0:00 [Music] As we listen today, I want to every one of us to be able to take with us something back. And that one thing that I want each one 0:17 of us to take back with us is faith. Not only hearing what we hear today, but faith that God is going to do that in my life. When you think of those two men on the cross, 0:36 their eternities were completely different. But it all hinged on this one thing. One person, one of the thieves believed that God could do something in that situation. No matter how bad his past was, God could do something and the other one 0:55 couldn't. And today also as we go back, Lord, give me faith to believe in your promises. Turn with me to Luke. Luke 1. Luke 1 verse 45. 1:14 And blessed is she or blessed is the one who believes that there will be a fulfillment of what has been spoken to her. Blessed is the one who believes God will keep his word and his promises. So each one of us will hear something 1:33 today and each of us should take faith back. Lord, I believe what I heard is going to be true in my life. There's a a play that our young people often do like usually during the lunch 1:49 break you'll see the youngsters put a play on and that play is usually the one actually before I go there I I I can't go there yet but it's a play that our youngsters do frequently and to that Listen. 2:15 Uh, this word was spoken to her. Perhaps for such a time as this, you were given royalty. You were given royalty. Perhaps for just a time as this. Do you know which one of these people? Is it A, Ruth, B, Rahab, C, 2:34 Esther, or D, Sarah? So, if you think it's A, Ruth, raise your hand. If you think it's B, Rahab, raise your hand. If you think it's C, Esther, raise your hand. If you think it's D, Sarah, raise your hand. 2:53 Very good. All of you, I think, know it was Esther. C. And Morai told this to her. Morai told. And I know a lot of you youngsters love the story of Esther. And one thing about Esther is Esther was a 3:16 orphan. I don't know if you know that her parents had died and Mori actually took her in. Mori was her cousin who took her in and said since your parents have died, I'll be a father to you. And uh so you can turn with me to Esther 3:32 chapter 2. Esther it's before the book of Job. So if you find Job then it's the book before that. So Esther chapter 2 verse 7. And I want you to see that how old was was was was Esther a old 3:52 person or a young person. I want you to see verse 7. He was bringing up Hadesa that is Esther his uncle's daughter for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face and when her father and mother 4:09 died, Mordei took her as his own daughter. And so even though she was an orphan, Mordei had such great care over this little girl, Esther, and took care of her as his own child. And there's one something wonderful 4:28 about Esther. When you think about when there was a time where there was going to be a great flood, God had to pick someone who would deliver all of humanity. Do you know who that person was? Okay, some of you Noah, there was 4:48 another time when they were at the Red Sea and all of Israel would have been defeated by Pharaoh's army if not for one person, a deliverer. Who was it? Moses. Noah was 600 years old during the time of when he delivered. Moses was 80 5:07 years old. And when God was looking at a person that he was going to pick for another deliverance, he chose a young girl who was an orphan. And I see that Lord, you have to bring about a great deliverance. And you're 5:25 looking for a person you need to pick. And God chooses a young girl, a young lady to bring about another deliverance in the days of Persia. One thing, one thing I see about Esther 5:43 is if you read with me verse 20. Esther chapter 2 verse 20. Esther had not yet made known her people even as Mori had commanded her. For Esther did what Mordei told her 6:00 as she had done when under his care. So there was something about Esther that everything that Mori told her she would do. She had somebody over her that she submitted to an authority over her that she submitted 6:18 to. She didn't have to. She was an orphan. She didn't need to submit under any authority. But she chose to. She found a morai that was willing to take her and be in authority over her. And I want to ask each one of us. Each one of 6:35 us. And this is a question we have to answer for ourselves. Who is the authority? Who is the Morai in your life? Do you have a Morai in your life? If you're a child at home, have you submitted to your parents 6:53 like Esther did? When God is looking around the universe and looking for a person, he's looking for someone who has learned to submit to authority. And she he could find that in Esther. 