Esther - God's Timing

Justin is the most diverse person at this uh in this group.

He does everything.

Uh later on today, he'll be cleaning the bathrooms if you want to see that.

It's uh he does everything here.

Uh I like movies, and I'd love to get there early for the trailers.

I love to watch what's coming.

And I was sitting there a few weeks ago with my oldest son, and we were watching a movie, and the trailer came on, and I don't know why it is, but at this time of year, uh there's a plethora of like horror movies that come out because of Halloween, and they've kind of latched on to Halloween.

Okay, let's scare the crud out of people and get really weird.

And and uh it was so fun.

One of them was just this over the top, just even in the trailer, I'm like, God, really, just uh enough.

And my son leaned over and goes, Oh, look, the new Disney movie.

And I was like, that's hysterical.

And they just got a great sense of humor.

But there really is, when I say happy Halloween, a lot of times Christians have no idea that I'm like, oh yeah, oh no, we shouldn't, no, no, no, we can't, we can't do that because it's Halloween, you know.

It's it, and and for those of you traditionalist, happy fall festival, uh, that's the way to get around it.

But here's the point: I want to give you a quick insight.

I did a little bit of research on Halloween.

And do you realize that Halloween is from the church?

The church started Halloween.

Did you know that?

I did not.

Uh, if you go back to Celtic times, that was kind of where it all began with the Celts, they would have harvest at the end of October.

1st of November was harvest, literally harvest festival.

They would celebrate, look at all the good that God has given us, and they would celebrate that.

Well, there was a rumor going around the night before is when the spooks came out.

And so they're like, okay, um, spooks are out, so we're not gonna go out the night before because there's spooks.

If you go out, put on a sheet.

Literally put on a sheet.

So if you run into spooks, look, uh, it's just one of us.

You know, that's that's what they came up with.

And uh, so I don't know where your faith lies on all that part, but uh fast forward, and here's the cool part because the church said, hey, uh that that's that's kind of weird and spooky, and that's not what it's about.

It's about celebrating the harvest.

So let's have All Saints Day and celebrate the saints.

So All Hallows Day, that's what it was.

That was November 1st, All Hallows Day.

And uh then it became back in the eighth century, they would do a thing called geising, which children would go around with baskets.

At the end of harvest, get it, harvest, winter's coming, and they go around with baskets, and people would give part of their food or drink or money so people can make it through the winter.

And they would call it geising, and the kids would dress up in costumes.

I don't know what kind of costumes they had in the eighth century.

Look, I'm a tree, I'm a farmer, I'm a bird.

I don't know, I don't know, but they had costumes and they would require them to sing a song or say a poem or this is my favorite, tell a joke.

And they would give them food or drink or money.

And I thought, that's awesome.

So fast forward that comes over the United States, and here's the deal.

So they would do this guising on the eve of All Hallows Day.

Hallows Eve, Hallows Eve, Halloween, Halloween.

That's where the word came from.

Was from All Hallows Day Eve.

So the church was in it, they came over, so that some of those folks came over, the Irish, the Celtics, and they said, hey, uh, this is part of our cultures, we celebrate this.

And that turned into about the mid-50s trick-or-treat.

Now, in our society, somewhere along the lines, it became witches and ghosts and something evil, and that's just not it at all.

And I can tell you this I live in a very diverse neighborhood.

I would say probably less than half of my neighbors attend a church on a Sunday.

But I guarantee you, I would bet every penny I have, not one of them, is going, okay, Friday's Satan's day.

We're going to dress in costumes and worship Satan.

That's what we're doing.

And well, Dad, how would we do that?

Well, we collect candy.

That's the way we sacrifice.

It's not happening.

That's not it at all.

My neighbors, they want their kids to dress like a superhero and a princess and score some candy.

And truth be told, parents love it because they go to bed and we scarf the good candy out of there.

It just, it's that's reality, all right?

And so this idea of Halloween, now I'll also not forget, um, go back with me.

I gotta tell you this experience I have because it's about the decisions we make.

And there is no day better on this earth to meet our neighbors than on Halloween.

