Dangerous Things, Different Outcomes

Praise the Lord.

Come on, do you know Jesus?

Amen.

Thinking about Jesus does something to you, amen.

Remember when you were dating and you thought about your girlfriend or your boyfriend?

It did something to you, didn't it?

Can I tell you if that does more to you than thinking about Jesus?

You don't know who Jesus is.

Because when I think about the Lord and what he's done for me, makes me want to dance, dance, dance all night.

Praise the Lord, everybody.

Some of y'all have no idea what I was doing.

I was doing a different song, but anyway, it's good to see you all in church today.

We're glad that you are here.

Welcome to all of our locations that are tuning in.

We're glad that you're here as well.

Online, social media, television, wherever you're watching from, we know God's going to speak to your heart in a special way.

Um, where's my book?

I need that.

Praise the Lord.

Um, if you have your Bible, would you kindly take it out as you're preparing for the Word of God?

Let me just share a couple things with you.

First of all, how many of you know Hunger Conference is coming up less than three weeks away?

Friday the 9th, Saturday the 10th, and Sunday the 11th.

Um, John Hannah's gonna kick it off.

Great man of God from Chicago, has a wonderful ministry there.

You want to be here for every single night and in preparation so our hearts are ready to receive and so God can have his way.

We're starting 21 days of prayer and fasting beginning tomorrow.

Um and we're gonna ask everybody that can to do sun up to sundown, okay?

Everybody that can.

Some of you can't do that for different medical reasons and whatever, or maybe you just never fasted before and it would be difficult for you to do that.

Just seek the Lord, do what God says.

As many that can join me, sunup to sundown, a churchwide fast.

We'd appreciate that because uh there's something good that happens when the body of Christ comes together in consecration and dedication to the Lord.

And so we're starting that every day at 12 o'clock.

There'll be a pastor jumping on social media, leading in about 10 or 15 minutes in prayer during that time, and so you can jump on during your lunch break and and get that.

It's gonna be a great time.

Also, just one other announcement before I get into the word.

How many of you know we have a school?

You know we have a school, praise the Lord.

We have a wonderful Christian school.

And one of the things that breaks my heart every year is there are tons of people who want to come but just can't afford it.

And there are other people who come and then it just becomes too much and they can't afford to stay.

And so one of the things that's always been on my heart is I wish we could have resources enough that we can either make the tuition way lower than it is or even free.

Wouldn't that be great if we had free Christian education?

We wouldn't have any room.

So, um, and I've always wanted to, we've tried our best over the last few years, but I want to pay my teachers way more than they get paid right now, y'all.

I I really do.

Our school is open because our teachers make sacrifices.

And so we're having a fundraiser for the school.

It's a family night on October the 2nd.

Um, it's just a movie night.

Come on out with your family, see a movie, um, make a donation to the school by buying a ticket and getting some popcorn and just having a good time.

That's on October the 2nd.

I think it starts at 6:30.

You can get the QR code right there.

And uh just come on out, help support our school.

If God puts it on your heart to make a big donation to the school, that'll be great too.

We appreciate that.

We're not begging or nothing, just telling you the reality of what people need.

And this year, God has blessed us so much.

We've given a lot of scholarships out this year, and we continue to do that.

So know that we're doing our part to help in that area, okay?

If you have your Bible, would you take them on, take them on out, hold them up nice and high, and let's get ready.

Let's do this, y'all.

Ready?

One, two, three.

Say it with me.

This is my Bible.

It is my primary source of spiritual nourishment.

I will read it every day and become all that God wants me to be.

My mind will be renewed, my life will be transformed, I will become fully surrendered to Christ.

Therefore, I will hide his word in my heart so I can be all God has destined me to be.

If you would kindly remain standing in honor of the word of God and go with me to the book of Esther, perhaps the most famous portion of the book of X Esther, chapter number four, verse 13.

It says, And Mordecai, who was our uncle, told them to answer Esther.

Esther got word from Mordecai that she needed to go before the king and intercede for the Jewish people, and uh she didn't want to go because it meant death, and uh Mordecai responds, and he says, Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews.

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.

By the way, how many of you know God is not dependent on one form of deliverance?

Some of you think that if God doesn't do it this way and it doesn't happen that way, that it can't be done.

But I want you to know what Mordecai said.

He said, help's coming whether you're a part of it or not.

How many of you know it's better to just get in with God than it is to stay outside of the will of God?

He says this though, most famous portion of the book, yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

In other words, in everybody's life, no matter what life looks like, no matter how hard it may seem, no matter what has happened along the way, there's a purpose, a plan, and a destiny for your life still.

Esther's life was hard.

She was an orphan slave girl, but now she's in a position to make a big difference for the kingdom of God.

I want you to know that if you'll stay faithful to God, God can change your destiny and your situation as quick as anything.

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai.

Here's what she said.

She said, Go gather all the Jews who are present in Shusham and fast for me.

Neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day.

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

We're in this series called White Flag, where we are talking about the importance of surrender to God.

And last week we talked about a message called Come Home to God's house, surrendering at your point of need.

And we saw a young boy who surrendered from a pig pen to the Lord.

Today I want to talk to you about surrendering at your point of danger.

