0:00 [Music] Let's begin with the word of prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you for bringing us together to spend some time at your feet. Thank you, Lord, for all 0:19 that you've done for us in these past weeks when we last met, since we last met. Thank you for all your goodness to us. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for our sins. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you are our teacher and I you are here in our midst. 0:35 We pray that you'll teach us from your word and help us to be obedient to you. We ask in Jesus precious name. Amen. It's such a joy to see you all and praise God for all that he has done for 0:54 us in the last since the last time we met. These days we are reading a lot about wars in Israel and all that's happening in Israel and the countries around 1:12 and sometimes our we know that it's the the Lord's coming is drawing very near and sometimes we may be tempted to fear where is this war going to end which other countries will be affected. 1:31 Prices of things are going up because of the war and uncertainties and all those fears can come to us. But the Lord has told us when you see these things happening, don't fear. And that's the message for all of us. 1:49 Things may get worse and worse, but the Lord Jesus has said, "Don't fear." The same Lord who said have faith, be strong, he also says don't fear. And I was thinking of a woman who lived during 2:08 times of war in Israel. Actually, there was war, constant wars in Israel. And there was a girl who grew up in the country of Persia, which is Iran now. 2:24 and and she stood firm firm for the Lord and took some bold decisions for the Lord. So I was thinking of the encouragement we can get by meditating on her life. That is that girl's name is Esther. If you turn your Bibles to the 2:43 book of Esther, we can meditate a little bit of that. Now just a little bit of background about Israel. We know how God chose Abraham and he promised him and made him into a great nation and his descendants 3:01 lived in Egypt as slaves and then they became a great nation and God brought them back to possess the land of Israel. And while before they entered Israel, God gave them some laws. And he said, "You are my chosen people." And the 3:21 Lord, the reason why God chose that nation was that some centuries later, Jesus would come into uh into that land into that group of people and he'd be born there and he would die for our sins 3:39 so that all of mankind could be saved from sin. So God chose a man and a nation and all that and he gave them some laws and he said the I'll tell you the gist of some of those laws. He said first of all don't worship other gods. I 3:57 am the true god and you should worship only me. And he said don't have any idols. The other nations may have idols but you're not to have any idols. An idol is uh not just an graven image but anything that can that takes the place 4:15 of God can be an idol. And so it speaks to us also. We may worship the true God but we may have other idols, other things which take the place of God. And the Lord wants us don't let anything take my place. And then he said to the children 4:33 of Israel, you must keep the Sabbath. That means at least one day you set apart to spend time with me with God and to meditate on him and spend in his presence. Now for us it is every day is a Sabbath as we read in Hebrews. We can 4:51 enter that Sabbath rest and every day of our lives can be a Sabbath where we spend time with the Lord and we stop all other things for a little while at least read his word and meditate on him and be thankful to him for all that he's done. 5:08 Then God said you should observe certain feasts uh like the Passover to the children of Israel. And for for us also it was a time there are times when we look back and remember the things that the Lord has done for us in the past healing us 5:25 of sicknesses, delivering us from many situations, many dangers, so many things. And he told the children of Israel regularly meet on certain days. And he also said meet together with um the others the children of Israel meet 5:43 together and celebrate these days. And he gave those festivals and that's a lesson to us also that we God in uh it says in Hebrews 10:2 there's a verse says don't forsake the assembly of yourselves. It means meet together. So 6:01 it's important for us to meet together. We take that lesson from the children of Israel. But the children of Israel, they stopped doing that. And the Lord told them there are verses like in 2 Chronicles 15, many verses like that. 6:18 But I thought of one verse 2 Chronicles 15. He says uh 15:2, "If you seek me, you'll be found, but if you forsake me, I will forsake you." God gave many warnings like that to the children of Israel and through the 6:38 prophets. But we know what happened. They stopped seeking him. They stopped observing the uh keeping those commandments. And Jes and the uh the Lord had told them you must teach them to your children also. But they neglected all that. And he he said uh if 6:58 you forsake