I mean, name me a day that they're gonna come to your house.

Now, I'm not into our culture, it's very uh resistant against people coming to your house, and it's kind of awkward actually, a little bit weird to go knocking on a stranger's door.

Hi, I'm Ken from the church, here's the track, you're going to hell, read this, I hope it helps.

I just that's just that's just weird, all right?

That's just flat out weird.

And and if you're one of those, and you know, I'm gonna get a little bit on the edge here, but if you're one of those that hands out tracks instead of candy, stop.

That's just that's mean.

I mean, kids have no idea.

That's that's a really bad coloring book.

What is this?

You know, just that that's just mean.

And and at this time, though, what a great opportunity to meet my neighbors, and they want me to come by, and what an incredible time to do that.

I realized that I'd made a decision to do that when I first moved uh after college.

I'd lived with an apartment, then a buddy of mine bought a house, and we rented a room from him, and we lived in this neighborhood, and I believe that all our neighbors thought, oh man, I really do because the looks we got when we'd pull in and stuff, they're like, what are those weird single guys on the end of the street, not sure about them?

All they do is work out and wash their cars, and just they didn't know how to handle us.

So um, that was the neighborhood I love.

I'm living in suburbia, and it was about this time of year, and I had the perfect evening.

I come home from work and I'm ready to just chill.

I got my large ground beef, pepperoni, mushroom, pizza, my three diet Dr.

Peppers, glass iced, got the World Series on.

My life is good.

And then the doorbell rang.

And I'm like, what?

They can understand.

We did have friends that would make the trek.

It was off of Shallowford Road up here.

They make the trek up here to visit, but they knew you don't come to the front door, you come through the garage, and you just open the door and say, Hey, I'm down here.

And that's that's what our friends always did.

So the doorbell really threw me.

So I go, What is the door?

Who is that?

Who's doing and I opened the front door and there's two ballerinas standing there?

I'm like, hey, cool outfits.

And they said three words I will never forget: trick or treat.

And I was like, oh crud, is it Halloween?

And I just flipped out.

Now, if you're if you've ever been a single guy, if you know a single guy, you'll understand this.

That we have no food in our house.

We have nothing.

We live meal to meal to meal.

And I'm going through, I'm literally praying, God, please miraculously candy appear in one of these cabinets, and it did not happen.

All we had was a can of peaches and a can of beans in the entire house.

And I go back to the front door, I don't remember grabbing them, but I went to the front door, I'm like, hey, um, uh, I'm gonna go to the store, I'm gonna get some great candy.

Come back in like 10 minutes.

I'll give you some great candy, I'll give you like double candy, but this is all I got for now, and I give one the peaches and one the beans.

And it was and I run upstairs and I grab my keys and I get in my car and I'm hitting my mirror.

And as I get in the rearview mirror, I can't hear them, but I can see them.

They're at the bottom of the driveway with their dad, and and the dad's looking like, what'd you get?

What did the guys give you?

The single guys give you, and and he literally I see this in my rear view mirror.

He's looking in the bag and he's looking at the house, like weird single guys.

What is that about?

And so I get on the phone, I call my roommates, I'm like, dude, it is Halloween.

On your way home, grab candy, grab anything you can get.

I ran to the store, I got a bunch of the little fun size, and the shelves were wiped out because it was Halloween.

And my one roommate, he came home with four boxes of full-size candy bars.

He's like, This is all I had, and I'm like, okay, and we pile it in this bucket.

We've got big candy bars, we've got every Hershey's product known to man, and then we got all these fun sizes.

We were like the favorite house of that year.

Because I'd go to the door and I've got this barrel of candy.

I'm like, okay, you get uh you get two big ones or one big one, five small ones, or seven tiny ones, whatever you want.

And and it never dawned on me that kids, little bitty kids, like three-year-olds, can't count that well.

She's like, Trey, got treat, she's like two and a half, three years old.

I'm like, okay, you get two big ones, or you get one big one, five small ones, or seven tiny ones.

I'm holding the bucket and I'm talking, we're talking sports.

She's like, Yeah, I live over there.