And I'll talk to you about why that's important in just a minute.

But my message title today is Dangerous Things, Different Outcome.

How many of you know God has a different outcome than you think?

God has a different outcome than the enemy has planned.

Dangerous things, different outcome.

Let's pray.

Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, speak to everybody through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We pray.

And everybody said, Amen.

You may be seated.

Danger makes people religious, doesn't it?

There's an old saying, there are no atheists in a foxhole.

And when the biopsy comes, people pray, right?

When the marriage collapses, people pray.

When the phone rings at 2 a.m., people pray.

So my question is not in a moment of danger whether you're gonna cry out to God.

Because the fact of the matter is, whether you are religious or irreligious, you're going to.

Because everybody prays when danger comes.

But that there's a difference between crying out to God and surrendering to God.

And can I tell you the greatest use of a problem is not to find a solution?

Pause.

Because if all you ever do is find a solution and fix a problem, and then you go back to living life the way you used to, without any dependence upon God, is a solution to the problem really the best use of the problem.

And the answer to that is no.

So the best use of a problem is not finding a solution, the best use of a problem is to surrender to God in the problem.

See, matter of fact, that's God's highest use of every situation that we go to.

Not that God doesn't want to fix our problems because He does, but even more than that, God wants a surrendered heart in the middle of our problems.

Some of you right now are dealing with some seriously dangerous things.

I'm not talking about just physically dangerous, although that may be the case.

I'm talking about anything where you're in your life, where if nothing changes, the outcome has already been decided.

If nothing changes in your health, the outcome's decided.

If nothing changes in your diagnosis, the outcome is decided, decided.

If nothing changes in your marriage, the outcome is decided.

And some of you are facing those kind of situations.

Your marriage that you stop yelling.

And you think that's great, but the only reason why people stop yelling is because they stop trying and caring.

And so that's that's really a dangerous situation because silence can be deadly in a marriage as well.

And you might be facing all sorts of things.

Maybe a kid who is wayward and you keep having the same conversation and it always ends the same way in arguments.

Maybe there's an addiction that some of you are facing, and if you don't change that addiction, the outcome is decided.

The court date, the layoff list, the anxiety that wakes you up at three o'clock in the morning and no longer needs a reason.

Some of you are facing dangerous things.

But here's the thing: God's people had all has always always had a way to change dangerous things and get different outcomes, and that is prayer and fasting.

Prayer and fasting are power twins.

They are meant to get you to a place where your heart is so surrendered to God that God can do what He wants to do in your life, and that is take those dangerous things and give you destiny outcomes.

And because we're not strong enough to change it, prayer and fasting becomes the way that we allow God to intervene in our life.

Enter Esther.

She's an orphan.

Her mother and father died when she was just a little girl.

She was raised by her uncle Mordecai.

But then she was brought into Persia.

Jewish, all the Jewish people were exiled there.

She was a foreigner in somebody else's kingdom.

She's got no name, no platform, no connections.

And so many people think, well, if I don't have a lot of things in place, then I can't possibly see my life turn.

I want you to know you can have no name, no connections, you could have nothing of this and nothing of that, nothing.

But if you got God on your side, I mean, if you are just faithful to God, I want you to know that God can bypass all of that stuff and God can take you from the back of the line to the front of the line in a minute.

That's why the most valuable relationship and connection in your life is God.

More than anything else, and this is Esther, and she thinks she's got nothing going on, but God is moving the pieces.

How many of you know that God is moving the pieces even when we can't see Him moving the pieces?

Esther thought, Well, what could I ever be?

Where could I ever?

But God was moving stuff around.

God plays chess while other people play checkers.

The king removed his queen.

He thought it was him, it was God.

And he he held a kingdom-wide search for a replacement.

And of all the people in the Persian Empire, he picks a Jewish orphan whose ethnicity was hidden.

Out of all the people in the 127 provinces throughout, and he picks Esther.

That's not coincidence, that is providence.

What is providence?

It's God seeing the problem before we see it and putting a solution in place.

Providence is pro-video.

Pro means forward thinking before video means to see.

God sees stuff even before we know we're going to encounter stuff.

And the great thing about serving a providential God is God doesn't just see and put his hand, hand sit on his hands.

God sees and puts solutions in place.

That's why when Abraham went up to the mountain to offer Isaac, there was already a ram caught in a thicket.

And so God begins moving stuff.

Haman is the prime minister.

Second in command.

He's drunk on his own importance.

And he required everybody to bow when he walked by.

And the Jews had this belief, a good belief, and that was that we bow before nobody other than God Himself.

And so Shadrach, Meshadak, and Abednego wouldn't bow before Nebuchadnezzar.

And now we find Mordecai, Esther's uncle, not going to bow before Haman.

And Haman is furious.

He decides, I'm going to kill him, and I'm going to kill all of the Jewish people.

So he manipulates the king.

Because how many of you know when people aren't standing on the word of God, the only way they can get stuff done is manipulation.

Uh-oh.

I'm not talking about you.

Don't worry about it.

Talking about the person sitting next to you.

So you're right for the moment.

And so he manipulates the king into signing this edict while he was gets the king drunk as it manipulates him, signs this edict to and puts a signet ring on it to destroy all of the Jewish people.