my ways you'll be punished. And that's what happened to the children of Israel. They were punished and they were sent uh other nations came and conquered them and the children of Israel were taken as captives. They were 7:13 not taken as captives in uh as one lot. You know, they were dispersed. That means children were separated from the par parents, families were separated. They were separated to different places and 7:31 segregated like that. That was the punishment. And then other people, the Babylonians, Assyrians were brought into the land of Israel to settle there. It was all confusion and chaos. And the Lord had warned them not to forsake 7:47 worshiping the Lord and not to forsake God. But they disobeyed and that's how they were scattered. And sometimes know it's a lesson to us. When we stop following the Lord sometimes it's our children who suffer. 8:03 Now uh for many centuries the um children of Israel disobeyed the Lord and God warned them I'll punish you. I'll punish you. But punishment didn't come immediately. The future generations were the ones who 8:22 were taken as captives. So that's a lesson to us. Sometimes when we disobey the Lord and we take God's word lightly and stop obeying him, stop meeting together uh uh when he wants us to meet, taking those opportunities to meet together and 8:41 encourage one another, it's our children who suffer. And that's one lesson we learned from that introduction. Then they were taken as captives and uh for Babylon to Babylon and then to 8:59 Persia and other countries like that. And the the story of Esther starts in Persia where she was taken as a captive and even though she was a captive there, God had a plan for her. So wherever we 9:17 are whether we are suffering in some distant land forced to be there because of some other which is beyond our control God is with us and God has a plan for our lives. Now Esther was an orphan. 9:35 uh she uh she was brought up by her uncle or cousin rather who was good to her and brought her brought her up. Now we know what is the plight of orphans. 9:52 Orphans are children who have nobody I mean who don't who are insecure. They cannot tell their needs to anyone because they say whom do I belong to and 10:11 we can say that we may the orphans may feel that they abandoned there's nobody to care for me and they they're closed in. They don't like to talk to anybody. They can't trust anyone. And that's another lesson for us also. 10:31 Sometimes even though some of us our children are we are there for our children but many children grow up as orphans because the parents are so busy with their work. Parents are so occupied with 10:49 other things. Parents have no time for the children. And the children grow up feeling like orphans. They're closed in. They don't share with anyone and they feel insecure. That's also uh something we have to search our 11:07 hearts and say Lord in these days help me to be careful that my children don't grow up that with that feeling of insecurity. Even if they they have parents they may grow up like with that orphan syndrome. Sometimes when parents fight, husband 11:27 and wife fight with each other and the children watch that they they insecure and they don't know like whom should I join, whom should I support my father or mother? When parents separate what a lot of insecurity there is. 11:46 So that's a lesson to us to take seriously our home life. Don't ever let our children feel insecure that the parents are not there for them. These days when there are so many things happening in the world, so many temptations for children, 12:06 distractions for children and things coming through the social media, through the internet and in schools, through their friends. We we have to be so careful that our the hearts of our children are drawn to us. 12:25 They're not separated from us and they have parents who care for them. Now Esther was a orphan growing up it was not her choice that she should live in uh Persia. She was brought there as a captive and she grew up. Sometimes when 12:45 we stay in some place, it may not be our choice that we should be in such and such a place. But the Lord brought us. He's in control of every situation that happens. Sometimes we are uprooted from the place where we grew up and we are 13:02 brought to another place where the customs are different, the culture is different, the language is different. That was what was happening in Esther's life. But there's a warning for us as it came for Esther. Don't copy the customs and fashions of 13:21 this world. All around us, there might be worldly and heathen practices. And when God when we are God's children and he has put his laws in our heart, there's a warning for us. Don't copy those customs, the fashions of this 13:40 world. In in uh 1 2 Corinthians 6:17, there's a verse be separate. Come out from among them and be separate. That means even if we are living in this world, we have to be different. We cannot live like other 13:57 worldly people. Romans 12:2 there's a beautiful verse. Don't be conformed to this world but renew your mind. Be