I'm like, yeah.

And he's like, How long you know where are you from?

We're just talking.

And I looked down, she put her bucket down, she had her arms full.

And I listened, she was going, um, one, one, one, one, one.

And her dad was like, Whoa, you gotta put that back.

And I'm like, no, let her keep it.

That's awesome.

And we had kids coming back to our house like two and three times.

This one kid, he had his mask on the side of his head, and I'm like, man, it's good to see you again.

He goes, It's not me.

Okay, not you.

But I realized in retrospect, we had a choice.

We had a decision to make.

Either we're gonna knock off the lights and push everybody away and go, we're not participating.

Or what we decided just out of who we were was that, man, we're not just doing this, we're doing it big.

We're going all the way because I want to know my neighbors and I want them to know who we really are, not their perception of me.

And I want to get past the surface.

That is Halloween.

That community is really what it was about to begin with.

And those decisions in life are really critical.

I love this series we've been in, and I want to encourage you, if you've missed a week of this series on Esther, go back and listen to it online.

I've listened to the ones that I missed.

It is phenomenal, the overview of what's going on.

I can't cover six weeks in this, and honestly, we can't cover the whole book in six weeks.

There's just too much there.

My whole motive today is that we would decide to say, you know what?

I want to see what God has for me in this.

What are some lessons I can learn?

What are some choices to make?

And the choices that I want us to look at today are really what we've led up to.

And Justin has done a phenomenal job of the background, several of the decisions and choices that make life better.

Ben did an incredible job of giving us the history of this.

If you saw the movie 300, that's King Xerxes and that whole deal, I'm like, that's awesome.

And I love doing that.

And here's the deal, though.

Today I want to look at three decisions of time that if we make, it will take wherever we are and literally incorporate to the best possible results.

Probably not anything new, but it's probably gonna be one where God's gonna hit you where you are today because he did me as I prepped and said, This is what I want you to learn from this.

The first one is in chapter four of Esther, verses 15 through 17, and it's a decision this to take the time to pray.

Take time to pray, because when we take the time to pray, God gives us what we need.

Not always what we want, but he gives us what we need.

If I decide to take the time to pray, God is gonna give me what I need.

Now, for those of you who don't know the background, haven't heard the last part of the series, let me just bring it up to speed real quickly on one aspect.

Basically, there's a guy, his name is Haman, he's the number two in charge under King Xerxes.

He has put out a decree because he hates the Jews.

He was literally the first Hitler.

He was Hitler before Hitler.

And he put it out a decree that said, Hey, I hate the Jews.

They were they were the least, they were conquered by this country that we conquered, and they're the lowest, lowest.

I just can't stand these people.

So here's the deal.

Coming up, we're gonna have a day where you can kill any of them you want to.

Attack them, kill them, take their stuff.

And that's what he decreed.

Well, Esther, who had found favor in the eyes of the king.

There's a great story about how she became the queen, but she has not revealed her background, her nationality.

She's not revealed that.

And now this day is approaching where they can literally wipe out the Jews.

And so look at what she does in chapter 4, verses 15 through 17.

It said, Esther sent this reply to Mordecai.

This is her relative Mordecai.

Go gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me.

Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.

I and my maids will fast as you do.

When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.

So Mordecai went away and carried out all Esther's instructions.

Fast and pray.

Fast and pray.

Justin shared this concept last week of the idea of when we bring it before God, if we'll take the time to do that, he will give us what we need.

And here's my experience in this area.

Every time, every time in my life I've stopped and said, God, here's what I'm going through.

Will you please help?

Every time God shows up, every time I get what I need.

Sometimes, and it really I didn't mean this to all be in peace, but here's what I've discovered categorically, God gives.

Sometimes I get no resolution and I get no answers, but I get literally peace that passes comprehension.

God's like, I got this.

Well, God, what am I supposed to do?

Rest.

I got this.

And I'll have a peace that I cannot explain, but God shows me that He's in control in that time.

If I want real clarity, fasting is simply doing without what is physical so that I can focus spiritually.

Not only that, but sometimes God gives me perspective.

