And so she took me into Tennessee Temple's church.

Her aunt was there, who was the dean of women, the pew behind me, and broke up with me in church.

There's no way to salvage something when you're there in church and there's someone in authority behind you.

You know, I couldn't hug her, I couldn't kiss her, I couldn't remind her of how great I was.

All I could do was go, okay.

And I went back and I was really heartbroken.

I never felt heartbreak over a girl before.

And so I was heartbroken and I spent and I knew there were things between me and the Lord that weren't right.

And I was already dealing with that in some ways, but this breakup brought that to my attention severe, and I thought, God, I can't even believe this.

So, but for the first time, losing something made me really realize how important it was to me.

And that I really didn't want to live without it.

And I prayed for that time in between, sometime around May when I graduated, we got back together.

But I prayed all that time.

God, if this is your will, God, please make it your will.

God, I don't want to miss out on this.

And so there I am in October, eight months later, after a breakup, and you think about that.

What a risk.

This girl broke up with you eight months ago, and she could look at you and say, I don't think so.

That's not gonna happen.

And so I remember that risk, but I thought about this.

I've been married to Heather for 12 years, and it's been a beautiful marriage, and we have these great kids, and I love my life with Heather.

What if I didn't take that risk?

You see, it brings us to the theme scripture in Esther, and if you got your Bible, we're gonna stay in chapter 1, but I want you to see it in Esther chapter 4.

Esther 4 · chapter mention

It says, For if you remain, Esther chapter 4, verse 14, if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place.

Esther 4:14

But you and your father's house shall perish.

Yet, listen to this, church, yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Heather surely would have got married to a really handsome, really strong, taller man.

I probably would have got married maybe, and we would have had lives, and who knows what our children would have been like.

We certainly wouldn't have the children we have, but if that risk wasn't taken, we wouldn't have the life that we have right now for such a time as this.

So I want you to go back to chapter one, and that's the theme, that's kind of the apex verse, but I want you to go back and see the background and how we get to that point.

Let me pray.

Father, I pray that you would speak to hearts through your word.

God, you know I need to be hid well behind it, God.

People here can be motivated and can be spoken to from great, much greater orators, Lord.

But we want to hear from you.

And so, God, I pray your spirit would be filled in this place, God.

I pray that you would rebuke any work of Satan, God.

I pray that you would just give minds the freedom to focus on you for these next few moments.

Father, we love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And so in Esther chapter 1, as we begin into the story, I want to read to you quickly as I can the first few verses.

Esther 1 · chapter mention

It says this, now it came to pass in the days of Ahazuerus, this was Ahazuerus who reigned over 127 provinces, in those days when King Ahazuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shusham, the citadel, that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants, the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of the provinces before him.

When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all.

And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other, with royal wine and abundance, according to the generosity of the king.

In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory.

Listen to this.

For so the king had ordered all the officers of his household that they should do according to each man's pleasure.

Drink whatever you want.

Then Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace, which belonged to King Ahaswerus.

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he was drunk, he commanded these men, seven of them, who served in the presence of King Ahaswerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold.

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command, brought by his eunuchs.

Therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.

So, number one, rumor number number one in this story is the corruption that celebrated in the court.

Now, in the history of this, there was a six-month battle planning session that King Ahaswerus, also known as King Xerxes, which we'll call him from now forth, King Xerxes, called forth a battle planning session to go and battle the Persians against the Greeks.

And now the Persians were the major world power at this time.

And so he calls forth this session, almost a winning strategy session for six months.

And at the end of the six months, there's a seven-day feast that's going on to catch us up to what's happening.

And he would have a feast with his men, and then there would be a special banquet held for the ladies that Vashti would hold.

Well, in this court, corruption takes place and is celebrated, and the king loses his head.

And we'll see why.

How does that happen?

Look at verse 8 again.

In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory.

In other words, the king gets hammered.

He gets hammered and he says, drinks are on the house.

Everybody get whatever you want.

He's trying to put on this show in this party, and you heard all of the description of everything before.

He's showing off his power, he's showing off his wealth with everything.

And then he says, By the way, get as much as you want.

And so the king gets hammered.

Mr.

Daniels and Xerxes had a great relationship, if you know what I'm saying.

And Ephesians, and this is another message for another time, but I want to say Ephesians 5.18 says, Be not drunk with wine, where is excess, but be filled with the Spirit of God.

And so the king gets hammered into this feast.

And when that happens, the next thing you'll see is that the queen gets humiliated.

He says, Bring Queen Vashti.

Now, verse 10 and 11 is kind of an absurd command.