7:12 And so I want to encourage each one of you. There's a wonderful promise in obey your parents in the Lord so that it may go well with you. So every little young person here, learn to obey your parents in everything 7:30 in the Lord. It'll be it'll go extremely well for you. Don't have a rebellious heart and be self-willed. But know that your parents are there and they care for you tremendously. And you'll see later on why this was 7:49 important because Mori was going to tell Esther something later on which would be very important. Often when I think about the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus before the feeding of the 5,000 8:06 had his 12 disciples who were with him. After the feeding of the during the feeding of the 5,000, he had 5,000 men, women, and children there listening to him. At the end of all of that, after he blessed them, gave them the food and the bread from 8:24 miraculously, do you know how many people stayed back after that? Out of all those 5,000 plus people, how many people stayed back? It was only the same 12 that he started off with. He started off with 12. After 8:43 that, after he blessed them, he was left with the 12 he started off with. Turn with me to John chapter 6 verse 66. John chapter 6 66. As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. 9:03 Verse 67. So Jesus said to the 12, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" Verse 66, Simon Peter answered 68, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 9:20 We have believed and come to know that you are the holy one of God." And so he's ended up with the same 12. There's a song, once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord. And all of these 5,000 people came and they were blessed. God had fed them 9:39 supernaturally. But after the blessing was over, when Jesus says, "I'm the bread of heaven who's come down from heaven." If you read that with me in verse 35, John 6:35, Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will 9:57 not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. As long as Jesus was blessing them with bread and giving them their their provisions, they said, "We'll follow you. You're the prophet. We'll make you king." But the moment Jesus said, "I'm the 10:15 bread of life. Come to me." All 5,000 of them left. And today also it's a good question to ask each one of us. Why are you following Jesus? Is it for some blessing that he's going to give you? 10:34 From from reading this, not even one of those who sought for Jesus's blessing remained with him. They all got offended and left. So I was question I was thinking to myself, Lord, why did you do this great 10:51 miracle for all these people and at the end of it nobody stayed, not even one stayed with you. And I think the answer may be this. I think it was for one person that God did that miracle. This is just my 11:09 opinion and I think it's for this one. Turn with me to John chapter 6:9. There is a lad here, a young boy who has five barley loaves and two fish. 11:27 But what are these for so many people? There's a young boy here. And I believe that young boy, even though all those 5,000 people listened and were blessed and left, I believe this boy would have gone home. knowing that he saw a miracle that God 11:46 did with what he gave to the Lord. And I don't think he would ever have forgotten it. And maybe perhaps it was just for that one little boy that God did that miracle. It wasn't for the crowds. It was for that one boy 12:04 that he would see that miracle and never forget that God can do something. That boy took faith with him back home that day. God can do anything. I saw what he did for me. And for each one of you young pre people here and old. 12:23 Take it for yourself. Perhaps this morning God is speaking just for you. You might see the crowds, but in the midst of the crowds, perhaps God has taken the time just for you. put your name and say, "Lord, are you speaking to 12:40 me today personally?" And say, "Yes, Lord. I want to hear what you have to say to me personally." And take faith like that young boy did. So, let's go back to Esther and Esther 13:00 chapter 2. Esther is about two people, one Morai and one Esther. One an older man, one a young young girl. But turn with me. What made Morai the man he was? 13:19 Read with me Esther 2. In those days, while Morai was sitting at the king's gate, Big Banan and Theres, two of the king's officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to lay hands on king on the king. Verse 22, but 13:35 the plot became known to Mori, and he told King Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordori's name. Verse 23. Now when the plot was investigated and found to be so they were both hanged on the gallows and it was written in the book of the 13:52 chronicles in the king's president presence and so there was a plot against the king. Mori was a faithful person. He heard what was going what was happening. He was attentive and he went and told Esther Esther know that the king's life 14:11 is at is being threatened. go and tell the king. And he just did his work faithfully. That was his job to be a faithful servant to the king. But little did he know that here it says there and it was written in the book of 14:27 the chronicles in the king's presence. When we are faithful in everyday our everyday lives, God takes note of it. That's what I learned from the story of Morai. God takes note of it. If our earthly king takes note of the 14:42 faithfulness of what a man of his servant does, how much more does God take notice? You children, as you're at school and you're faithfully doing your homework, you're faithfully obeying your parents. Do you believe God takes