This big ordeal circumstantially that is overwhelming me, God will literally show me as I pray and fast can.

It's not that big a deal.

Look at it in perspective.

And I get a perspective that I did not have before.

Or finally, a lot of times, God will do as He's done for Esther here.

He will give a plan, a step-by-step plan.

Well, God, what what do I need to do?

And then ideas, thoughts, process will happen in my mind that I didn't have before.

And I'll have a plan.

That's what Esther got was this plan.

The next decision we have to make is really in chapter 5 and 8.

I'm sorry, five and six, and that is I have to decide to give God time to work.

Because when I give God time to work, he does.

His timing is always perfect.

He literally, uh in chapter 5, verse 8, it says, Esther has got this plan, and she's decided to go by God's plan.

And God's plan was to do two banquets.

Why, I don't know, but she goes before, and if you can get the situation here, if you walk into the king and just go, hey, I need to talk to you, that's against the law, and you're punished with death.

So God laid on her heart this plan, and she's walking down the halls, and King Xerxes says, Esther, Queen Esther, weird, what's what's on your mind?

So she comes in and she says, I want I want to give you a banquet.

There's something on my mind.

And he loves her and he says, You know what?

If the king regards me with favor, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to a banquet I've prepared for them.

Then I will answer the king's question.

He's like, Something's troubling you.

I love you.

What is on your mind?

I want to know.

She goes, Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Now, ladies, I know this is part of your DNA because you deal with men this way.

Uh later.

I'll tell you later.

I can't.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

I know something's wrong.

Tell me what's wrong.

Tomorrow.

You know, I just I know it's there, and it he's like, okay, whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom, I'm gonna give you it because I hate this, and I want you to experience this.

Well, here's the deal God's plan and God's timing is perfect.

She may not have known what God was gonna do because what God said was two banquets, and so she's following the plan.

Well, look what happens that night between the banquets in chapter six.

I love this, the way God works.

So the night the king could not sleep.

God's kind of nudging him, he can't sleep.

So he ordered the book of Chronicles.

I want you to come in, the history of my kingdom, and I want you to read it to me.

And the record of his reign to be brought to him and read to him.

It was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigothan and Teresh, two of the king's officials, who guarded the doorway who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

And see what had happened, if you didn't come up to this point, was Mordecai, Queen Esther's relative, was at the gate, and he heard these two guys who are the king's officials, going, Yeah, we're we're taking him out.

We're taking him out.

And he hears this and he tells Esther, Hey, there's two guys, here's their names, they're gonna assassinate the king.

You might want to tell the king.

And the king finds out it's true, and he's like, You will not kill me, I will kill you.

You are done, and they're gone.

And it's recorded.

But then he says, What has been done for this?

What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?

And then nothing has been done for him.

Nothing has been done for him.

So God's timing.

Wait a minute, God's in control here.

What has been done for him?

Now, here's the third decision we have to make, and that is that in time the arrogant will be humble.

We have to decide to not be arrogant, not to be proud.

Because in time, the arrogant will be humble.

If we back up just a little bit, I want you to see Haman, the original Hitler guy, okay?

After the first banquet, he goes out, and this is in chapter 5, verse 9.

Let me just read it and it'll pick up when we get to the end.

Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits.

And when he saw Mordecai at the king's gate, and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear for his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai.

Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.

And he called together his friends and Zuresh, his wife.

So give the picture.

He's number two in charge.

And he's feeling good.

I'm the only one that the king asked to lunch with his wife.

I'm awesome.

This is great.

And he walks by, and Mordecai does not go, ooh, ah, you're great.

He doesn't do it, so it ticks him off.

So he goes home to all his friends.

You'll notice this about arrogant people.

Arrogant, proud people surround themselves with people that go, You're awesome, you're great, you're incredible, and they never tell them the truth.

You'll find this.

Look what he says.

Calling together his friends and his wife, Haman boasts to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him, and how he had elevated him above all the other nobles and officials.

And that's not all, Haman added.

I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany him to the king to the banquet she gave.

And she has invited me along with the king again tomorrow.

