6: My name is Val Sumter. I started becoming to hope in 2012.
I'm recently relocated to North Carolina from Baltimore and it was
the main street, uh, that we used to drive up.
And during the holiday seasons,
the traffic was backed up and we saw the sign that it was a holiday, uh,
service.
And so I brought my kids and I attended and then I just started
coming back every Sunday. So my son, um,
was enrolled in the Kid City program and he meant an influential, uh,
leader that is still currently with him to this day.
He has stuck by him through thick and thin, through trial and error.
He has supported him. He depends on him, he believes in him, he greets him.
He has transformed some of the most pivotal moments in his life.
He will come in, calm, collected, uh, and voice his opinion.
And once he has expressed himself and they have a
conversation, the situation, the views of the situation can change. The,
uh, my son can look at it from a different view as a single parent,
having this gentleman in our lives and his family, um, having that pouring,
that guidance that uh, spiritual the prayers,
it has meant more than I can even describe it has transformed
my belief that there are still, you know,
genuine people and good people in the world.
And God led people in the world because he felt that on his heart to he saw
the best in my son and he felt it on his heart to stick by him. Um,
and it has just impacted us greatly. We need more men to show up.
We need more men to, uh, give.
We need more men to have kindness, patient.
We need more men of character. And God led.
If it is laid on your heart to volunteer for a kid that may need you, uh,
please sign up today.
8: I love that video. Uh,
I love the idea of a man investing in a young man and man,
we need more of that in the Kingdom of God. Uh,
I was one of those kids who needed a mentor like that growing up.
And so I'm thankful that men have always stepped up and been a part of my life.
And if you are a man, man, we need you in the game.
We need you to get into the fight and we would love to connect with you to talk
about that. Now, I'm excited to spend this time with you today.
I'm excited to continue this series. Uh,
it's only a two week series and we've been calling it called quite creative,
right? Um, now a few years back, my wife and I,
we moved from living overseas.
We lived abroad for a while back to her home state of North Carolina Hope
Community Church is nestled right in the heartbeat of the Bible Belt.
We are in the middle of the state of North Carolina.
And if you have ever lived in the Bible Belt or in the South,
you know that it has a vernacular, all of its own right?
There is some language that you need to learn in order to cope,
in order to be able to survive in the South. And so when you get here,
you gotta kind of learn the language quick because things come at you fast. Now,
one of the terms that I had to learn when I got here is something you're
probably familiar with. Uh, it's the term, um,
and you've probably heard it before, used in a couple different ways.
And the term is bless your heart. Now,
some of you are laughing already because you have seen this used in a couple
different ways.
You've seen it in a way that's used to praise people and to support them,
but you also seen it used a different way. Uh, like for instance, uh,
like if you do something good for a person and they like what you've done,
they'll say, man, you are such a sweet person, bless your heart.
And that's the good side of it.
But then there are times when you don't do something great or you seem confused
and you try to go to that same person and they say, oh,
bless your heart, this person thinks you're an idiot. Right?
They think that they're smart people and there's you, right?
Because that term is used very different.
And you gotta learn all these phrases in the south because again,
life comes at you pretty quickly. And when those things type to show up,
you gotta know exactly what the person is saying. Now,
as I track down those phrases and where they come from and what they're all
about,
what I have found more often than not is the phrases that are used in the Bible
belt, surprise, surprise, actually come from the Bible, right?
People are saying things that they've been impacted by through their whole lives
as they spent time in church, as they spent time around Christians.
And there's a lot of sayings like this. For instance,
if you're out on the football field and your coach tells you, Hey,
I need you to get in the game, I need you to go the extra mile.
You might not know that comes from the Bible, but it does.
And and it's a biblical saying, but it somehow crept its way into culture.
I mean,
you might be at a place where your coach says something to you or where a friend
says something to you and maybe they say something like this, Hey, hey, hey,
here's what I need you to do. I I need you, instead of going the extra mile,
what I need you to do is fight the good fight.
That's a Bible phrase too.
You see a lot of the things that have become common language for us,
they find their footing in the word scripture.
And some of those things are actually things that Jesus himself said.
I mean, you ever had that friend who's trying to give you great advice?