He says, in essence, fetch my wife and tell her to parade herself.

Some people interpret in just her royal crown.

We're not told exactly what happens, but the way that scripture plays out, a lot of uh theologians interpret that he says, Fetch my wife in just her crown.

Now, you've got to understand the culture here.

Women were not even really permitted to gaze into another man's eyes.

And so they took covering uh as a part of their dignity, and for her to be called out, fetched out by the men, and told to come would be humiliating.

Now you talk about being in the doghouse.

Men, have you ever humiliated your wife?

Don't answer, please.

Look at your wife right now, if you got a wife next to you, and just say, I'm sorry.

Just in case.

Okay?

Just in case it never got to.

How about in the midst of a house party?

You had some people over.

Any man have you ever felt this feeling?

You you opened your mouth, you had a thought, and you knew the thought shouldn't get out, but it was too late, and you tried to grab it back and shove it back in, but it came out and you set it, and all of a sudden your temperature started rising because of the look on your wife's face.

And all of a sudden you found yourself in a kitchen for the first time in a long time doing dishes, and you don't even know why.

Just looking back.

And she knew at that moment she had you.

And so he says, Fetch me my wife.

And unexplainably, you can imagine, this drunken fool says, Vashti, get in here and put on a show for my boys.

But look at verse 12.

Vashti takes the first risk that we'll see in the book of Esther.

Verse 12, it says, But Queen Vashti refused.

She refused.

She used two big fat letters.

Anybody know them?

And O.

She said, No, this is the first risk, and it was right.

It's a big risk.

And often when you look through the book of Esther, it's diminished.

Vashti stood for herself even though the king had position.

Let me say something to you, church.

Don't bend who you are for some drunken idiot.

Say no.

Don't bend because your boss has position.

Say no.

Don't break for a board member or a family member.

Say no.

Vashti's no was earth shattering.

Teen girls, I want you to look at me.

When a young man comes to you and says, if you love me, if you love me, you will do.

You said you love me.

Let me help you with something.

You say no.

You say no, and if you yell it loud enough, he might not come calling again.

Don't clock in for work early with no intention of work.

Say no to that temptation.

Pastor John Hagee says this the shortest word in the English language that has the greatest power and shakes the earth is no.

When Satan tempts you, say no, no, not again.

I'm not gonna do this again.

Don't bend your morality for someone's approval.

Say no.

No to sin.

You have to say no to sin before you say yes to God.

No will save your character.

The word no will keep you from the demon of drugs.

You see, we're being taught something in our school system, and I gotta be just forward and honest.

The cure for AIDS is not condoms and safe sex.

It's in the word no.

Addicted to credit cards?

No.

There's little with peace, life does not consist in the abundance of things.

I need everybody to practice with me, okay?

On the count of three, say no.

One, two, three.

Mommy! But everyone else is getting it.

What do you say?

That's right.

How about you just miss church this morning?

You've got to learn the importance of the right nose.

Listen, it's okay to have fears, but to be paralyzed and not take risks, we have to learn the power and the importance of the right nose.

And you see, Vashti said no.

Well, it didn't stop there.

The king was infuriated.

And it says that in verse 12.

She refused, therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.

He was furious.

And Xerxes had legendary anger.

The Greek historian Herodotus shares, when we'll talk about the battle later that this happens, but in a battle, uh there was a storm to take place and there was a body of water that would have to be crossed.

And Xerxes ordered that there be bridges built on a space across the Black Sea.

Well, these bridges were destroyed in a storm, and he gathered the bridge engineers together and chopped their heads off.

He was furious with the ocean.

So he sent soldiers in the water with whips to lash the oceans 300 times for its subordination.

He sent men into the ocean with red-hot irons and commanded them to stab the ocean.

He had legendary fury.

You see, when Vashti said no, she took a great risk.

But it was right.

Her risk was right.

The king not only lost his head because of the corruption at the party, but we'll see in a moment.

He also legislates his own heartbreak, and that's letter B.

The king legislates his own heartbreak.

Look at verse 15 and 16.

So this transpires.

His men are there, he's at the party, he's embarrassed.

And verse 15 says, What shall we do to Queen Vashti according to law?

Because she did not obey the command of King Ahaswerus brought to her by the eunuchs.

And Memekin answered before the king and the princess, Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the provinces and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahaswerus.

For the queen's behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes when they report.

King Ahazwarus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.

And so the next thing that happens, these advisers, he gets them together and he asks them, What should we do?

And the advisors are alarmed at what has happened.

They see what has happened, and they look over at their wives, and they go, Oh, no, mm-mm, this is not good.