I'm the only one.

But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew, Mordecai, sitting in the king's gate.

He's the second most powerful man.

He has everything.

And here's the deal: don't miss this.

Pride is when we have our needs and it's never enough.

It's never enough.

And he's like, just ticks me off.

That guy is still here.

Can I be so bold to maybe give us a little bit of an acid test for this?

If you like football and you have a favorite college team, here it is.

I love it when my team wins, but I'm not satisfied.

We won 59 to nothing, but I hate it that my rival won too.

I hate that.

The only way I'm gonna be happy is that they lose when we win.

That is pride.

My father-in-law, one of the biggest Alabama fans on the planet, but he's got humility.

He loves Alabama, loves when they win, critical of all that.

But the only time he roots against Auburn is when they're playing Alabama.

That's the only time.

He's like, I'm glad they won a national title.

If we can't win it, I want them to win it.

See, that's humility because here's the decision we have to make.

And that is with this.

In time, the humble will be exalted.

In time, the proud or the arrogant will be humble, and in time the humble will be exalted.

We have to realize that is a truth.

In the New Testament, it's put this way we will sow and we will reap, and we will reap.

Now, I want to get very personal for a second.

Think of your situation.

Is there something frustrating or someone frustrating you?

Is it someone of pride and arrogance?

And it seems like, man, all they do is what's wrong, and they never seem to get punished for it.

I love the way Pastor put it one time, and he did it for an hour.

He says, Hey, we're going to reap what we sow.

We're going to reap later and we're going to reap greater.

Count on it.

It's in there.

It's going to happen.

If we look at somebody who seems to be getting away with it, doing what is not righteous, doing what is wrong to others, and think, man, they they always get away with it.

It's coming.

They're going to reap later.

It's going to reap greater.

But you know what?

All I do is what's right.

All I do is what I know I'm supposed to do, and I do my job, and I'm faithful and obedient, and I never get props.

It never seems to work out for me.

It's gonna.

Later and greater, it's gonna happen.

It's gonna happen.

And if you doubt that, or if you need to be encouraged by it, dive into this because here's what's gonna happen.

Give the picture.

I love this.

So Haman, he goes home, Mordecai down about it, goes, I hate that Jew.

Literally, that's what he says.

He goes home, and his friends are like, You know what you ought to do?

You know what you ought to do, what you ought to do.

You know that you're proud and people around you, and all they're like, you know what you ought to do.

You, your friends are something's wrong.

You hear the ought to do part, things aren't good.

Because here's what's gonna happen: the ought to do's are gonna say this in 513.

But all this gives me no satisfaction because of Mordecai.

Verse 14, and his wife and all his friends said to him, You know what you ought to do?

Have a gallow built, 75 feet, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it.

Then go to the king to the dinner and be happy.

And this suggestion delighted Mordecai, and he had the gallows built.

Don't miss this.

He had them built that night.

The next day he's going to bed.

So he's like, I'm powerful.

Get the guys, wake them up, bring them over, build the gallows, 75 feet high.

I'm gonna kill them in the morning.

This is gonna be awesome.

And this is where it gets good.

This is where the sowing and reaping collide.

This is my favorite.

The night the king falls asleep, and he has this, wakes up and he reads the chronicles, and then he sees in verse 4 of chapter 6, and this is the greatest illustration ever, the king said, Who's in the court?

Now Haman had just entered the outer court to the place to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai.

King has a dream.

What's been done for Mordecai?

Nothing.

Something ought to be done for him.

Hey, who's that walking to the court?

Haman.

Come here, Haman.

This is how arrogant Haman is.

This is just awesome.

Verse 5.

Haman is standing in the court.

Bring him here.

When Haman entered, the king asked him, What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?

And look at now Haman thought to himself, Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?

Verse 7, so he answers the king, for the man, the king delights to honor.

Have them bring the royal robe that the king has worn, and a horse the king has ridden, one with the royal crest on the horse's head, then the robe and the horse be entrusted to the one, the king, most noble prince.

Let them robe that man and the king's delight to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city, proclaiming before him, This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor.