He's like, dude, dude,
let me just tell you like you get back what you put into the ground.
And I'm like, dude, that's from the Bible. That's not from you. That's just,
you reap what you sow, right?
Because a lot of times we don't even know that these things come from the Bible,
but there are so many of them stroll throughout the pages of scripture that have
become a part of our current culture. You see,
there's this one phrase that impacted me greatly growing up,
and my prayer is that it'll impact you greatly too.
And it's right from the pages of scripture as well.
And the phrase is for such a time as this,
you know, like those others,
it originates in the Bible and it originates in one of the greatest stories ever
told. It's right from the book of Esther.
And that's where we're gonna spend our time together today. Now,
if you have never read the book of Esther,
can I just say that the story rivals everything that you have ever seen in the
form of a story. It's better than Disney,
it's better than that other one with the cheap knockoff cartoons.
It's better than any of the Marvel universe. I mean,
this story is wrought with stuff. It's got a king, it's got two queens,
it's got villains. It is an amazing story.
And so today we are gonna spend our time in the book of Vest.
So if you have your Bibles, here's what I want you to do.
I want you to go ahead and open them up to the book of Esther.
And I want to tell you right from the beginning that we are gonna move around a
little bit now we're gonna gonna begin at chapter one and verse four,
and we're gonna bounce around on a little bit. Now, Esther is 10 chapters,
and when you get some time,
I want you to go back and read it all the way through. It is a phenomenal story.
And today we are gonna hit the wave tops and the highlights and we're gonna
bounce a little bit through the story. But man, it is such a good story.
Now, while you're turning to chapter one verse four,
let me just kinda lay out a little bit of the story for you. First,
Esther is the last of the historical books of the Old Testament.
Also in the book of Esther,
there's this unique thing about the book that makes it really special.
The name of God is not specifically mentioned anywhere in the
book of Esther, but what is so beautiful about it is as you look at the book,
you can see God's hands all over it.
It helps us to look and see and track the move of God. I mean,
you can see God's hand prints all throughout the life of Esther.
And my goal is by the end of our time today,
that not only would you see the hand prints of God and the life of Esther,
but we would see the hand prints of God in our own lives
because God is always at work.
Let me give you a little bit of background on the story.
Now this book is set in the Persian empire and it's during the time of the
reign of King Xerxes. Now, you may have heard that name before,
probably if you saw the movie 300. He's this guy, he's two chains, uh,
with the Mr. T starter kid on with all the gold on. That's who he is.
And he is known as a conqueror.
And at the time he had a ton of land. You see,
he had inherited some land from the kingdom of the previous king and he had
conquered some land for itself.
And so he's in charge of 2.1 million square miles of land.
The Persian empire is huge,
and it would've included places like what our common day is Iraq and Turkey and
Afghanistan and Pakistan and all of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
You see, Xerxes was a conqueror and he had been involved in battle for many,
many years. Now he was a conqueror,
but he was also known as a partier. You see,
he loved to spend money, he loved to have a good time,
and that ultimately ended up being his demise. As he was beat, uh, in battle,
uh, he was, he lost a battle, a great battle,
and that ended up killing his kingdom. Now when we get to verse chapter one,
verse four,
here's what it says about a party that he throws for his leaders.
For the people who are in great authority, he throws a big shindig for him.
Here's what it says. It says, for a full 180 days,
he talking about King Xerxes displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom
and his splendor and the glory of his majesty. And when these days were over,
the king gave a banquet lasting seven days long in the enclosed garden of the
king's palace,
for all the people from the least to the greatest who were in the citadel of
Susa.
The garden had hangings of white and blue linen fastened with cords of white
linen and purple material with silver rings or marble pillars.
There were conscious, or excuse me,
there were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic, pavement of porphyry.
There was marble, mother of prayer, all other costly stones.
Wine was served in goblets of gold,
each one different from the other.
And the royal wine was abundant in keeping with the king's liberality
by the king's command. Listen,
each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions for the king.
Instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man,
whatever he wished. I mean, this is quite the party.
This is bacon field, all the wine you could drink. Uh, I mean,
can I just say ain't no party like a Xerxes party?
'cause the Xerxes party don't stop seven days of partying.