Because if Mrs.

if if Mrs.

Ahasweris can do that to him and he's the king, and Memekin, you think he's over there scared in hot water.

You see, the Bible says, Proverbs 11:14, that there is safety in a multitude of counsel.

Proverbs 11:14

But there is not safety in a multitude of dumb counsel.

Okay?

Understand this.

Memekin was scared, probably in a little bit of hot water with Mrs.

Memekin.

And he says, Xerxes, our wives will protest.

If your wife refuses, my wife will refuse me.

She's already given me that eye, and the other wives will take over.

We're going to have a women's liberation movement right here.

You've got to stop this now.

And so, number two, it leads to an ignorant injunction.

I would say ignorant and inebriated injunction.

They go on further through the scripture and they make law that Vashti would no longer be queen, no longer be allowed to be queen because of her actions.

This isn't the first time in scripture where a king makes an injunction or makes something law that would later on hurt him.

You see, he legislates his heartbreak.

In Daniel 6, King Nebuchadnezzar, in a multitude of counselors, because of the governors are jealous of Daniel, they present a scheme that they would make a decree, and they say that nobody should pray or bow down to anything other than what the king says.

And if they do so, then they should be thrown into a den of lions.

Well, the king says, That sounds great.

And then he finds out later, Daniel, like he does every day, he gets up in his window when it's time to pray.

He knows the injunction that's just been given.

And he stands up and says, I've been praying to God my whole life, and I'm going to continue to pray to God.

And he got in his window.

This is my favorite part of that script.

He got in his window where everybody could see, and he began to pray in front of them.

Basically saying, You can do and say whatever you want.

Throw me in the lions then if you have to.

But I'm going to pray to my God.

But it says in that scripture that it displeased the king that Daniel was going to go into the pit of lions, but it was law.

He made a law.

Be careful, church.

Of the voices that you allow in your hear.

Not everybody is a safe counsel.

Not every ear is a safe ear.

Not everyone that you are speaking to has your best interest in mind.

A lot of people are jealous and selfish and they're not for you.

And these men were seeing what was happening with Vashti and Xerxes, and they thought about themselves.

See, the queen loses her crown.

Vashti is vanquished.

She refused and she was sent walking.

She was sent packing.

But I have to tell you, church, this was not a walk of shame.

She knew how to say the right no.

Now, in between chapter 1 and chapter 2, there is, we got through the celebration, six-month planning session, and there is a war campaign that happens between chapter 1 and chapter 2 where it says, after these things, when the wrath of King Ahaswerus.

In between chapter 1 and there, there is a battle campaign with the 250,000-man army of Xerxes.

And they thought that they would go through and totally eliminate the Greeks.

Remember, the battle planning session was a party.

It's not like men were in trenches getting down and getting strategic.

They were having a session where they thought with all accord that they were going to win, and they ended it with this peace.

And so they go on and they want to wreak vengeance.

They cross into Greece and reach Athens.

They sack the city, and you see the historic background of the Battle of Thermopylae, the Battle of Salemus, the Battle of 300 that has been made a movie of, and Xerxes' fight, and he has some measures of success in these battles, but ultimately is defeated for good when Alexander the Great and Greece comes onto the scene.

And now there is a new world power.

And so that leads us to Roman numeral number two, which is the conflict that creates a contest.

See, the king comes out of what happened with Vashti, goes into this battle, loses ultimately, and it says in chapter 2, after these things, when the wrath of King Aswerus subsided, he remembered Vashti what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

Then the king's servants who attended him said, Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan into the woman's quarters under the custody of Hagai, the king's eunuch, custody of the women, and let beauty preparations be given them.

So the king is a battle loser.

He goes into battle.

By all accord, he thinks he's going in to win and to conquer.

He comes back and he's kind of sulking, and it says he sits there and he remembers what happened with Vashti.

So he comes back and he doesn't have a beautiful queen to consult with or to sulk in.

And he's thinking on this, and as men around him kind of see him droopy.

The king is a little bit sad, and so they kind of put their minds together and they say, You know what we should do?

We need to have a beauty contest.

That will cheer you up.

We need to have a Mrs.

Persia competition, the next Mrs.

Persia.

And so look down at verse 12, and you kind of see some of the ins and outs of the competition.

It says, Each young woman turned came to go into King Asweris after she had completed 12 months preparation.

Talk about time for primping.

According to the regulations for the women, the days of their preparation apportioned, six months with oil of myrrh and six months of perfuming and preparations for beautifying.

Alright?

A full year of preparations for this contest.

Alright?

Now, this is just my mind, but the first thing it says six months of oiling.