note of note of it? I 15:01 believe he does. Everything each of us who work in a workplace, as we're working in our workplace, does God take note of it? Yes, he sees what we do and he takes note of it. And you'll see why this is important later on. 15:18 And then you would expect, you know, the one who saved the king's life that he would be honored. But no. Chapter 3 verse 1. After these events, the king promoted Hmon, the son of the Agagite, and advanced him and established 15:36 authority over his over all the princes who were with him. All the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid reverence to Hmon. For the king had commanded concerning him. But Morortei neither bowed down or 15:53 paid reverence to Hmon. Verse three, then the king's servants who were at the king's gate to said to Mori, "Why are you transgressing or why are you not obeying the king's command?" Verse four, now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he 16:13 would not listen to them that they told Hmon to see whether Morai's reason would stand. for he had told them that he was a Jew. And it wasn't one time. Every day they said, "Why don't you just bow down? What's wrong? The king asked you to bow 16:32 down to him. Why don't you just give him some honor and it'll go well with you? He won't bother you. Why don't you just compromise just a little bit here at work or at school or within with your friends?" What did Morai do? Even though it was 16:50 daily pressing on him, pure pressure, why don't you just give in? Why don't you just compromise? And that's where I see a man of God. He says, "No, it doesn't matter what others say. I'm going to stand true to the Lord. No matter what the consequences 17:07 are, I'm not going to compromise. No matter how much everybody else was compromising and everybody else was encouraging him to compromise but what boldness it took him to stand in the midst of everybody who was compromising to say no I will not 17:22 compromise no matter what the consequences are. I'm going to stay true. Guess who was noting this down? God was seeing this. Look at this man who does not compromise despite the pressure from everybody around him. 17:40 Young people in school when people around you are asking you to compromise. Can you stand strong like Mori did in the midst of a compromising world? Young people, old people. Let us not compromise. Let us stay strong. 17:59 God's taking note of it. And account on account of this, read with me verse 5. When Hmon saw that Morortei neither bowed down or paid homage to him, Hmon was filled with rage, but he disdained or disliked to lay 18:17 hands on Morortei alone, for they had told him who the people of Mori were. Therefore, Hmon sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Morortei, who were throughout the land of the kingdom. So he said, "It's not good enough to 18:32 just take revenge, my anger upon Morai. I'm going to get I'm going to destroy all the Jews." And you can see why was Amon so angry at the Jews. It was because of Morai. Because 18:52 Morortei did not compromise. And so you could say that all the Jews were now in trouble because of one man who didn't compromise. And they could have then put the blame on if only you compromised now all the Jews would have been safe. But 19:05 because you didn't compromise, look at what's happening to us. Same thing happened in the days of Moses when the play when the they gave the people of Israel to do more bricks without straw and they put the blame on Moses. 19:24 And so when we have to take a stand for the Lord, we may have to face persecution from those who are wanting to compromise. And we take a stand saying, "I'm not going to compromise." It says that all who desire to live 19:41 godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. And so if you don't want to be persecuted, just don't desire to live godly. You won't be persecuted. But if you do want to desire to live godly, then 20:01 expect to be persecuted. Not only for the the ones who are not religious, the ones who are religious also will persecute us for taking a stand. But as he goes, see this, he's so upset. Hmon is so upset. He's saying, you know 20:17 what? I'm going to destroy all of the Jews. He tells the king. And the king puts a seal on the on the decree. And there's a law of the Persians and the Mes. That means once you put it into law, it can never be reversed. 20:32 And you can see how the enemy looks like he has the upper hand. Hmon has the upper hand. The Jews are the ones who are going to be destroyed. And in the midst of that, the people of God are are looking at God, what's going on? We're your people. 