This is like, uh, the biggest party you could ever think of.
So he's having a party and while he's having one,
his queen is introduced to us and her name is Vashti.
And Vashti is having a party with all her friends at the same time.
So he's in his party with all the guys, she's with her party,
with all the girls, everybody seems to be having a good time in his party.
It's pretty much a drunken soiree.
And so he decides at some point that he wants to show off the queen.
So he invites Vashti to join him in his party and tries to show her
off in front of all his friends. Small caveat,
he asked her to appear in front of them naked.
And Vashti is a queen and she's a woman of virtue.
And to her credit, she refuses,
she refuses the king's command and refusing any king's
command comes with great implications.
And so the king is angered by all of this,
and he decides to do something drastic. He replaces her as queen.
And so he calls the guys who are in charge,
he brings them into a conversation and he says, you know what?
We gotta replace the queen.
And so these guys devise a plan to go to all of the virgins
of his empire,
and they go far and wide and they find every young girl that they can find and
they decide to put 'em in a contest,
kind of like an audition for the king's favor. Now, to be a part of the contest,
you had to have a year of beauty treatments.
And it's all the beauty treatments. I mean,
it's the thing with the stones on your back and they got the thing with the
thread and the eyebrows. They're doing all these beauty treatments,
they get in the hair did like this is a big thing that they have to do.
And for a year they need to do those beauty treatments and then they will get an
audience with the king. I,
I want you to think of it kind of like the Bachelor Persian Empire Edition.
They hold a big contest and and they grab all of these ladies and bring them
there. They pursue all of the beautiful women,
specifically the virgin women, and bring them into the King's Harem.
They have every woman spend time with the king. But in order to do that again,
you had to have that year of treatment.
And one of these women catches the king's attention,
and her name is Esther. She's the namesake of this book.
Now Esther is a special lady.
She stood out because of her view, her beauty,
but also because of her virtue.
When she was given the option to have all the beauty treatments,
she doesn't jump at the chance. As a matter of fact, she tells them, Hey,
I only need the bare minimum.
And she finds an audience with the king and she quickly wins him
over. When we get to chapter two, verse 17, here's what it says.
It says that the king was attracted to Esther more than any other
woman.
She won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins.
So he set a royal crown on her head and he made her queen instead of Vashti.
And the king gave her a great banquet and Esther's banquet for all his
nobles and officials.
He proclaimed the holidays throughout the provinces and he distributed gifts
with royal liberality. Remember, he's a big spender.
And so Esther becomes the queen. And while King Esther,
excuse me, while Queen Esther's rise to the throne that's happening,
there is also a different situation developing. You see,
Esther had been raised by her cousin and her cousin was Jewish
and she is Jewish, and she leaves out the idea that she's Jewish.
When she talks to the king, she doesn't tell him about her identity.
Now her cousin is named Mordecai and he is introduced to the story
and the Persian empire.
Where Esther lives is a place where different ethnicities, different cultures,
different backgrounds seem to get along,
but there's this underlying tension and there are a lot of people who wanna wipe
out the Jews completely. And so she doesn't share the fact that she's a Jew.
Her cousin Mordecai though he kind of stands on business and he knows that he's
a Jew and he stands strong in it. And in chapter two and three,
this comes to a head. You see Mordecai in chapter three,
verse two uncovers a plot to kill the king.
It says verse 21. During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate,
Beana and tar,
two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway became angry and they
conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, his cousin,
who he had raised, who in turn reported it to the king,
giving credit to Mordecai.
And when the report was investigated and found to be true,
the two officials were impaled on polls.
And all of this was recorded in the annal of the presence of the king.
So Mordecai, this Jewish man saves the king's life, and because of it,
he finds favor.
And it's all because of his relationship with this girl named Esther
who he raised. Can we take a timeout real quick?
Just a quick pause
for Mordecai to have been in the exact place
where he was standing to hear the plot that was happening.
I mean, this is, this is like an amazing coincidence.
Like it feels like too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. Like,
like he's standing at the exact time,
right time in the exact right place to hear this plot. I mean,
this is too much to be a coincidence. I mean,
have you ever found yourself in a moment in your life where it is too much to be
a coincidence? You are where you are, or you overhear what you hear,
or you experience what you experience and you know that this is too much to be a
coincidence? You know that there's something more at play.