transformed. Transformed to the Lord. So that's such a precious warning for us. We cannot avoid 14:17 being in the situation that's not our choice. God forced us to be here wherever we are. Like I said in an earlier message, we have to bloom where we are planted. Take our calling seriously. Say Lord I don't belong to this world. My 14:35 citizenship is in heaven. I'm not part of this world. I don't want to have any of the values of this world. I have to work. I have to earn my living. I have to do certain things. But don't let the world get into me. Just like a boat 14:51 which is going in the water. It's in the water but the water doesn't get inside that boat. So the Lord tells us you're in the world won't but don't be separate. Don't let any of the worldly things get into you. And that's 15:09 the the challenge which the Lord has given us as mothers and as women that when it's our duty to our privilege to impart that to our children not to copy the words of this world. Now our children, our girls are growing up and 15:28 they see the passions of this world and they are tempted and we as mothers have the privilege to challenge them and say my daughter that world may do that may do those things but as children of God we have to be separate we don't want to 15:46 copy the uh worldly ideas the worldly fashions the worldly way of looking at things and especially especially when they go to college and they hear new things and scientific things we bring them back to the word of God and say 16:03 straight to stay true to the Lord and that's another lesson we learned from um Esther then she had a guardian and her cousin 16:18 Modi she obeyed if we read Esther 2:20 it was accustomed to obey a mod in everything whatever he said she would do and that's also an example for us 16:35 especially for teenage children and for us there's a person we have to have a an accountability in our lives those of us who are married submit to our husbands there's somebody above us even though we may not 16:53 understand the reason Why the Lord tells us to do this to be submitt submissive to our husbands and we may not understand why should we because women in this world don't appreciate that they don't want that they don't want to be accountable to anyone but the 17:12 come word of God says wives submit to your husband children obey your parents so in that's a lesson we learned from Esther She took that uh matter of 17:28 submissiveness to Morcai seriously. That was her way of life to listen to Modi and everything. And you know uh we were doing some studies on wisdom, godly uh about godly wisdom in James 3:18 in 17:47 the past studies and I was thinking of this little part uh of aspect of godly wisdom which comes right in the middle of James 3:18. It says wisdom is easily easy to be 18:05 intreated, open to reason, easy to be intreated and open to reason. And I thought for us that's what we need. Easy to yield, easy to be intreated, 18:23 willing to give up our will. And that's a precious quality which Esther had which is an example to us. Now a little bit about the background of what's happening in Esther's days. Uh we read that in uh Esther. Can you imagine 18:42 God was so good that he wrote a a whole book with that girl's name? That means God values a godly woman. another woman like that who whose book God had wrote a book about with her name 19:00 was Ruth. God values even us women he sees our lives and Esther though she was a captive and though she was unknown person and often God had a purpose for her life and even wrote a book in the Bible with her name 19:20 in it. That's how wonderful God is and how much he values each one of us wherever he has placed us. Now a little bit of what's happening in um um Persia at that time. I don't want to take too much time because we all know the book of the 19:39 story how there was a king his name was and he was very rich and the great kingdom spread spanning from Ethiopia to India. Can you imagine even India comes there with 127 pro provinces and lot of 19:57 riches and wealth and he wanted to flaunt his wealth and his greatness and he had banquet lasting for about 7 days I think and he called all the officials and had um plenty of food and wine. They drank wine from golden bowls 20:16 and all that was going on and he had a beautiful queen and he wanted to display her beauty and he called her asked for her to come but uh she knew that this king is half drunk and she thought I'm not going to make a fool of myself and 20:34 she refused to go and so the king was furious and his advisers told him now that's a bad example for a queen to do and all the other women in the country will do the same and they'll start dishonoring their husbands. So let's put 20:52 away this queen. So queen Vashi was put away and when the king sobered after some time he realized he had lost his beautiful wife. So his advisers told him um no advertise and find some beautiful 21:10 virgins and collect them all and you choose one of them and that's what he did and it uh it was not a like a beauty contest. I'm sure Esther wouldn't have wanted to