20:49 But the ones who are persecuting us, it looks like they're stronger than us. And so it says chapter 4:1, "When Morai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put sackclaws in ashes, and went out in the midst of 21:07 the city, wailed loudly and bitterly." Verse two, he went as far as the king's gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great 21:23 mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes. Then then Esther seeing what's happening here with Mori says, "Hey, don't do this. Don't ruffle the feathers. Don't 21:42 make a big scene out of this." And so you read with me verse four. Then Esther's maidens and the Unix came and told her, "And the king, the queen was in anguish, and she sent garments to clothe Morai that he may remove his 21:58 sackcloth from him." But he did not accept them. Come on, don't don't show your mourning. Take these clothes. Pretend like nothing's happening. And he said, "No, I'm not going to do that. I 22:16 am not going to compromise." And you go down and you see and she says in verse 8, "Inform Esther in order for her to go to the king and implore his favor to plead with him for her people. Send her to the king and ask her to plead for the 22:36 people." And it says here in verse 11, "And all the king's servants and the people in the king's province know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner coat who has not been 22:53 summoned, he has but one law that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him this golden separ scepter so that he may live. and I have not been summoned in to come to the king for these 30 day 30 days. Verse 12, they 23:10 related Esther's words to Mordori. And you remember Esther was one who obeyed Morortei. She was one who was under his authority. And then this is what Mordei says to her. Verse 13. Then Mori said to reply to Esther, "Do not 23:28 imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews." Verse 14. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father's house will 23:45 perish." These are pretty strong words from Mori to Esther. He says, "If you don't stand up right now, you and your family are going to perish. And don't imagine that you being in the 24:03 palace that's going to save you. You will be you will perish." And now I'm thinking if I was Esther and I heard these words from Mori, what would I what would go through my mind? Wow, these are pretty sharp words. These are strong words. He's saying that 24:22 I'm going to die if I don't stand up and go to the king risking my life. But she was so used to listening to Morai. She saw Morortei's life a man who did not compromise. And so even though those words were 24:41 strong words, she knew the heart from which those words came from. Even though those were strong words, she knew the heart from which those words came from. For me too, I know sometimes I've heard very, very hard, strong words, but I 25:00 knew that they were true and I knew that they were for my good. And I also knew the heart from which those words came from. Do you have a Morai in your life who you are willing to hear strong words 25:17 from? Words that you know are true that come from a heart of care that may be strong, but you know the heart from which they come from. If you're here in this church and you're a member of this church, it's 25:35 a good question to ask. Who are my Moritis that I submit to that I know they have a care for my soul? That if they give me hard words for my good that I will receive them. It's a good question. It's one for each one of us to answer. Who are the Moritis in my 25:55 life who care for my soul? who will tell me the hard things, not worrying if I'll get offended. And it says here, "And who knows," and this is the famous thing that Mori tells that to Esther 26:15 that all our youngsters even remember. And who knows whether you whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this? Perhaps the reason God brought you into royalty was for this reason, so that God 26:32 would use you to deliver God's people. I know you're young, but God can use even young people. There's an expression, large doors swing on small hinges. Large doors. All these 26:51 doors weigh many pounds, but the hinges are probably in ounces. But that large door swings on small hinges. And God is willing to use any hinge that he can. And perhaps that hinge is you that God 27:08 is speaking to this morning. Turn with me to chapter 5. Esther chapter 5:9. And so Hmon is so angry 27:27 that he Mori will not bow. And so he wants to destroy the Jews. And it says here in verse 9, "And Hmon went out that day glad." This was the first time he got invited to the banquet. Esther gave the banquet actually before that. 27:46 Uh let's read chapter 5 verse one. And now it came about on the third day that Esther put out her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's rooms. And the king was sitting on his royal throne in 28:00 the throne room opposite to the entrance to the palace. Verse two, when he saw Esther, the queen standing in the court, and this is the point where Esther needs to find out if she has found favor in the king's eyes. If she finds favor, she 28:17 gets to live. If she doesn't find favor, she will die. And she's looking there. And she had gone into this with three days of prayer and fasting with all the other people. Pray with me. Fast with me. I'm going to go on your behalf 28:35 to the king and may he find favor and preserve our lives. And like that I see those like Esther have this desire to pray with others and say pray with me. Do you pray for others in this church family? Especially if you are one of these in 28:55 this church family. You know all the different things different people are going through in this church