Now understand in Persia, once the king gave an edict or a decree, it could not be revoked.

Not even by the king himself.

That's why the Bible says, where the word of a king is, there is power.

When a king speaks, it's final, it has to uh be put into motion.

And so Haman is so confident this event is gonna come to pass, he builds gallows in his backyard in order to hang Mordecai on.

Mordecai tears his clothes, he puts on sackcloth and ashes, he sits at the king's gate wailing and gets word to Esther, who's the queen, and he says, You gotta go in there before the king, and you gotta ask him to do something about this.

And here's how Esther responds.

She says, Any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law that all be put 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 last 30 years or these last 30 days.

30 years would be an even longer time.

Last 30 days.

Here's what she's saying.

She's saying the king don't even want me.

If I go in there, he had no, he had no he doesn't even call me in to say hello.

And if I go in there, that's what he said, I'm gonna be put to death.

She said, This is a dangerous thing that you're asking me to do.

And she said, This dangerous thing, the only way I could do that is if we tap into some type of different outcome.

Now, watch this, watch this, watch this.

Esther chapter 4, verse number 13.

Esther 4 · chapter mention

And and Mordecai responds, and he says, Don't think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than any of the other Jews.

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

But you and your father's house will perish, and who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Esther thought she had a dangerous option and a safe option.

She thought the safe option was to not do what God wanted her to do.

And she thought the dangerous option was to do what God wanted her to do.

In other words, she thought, if I obey, that's going to cost me.

If I obey, what what Mordecai is saying, if I obey God in the situation, that is dangerous.

But if I disobey God in the situation, that is safe.

Look at you looking at Esther with that kind of in that tone of voice.

As if, as if you and I don't process the same way.

Because we understand something about the instructions of Almighty God, don't we?

We understand that the instructions of God cost something.

We understand that when God asks us, God said, You can't follow me unless you pick up your cross and follow me.

In other words, he said there's nothing safe about following me.

But we think when God's commands cost us too much, that somehow doing that is unsafe.

And what Mordecai is saying, you don't understand, there's a more dangerous choice.

The more dangerous choice is disobeying God because there is a cost to disobeying God that you can't see initially.

Because you think you're just safe.

You just think, all right, I got away with that one.

All right, that didn't cost me that.

All right, it didn't cost me my time, all right, it didn't cost me my resources, all right, it didn't cost me my friends, all right, it didn't cost me that, but you know what it cost you?

Closeness in your relationship with God, and you can't see that day one because God doesn't just go, all right.

What happens is you begin to slowly drift, and before you know it, you're somewhere else in your relationship with God.

And what is the price of that?

And so Mordecai is telling her, listen, listen, you you you you gotta obey because there's a price that is greater.

Now watch what Esther does because the rest of the book hinges on this.

She doesn't say, Let me think about it, she doesn't say, Let me figure out an angle, she doesn't say let me get a friend on the inside.

She she says, uh she doesn't say, Let me time this right, let me catch him in a good mood.

Here's what she says Esther chapter 4, verse number six go gather all the Jews who are present at Shushen and fast for me.

Esther 4 · chapter mention

Neither eat nor drink for three days, night, and day.

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

She is facing the most dangerous thing in her life, and the queen of Persia calls for a fast.

Fasting, let me tell you what it is.

It's voluntarily denying the flesh for a set time so that everything in you is turned toward God.

Fasting is surrendering to God.

It's the moment you stop feeding your flesh so you can start following the Spirit.

Esther wasn't asking her people to go hungry for her, she was calling the entire community to a place of surrender before God.

And in the Bible, fasting was humility before God, it was an urgent cry for God's intervention, it was repentance and renewed dependence, and it was preparation for a dangerous thing.

Esther was about to take a step that would cost her her life, but before she took that step, she said, I need to make sure I'm surrendered to God.

So catch the balance.

She doesn't fast instead of acting, and she doesn't act without fasting.

She sought God as though everything depended upon him, and then she stepped forward as though she had a responsibility to fulfill.

Why?

Because faith without works is dead, it does not produce, right?

And so you could you could you could continue to to do stuff but not have God involved and that'll be dead, or you could have God involved and not do what God's asked you to do, and that'll be dead.

Fasting crucifies the flesh so that we can take the step of faith that God asks us to take so that God can intervene in our situation.

Because it's not that God needs, from a power point of view, us to take a step, but it's the way that God has made it work that God responds to our step of faith.

And so you cannot just wish that Christ saves your soul.

You must bow your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and repent in order to be saved.

There are steps that are taken.

What fasting does is it crucifies the need to cater to my flesh and listen to the cost that it wants me to pay and deny the cost that I have if I disobey God.

So Esther is going to step out.

Notice what she says.

She says, and if I perish, I perish.

This is not fatalism.

This is not whatever it will be, will be.

Some people pray like that.

This is, you know what, God?

The cost that it's gonna give me in the flesh is nothing compared to loving you.

God, if I perish, I perish.

At least my relationship with you is where it needs to be.

And let me put some guardrails on this because I don't want anybody to understand me, misunderstand me.

Fasting doesn't manipulate God.

Fasting does not earn God's favor.