go but she obeyed 21:25 um Modi and she was also in that crowd of girls virgins who were uh to be shown to the king and they had uh all this preparation 12 months of preparation 21:41 for with all kinds of treatment and all things uh ointments and beauty treatments and um uh at the end of 12 months each one was presented to the king. Now, it doesn't say that Esther 21:59 was the most beautiful of them at all, but it only says the king um liked her the best. A little bit about beauty. And then one more quality about um Esther what we read is in um 22:16 Esther 2:e 10 I think it says that they said you could uh the kings the people who were in charge of this treatment said now you can take whatever you want from this place where you are staying 22:35 but Esther um unlike the others she didn't take anything she said whatever I have that much is enough. That was a virtue which uh Esther had. She was not covetous. She was content with whatever she had. And we know the 22:52 verses in the New Testament, godliness with contentment is great gain. And uh Paul said in Philippians 4:11, whatever state I am, I am content. And Hebrews 13:5 it says be content with 23:11 what we have. 1 Timothy 6:8. These are all verses about being content with what we have. And that's an example we which we can learn from Esther. And as I want to say a little bit about beauty, 23:28 real beauty. Now beauty is not something which we see in the cover of the magazines the the misworld and the mis universe that's not the type of beauty which I want to talk about 23:44 it says about a virtuous woman her price is far above rubies that's the value of a virtuous woman virtuous woman and why is Is a virtuous woman valuable? 24:00 To me, I think we are of great value if we are virtuous because we have been bought with such a great price. The greatest price of all was that blood of Jesus was shed for us. 24:18 He bought us with that price. Such a costly price. That's why we are of more of so much value to the Lord. A virtuous woman who can uh is a her value is far above hobbies. Who can value a virtuous woman? It says 24:38 in Proverbs Proverbs 31:10 and we read um the true beauty in first Peter verse 3 if you look at beauty the beauty is not beauty outward beauty. 24:57 is a beauty of the heart. That is Peter says that is imperishable beauty. The earthly beauty as we grow older we know we become less and less of that earthly beauty. But that 25:15 imperishable beauty which God gives us of meek and quiet spirit, it will last forever. The older we get, the more of that inner beauty we can acquire. Now in Esther's case, it was 12 months of preparation to get which she 25:33 had. But but for us, it's a whole lifetime. Whole lifetime of being content. Whole lifetime of taking up the cross. Whole lifetime of dying to ourel. Saying no to our preferences. Being unselfish. 25:53 All that which comes with godliness which which is imperishable. That that's the true beauty which the Lord wants us to have. I have a feeling that when Esther went to 26:12 was presented to the king, the king had already had had a beautiful wife, the most beautiful wife Bashi and he put her away. There was something in in Esther which must have appealed to the king. This beauty is different 26:32 because this is a godly beauty and the the king chose her and that's how our king chooses us. It's not because of anything in us. It's not that we deserve 26:48 anything but the Lord chooses us. One from this family, one from another. We see many in our of our relatives. Why is it that they are not chosen? We study in the class there are so many students 27:05 there but God has chosen one person here and other from there and brought us all into his kingdom. How wonderful it is when the Lord chooses us not from for any beauty of our own or any virtue of our own but his grace. His grace alone 27:24 that's why he chooses us. I'm reminded of a uh something which happened in in u Santosh and Megan's house some months back some many months back you know how Santo and Megan had the had these puppies 27:44 beautiful fluffy puppies and uh and people would come to take the puppies and there was one little puppy which was born lame and it would It was the cutest puppy and it would just limp along. It was born with one fourlegu 28:02 was not fully developed. So it would limp along and it would run and the children thought this puppy is going to be with us forever because nobody would want that puppy. But you know the wonderful thing is there was a lady who 28:16 came to look at those puppies and she chose that lame puppy and she said that's the puppy I want and she took it and all the other puppies were watching this one getting being taken into the car and watching this nice lady taking 28:32 this puppy away and I thought that's how it is Lord this person whom nobody else values and nobody wants You have chosen a person like me to be in your kingdom, to be planted in your 28:51 kingdom. And Esther was like that, a captive and orphan. And she was brought into the king's palace to live there. And God Almighty, King of