family. Do you have a care like Esther did to come? Let's pray together. Let's pray for that person. If you have the heart of an Esther or a 29:13 heart of a Morai, you will pray for others in this family. You'll have a care for others in this family. The queen standing in the courts, she 29:31 obtained favor in his sight and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came and said, "Can I have a banquet with you?" And I don't know what happened there, but it says that she had the 29:47 banquet with the king and Hmon and she was supposed to ask what? save the lives of my people. But I don't know if she got cold feet. That means she got scared and she couldn't ask the 30:02 king. But she said, "Okay, I will tell you tomorrow when I put the banquet again." And the thing that encouraged me was sometimes when we seek to do God's will and even if there's a little delay or a 30:20 hesitation, God can even use that for our good because in the next 24 hours between the first banquet and the second banquet, you'll see what happens. Verse 9, Esther 59. Then Hmon went out 30:37 that day pleased at heart when Hmon saw Morortei in the gate, king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him. Hmon was filled with anger against Mori. Again, the enemy always wants others to bow down and worship. You 30:54 might remember Satan wanted Jesus to bow down and worship. Wanted Jesus to bow down and worship him. like that Morai and Hmon also wants others to worship him. Verse 10, Hmon controlled himself, however, went to his house, sent his friends and his wife 31:12 Jerish Zeres. Verse 11, and Hmon recounted the glory of his riches and the number of his sons, and every instance where the king magnified him, and how he promoted him above all the other princes and the servants of the 31:26 king. Verse 12, Hmon also said, "Even Hester, Esther the queen, let no one but me come to the king to the banquet which she had prepared. And tomorrow also I'm invited by her with the king." And so he's so proud that you know all these 31:44 things are going well for him and he's thanking what all these things he has so many sons and all of the riches, all of these things. But listen to this in verse 13. Yet all of this does not satisfy me. I'm not content with all of 32:01 what God has given me. Every time I see Morortei, the Jews, sitting at the king's gate, despite all he had, one person if he saw him, everything else went away. It didn't matter all the other things. And today 32:20 also we could be in that place where we see some person and that one person maybe it's a relative maybe it's a person that we know a friend co-orker and you see them and then there's all these feelings that come out that you forget everything else 32:38 and you have such an anger towards that person. And if you do have that in your heart today, I tell you, do not leave it like as like Hmon did. Deal with it. Even today, if 32:57 the Lord puts his finger on your heart about a person that you cannot stand, that you have not forgiven, that you have such bitterness, every time you see them, everything else disappears. And the only thing you can think of is that 33:11 person and what they did. Go set that matter right. Do not let that linger on, that bitterness stay. Go and apologize. Set that matter right. Ask for forgiveness. Forgive. But do not let that fester on. 33:31 And so he goes and he tells his wife might not be a good thing to do. verse for then Zerish's wife and all his friends said to him have a gallows 50 cubit height that's 75 feet tall in all of Loveland I think the highest 33:51 building we have is about eight stories in all of Loveland and this gallows was about that high that means you could see it from a distance you don't need high gallows to hang a person the reason you have a high gallows was he wants to make 34:05 a humiliation of Morai in front of the entire city of Souza. And that's what he's doing there. And then Zerish's wife says, "Make it make the gallows and go in the morning and tell the king to have Morai hang on 34:25 it and then joyfully go to the king with the banquet and advise pleased Hmon." And the advice the advice pleased Hmon. And so he had the gallows made. What Hmon was doing because of his 34:42 bitterness was wrong. But his wife also supported it instead of saying, "Hmon, this is not right. This bitterness you have against Morai is just not right. Go set that matter right." That's what Zer should have done. But instead when he saw she saw 35:00 the bitterness that her husband had she poured oil on the fire and said no don't don't forgive him create a gallow humiliate him as she was doing this guess what she was doing. Do you know what she was doing? 