And then it happens.

And listen to this.

And the king says, Go at once.

The king commanded him, get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew.

Bam! That just happened.

I just love that.

There it is.

Black and white.

God says, Here is the collision of reaping and sowing.

Here it is.

So Haman, just imagine his.

I'm gonna ask the king to let me hang this guy.

And now I, Kingman, got the robe and the horse, and he robe Mordecai and led him on horseback through the streets, proclaiming for him, this is what is done for the man the king delights to honor.

And afterwards, Haman returns to the gate, and Haman rushes home with his head covered in grief, and he's thinking something bad's gonna happen.

But then it really happens.

See, when all this happens, I want us to see for just a second, I want to read a couple verses in the New Testament that show us clearly what God says, I'm gonna illustrate with history what I'm committed to in reality for you and I today.

Because in 1 Peter 5 and 6, we're called to make the choice.

Am I gonna be proud or am I gonna be humble?

Because we're gonna reap what we sow.

In 1 Peter 5, 6, and 7, humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

For those of us in the middle of it right now, those anxieties, we don't have to pretend they're not there.

God, this is real.

I don't see it, I don't understand it.

I trust you in it.

I'm gonna pray and do this.

I'm gonna make that first decision.

I'm gonna give you time to work because you say in due time you're gonna you're gonna lift me up.

As Mordecai and as Esther did in 1 Timothy 6, 6.

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

I am happy with what I have, I'm satisfied, I'm content, and I believe God's gonna provide all my needs.

I'm good with this.

It's the anti-haman.

It's the anti that.

And then finally, this is one of my favorites, 1 Peter 5, 10.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast.

God is saying, I've got this.

I've got it.

Look what happens to the proud, look what happens to the humble.

Look what happens to God's timing when we give God time to work.

In chapter 7, it's not going to be on the screen.

And if you want to, you can close your eyes because I want you to hear what happens.

So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther after he's taken Mordecai through the streets.

And before that, if you want to look up in chapter 15, um chapter 6, verse 13.

I love this.

He comes home and she's expecting to go.

So I don't see Mordecai swinging up here, and he tells her what happened.

And have okay, quick aside, as an example, have you ever dated somebody and then after they broke up with them, all your friends go, oh, she was horrible.

We knew she was terrible.

You should have never dated her.

Thanks a lot.

Why don't you tell me that beforehand?

Here's what happens the one who said, You know what you ought to do?

You ought to build a gallow and do all that?

And then he tells her what's happened with Mordecai in verse 13.

And he told Zurush, his wife, and all his friends everything that had happened.

His advisors and his wife said, Since Mordecai, before whom you your downfall has started.

Translation, you're screwed.

Hate that for ya.

And he's like, Well, at least I get to go to dinner with the king.

And he goes to the dinner, Queen Esther, verse 2 and 7.

And as they were drinking the wine on that second day, the king asked again, Queen Esther, what is your petition?

It will it will be given you.

What is your request?

Even up to half of the kingdom, it will be granted to you.

And Queen Esther answered, If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life, this is my petition.

And spare my people, this is my request.

For if I and my people had been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation, if we were merely being sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet because no such distress would be justified disturbing the king.

You can sell me into slavery, but don't destroy us.

And King Xerxes asked, Who is he?

Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?

Right there.

Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman.

And she says, He has put a decree.

And in your kingdom, all over the world, the day is coming where they can kill us and take our stuff.

And he is so ticked.

He's like, You put out a decree to kill my wife?

And he runs out because he's so ticked off.

And Haman realizes I'm screwed.

And he starts begging Esther, and as God's perfect timing has it, he literally goes to fall at her feet and he falls on her, and the king walks in and he goes, You're gonna molest my wife?

Are you serious?

And they said, Well, um, he built this really tall hangman uh gallow over there.

It's empty, it's ready.

And he goes, string him up.

See, because here's the deal we reap what we sow later and greater.

If it's pride, we're in trouble.

If it's humility, we will be exalted.

And God longs for us to have that.

My encouragement to us today, remember Esther.