Now I have some experiences with baby oil.

One of them was when I was about 23 years old, and I was working with a church, not as a pastor, but just helping, and they had a water slide that went down this hill or a tarp.

And you know, I I have like concentrated weight, and so when I'm going down something, I go flying.

And so I don't know how to explain that, but if you want to race me sometime, I promise you I'm gonna win going down something, especially sliding.

So anyway, I'm like a bowling ball.

And then I put this baby oil on me, and there's all these teens, and they're going down and they're having fun safe, look safe.

They're just hitting the bottom, they have a pool at the bottom.

So I get, I'm like, give me a lot, because if I'm in, I'm gonna have fun.

So they're pouring it all over me.

And I run, so I run back and I'm flying down this thing, I'm like, woo! And next thing I know, I hit the pool.

I hit the pool, and then the pool was behind me.

I flew through the pool.

Now I'm in the woods, and I'm sliding down the woods a great bit.

So me and baby oil, when I picture this, I don't know if you picture it like me.

So there is a six-month-oiled estern, a human slip and slide.

I mean, like a WWE wrestler or a bodybuilder.

You've seen them competitions, all that oil, like, what do you need six months of oil for?

I don't know if she had a disease.

But six months of oiling happened, and then six months of perfumes and beautifying, like, man, what is going on?

But this is what's happening, and this is the preparation for the competition.

And then look what happens.

Let's read uh some from verses seven through ten.

And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother.

The young woman was lovely and beautiful.

When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

You need to underline the name Mordecai, he's a key in the story that we'll look through the next few weeks.

Mordecai is her cousin, uh, who takes care of her, more like an uncle.

So it was when the king's command and decree were heard, and when the young women were gathered at Shushan, the citadel, taken under the custody of Hagai.

Now the young woman pleased him.

So Hagai, the man who was taken care of, Esther obtains his favor, so he readily gave beauty preparations to her beside her allowance.

Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king's palace.

So you see this favor.

Then verse 10 Esther had not revealed her people or her family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it, that they came from Jewish background.

So, as you get through this story, there's 400 contestants, one Esther.

Esther's name means star.

And Esther was an orphan raised by Mordecai.

And the odds for her to win this contest 400 to 1.

Now, Esther, as you read through this, was quite extraordinary.

Beautiful.

She would have had tan skinned, uh, Middle Eastern features, dark hair and eyes.

Uh, and the competition was like, you know, America's next top model.

These women came in one after the other before the king.

And 399 did not gain the king's attention or favor.

So think about the type of beauty that Esther must have had.

You know, Esther is the type of woman that other women looked at and said, That's, man, I wish I was like Esther.

And we play that comparison game.

I wish, you know, if Esther had a split in her teeth, all of a sudden splitting your teeth would be the next thing.

Esther was beautiful.

And so they're looking at Esther's beauty, and look at verse 16 and 17.

So Esther was taken to King Aswerus into his royal palace in the tenth month, which in the month of Tibet, in the seventh year of his reign, and the king loved Esther more than all the other women.

And she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins.

So he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

So Esther had favor.

God had given her that favor.

But Esther took the second risk we'll see in the story, she hid her Jewish background.

Esther was a special person.

Esther was a beautiful person.

But what made Esther a great person was that she was beautiful inside and out.

And it takes us to that key verse.

She becomes crowned queen.

And I need you to hear this verse again.

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

But you and your father's house will perish.

Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

In 1 Samuel, in the story of David, a similar thing occurs before the battle with Goliath.

And as David arrives on the scene and is looking around at what's happening, his older brother Eliab says, What are you doing here?

I know your pride.

I know that you're here to watch battle, and you're not here for the right reasons, and you have left the sheep.

And David rattles off this phrase that I think would reverberate.

He says, Eliab, is there not a cause?

Is there not a cause for me to be here?

Is there not a cause?

And he says after that, I, nobody else, everyone else is quaking, fearful, not willing to jump off the ledge of risk.

And he says, I'll fight him.

And Esther would soon find her calling after she wins this competition.

So let's look at number three.

The cause that confirms a calling.

The cause.

And I want you, we're going to go back to chapter two, but I want you to look at chapter three a couple of verses.

The cause that confirms a calling.

In chapter 3, verse 8 and 9, it says, then Haman.

Haman's another name you need to highlight, underline.

Haman is the anti in this story.

He's the villain in this story.

Then Haman said to King Ahasweris, he had become prime minister under Ahaswerus.

He was second in command under his authority.

There's a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom.

Their laws are different from all other peoples, and they don't keep the king's laws.

Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.

If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed.