Kings, has chosen us, you and me, who are bought by the precious blood of 29:10 Jesus for not no virtue of ours. We don't deserve it. But he shed his precious blood and he has brought us out of the kingdom of darkness to live in that kingdom of light. Not only on earth, earthly blessings, but forever 29:26 and ever be a part of that heavenly kingdom. What do we what did we do to deserve that? It's only his love and his grace and we need to be thankful all the days of our life. Lord, I don't deserve it. But you made me a princess. You made 29:44 me a daughter of your of a king and I I can live on earth as a daughter of a king. I don't have to be ashamed of anything of my looks or my condition or anything because I'm your child. I'm your daughter and you take care of me in 30:01 every situation. You are there for me. And that's how um Esther lived in the palace. Not her choice but God chose her for a purpose. Now we know the end of the story. There was a reason why God chose her to be in that palace. Now 30:20 living in the palace, it was not a great thing for Esther. You know in the Middle Eastern countries you can be the wife of a shake and be the loneliest person. Esther in Esther's case it was not it 30:38 was more a prison than a palace because for later Esther says for 30 days I haven't seen the king that means there's no contact with her husband for days on 30:52 end. She has her own lon lonely life and she lives on her own. She has everything she needs but there's loneliness. Her people are far away. She's in a strange place. There are maids there to take care of her. There's food but 31:11 there's loneliness. And sometimes even the highest richest place people can be lonely. But God chose that lonely life for her. That was also God's plan. Dear sisters, sometimes we may be put in some lonely place position far away from our 31:31 kit and kin our relatives and uh maybe no one we can talk to and on our own. But God has a plan even putting us in a lonely place. 31:47 And but you know when um Esther looked out of the window she could see her guardian Morai sitting at the gate cuz Modi was there for her. Wherever we are God has somebody to take 32:05 care of us. If there is no one on earth he himself is taking care of us. Sitting out there was Morai always wondering, I wonder how my cousin is getting along in the palace. She's alone. She has no friends, but I if she sees me, she knows 32:22 that I am there for her. What a comfort it was for Esther. And then later on, we read that she had a group of maids whom with whom she could share and pray. If you read the book of Esther, you'll find that um in that isolated place. 32:47 So I'll find that verse later. So um she lived like that and in the meantime uh Modai was sitting outside and Hmon you know that story about him. Now, 33:03 Hmon, if I made some research, Hmon is a is called a Hmon the Agite. Aag in the Old Testament, Aag was a Amalikite and Saul was asked to destroy all the Amalikites 33:20 that he and some somehow some a few of those Amalachites would have escaped and Hmon was one of his descendants. That's why when the Lord tells us get rid of all these enemies which are in your flesh and we let one or two escape and 33:39 God says get rid of this anger, get rid of this covetousness, get rid of this pride and we let one small thing stay there. It may be a small little virus of pride, a small little virus of anger, 33:55 irritability or greed or something there and it grows and grows and later on it gives not only trouble to us but maybe to our descendants. That's how Hmon was. Hmon is a picture of Satan. You know 34:14 when Modi was sitting there and Hmon he was the second in command whenever he passed by he made he the king passed a law that everybody should bow to him and Modi didn't bow to him. You know another person in the New Testament who didn't 34:33 bow down to Satan we know that that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Satan said, "If you bow down to me, I'll give you all the treasures of this earth. All the things of this earth I'll give you if you bow down to me." So, and Jesus said, 34:50 "No, worship only the Lord. I'll worship only him. Um, you shall worship only the Lord God." So, Modi had that maybe that godliness in his heart. this Hmon, he's an agent of Satan. I'm not going to bow 35:08 down to him. And so he didn't bow down. And there the trouble began. Hmon became furious and he uh he found out Modi is a Jew. So not only will I kill Modi, but I'll kill all the Jews. And that's how trial started 35:28 coming for Esther. That was God's plan. It was God's plan for Esther to be in the palace. God's plan for her to uh undergo this share this trial and 35:44 uh be involved in this uh evil plot which Modi had against the Jews. So when um Hmon saw that Modi wasn't bowing down to him, he got the king to pass a law to kill all the Jews. And we know that um 36:04 Modkai started crying, crying out loud. He put on the dress clothes of mourning ashes and sackloth and mourning and he was crying out in the streets and Esther heard about it and she sent someone and find out why is he crying and he heard 36:22 uh she heard what was happening to the Jews. I want to share this beautiful verse um uh which Modai said. He said um he said uh Morai told the uh Esther 36:39 now is your chance to take a stand for uh you until now I told you don't show your identity. Don't say you're Jewish but now is the time for you to show your identity. You know sometimes we may be living in this world as secret believers 36:58 but there'll be a time when the Lord challenges us. You can't hide hide your identity. You have to make yourself known as a children as a child of God. You have to take a stand for the Lord. So that choice can come to us anytime. 