The next time we are going through an issue where we're frustrated or things don't seem fair, I promise, I promise, if you'll take this book, you will open to Esther and for 10 days read one chapter and say, God, will you speak to me the way you spoke to Esther?

Will you speak to me the way you spoke to Mordecai?

He will.

If we open this book and ask him, he will.

Because God is living and longs for us to experience that.

He longs for us to get to that point where we realize, wait a minute, this is real.

Now I want to wrap up with a second challenge, and it really is kind of bizarre, and you gotta promise me you can line in for three minutes, okay?

Because it kind of goes with the season.

Zombies are real, okay?

Follow me for just a second.

And if you've seen them on TV, it's not that kind of zombies.

It's not the ones going walking around brainless and mindless, but they're real.

The zombies are the walking dead, you if you've heard or seen or whatever.

And it's not those who are walking, but here's the deal: it's those who are walking dead.

And they're in scripture, and I'm gonna show you two verses where they're at.

Because around us are those who are walking.

Haman was a walking dead man.

Not that he was his demise was death, but he had no soul, no connection, no life.

He had everything the world had to offer, and yet he was empty.

And he kept striving and looking for life, and he didn't find it.

Now, where the movies get it wrong are the zombies are looking out, those living, so they can eat them and they become dead as well.

It's the opposite.

The zombies are out looking for life, and when they find it, they become alive.

That's the difference.

You and I are living right now, today, we will walk out there and we will be surrounded by zombies, the walking dead.

If I could put it this way, I'll give you two quick verses.

One is in Romans, and you can write it down and look it up later, read the whole thing.

Romans 6.13.

It says, Do not offer the parts of your body to sin.

It says early in Romans, the wages of sin is death.

And when we sin, we are literally dead spiritually.

We are dead internally.

We are the walking zombies as instruments of weakness, but rather offer yourselves to God, find that life.

So those who have been brought from death to life, and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.

Jesus did not come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people alive.

That's why He came.

I can believe in zombies because I was one.

I was one walking around trying to find anything to make me feel alive.

But what's mind-blowing is when we find Christ and we accept him even when we don't understand all of it, it's like, wow, this is real.

Now, what my challenges is if you're here and you're one who's seeking going, well, I don't even know if I believe the Bible, okay, you can still read it.

It's all right.

I don't believe the Hunger Games, but I watched it and it was fun and I it was entertaining, and there were actually a couple people I'm like, that was pretty cool.

But here's the deal, I want to warn you because this is living and active.

And in Romans chapter 8, verse 11, it says, And if the spirit, oh wow, and if the spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives in you.

Romans 8:11

See, we live in a mortal body, it is flesh and blood.

Yes, we are physically alive, but we are literally the zombies walking around without purpose, without meaning, striving and craving for something to give us life.

And it's not in any of the circumstances.

It is only when we encounter life himself.

And when we touch life, we become life.

He says it this way in 1 John.

He says, He who has the Son has life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things so you can know that you have eternal life.

And it's a simple process of going, God, I need you.

Here's my challenge.

If you're one of those seekers, I dare you to ask a simple question of God.

God, if you're real, will you show me?

Not debating, not uh not arguing, just God, and I'm gonna read Romans.

I'm gonna read Romans, the book of Romans, and I'm gonna read one or two chapels.

God, will you show me if you're real?

And he will, because this is his word, and this is him living and active.

And he is meant for us to go from death to life.

I encourage you, and you're gonna walk out of here going, oh wow, now I really see it.

You're gonna walk around going, these are zombies.

I'm around zombies, and we have life, and they are drawn to the life we have.

Show it, let them have it, connect with them in that.

Pray with me, and then we're gonna celebrate that for just one more minute.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you for this amazing, amazing book called Esther.

I pray that we would see and come back and just pour ourselves into it.

Six weeks is not enough time, and even what the what we're speaking is not intimate enough.

You long to speak to every one of us through your truth.

So, Father, I pray we would come back to Esther and let you guide us through it.

Father, thank you that you love us and that through your spirit you will show us who you are and you will transform us from death to life.

And it is