And I'll pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the king's treasures.

And so we would see in the future, after this competition, there's a cause that's going to come forth.

And it's going to come forth out of evil in a man's heart that wants to see a whole people race destroyed.

Is there not a cause?

You see, the causes of God unfold in two ways.

And they're really based upon God's ways.

And to understand God's ways in John 17, verse 3, it says you have to have eternal life.

John 17:3

You might be here this morning and trying to figure out what God wants for you, or what's the next step in your path, or if there's a risk, what risks you should take.

And I want you to understand if you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a real relationship where he speaks to you and you speak to him, and you know that you gave your life and your will to him, that you won't, you won't understand the cause for his calling.

You won't hear his voice.

You have to know him in John 17.3.

It says you must have eternal life.

In Psalms 103, verse 7, he says this about uh David's writing about Moses.

Psalms 103:7

He says, He made known to Moses his ways after 40 days of fasting.

He makes known his ways to people who humble themselves, who will pray.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, it says that if my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wickedness, then I'll hear from heaven and I will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

God wants to work a calling in your life and he wants to use it in your life, but you first have to be humbled.

You've got to know him, you've got to have eternal life, but then you've got to fail.

People are saying, I don't know why I can't hear from God on this matter.

I don't know why I haven't heard from God on this matter in my life.

Well, you haven't humbled yourself before him.

Have you fasted and prayed and repented and turned from sin?

You see, God wants to show you his ways.

But you've got to do those things.

You see, the King of Kings works three different ways, and we'll be finished this morning.

The King of Kings works externally.

That means God works through miracles.

Old Testament and New Testament alike, God does miracles.

And through Jesus living on earth, we see 37 miracles recorded in Scripture.

And so God absolutely works, and he works still today through miracles.

In Psalm 77, 14, it says, David says, You are the God who does wonders, making known your strength.

God does these things so that we can see his strengths.

In Job 5.9, he says, Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number?

Talking about our Lord.

When I was in college at Tennessee Temple, I went down to a river with some friends.

We had been spending time walking up and down creeks.

And I'm not a great swimmer.

I'm an I I can most of the time live.

I'm living.

But I when I get in a pool, I look for the sides, you know, because I'm I'm gonna swim a little bit and then I'm gonna grab a side.

Well, my friends are like, let's go across this lake, and there's a rope swing, and I could see the rope swing, and we'll get to that other side and we'll have a ball.

And I I love that kind of stuff.

I love jumping in the water, I love jumping off things, but I like to get out as soon as I can find safety.

And so my friends say, Let's do this, and so we get swimming across the water, and I don't know why I did this, but it just seemed intelligent to me.

I looked over at the other side and saw that it was rocky and that there was, it looked kind of rough, and so I wore my tennis shoes in the water.

When you're not a great swimmer and you add weight, so I'm swimming, and I promise you, I get about halfway across this water, and I'm like, oh no.

Halfway is a bad place to think, oh no, in water.

And I'm I start wading in the water and I'm like, I'm not gonna make it.

And I'm looking at my friends and they are way ahead of me.

I mean, way ahead of me, three quarters almost all the way there, and I'm like, what do I do?

My thoughts are races, and I'm just keeping myself afloat, and I'm I start going underwater and back up.

I swallow some water and I'm like, oh, and I'm thinking all the, I'm like, this is it.

Like, I'm gonna die here halfway, and I start like I kind of panicked a little bit.

I've never felt panic before, and I kind of panicked a little bit, and I'm like, what am I gonna do?

And and my thoughts are racing, and I look up and I promise, miraculously out of nowhere.

We hadn't seen a boat all day.

Not a boat all day, a speed boat comes flying and it's coming toward me.

And then I'm a little bit scared about that because I'm like, I'm either gonna drown and die, or this thing's gonna hit me and kill me.

Like it's coming right up, and I don't know if they see me.

And I've been down, I'm back up, and I don't know if they see me, and I'm like screaming, I'm in one.

And so last second, I'm like, do I throw myself under as far as I can go to try to not be hit by this thing?

And last second thing I do, I lift my hands up and I just scream, and they spin around right in front of my face, like just barely don't hit me, and throw me this life preserver, and I'm embarrassed, all this, but no boat all day.

All of a sudden, like I I'm gonna I'm standing here dead right now if that didn't happen.

I'm not standing here at all, but if that didn't happen, and so God can, I believe that was a miracle.

You can say whatever you want, you can call it coincidence if you want to call it that.

I you can say what you want, but a speedboat came that wasn't there all day and I was about to drown.

God still does miracles, folks.