35:18 She was setting herself up to become a widow. She didn't realize the plans that she was putting was to set herself that she would be a widow. And guess who else will die? You can shout shout it out. Her sons. 35:38 All 10 of her sons that more Hmon was praising would all die on gallows. And I see that's very dangerous when you see some bitterness. Zeresh didn't realize what she was doing 35:56 was coming back to bite her. She would be a widow and all her sons were taken because she harbored the bitterness as well. It's a warning for each one of us. So each one of us can take heart take heed to it. It's a challenge for us. If we 36:15 see bitterness, we can see what it can do to us and how it can destroy not only our lives. But don't let the root of bitterness take hold, thereby defiling many. But you can see all of what God is doing 36:34 in these 24 hours. Verse six, of all the nights that the king couldn't sleep, this was one of them. Verse one, chapter 6. Verse one. During that night, the king could not sleep. So he gave orders to bring out the book of the 36:52 records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. Verse two, it was found written what Morortei had reported concerning Big Tana and Teres, two of the king's unics, who are doorkeepers, that they sought to lay hands on the 37:08 king. Verse three. The king said, "What honor and dignity has been bestowed to Mori for this?" Then the king's servants who attended the king said, "Nothing has been done for him." So the king said, "Who's in the court?" Now Hmon just 37:23 entered the court and the king's palace in order to speak to him about hanging Mordei on the gallows which he had prepared for him. Verse five, the king's servant said, "Behold the man standing in the court, Hmon." And the king said, 37:37 "Let him come in." Verse six. So Hmon came in and the king said to him, "What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?" And Hmon said to himself, "Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?" So he had such high 37:55 thoughts of himself that must be me that the king is thinking of. Then Hmon said to the the king, "For the man whom the king desires to honor, let him bring the royal robe which has the king has worn and the horse with on which the king has 38:11 ridden, and on whose head the royal crown has been placed. And let the robe and the horse be handed over to the one the king most king's most noble princes. And let them array the man whom the king's desires to honor and lead him in 38:27 the horseback throughout the city's care and proclaim him that it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor. Verse 10. Then the king said to Hmon, "Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said and do for Morai the 38:43 Jew who is sitting at the king's gate. Do not fail fall short in anything in all of you what you have said." And think of that this man who was doing all this evil how God was planning let 39:00 the king sleep. let him stay awake and read the exact portion of the chronicles where it talked about what Mor Morai done. Who was planning all of this as Morai and others were sleeping? Who was planning on his behalf all night? 39:16 God was Why did God write this down? Was it just for Morai? No, it was for you and me to tell us what God did for Morai and Esther. God is doing for us as well. We must 39:34 believe it. We must believe what he did for Mori wasn't just for Morai and just for us to admire, but that God is doing that for his children today as well. In verse 12, and this is what it says in Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 39:52 2, when Jesus died on the cross, do you know what he did? He put to shame Colossians 2:15. When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of 40:11 them, having triumphed over them through triumphed through him. And where it says he made a public display of them, that word is used in a another place in the New Testament and it's found in 40:28 Matthew 1 verse 19. Matthew 1:19 it says uh it says of Joseph, Joseph being a righteous man. Verse 19. And Joseph, Matthew 1:19, and Joseph her husband, being a righteous 40:47 man, and not wanting to disgrace her, plan to send her away secretly. You know the disgrace that Mary would have had to face, which Joseph hid away. That word disgrace 41:06 is the same word that's being used in Colossians 2:15. That's what Jesus did. He put them to a public disgrace or shame on the cross when he died. My savior when he died put to shame all of these. And that's 41:25 what we see here as well. If you turn back to Esther chapter 6 verse 12 612 then Mori returned to the king's gate 41:41 but Hmon had his head covered mourning he went home verse 13 Hmon recounted to Zerish his wife and all his friends everything that happened to him then his wise men and his wife said, listen to this, and this is a verse that 42:01 encouraged me greatly. If Mori, if Morortei before whom you begun to fall is a Jew, if he's a Jew, if he's a child of God, if he's one of the Jews descendant, listen to this. You 42:20 will not overcome him, but you will surely before fall before him. That means Hmon this is only the beginning. Why did this in Why does this encourage me and why should this encourage you as well? Hmon the picture of the enemy who's 42:40 come. He was trying to destroy. He was plotting evil just like the devil and his hosts constantly trying to plot and may even look like they have the upper hand. But in reality, it's not I who has to be afraid of the 42:58 devil and his host. If I'm a child of God, if I'm a child of God, this promise is for me too. If AJ before whom you begun to fall is a child of God, you will not overcome him. This