You know, I believe some of those moments
are not coincidences at all. They're the providence of God.
You know, God is always at work and God works ahead of us.
And so oftentimes we see God at work and we chalk it up as a coincidence.
But this is no coincidence.
And if we were to define the idea of the providence of God,
it would be God's caring provision for his people as he guides us on the journey
that he has for us, the journey of faith through this life,
accomplishing the purpose that God has.
That's providence. You know,
we talked about this for weeks in a series on Romans chapter eight,
and the Bible says in Romans chapter eight that all things work to the good of
those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
This is God's providence. It's God's hand at work.
It's him guiding our steps. It's him closing and opening doors. You know,
I love Revelation three. It says that God closes doors that no man can open,
and he opens doors that no man can close. It's God's providence,
time back in. Well,
what happens to Mordecai here is clearly God's providence at work, right place,
right time, right now, and the plot is discovered and the king is saved,
and Mordecai finds favor with the king. Now he finds favor with the king.
But how many of you know that just because you find favor with one person,
it doesn't mean that you find favor with everybody. I mean,
there's haters everywhere now.
There's haters in every single room and in some room there's two.
And so he quickly begins to attract the haters.
You know what I used to tell my kids is that you can always find the haters.
And it's not because of what they say. You gotta watch what they do.
You can always tell who the people are who don't want you to succeed or don't
want you to do well because they're not around when you're rising,
because they're upset that you're rising.
They're also not around when you're falling because they're not there to
help you. They're there to help themselves.
When Mordecai quickly attracts some haters and he runs into a man
named Haman, and I affectionately, or I guess un affectionately call him Haman,
the hater. Haman hates the Jews.
And chapter three, we begin to see his hate hard at work. Here's what it says.
It says, after these events, king Xerxes honored Haman, the son of Haha,
the Aite elevating him and giving him a seed of honor higher than
that of all the other nobles,
all the royal officials at the King's gate knelt down and paid honor to
Haman. So the royal officials see him,
they kneel down, they pay him.
Honor for the king had commanded him concerning Haman,
but Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
Then the royal officials at the King's gate asked Mordecai,
why do you disobey the king's command? Day after day? They spoke to him,
but he refused to comply.
And therefore they told Haman about what had happened,
about Mordecai's behavior,
that it would not be tolerated because he had told them that he was a Jew
and he refused to bow down. Now, Mordecai was Jewish,
so he refused to bow down because doing so would've been a violation of his
religious principles, right? He's Jewish. And then the Jewish tradition,
if you bow down before anybody but God, it is a form of idolatry.
Can I just say that in the Christian tradition, if you bow down before anybody,
it is also a form of idolatry.
And so he chooses not to do this. It's a,
it's a compromise that he could not accept.
And so he stands on his principles.
Can I take another quick time out? You know,
I believe that this is a fundamental thing that's problematic in our culture
today.
We have a lot of priorities and these are things that we believe are important
to us.
But can I just say that there are very few people who stand on
biblical principles? You know, it's good to have priorities,
but I prefer to have principles, things that are true today,
that were true yesterday, that will be true tomorrow that I stand on.
We have a hard time finding people in our culture.
Instead of being led by conviction
or led by convenience,
we need more people who will stand on conviction.
Mordecai is a man of conviction,
so he refuses to bow down time back in.
And this is an act of defiance and it sets off a chain of events.
And man, it becomes really problematic, not just for Mordecai,
but also for the Jews. Now remember,
Haman is a hater and he's angered by what happens by Mordecai's response.
And he wants to not just kill Mordecai,
he wants to kill all of the Jewish people. I mean, when Haman sees this,
he gets really, really angry.
Here's what it says in chapter three, verse five.
When Haman saw that Mordecai would not deal down or pay
him honor, he was enraged.
Yet having learned who mordecai's people were,
he scorned the idea of just killing Mordecai. And instead,
Haman looked away to destroy all of Mordecai's people, the Jews,
throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
So he doesn't wanna just kill one person, he wants to kill all of the Jews.