And as a church, we prayed together recently for a miracle.

And I know that we believed.

I know that we believed God could bring.

If God was gonna bring anybody out from the grave, he was gonna bring David Wilson.

I know we believed that from death's claws that that somehow was gonna happen.

And in the story of the Jews, God could have sovereignly in his power, instead of using Esther the way he did, he could have said, I'm gonna send an asteroid and kill off all these Persians who want to kill my chosen people.

He could have sent more plagues.

God could have done that.

He could have but spoken words, just as he created the world with words.

But I want to remind you, just as three Hebrew boys facing King Nebuchadnezzar said, well, when they face the law, bow or burn, they said, we will only bow to our God, and we will believe he will deliver us.

But even if, write that down in your paper, even if he does not deliver us, even if he chooses not to, we know he can, and we will never bow.

We would rather burn for the cause of Christ.

Paul said, I die daily in this life.

I will pick up my cross and die for the cause of Christ.

Stephen, in the face of his stoners, looked at them and said, Father, forgive them.

They don't understand this.

The apostles were martyred for the cause of Christ.

Peter crucified upside down, John beheaded, because God is doing something on the other side that is greater than he's doing on this side.

So because you can't see the other side, don't quit.

Keep risking because we live by faith and not by sight.

One preacher said it this way: I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed.

I have Holy Spirit power, and the die has been cast.

I have stepped over the line, the decision has been made.

I'm a disciple of his.

I won't look back.

I'm not gonna let up, slow down, I'm not gonna back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.

I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, and smooth knees.

Colorless dreams, tame vision, mundane talking, cheap givings, small goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity.

I don't have to be right, recognized, revered, regarded, or rewarded.

I live by prayer and labor by power.

My face is set, my gate is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, but my guide is reliable, my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deluded, detoured, lowered away, turned back or delayed.

I'm not gonna flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary.

I'm not gonna negotiate at the table of the enemy or ponder at the pool of popularity.

I'm not gonna meander in the maze of mediocrity, and I won't give up, shut up, let up until I've stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me.

Somebody give a clap for the Lord this morning.

Is there not a cause?

You see, God works through miracles, but he works them through you.

Not only does he work through external miracles, but the King of Kings works internally.

Look back in chapter 2, verses 21 through 23.

In those days, while Mordecai sat at the king's gates, two of the king's eunuchs, Big Than and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahazuerus.

So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name.

And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows, and it was written in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

You see, God works externally, he can do big miracles, and we believed as a church that God could, and even if he doesn't, he's still God, and we believe he is God.

But God also works internally through his providence.

Sometimes we think God is silent, but God is not silent.

You know, the word, the name of God is not even mentioned in the book of Esther.

Psalms 46, verse 10 challenges us.

Psalms 46:10

Be still and know that I am God.

I don't know your situation.

I don't know what you're going through, but he says, be still.

Be comforted by this fact.

I am God.

You are not.

Be still and know.

God is not somewhere taking a rest on a holy hammock.

God is at work.

Look at some scenarios in this situation that God is working through his providence.

That's where God is doing something that we may not be seeing, but he's at work.

First, he's working through a drunken king.

So how could God work through a drunken king?

Look at how the story unfolds.

A drunken king leads to a self respecting queen.

Who leaves her crown and then a dumb set of friends who give poor counsel into a beauty pageant that brings forth a beautiful orphan and her concerned cousin?

God is working his providence through all of these people internally.

We think, oh, America's done for, we're over with.

I want you to be reminded of scripture.

Proverbs 21:1 says, The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.

Proverbs 21:1

God is working providentially even if you don't see it, even if you don't know it.

Also, God uses pain to work his providence.

Say, how can a loving God cause people to have so much hurt?

God uses pain.

He often uses pain to get our attention.

Uses pain to get our allegiance.

God will use pain to break us out of apathy.

But God uses pain to work providentially.

And I know this church in this year.

It's been people ask me everywhere that we go, how is your church?

My family member, how is your church?

And I say, we have gone through a really hard time, but it's been a really good time.

And I really don't know how to explain that to people.

It's been so hard.

I've never really been through a more hard time involved in ministry, but it's been so good.

Our people have come together, and God is working through his providence in pain.

And God uses small things to work his providence.

The Bible says his eye is on the sparrow.

He knows the number of hairs on your head.

God cares about the small details of your life, and he's working providentially through them.

God never wastes a situation in your life.

Don't think God's in heaven being wasteful in the pain and the problems and the things that we're going through.

God is working providentially.

In 2 Corinthians 12, 9, it says, My grace is sufficient in weakness.