Fasting does not force God's hand.

The power is in the posture that the hunger produces.

A dependence and a surrender to God.

Fasting doesn't put more power in God.

It strips away what stands between you and God's intervention.

It strips away self-reliance so we stop trying to fix what only God can fix.

It strips away distraction so we can actually hear God.

It strips away appetites that have been running our life so that God can run our life.

Fasting strips away what's what that which stands between us and God so that our prayers become effective and our faith is perfected so that God is free to deliver us.

And so in the story, we find out some things about fasting.

Number one, when we face dangerous things.

Fasting and prayer empowers us to come boldly but reverently before the throne.

After the fast, it says, it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes.

By the way, you know why this was a three-day fast?

Because three days is where the Jews believe something was completely dead.

That's why Lazarus was raised from the dead on what day?

You know why?

Because Jesus wanted everybody to know I have complete control over life and death.

It's in my hands.

I'm greater than any limitations that you put on me, I'm greater than any situations that you say the outcome is like that forever.

I can take dangerous things and I can put a different outcome.

Three days they believe that's how you kill the flesh.

So they have this three-day fast going on.

And after three days, she puts on her royal robes.

She 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, facing the entrance of the house.

So she stands in the inner court.

This takes boldness, doesn't it?

She's in the restricted place.

That was the room that if you were there uninvited, you'd be put to death.

So she stands there boldly, but she stands there and she waits.

That's reverence.

In other words, she didn't just march right up to the steps.

She enters the place, believing God, to protect her boldness, but she stands there and waits to be summoned.

Why?

That's reverence.

Bold enough to enter, reverence, reverent enough to wait.

Now think about this.

Three days earlier, she's sending a message saying nobody can go in there and come out alive.

Three days later, she's standing in the room.

What changed?

She has fasted, she has surrendered because listen, a surrendered life causes boldness, causes confidence.

Do you know people who are not surrendered do not have a confidence about their life when they get before the Lord?

They pray different, they expect different.

Because when you're not surrendered to the Lord, the Bible even talks about that there is a fearfulness that is on the inside of you.

There is something that's standing between you and God.

But when there is a surrender before, there is a confidence between you and God.

In other words, you don't pray around God.

You start praying to your heavenly father.

You might show up for church when you're unsurrendered, but you never show up before the throne.

Fasting doesn't necessarily give you permission to come in, but it removes what's keeping you afraid to come in.

Fasting gives you a boldness.

And what Esther is standing in is a beautiful picture of old covenant access.

In the old covenant, the people were separated from the presence of God.

There was a veil, and only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies only once a year and only with blood.

And everybody else stayed at a distant distance hoping they would be received.

Esther is in the courtyard.

That's the place where she's, she has to find out whether she will be accepted.

But I don't even know then came Jesus.

And the Bible said, when Jesus came, it said now we can enter boldly into the throne of grace, not wondering if we will be accepted, but because we are accepted, not having to bring some other blood, because the final blood was spilt, the blood that prayed, paid the price for your sin and mine.

We can now come with direct access.

It's a picture, it's a picture.

But I want you to see this.

New Testament boldness is not irreverent.

There are too many of us.

We enter the presence of God with a sense of entitlement instead of a sense of appreciation.

Entitlement is God owes me.

Appreciation is what Jesus did for me.

Yes, know what belongs to you in Christ, but never leave that last part in Christ.

In other words, the only reason why we're able to approach is because of Jesus.

The only reason why God can do for us what God wants to do for us is because of Jesus.

It's not because I'm good, it's not because I did, it's because of what Jesus did.

And we stand there because of Jesus.

There's an appreciation.

And that's why when we enter into the presence of God, to come with just a shopping list of to-dos shows there is no real understanding of where we are going.

It may show a boldness, but it's more like an arrogance instead of a holy boldness.

Because a holy boldness, when it gets before the throne of a holy God, understands that the first thing that ought to come out of your mouth is praise.

The next thing that ought to come out of your mouth is thanksgiving.

The next thing that ought to come out of your mouth is worship.

Because you are coming before not just your father, but your father who happens to be king.

And Esther shows us how prayer and fasting does both.

It gives us a boldness, but it helps us to maintain a reverence and appreciation for who God is.

But then number two, fasting and prayer empowers us to walk in who we are in Christ.

Notice what it says, verse number one again.

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.

Notice what she does.

She's three days without food or water.

And when she's done with the fast, she puts on clothes that identify her as the queen that she is.

After three days of prayer and fasting, she determines, guess what?

I really I gotta put on my royal robes.

Why?

Because I'm not an orphan that they say I used to be.

I'm not forgotten that they say I used to be.

I am the queen.

I gotta start walking like the queen.

And there's some of you, you've been given robes of righteousness, but you're still walking with the rags of the world.

You're walking with who you used to be.

Instead of walking with who you are, what prayer and fasting does is it enables us to walk in everything that we are in Christ.

We are not trying to be made righteous.

We have been made righteous.

We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

And notice when she put on her robes, she was easily recognized.

Now, this I don't mean that God doesn't see us unless we are robed in righteousness.

Because God saw us when we were still sinners and yet he still died for us.