37:14 You have to be prepared for that. And Modi told her that first of all Esther comforted him and sent some clothes for him and said please don't dress like that those clothes of morning. Please put on some decent clothes. But Morai 37:31 refused and he said you have to tell the king who you are. Don't hide yourself. And he Esther could have been tempted. No, I won't say I'm a Jewish and I'm a Jewish girl. I can even protect Morai but doesn't matter what happened to the 37:49 other Jews. She could have been selfish like that. But uh there her character was proved. She said, "I rather take my stand with God's people and suffer with God's people and bear the consequences. Take a stand for the Lord." This is what 38:07 Modi said. These beautiful words I want to read out to you in in Esther chapter 4. Modi told Esther Esther 4:13, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. But if you keep silent 38:27 at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish. Who but and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 38:43 God put Esther in the kingdom for this time. And he said if you don't take a stand, God will choose someone else to do your work. Dear sisters, if we don't do the work which God has put for us, 39:01 wherever we are, we may not be in a palace. We may be in the four walls of our own home or in the church where God has placed us. If we don't do our work which the Lord has given us to do, God will choose someone else to do that work 39:20 to be a blessing to me. And in Jew in Esther's case, she saved the whole nation because of the stand she took. So that's a challenge to us. The Lord has chosen us for something. Be ready to 39:39 say Lord I am prepared. here I am your handmaiden and as third said in another verse he said if I perish I perish you'll find that and that's that stand she took so 39:57 kept us for a time like this and as a work for us in these last days let's not uh be uh slack in that work which the Lord has let us take it seriously ly and 40:12 um then Esther now until now Esther was listening to Modai Morai said don't uh make yourself known she did that now you have to reveal your identity she did that but a person who's been uh 40:31 submissive all her life there'll be a time when the Lord gives authority in her hands and That's what happened to Esther. She said um she took the bold 40:45 stand and she said uh please Modi you tell all the Jews to fast and pray for 3 days and I'll do the same thing. I and my the maids who are with me. Even in 41:02 that palace there was a there were few people with whom she could pray. Dear sisters, wherever we are, we may be in a lonely place, find fellowship with whom we can pray. We don't have to tell everything that's going on in our life, 41:17 but at least a prayer partner with whom we can share and pray. God has given us that privilege. Find someone who with whom we can pray and take that calling seriously. Don't be a isolated lonely believer. God has someone with whom we can pray and say 41:34 and that's what um Esther did she and the maidens got together and they prayed you know Jesus and Gethsemane he told his disciples pray with me and we also if Jesus needed the disciples to pray with him 41:53 keep awake and pray how much more we need we need the fellowship our dear sisters pray with me we may not be able to meet together. Please pray over the phone. Dear sister, I'm going through a terrible time. Play pray with me over 42:08 the phone and two half a minute of prayer is there to strengthen us and encourage us. And Esther got encouragement like that and Modi prayed with all the Jews. So God has put us in a family. Even if it's not a earthly family, God has given 42:27 us sisters with whom we can pray. maybe some distance away. We may not be able to tell everything to every sister but there may be one sister with whom we can say please pray I have a need in my life pray with me she may ask she need not ask what's your 42:45 need discreetly I just pray with my dear sister Lord please stay and so Esther had to do something and we know that it was a time for action now while they were praying saying 43:03 God is working while we are praying God is working for us. you know, the king couldn't sleep and he um asked the uh uh somebody to bring out the history books and read out the um history and then 43:22 they were uh they read that there was a plot against the