When you are weak, I am made strong.

And so God is working providentially.

God works providentially through you as well.

Don't miss this, though.

I think often we see the ordinary of life and we're missing something.

In my ordinary day-to-day, it's quite extraordinary.

Don't mistake ordinary providence because you're looking for extraordinary external miracles.

If we'll be still and know and look around, you would figure out that ordinary things in life are pretty extraordinary.

In this room, no two people have the same fingerprint.

Seven billion people on planet Earth.

Nobody has the same fingerprint.

That's pretty extraordinary.

Ordinary things of life.

Your skin will make a new layer of skin every month.

The human eye can distinguish up to one million different color variations.

Extraordinary.

When we touch something, the signal travels at 124 miles per hour to our brain.

Given NASCAR a challenge.

You have enough brain energy that could light a 25-watt light bulb with touch.

You are God's miracle.

God could have sent an asteroid, but instead he sent an Esther.

God could send someone else, but what about you?

Hey, we need a soccer field.

Let me tell you.

What about you?

We need some people.

We're getting ready to start a wana in the fall.

What about you?

Everybody says, well, somebody else.

There's always somebody else.

What about you?

What about this time right here?

We're ready to see some things break wide open.

We want to see some new ministries.

We'd like to see a food pantry open up for the community.

What about you?

God can send a miracle.

He can send all kinds of money supernaturally from someplace we don't know, but what about you?

He wants to work providentially.

We need some people in Sunday school.

We're trying to break open a whole new wing.

What about you?

I've heard people, grown adult people who work full-time jobs, tell me, I just can't do it.

I just can't wake up.

I'm like, you have made it through college and life, and you can't wake up to go to 8 o'clock?

It's not, I can't.

I won't.

What about you?

I know that hurts.

That hurts me, but I'll wake up and go.

What about you?

God wants to work providentially.

He wants to work through your daily circumstances to shape you to be Christ-like.

And the last thing, the King of Kings, He works internally, He works externally, He works eternally.

And we thank God for that.

John 3 16 tells us, for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him would not perish, but have eternal life.

Eternity is in view.

1 Peter 4 7 says this, church.

The end is at hand.

When Esther made her decision, eternity was in view.

In Matthew 25, there's this parable of the talents, and I want to share just a little bit from it.

He says, The kingdom of heaven is like this.

He said, Then he had one who received one talent and came and said, Lord, I knew you to be hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

And I was afraid, afraid to risk, and went and hid your talent in the ground.

Look, there you have what is yours.

But his Lord answered and said to me, You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seeds.

So you ought to have deposited my money with bankers at my coming.

I would have received back with my own interest.

Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to the one that was given ten talents.

He says, Well, I had this one thing and I knew I should have given it to the Lord.

Now I had this one opportunity and I and I wanted to take a risk, but I was afraid to lose it.

He said, Wicked and lazy.

Don't be that person.

The King of Kings works with eternity in mind.

And he says, Heaven will be like that.

There'll be people in heaven who had a chance.

There'll be people who want to be in heaven who had a chance.

And they said, I was afraid.

I had this opportunity when I was at a youth camp.

But I said no.

I had this opportunity when I sat in church week after week, but I said no.

The King of Kings wants to work eternity in your heart.

You see, Jeremiah 29, 11 says, This church, he has a plan to prosper and not to harm you.

But you've got to take risks.

John 10.10 says he wants to give you a life that is abundant.

But sometimes it takes the right risks.

Ephesians 5 says, 15 through 17 says that we need to walk circumspectly, redeeming the time, living out the will of God.

You see, Esther was ready for her calling.

Because she was living with eternity in view and she was willing to risk.

So God would work providentially through her circumstance.

He could have sent a miracle, but he used her as the miracle.

And he wants to use you as the miracle.

You see, Esther would become a picture of Jesus.

A relatively unknown, obscure, and orphan girl who steps onto the scene and changes history by risking everything to the salvation of a race of people.

I want to share a concluding story.

There's a man named Thor Hiredale.

He tells of how he and his crew of five crossed the Pacific Ocean from South America to the South Pacific Islands on a small raft of logs bound together with hemp rope.

During the three-month journey in 1947, they had very little control of the direction of the raft and no way to stop its forward progress.

They learned early in the voyage that if anything dropped overboard, it was almost impossible to recover once it had passed beyond the raft.

Two months into the voyage and thousands of miles from land, Herman Watzinger lost his footing and fell overboard out of the raft.

The draft was driven by a strong wind and the heavy seas and moved ahead faster than he could swim.

The five remaining men were horrified as they looked back at their friend.

They tried to throw him a life rope.