is only the beginning 43:17 of your end. And that gives me such confidence because I see, you know, when when Jesus cast out the demon from that young boy. He fell to the ground and everybody said, "Oh no, the boy is 43:36 he's dead." Was he dead? No. And then Jesus lifted him up. And I see this usually before Jesus does his miracle. It's almost as if it's at the worst. There's no hope at all. The boy is dead. 43:54 We're all trapped in before the Red Sea. Oh no, all the Jews are going to be executed. And when it seems like all the doors are closed and there's no more hope, that's when Jesus comes and says that 44:12 I'm going to turn the tables on Satan. And as I think about that, I think about these dominoes. Each of these dominoes set up there. And the moment you push the first domino, what happens? They all fall after one one after 44:31 another. And that's how that's the picture I get. Well, what God wants to do in us towards the enemy. We don't have to fear him. One word shall fell. Comes in a song. This is only the beginning of the end for the enemy. It might look like he's 44:50 in control and he's done all these things, but the time is nearing for his end. And God is causing us to be here these times. And so just one push, all those dominoes fall. And that's what's the Lord's going to do through us 45:07 and his church. And as I as I close this morning, this is the question that the king asked Esther. What do you want up to half of my kingdom? You tell me. Anything up to half of my kingdom and I 45:26 will give it to you. You just name it. If God were to tell you, up to half of my kingdom, I'm going to give you, what would you ask for? What would you It said they had there was 127 pro 45:44 provinces all the way to India and half of that would be 30 uh more than I am sorry 60 63 provinces. I could have all those 63 provinces if I asked the king what would you ask for? Esther pleaded for her people. She said, 46:07 "If I found favor, save me and my people." If God asks you, what are you asking for? Up to half of my kingdom. What would you ask for? Are you going to plead for the people of God? Are you going to plead for his church? For those here it 46:25 says in 2 Timothy chapter 2 vers two second Timothy 2:es 2 to 24 to 26 that the devil holds people in bondage and he keeps them under his control at will anytime he wants you you've seen 46:43 these cats playing with yarn. Anytime you want to get that cat, you just have to throw that yarn and it'll just get get caught in that yarn. And like that, the devil also looks around and he says, "Oh yeah, this brother, all I need to do 46:59 is this lust, he's gone. This sister, just this bitterness, unforgiveness, gone." And in the midst of that, God is calling Moritis and Esther's to stand up and say, "You know what? The end is just starting for the enemy. I'm coming on 47:17 behalf of the risen king. Where is God going to find the Moritis and Esers today? I believe you'll find it in our church. Those who care for this body, he's going to raise up. It 47:34 says, "Unless the strong man is bound, his goods are safe." Matthew 12:29. But if the strong man is bound, he will plunder his goods. And I believe in these last days, the church that the Lord is building 47:52 through whom he's going to take down the gates of hell, rescue all those who have been bound. And just before the light comes, it may be very dark, but the light is coming. And he is going to fall like those dominoes. 48:09 And in closing, I wanted to share what Ezekiel saw. He saw a bunch of dry bones there in the valley. And the dry bones came together. And he said, "Prophesy. Prophesy to these dry bones 48:28 and let the spirit come, the breath come, breath of God come and fill it." And I believe that's what the Lord wants to do in our midst as well. No matter how it's been, how dark it's looked like, I believe the time is coming. Just 48:42 like it says, if this church before whom you've begun to fall is of the Lord is the church that the Lord is building, you will not overcome them, but you will surely fall before them. The Lord is building a church. He's raising up a mighty army 49:01 through his prophetic word and his holy spirit which will take down the gates of hell. And I believe that the Lord is speaking to us individually that we are to be a part of that army that he's building in these last days. 49:18 May the Lord do it. Take this word as a word of faith for yourself. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray Lord your word does not come down in vain, Lord. You are preparing your church for these last days, Lord. And I thank you, 49:37 Lord, for that. That the enemy be before whom the enemy who is falling before us will finally fall before your church. The gates of hell will be trampled and his goods will be plundered. I pray that you'd rescue many in these last 49:55 days. Strengthen the feeble knees. Strengthen your army. May your army raise up to take down the g gates of hell. May you raise up Mororteis and Eers who will not compromise. Who would be faithful to you, who will plead for 50:10 your church, who you're doing this in these last days. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