And at the time,
this would've only counted the men and just counting the men would've been
75,000 people
dead because one person won't bow down to you.
Haman brings a new definition to the word hater. He talks to the king,
he talks to Xerxes and gets him convinced to issue an order,
an edict to enact his plan.
And the Jewish people are in grave danger. So Mordecai,
having raised Esther takes these three steps that try to get back into the good
graces of the king. The first thing that he does,
he tears his clothes and he puts on sackcloth and ashes and he goes and walks
around the kingdom so that people can see that he is hurting.
This is a sign that you are outraged.
So he tears his clothes,
then he talks to the servants of the king and he tells them what has happened.
And he says, I need to talk to Esther. And then lastly,
he asks Esther to use her power to change their
current circumstances. He asks for help.
In verse 12, chapter four,
it says that when Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, you see,
she sends a message back,
he sent back this answer, you know, Esther, I need your help.
But do not think
that because you are in the king's house that you're gonna be saved from this
guy's reign.
Don't think that you alone of the Jews will escape what this man is doing
for if you remain silent at this time, God will find a way, right?
Relief and deliverance for the Jews will still arise from another place,
but you and your father's family will perish.
And this is where we get the saying. He says, in who knows,
but that you maybe have been called to your royal position
for such a time as this, for such a time as this.
You know, God's timing is perfect
and he places individuals in specific positions for his purposes.
And so Esther's rise to queenship is not a commit, and it's not a,
it's not a coincidence. It is a divine appointment.
God has placed her exactly where she needs to be for such a time as
this. And I've been following the Lord for a long time.
And what I have learned about God is that God has a way of putting us
exactly where he wants us and exactly at the time that he needs us to be there
for His glory to be shown through our lives.
What I've learned is that God positions his people for his purpose.
He has always gone about the business of positioning his people.
And I get a chance to spend time with people at some of the worst moments in
their lives and at some of the best moments in their lives. And as a pastor,
I get the privilege of sitting with them through those moments.
And what I know is that God oftentimes is positioning them for great purpose
through difficult circumstances.
And this is what he's doing in the life of Esther. I mean,
lemme just give you a few examples.
It is in that relationship where you're connected to a person and this person
doesn't talk to anybody else,
but for some reason they will share with you their deepest,
darkest secrets and ask you to pray for them.
Could this be that God has positioned you in their lives for his purpose?
It's that nonprofit organization that you keep driving by that has caught your
eye and you know they need help. You know they need help. You have been there,
you have seen what they do. You know that they are fulfilling God's purpose,
but you just keep on driving by and you know what they need.
You have,
could that be God positioning you for His purpose?
Is that relationship that you have at the job
where you are discipling a person and you're living out your faith
and it takes everything. You got to get up in the morning and go to that job
because you dislike it so much,
but you know that God has a plan to use you in that place.
Could it be that God has positioned you right where you are
for his purpose? Well, this is where Esther is
positioned on purpose. This is where she finds herself.
You see,
Mordecai had learned of this plot that killed the Jews and he urged Esther to
intervene and surely God could use someone else. I mean,
we talked about Abraham last week and his response to Isaac when he asked about
the sacrifice and the word was that the Lord will provide,
surely he will provide somebody else, but he wants to use you.
He wants to use Esther. And this is her time of calling.
She's called for such a time as this.
And so she takes action.
She invites King Xerxes and Haman to a banquet as she asks for one wish
from the king.
She asks for one wish to be granted and she has a banquet for the king.
Apparently she knows that most men work better on a full stomach.
And so she invites the king into this banquet and he agrees to grant her one
wish on the next day. So it's all good with the king,
and it seems to be all good with Haman because Haman gets invited to the to the
luncheon as well.
But then Haman sees Mordecai again right outside the
temple, right outside the gates,
refusing yet again to bow down. Haman is furious.
And so he develops a plan to kill Haman again.
And he prepares a device to have him killed. He wants him dead no matter what,
and he would've succeeded with his plan. But there was this one small problem,
you see,
remember when I said God always is at work and sometimes he just goes before us.
Well, at that night, for some reason, for whatever reason,
the king cannot sleep. In chapter six verse one,
it says that that night King couldn't sleep.