And suddenly, as they're looking back at him, knowing that his life is about to be over, a man named Newt Hofflin grabbed the lifebelt and dove into the water.

He swam back to Herman and wrapped his arm around him, holding his exhausted friend and the rope while the men on the boat drew them back to the boat.

One man risked everything for another, as five others watched on to see when he would drown.

One man, you see, 2,000 years ago, God the Father sent down a lifeline.

The risk was beyond imaginable to save us.

He would have to jump in that heavy water and give everything.

There was no hope for him to come back.

He was going to give his very own life.

And he gave it all.

He risked all that for you to have the chance to risk.

For you to have the choice to choose him.

Jesus risked everything so that you might risk something.

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

Risk is right.

Today, church, I believe somebody needs to take some risk.

Maybe you're here this morning and you've never asked or accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.

Say, I've heard about that, but it seemed like the risk is great.

You're here this morning and you've been fighting in your heart, struggling about whether or not to give over your will.

And in the world's eyes, that would be a great risk.

Because you have to lay down something.

You have to give up something and be willing to change.

But maybe today is that day for you.

If it is, if you know in your heart the Holy Spirit's calling, I want to invite you.

Because the Bible says we all have this basic problem.

In Romans 3.23, it says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Doesn't matter who you are, how great you are, or what your family background is, we all have that basic problem being born into this world.

We are separated from a holy God because of sin.

The Bible says in Romans 6.23, for the wages of that sin, the payment of that sin is a certain death.

That scripture doesn't end with just that death payment, though.

It says, but the gift of God is eternal life through what Jesus Christ did on the cross.

He paid your payment.

He took your risk.

He took it all on himself so that you would have the chance or the choice to say yes to him.

See, Romans 10.13 says this.

That if you will believe in your heart that Jesus died on a cross, that he was buried, that he rose for you, and confess with your mouth that you'll be saved.

History proves Jesus lived.

History proves he died on a cross.

You have to put your faith and trust in him fully.

Surrender your will.

Because if you confess that with your mouth, you will be saved.

It's not maybe, it's not a might, it's a risk.

You jump off and he will save you.

You jump off and you and he will have the preserver there for eternity.

Revelations 3.20 says this.

Behold, he stands at the door and knocks.

He's knocking at your heart's door and he wants to enter in, but it says he won't force himself.

You've got to open the door.

And if you open that door, it says he will enter in and sup with you, and you will commune with him.

So this morning, if you've never done that, I want to invite you, you can pray a prayer like this.

You can say, Dear Lord, I admit that I am a sinner.

And I'm sorry, Lord, for my sins.

I repent.

I believe that Jesus died on the cross, that he was buried, and that he rose again for my sins.

Come into my life.

Change me.

With all heads bowed and eyes still closed.

Would there be any in this room that would be honest by an uplifted hand and say, Pastor Rick, I just prayed that prayer and I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord.

I took that risk and I know that it's real.

If you're in this room this morning, you say, I prayed and accepted Jesus as my Lord, would you just raise your hand up?

Amen.

Everybody else, just raise your hand up.

Amen.

Just raise your hand up.

I took that risk.

I prayed that prayer.

And I know he's mine.

Listen, if you prayed that prayer and I saw those who raised their hand, I want to invite you.

Now with every head bowed and eye closed, why don't you stand up at this moment and come down to the altar?

If you raised your hand up, why don't you come on down to the altar?

We got somebody who wants to pray with you.

Second part of the invitation is this.

God will deliver his people.

And God does not need any one of us.

But God wants us.

He wants you.

He wants to use you.

He wants to providentially work through you the miracle.

But it takes a step.

To see a miracle happen, it takes a step.

It takes some faith.

And I want to invite you this morning, Christian.

Maybe you've been in church a real long time and hadn't taken a step of faith.

Please, this morning, take that risk.

Show our teenagers what it looks like for some adults to be real and courageous.

Show us.

And teenagers, you show the adults too.

Let's together take a risk.

I don't know what you need to lay down.

Maybe there's something that you need to start saying no to.

Maybe it's for the sake of your family.

Say, if this doesn't change, if I don't take a risk and change this about our life, our family's gonna go under.

My marriage is gonna go under.

My children are gonna go under.

If I don't take this risk, why don't you be courageous this morning?

Maybe for your business.

Your job.

If I don't take this risk, for the sake of our church, please don't let us just be another tradition, another habit, another meeting on Sundays and nothing more.

We've got to be people who are willing to take a risk for the cause of Christ.

You see, the biggest risk, I believe, is being so cautious and not doing anything.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.