king's life and uh Modi found out about the plot and told the Esther and she told the king and um uh the king's life was saved and that 43:41 plot for assassination was foiled. So, and the king killed all those people who were plotting. So, the king woke up and asked, "Did we do anything for Modi?" They said, "No, we just wrote it down in the history." So, the king as soon as he 43:57 woke up, he said, "We must do something for Modi and who should come uh Hmon." And the king told Hmon what should I do to a person who I want to honor and the king and Hmon thought that's me of course he thought in his mind and the 44:15 king said okay do this and put him on as Hmon's I suggestion put him on the royal horse and take him around the town and this is how the king will honor so Hmon was snubbed and he thought who and he 44:33 had already built the gallows to hang and she had got an order to hang Modi but then his wife told him if Modi is a Jew this is bad sign for you. Anyway, he was ashamed and then we know the rest of the story how 44:51 um um Queen Esther decided to go and tell the king. And now another thing we read about Esther was while um while she was praying she had wisdom to how to act. Now 45:10 sometimes when we are in a great trouble and we are going through some stress what do we do? We are so impulsive. The first person we meet like suppose we upset with somebody. Maybe we are little annoyed with our children or with some 45:25 relative or with our own dear husband. There's something heavy in our heart. What do we do? At the earliest opportunity, we spill out everything and we're angry and say things and which we'll later regret. Esther was not like 45:39 that. For 3 days she fasted and prayed and then she took a risk and she went to the king. Now the in that country in the in Persia there was this rule if any woman goes to the see the king anyone goes to see the king without being asked 45:59 if the king does is doesn't want to see that person um she or he can be killed but if he wants to see that person he'll stretch out the scepter and Esther knew for 30 days the king hasn't asked for 46:17 me. Now if I go to see the king, surely he'll finish me off. In Vashi's case, he just pushed her put her out of the kingdom. But in my case, the law is that I'll be killed. That was the stern punishment. But she said, "If I perish, 46:35 I perish." And she took that bold step. And we know the king saw queen, his queen standing, and the Lord must have worked in his heart. And then he stretched forth his high his scepter. And the queen when Esther went she 46:52 didn't say you know this terrible thing I want to tell you dear king t the man is plotting and he's doing this he's doing that. She didn't say anything like that. That's also a lesson to us. When we are in trouble take your time relax. 47:08 Pray about it. Take time maybe fast and pray. Even if it's a if it's a heavy thing, take more time to pray. Don't do things in a hurry. So, she who believes will not make haste, it says in one of the 47:24 psalms. So, take your time, be uh pray about it and go about it prayerfully. So, she went to the king and she said, "Come for dinner, you and Hmon. I prepared a banquet. Come for dinner." And they came and Hmon was 47:43 delighted. He told his wife, "I've been honored. The king invited the queen invited the king and me." He was on top of the world. Second day and the king said and she said, "Come tomorrow also." So second day when she went, she 48:00 revealed in tears she said there also it was not in anger in much sorrow and brokenness. with much sorrow and brokenness. She told the king, "My life is in danger. My people are in danger and the person there's a person who's 48:19 plotting against me." And we know how that came out. And she said, "This person is sitting right here, Hmon." And Hmon knew that his life was doomed. And we know the gallows gallows which he had built to kill Modi, he was hung on the same. It's it's 48:38 like that people who plot against us or who work against us and Satan has used them. God will turn the tables on to them. Satan he he was he was delighted when he saw Jesus being crucified but 48:57 that was the end of Satan. That was the defeat where Satan was defeated. Brother Vincent in Tamil Nad to to was sharing an example of Satan being defeated. He said the poisonous snake in 49:14 the house and the father comes and crushes the head of the poisonous snake and it's it's not killed but its head is crushed and the body is all wiggling and he tells the children now take a stick and just beat the snake. Just beat it 49:33 and beat it and beat it. And that's what the Lord tells us. I have defeated Satan. God Jesus has defeated Satan. Jesus tells us, I have already defeated Satan. He's dead, but his his power has been taken away. But he's still alive, 49:52 but his power is taken away. You have the privilege of beating him and beating him. So our warfare is not with people who work against us. Our warfare is not with flesh and blood. People may scheme and do things against 50:11 us in the office or in the workplace