He tried everything. He tried milk, he tried watching Jimmy Fallon,
he couldn't sleep. And so he orders the book of Chronicles,
the record of his reign to be brought into him and to have it read to him.
And when you know it, he remembers.
He remembers the name of this man, Mordecai,
who has saved his life and how what had happened had been written in the Annals.
He has some men read him a story. And in that story it reminds him of this guy,
Mordecai. And then the next day, Esther says,
can you spare the life of Mordecai? And the kink is like,
who would kill Mordecai?
Who would kill this man who has saved my life?
And the death that Haman has planned for Mordecai
actually ends up being the death that Hammond experiences
he's put to death in the same way. You know,
God has a way of just flipping that thing around, doesn't he?
His providence is real.
And as you read this story, you can see his hands all over it.
And and I think about my own story, how God's hands have been all over that.
I mean,
I remind myself sometimes of God's story in my life and his providence has been
amazing. He has showed up at exactly the right times,
in exactly the right ways over and over and over and over again in my life.
And he has showed me two truths that seem to resonate in my heart.
Every time I think about the goodness of God is one that God is always at
work, he is always working. So when you're asking, God, can you hear me, God,
can you see me God, do you even care about what I'm going through? He hears you.
He sees you, and he cares. He's always at work.
The second thing
is that you may not be able to trace the hand of God.
You may not be able to trace the hand of God,
but we should always be able to trust the hand of God. You know,
God's proof is his past.
And if he did it for Mordecai,
he can do it for you too.
God's faithfulness in the past gives us confidence for today
that he has a plan for tomorrow.
He's good. You know, there's so many times
where we see God at work in our lives, and I think if we're honest,
like we tend to chalk it up as a coincidence, right?
We tend to act as if it's just something that maybe just happened out,
happen happenstance.
Like maybe even you're here today and you can't figure out how by the life of
you,
you ended up in a church because you've done everything you could to avoid the
church. Perhaps it's God
who has you exactly where you are,
perhaps his hand still at work in your
life. Perhaps God is positioning you for his purpose.
And so I just wanna leave you with three questions to contemplate as you begin
to trace the move of God in your own life. You can see it in Esther's life,
but I'm hoping that we can recognize it in our own life.
And here's the first one,
how has God positioned you right now for his purpose?
How has he positioned you for purpose?
Because he is always at work. Here's a second question.
Where do you see the move of God currently at work in your life?
Because if God is always on the move,
and that means he's working right now,
and what we're supposed to do is recognize the move of God
and join him there. So where is he moving in your life right now?
Where is he doing heavy lifting in your heart?
Let me ask this last question. Why are you here?
Why are you here right now?
Why have you been called to such a time as this?
And I gotta believe that it's because God still has work for you to do.
You know the fact that you have breath in your lungs,
that you have a beating in your chest,
that means that God still has work for you to do.
And he is calling all of us into such a time as this.
And every one of us gets the opportunity to respond both with our
word and with how we live.
And so maybe you're here and you're new to church,
or maybe you've been coming for a little while,
but you have never said yes to the free gift of salvation that God offers to
you.
I want you to know that you can change that today
and you can become a part of God's family
and you can begin to live for him and with him and to allow him to do the work
in your life that he needs to do
to position you for purpose.
And so I wanna take a moment to simply pray.
And if you or somebody who wants to follow Jesus,
I'm gonna ask that you pray this prayer with me.
There's nothing special about the prayer,
it's just an outward confession of what God is doing on the inside of our
hearts.
So you can join me in this prayer and decide to follow Jesus right now.
Let's pray together.
If you wanna follow Jesus today, simply pray this prayer.
Father God, I'm sorry,
I see today
that my actions have turned me away from you.
But Father God, as I see how you moved in the life of Esther,
I want you to move in my life that way.
I want to be available to you in my heart
and in the way that I live my life. So Father,
today I turn away from sit
and I turn towards you.
Fill me with your spirit, renew my life
and help me to follow you.
I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Can I just say that if you made that decision today,
you have made the greatest decision of your life.
It's gonna change everything forever. You know,
God is still in the business of calling his people
into this time right now.
So we give him glory and we give him praise and we choose to trust
his plan. God bless you.