God knows every single person's name, but it humbles me.

And here's the reason why it humbles me because I still know God sees everything about me.

I can't fool God.

I can fool people, I can put a smile on, I can act the right part, but I can't fool God.

God saw saw what I did two hours ago, two days ago, twenty days ago, two years ago.

God sees it all, and here's what I love about God, and yet, because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, when I come before his throne, he doesn't see me in my sin, he sees me robed in righteousness as a son.

And that doesn't make me arrogant, that breaks my heart.

It says, God, you're the God that sees me sin, but you watch me rise again.

But you have a different perspective when you fast and pray of who you are in Christ.

And so what that empowers you to do is not pray with a rejected by God mentality.

People pray with a rejected by God mentality, beg God to do stuff.

If my kids ever beg me for food, I would smack them.

It means they don't know who I am.

It means they have no relationship with me.

But at the same time, if they expect with arrogance me to do everything, I smack them too.

They have to have a relationship.

And so some people, you're righteous, but you're begging.

Other people, you're righteous, but you're arrogant.

And God is saying, what you need to do is you need to understand that fasting and prayer will put you in a place where you can walk in who you are in Christ with a boldness that is also appreciative of what God can do.

So there she is, she's standing there.

And I love this, she's standing there, she's she's done everything that she can.

Now she's got to wait to see what the outcome is.

The king can either call the guards or raise the golden scepter.

Have you ever been in the waiting room before?

You have prayed, and you have fasted, and you've expected God to already move, and he hasn't.

And the waiting room can become a really unfriendly place if you don't pray and wait the right way.

See, don't let your mind just go.

That's why prayer and fasting is constantly getting into a place where the word is in you, where worship is in you.

If all you do is stop eating, you're going on a hunger strike, you're not praying, you're not fasting.

Prayer and fasting is you ratchet up everything that you normally do.

So normally I pray and fast for one hour every day in the morning.

I get up, I spend time with God, and then I go about my day.

But when I pray and fast, it's morning, it's noontime, and it's evening time.

It's all the time.

If I normally read three or four chapters of the Bible, now I try to read nine or ten chapters of the Bible.

If I normally pray for about 30 minutes or half an hour, I pray for an hour.

I pray for an hour and a half.

I dedicate more time to God.

Why?

Because I'm depending upon Him.

Somebody said, Well, you know what?

What am I gonna do in the middle of the day?

You know, I'm at work, you get a lunch break, don't you?

And guess what you won't be doing on your lunch break?

Eating.

So guess what you can do on your lunch break?

You can pray and you can fast.

Get into the presence of God.

And so she's standing there, and she's got, but she's standing there different.

I don't believe she's standing there terrified.

I say I think she's standing there trusting.

That's why the Bible says, when you've done all to stand, do what?

Stand there for.

How does it say to stand dressed?

What happens when you pray and when you fast?

You get dressed.

You get dressed with robes of righteousness, you get dressed with the sword of the spirit, you get dressed with the helmet of salvation, you get dressed with your spiritual, and you stand not with a confident expectation that the outcome is gonna go bad, but a confident expectation that this dangerous thing is gonna have a different outcome.

Prayer and fasting does that.

But number three, fasting and prayer empowers us to receive more favor.

Watch this.

So it was when the king saw Esther, 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.

Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

That's the turn, that's the hinge.

That's the moment that the dangerous thing has a different outcome.

And here's what's remarkable the Bible never says that God did any of it.

Do you know the book of Esther is the only book where God's name is not mentioned one time?

But his fingerprints are all over it.

See, some of you don't understand that when you can't see God, it doesn't mean that God's absence, it means it does not look in the right way.

See, before there was a scepter that ever moved, God had already put a plan in place.

Before there was a Haman, there was a Mordecai.

And before there was a decree, there was a queen waiting as a slave girl.

And before there was a problem, there was a solution.

And her name was Esther.

God is providio providence.

His fingerprints are all over every situation.

And here's what fasting in prayer does.

Fasting in prayer helps you to see that when you thought God was absent, he was there the whole time.

You start noticing the door that was closed and you say, Mercy.

You start noticing the delay and you say protection.

You start noticing the person who had an exit and you start saying, making room.

You start noticing the thing you beg God for fix is now the thing that has prepared you for your future.

You start saying, God, you were you were there the whole time.

Fasting opened your eyes.

When you fast, you you see differently.

And the reason why you see differently is because you are closer to God in those moments, not because of anything that makes you more righteous, but because you are pressing it, you are drawing near to God, and God is therefore drawing near to you.

And what I love about this is that when Esther got there, she touched the top of the scepter.

Just the top.

I like to say the tip of it.

She's got the very tip of the thing that caused favor.

And when she touched the tip, her death sentence was removed, right?

And she was spared and free.

You know what this is?

When you and I gave our life to Jesus, you know what we did?

We touched the tip of the scepter.

We got the most important part of it.

The death sentence against our life was removed.

Our eternity was secured.

But listen to me.

Then the king says to Esther, What else do you want?

Up to half the kingdom.

You know what that is?

That's more favor.

More favor.

More favor.

You know what happened to you and me after we gave our life to Jesus?

After our life was touched by the amazing grace of God that saves our life.