or in our among our relatives. It's not people. The main person we have to deal with is the demons in the heavenly places. And we can overcome not with our own 50:30 strength. Don't fight with people but use the strength which God has given us by prayer, by fasting, using the word of God, the shield of faith as we read in Ephesians 6. That is our armor. And we fight Satan with that. 50:49 And remember, Satan is defeated for her time is up, but there's a lot more I wanted to share, but that is the gist of it. And and we know the end of it, how um there was a great victory for the 51:06 Jews and um u Modi was promoted to take Hmon's place and all the Jews uh won a great victory. Even the the king passed in couldn't cancel the old one but he said the Jews could defend themselves. 51:24 And you know we read a lot of people who were in Persia wanted to become Jews. They said at least there's protection for us if we say that we are Jews. So there many people when they face persecution they'll say please let us 51:42 become a Christian. There'll be protection from God for us. And there was a there was a national rejoicing and uh festival day set apart is the day of purim. Um all those are history. Now I thought in these last days there are 52:01 some things which we can learn from the book of Esther Satan is furious just like him and he's furious with God's people. And those of us who belong to the Lord we We may be target of God, of Satan's 52:18 fury, but the Lord has told us, do not fear. I am with you. He is with us. So, I wrote down a few Fs to just remember to remind ourselves, fear not. Don't allow even a moment of fear. If fear 52:38 comes to us all to any of us but at that time turn it into boldness and say Lord instead of being afraid I want to encourage myself that you're with me faith the other F have faith for me I 52:57 think faith is that God is in control of every situation nothing will happen to me without his permission 1 Corinthians Ians 10:13, God is in control. He will not let me be tempted beyond my control. And Romans 8:28, everything will work 53:17 out for my good if I love God. In the end, everything will turn out okay. That's the f faith I have. Lord at this time I may have some trials, some sickness, some challenge, persecution, maybe 53:34 bad news from somewhere, health issues, whatever may happen, maybe challenges from our children or relatives, whatever it is, but I have faith Lord in the end everything will be will turn out good. Everything will turn 53:52 out good for my good also. I have confidence in me. That's the faith I have. And then first things first, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Lord, I want you to be first in my life. Then everything will 54:10 be added to me. Whatever I need, you if I need strength, you'll give that to me. Whatever I need, all my earthly needs will be provided. You've told me so many times, don't fear. God who takes care of the birds and will take care of you. How 54:26 much more you valuable, how much more valuable are you to me than birds whom God takes care of. So put first things first and value of fellowship. Don't forsake the fellowshipper. Uh we may think of his people. We may 54:46 think oh I can survive alone. I don't need to go to the church today. I'm a bit sick or I get up late and this is the only day when I can relax or I you know some weakness or other. I'm in my bit mid4s and that's the time girls have 55:04 lot of challenges. I'm going through that stage. I'm weak. I'm anemic. But fellowship is something we need. In Hebrews 10 it says we need to stir up each other. we need to encourage. So don't forsake 55:22 the assembling of with God's people. Then in Esther's case, she said, I'll fast and pray. Fasting may not be just in food. Some discipline. Lord, I'm going to discipline myself to spend this 55:40 time with you. I'm going to do without this item which I think I need. I'm going to deny myself. I'm going to deny myself in this thing little more extra sleep which I want. I'm going to get up first earlier. That is our form of 55:58 fasting. Sometimes if we we need to take nourishing food for the sake of our health or for sake of our children so we can do our work. But fasting can be in other areas where we can do without some luxury, without something, without 56:16 little bit of sleep, whatever it is, fast feast on God's word. I think we'll end there. Time is up. I'll just close in prayer. My heavenly father, we praise and thank you for the precious things you want us to learn 56:34 from your word. Lord, thank you for the examples of people like Esther. And we thank you, Lord. You have put us in these days on earth to be like little Esther's to be bold for you, to take a stand for you and not to value our life 56:53 or anything as precious, but to be bold, to be known as your disciples, to be known as your people. Please help us Lord be true and faithful in these last days. Not to allow fear to come into our hearts but to be st to be strong and 57:10 true to you till the end of our days. We ask in Jesus precious name. Amen. [Music]