God came over and he said, Whatever you ask in my name, I'll give it to you.

Not up to half the kingdom, but all that the kingdom has is yours.

That's more favor.

And you know how you get in that favor flow?

Fasting and prayer.

Because the Bible says in James 4, 6, it says that God gives grace to the humble.

It says, God gives more grace.

God gives more grace.

And I've read that.

I go, how could you give more grace than the grace that saved my soul?

God gives more grace than even that.

How?

He gives grace to the humble, but he resists the proud.

And if fasting is humbling ourselves before the Lord, then you know what fasting does?

Fasting allows you to get into the more favor flow in your life.

I was telling somebody the other day, I said, I turned 55.

August 18th.

I said, you know what 55 means?

It means grace upon grace.

It means favor upon favor.

Listen, I'll just gonna warn some of you.

Most of you don't have a problem with this, but some people got a problem with the favor that's on my life.

And I'm not bragging, but if they hated me before, wait till you see what happens now that I turn 55.

Because more grace is coming.

More grace.

That's the level that God wants us to live in.

He wants us to live in a favor flow.

But the only way we can live in a favor flow is if we get low.

If we are humble before the Lord, if we say, God, my life is here, not just for my life, but my life is here to be used for your glory and used for your honor.

Fasting enables us to do that.

Fasting positions us for more favor.

But number four, fasting and prayer empowers us to have the right motives.

Listen to what Jesus said about fasting and prayer.

He said in Matthew chapter 6, verse 17, but you, when you fast, I know it's your head and wash your face so that it does not appear to men that you are fasting.

Matthew 6:17

But to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward thee openly.

Is Jesus talking about don't let anybody know you're fasting?

No.

Here's the reason why.

Because, for instance, you gotta let your family know.

Because maybe the first meal you go without food, they're gonna be like, All right, you need to watch what you're eating.

You're gonna go on a diet.

By the time we end two days deep, they're gonna be, Why aren't you eating?

Why aren't you eating?

By the way, when they called congregational fast, what didn't other people know that other people were fasting?

So Jesus is not talking about keep it a secret, Jesus is talking about the motives.

He's saying, Don't let fasting be a badge of spiritual honor.

Will you all of a sudden walk around and go, Look at me, look at me, I'm special, look at me, I'm fasting, look at me.

I went four days without food.

How many days do you go without food?

I went six days without water.

Man, I'm parching everything, but I'm just going for Jesus.

I know you can't hang with me because you ain't spiritual like that.

Jesus is not talking about not using it as a badge.

Jesus is saying, Listen, here's what it's for.

It's so you can get into a secret place.

They that dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my rock, my fortress, my refuge.

My God in Him will I trust.

What's He talking about?

He's talking about closeness to God.

He's talking about let the motivation of your fast not necessarily think what you want God to do for you, because I found out something about God that when I want more of him, God always gives me more of what he's got.

See, some of y'all are after God's hand.

You haven't learned the secret.

Just be after God's heart, and God always opens his hands.

God doesn't have no problem giving for God, so loved the world that he gave.

God opens his hands, God opens his treasure for those that are after his heart.

And what we see in this passage is we see two people who are juxtaposed with motives, Haman and Esther.

Haman has proximity to the king.

And he uses that proximity for self-promotion.

He uses his relationship with the king so that he could get bigger.

The king comes to me, he says, Hey, I just want to ask your advice.

What do you think shall be done for the man whom the king wants to honor?

And Haman says, I know he's talking about me, so I'm just gonna tell him.

He's like, Yeah, throw a party.

He said, Give that man some nice clothes, give him a fancy chariot, put put your ring on him, your robe on him, parade him through the streets.

Let everybody know he's large and in charge.

King, I mean, just go out for this guy.

He didn't know he was talking about his enemy.

God will use your enemy to bless you.

God, uh y'all, y'all don't, you just y'all don't understand.

Some of y'all just worried about your enemies.

I couldn't care less.

You know why I can't care less?

Because you cannot bless, you cannot curse what God has blessed.

You cannot, I don't care what you try, I don't care what you try to do, I don't care what moves you try to make, you cannot curse what God has blessed.

The blessing of the Lord is what when it gets put on somebody, it's it's dangerous.

And so Haman says, My proximity is for me.

Esther uses her proximity as king to save her people who don't have a voice.

And here's what happens when one person uses their proximity the right way, God exceeds what they asked for.

See, Esther just asked for salvation of her people, but you know what she got?

She got Haman's estate handed to her.

Not only did she get Haman's estate handed to her, but then she took that estate and she gave it to her uncle Mordecai.

She said, now you can have this.

See what God was doing is showing us something.

God was showing to us that when when what fasting does, that fasting, when we have the right motives, empowers God to do more for us.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, all these things will be added on to you.

Point number six fasting and prayer empowers us to walk in our God-given authority.

Esther's been queen for five months.

She has not used her position as queen to help our people one bit.

She's not used her authority, but guess when she starts using her authority as soon as she fasts and pray.

Matter of fact, she comes before the king and she says to the king, listen, king, uh, this is all great.

Haman is dead because Haman dies through a series of events.

Basically, when she comes in, she asks the king, you know, uh, king says, What do you want?

She up to half the kingdom.

She says, Come for a banquet.

And so Haman, she said, bring Haman.

Haman and the king go to a banquet.

Haman is all like, this is great.

I'm the only one in all of the kingdom in order to be invited to a special dinner between the king and the queen.

Hester says, You know what?

Um, come back another time.

You like my cooking?

Let me let me cook for you again.

King says, Sure, you don't want nothing.

She says, No, I don't want nothing now.

Why?

Because sometimes there's timing to asking.

Some of y'all want stuff now, but if you get it now, it's not good for you.

Sometimes you just gotta wait for the right moment so that God can really turn it around.

So she says, I'm good for now, but just come back another day.

He comes back again, they're sitting around the table.

He says, You sure you don't want nothing?

This cooking is so good, I'll give you whatever you want.

And she said, Well, King, you know, there's a man here, and uh, he's tricked you into signing this uh decree to kill all my people.

And the king says, Who is it?

And Esther goes like this.

He he goes, she goes, points right at Haman.

That man right there.

The king has him killed on the gallows that he built for Mordecai, and so now everything is good with Esther, everything is fine, she's safe.

Haman is dead, but the decree is still in place, and the king cannot change the decree.

So Esther says, King, you gotta do something.

And here's what the king says he says, Esther chapter 8, verse number 8, you yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews as you please in the king's name and seal it with the king's signet ring.

Esther 8 · chapter mention

Now let me tell you what's going on.

The original decree, Jews have to die, cannot be revoked.

The only thing that the king can do is issue a new decree to give the Jews the right to defend themselves when they're attacked.

So, in other words, he doesn't abolish the old degree, he puts a new degree that allows them to work and usurp the authority of the old decree, doesn't wipe out the old decree, but puts a new decree in place that allows them to live despite the old decree if they will walk in the authority that they have.

Now, some of y'all you don't get it yet.

The Bible says there's such a thing as the law of sin and death.

That law is still in effect today.

Here's how it goes the soul that sins must die.

That we don't get away scot free with the sin that we commit.

That sin must be punished.

The law of sin and death, right?

That's gonna happen.

That law is gonna be realized, that law is in effect.

For anybody that is outside of the second law.

The second law that God instituted because he cannot abolish the first law because he's too holy and too just to just wink at sin is the law of life in the spirit in Christ Jesus.

And so if you operate in the law of life in the spirit through Christ Jesus, you never get punished with eternal damnation for your sin.

Both laws still exist.

One law is higher.

Watch this, watch this.

You know you've heard of gravity before.

How many of you know gravity is still here?

How many of you know gravity gets overcome every single day by the law of aerodynamics?

The law of aerodynamics is greater than the law of gravity.

It defies it.

And so what the king is doing, he's giving us a type, by the way, of what Jesus did for us is he's saying to the Jews, listen, I can't revoke what's in place, but watch this.

I'm gonna give you authority to tread upon the works of your enemy.

Luke chapter 10, verse number 19.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Behold, I've given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

And yet there are Christians who are being whooped by the enemy and by the things of the world every single day.

And it's not because they're not saved, it's because they're not walking in their authority.

And here's the reason why they're not walking in their authority.

Because they're not living in proximity to the king.

Because you cannot catch somebody's authority living distant from them.

And there are a lot of people who are trying to live like the Bible says with and get the let me say it this way, who are trying to get the outcomes that the Bible promises without living like the Bible says.

They're trying to live distant from God, but expecting the promises of God to flow in their life, and it doesn't work that way.

You can never get that authority, walk in that authority unless you're approximate.

I'll prove it to you.

There was a group of people, the sons of Shiva, and they watched the apostle Paul operate and walk in his authority.

And he would, in the name of Jesus, cast devils out.

And they looked at, they said, Man, we want to try this here.

They said, Man, that's pretty cool.

And they tried, and the Bible says the demons and people jumped on them and actually caused them to flee naked.

Remember when you were young, maybe y'all didn't do this, but where we we would pants people.

I don't know if you ever did that.

You know, somebody would just be standing there, we get behind him, we go like that.

That's what the devil is doing to some people.

He's humiliating them because they're trying to use an authority that is only able to be accessed by proximity.

And so what they're trying to do is they're trying to walk in the power of Christ without being connected to Christ on a regular basis.

There's too much flesh that is standing in the way, and then they're trying to shut the flesh off for a moment so that God could come through in that instant.

That ain't the way it works.

But here's what prayer and fasting does: prayer and fasting crucifies the flesh so that the authority that I've been given doesn't have anything standing in the way.

You remember the disciples?

They used the authority of Christ.

They faced this boy that was demon-possessed.

They tried to cast out the demon.

The demon wouldn't come out, so they had to call Jesus.

And when Jesus cast the demon out, the demon came out.

They looked at Jesus and said, Why couldn't we do it?

Jesus said this, number one, he said, because you're unbelief.

By the way, the breeding ground for unbelief is distance from God.

I didn't forget what I was going to say.

The breeding ground for unbelief is distance from God.

And so here's what he looked at and he said, listen, and they said this.

He said, But this kind come out come only out but by prayer and fasting.

In other words, there are some battles that if you're going to win those battles, you need to get so close to God so that you are dripping with the authority of God, so that unbelief does not even have this much of a chance in your life.

So that means some of you need to fast harder than others of you need to fast.

Some of you need to pray more than others of you need to pray.

There is no formula for every single person.

That's why, even though we are saying, Sun up to sun down, do what God is calling you to do.

What dangerous thing do you need?

A different outcome, too.

As soon as Esther fasts, she starts walking in her authority.

She starts using her position so that our people can be set free.

And I want to just fast forward a little bit, just for the sake of time, because I hit this one already and I'll say it real quick.

Prayer and fasting empowers us to share the favor we've been shown.

Esther is now handed Haman's estate.

She gives it to Mordecai.

In other words, the slave girl that was taken in by the man who treated her like a daughter has now got favor.

And guess what she's gonna do with the favor?

She's gonna share the favor she has.

Can I tell you something?

The greatest thing that you could ever do with favor is share the favor you have because it creates a bigger favor flow in your life.

And the greatest place and the greatest person that you can share your favor with is not your family.

Yeah, I didn't forget.

I'm just letting it simmer.

By the way, I love sharing my favor with my family, but it's not the greatest place that I share it.

The greatest place that I share my favor with is with God's work, is with God Himself.

I say, God, you're giving me this favor.

Guess what I want to do with?

I want to give it back to you for you to use it with for your glory.

God, you're giving me this favor in this area.

I want to use this position, I want to use this talent, I want to use this treasure, I want to use whatever it is, God, as a platform for your glory.

God, I want to give you back some of the favor, and God's like, no, no, no, take some more.

No, no, no, have it back.

No, no, no, take some more, no, no, no, have it back.

It's a cycle that just keeps on flowing.

Share your favor.

But I want you to see how the story ends.

Esther is on the floor, interceding for the people.

She's got this new decree in her hand, but the people don't know about it yet.

And they need this new decree.

And so here's what happens: the Bible says in Esther chapter 8, verse number 13, the people are under the old word.

Esther 8 · chapter mention

They're under the word of Haman, they don't know about the new word.

Esther chapter 8, verse number 13.

Esther 8 · chapter mention

A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people so that the Jews would be ready on the day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

Haman had written a word over their lives, but listen to me, the king had another word.

I came here to tell somebody today that no matter what word has been written over your life, that the king has another word.

The diagnosis may have said, You're gonna die, but the king has another word.

The bills may have one word that you're going under, the king has another word.

The courts may say your marriage is ended, but the king has another word.

There's another word over your life, and you need to remember what that word is.

That's why you need to hide the word of God in your heart.

That's why a copy of it needs to be not on your nightstand, but in front of your eyes, because too many people do not know the other word that has been spoken over your life, and you go on by the old word, but the king's got another word.

And watch what happens next.

And this is the story finale.

The enemy didn't just pick have a word, but he picked a day.

Esther chapter 3, verse number 7.

Esther 3 · chapter mention

In the first month, with his which is the month of Nisan, they cast per.

This is Haman and his people.

Per is a lot.

They did it before Haman to determine the day and the month until it fell on the 12th month, which is the month of Adar.

Per means lot.

Haman cast lots.

It was a per pagan practice to let fate pick the perfect day to destroy the Jewish people.

The lot landed on the 13th day of Adar.

Haman had his date and he had a year to get ready for it.

He thought he was picking a day of destruction.

He didn't know he was picking the day of deliverance.

And look at what happened.

Watch this, watch this, watch this.

Look at what happened on the 13th day of Adar.

Watch this, watch this.

Esther chapter 9, verse 1.

Esther 9:1

On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them.

Watch these next three words.

The opposite occurred.

Let me say it again.

In the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred.

In that day, the Jews overpowered those who had hated them.

Notice the opposite occurred.

The opposite occurred.

The opposite occurred.

The opposite occurred.

Why?

Dangerous things, different outcome, dangerous things, different outcome.

The opposite occurred.

The opposite occurred.

Here's God's word over your life.

The opposite in your life can occur.

Any dangerous thing in your life can have a different outcome.

But are you willing to press into God?

Are you willing to raise your white flag?

Are you willing to surrender to Him?

Stop fighting God in that area, this area, the other area.

And in Esther 9 26, the Jews named the day.

They called it the days of Purim.

They named the day after the enemy's weapon.

Some of you need to mark your days.

Some of you need to mark your moments.

I believe they named it this just to be like, ha, how you like me now?

Ha?

We think what God did now.

Dangerous thing, different days of pure.

Let's celebrate the days of Purim.

Let that be the word over your life.

The days of pure are coming over your life.

The days that the enemy marked to defeat you are the days of your deliverance.

Market, market, market.

Prayer and fasting.

21 days.

21 days.

Not a religious practice, but 21 days to press into the presence of God.

As a church community and family, to ask God to have his way.

As people of God individually, to ask God to have his way.

In our church, in our families, in our marriages, in the lives of our kids, in our careers, in our businesses, in all that we set to do in our heart, in our mind, in our affinities, in our passions, in our pursuits, in our purposes, in our plans.

God have your way.

God, we raise the white flag.

Would you stand to your feet with me?