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[music]

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Alright, I've been preaching
the Bible here 16 years.

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Every week I love it,

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and this week
I'm double fired up.

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We're in Esther 2:1-18,

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looking at
Jesus, the better Savior.

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If you've got a Bible,
find that place.

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I love you,
God's grace is with us,

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and thank you for being
a great church that allows me

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to teach the Bible and yell.

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I am very, very, very blessed.

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And if you're new,
as we go through the Bible,

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be careful not to read
it in a religious way.

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And the way religious
people read it is this:

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"Oh, there's good people.
There's bad people.

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I want to be like
the good people."

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Here's how we read it:
"There's bad people and Jesus."

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That's how we read the Bible,
and so as we look at it today,

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you're going to meet
some people:

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Xerxes, Mordecai, Esther.

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They all have some failures,
some faults, and some flaws,

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and we're gonna look at how
God interacts in their life.

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So here we go.
You ready?

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You're gonna meet Xerxes
first, Xerxes the Great.

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He's actually Xerxes the Awful,

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but they called him
Xerxes the Great.

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His Persian name is Ahasuerus,
his Greek name is Xerxes.

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Esther 2:1-4.

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"After these things,"

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we'll unpack what those
things are in a moment,

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"when the anger of
King Ahasuerus,

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Xerxes had abated."

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You ever had one of those
situations where you're just

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angry, frustrated, grumpy?

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Alright, I'm Irish.

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I always say we have
two emotions: asleep and angry.

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That's our options.

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So, some of you are more--you're
grumpy, you're frustrated,

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you're irritable.

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How many of you have made
a dumb decision

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out of anger, frustration?

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We all have, right?

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Then after awhile, you think,
"Man, that was a bad idea."

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It took this guy 4 years.

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Four years after he loses his
temper, divorces his wife,

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he wakes up one day listening
to country western music.

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He's got nobody to console
him except for Jack Daniels,

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and Jose Cuervo, and Jim Beam.

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Those are the only
friends left for the guy.

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He's totally depressed.

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You kind of get the picture
here's a guy hitting a bottle,

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end of the road,
not doing good, "Woe is me.

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What am I going to do?"

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The great, pathetic King Xerxes.

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"When his anger had abated,
he remembered Vashti."

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That's the wife he divorced.

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He's like, "Oh, I miss my wife."

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You shouldn't have divorced her.

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How many people have done that?

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You've been in a relationship,
dating someone, marry someone,

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and then you just get
frustrated, angry,

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and then you just
get rid of them.

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And then later,
"That was a dumb idea.

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"What was I thinking?

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It wasn't that bad."

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Why did he break up with Vashti?

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Why did he divorce his wife?

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She told him no
because he was wrong.

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If he would have repented,
he could have kept his wife.

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You've always got a choice.

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You get to keep your
spouse or keep your sin.

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He chose to keep his
sin and lose his spouse.

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"And what she had done and what
had been decreed against her.

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Then the king's young
men who attended him said--"

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Ahhh!

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Let me just say this:
if you're having a hard time,

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and you're really, really
depressed, and you want counsel,

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don't pursue the counsel
of, quote, "young men."

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You will never get good
counsel from young men.

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A lot of young guys are like,
"Well, I disagree with that."

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Of course you would,
you're always wrong.

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That's my point.

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The Bible has nothing
good to say about young men.

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Nothing.

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I've read the whole book.

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Some of you say,
"Oh, it says they're strong."

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So are terrorists and pit bulls,
you know?

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It's not necessarily
a compliment.

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So, we'll just keep reading.

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It's a great story.

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"Then the king's young men
who attended him said,

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"'Oh, we've got an idea.

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Let's got to a sorority and
find beautiful young virgins,'"

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that's in Hebrew,
"'to be sought out for the king.

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"'And let the king appoint
officers in all the provinces

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"'of his kingdom to gather all
the beautiful young virgins

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to the harem
in Susa the citadel,'"

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Iran today, this is Persia
in the ancient world,

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"under custody of Hegai,
the king's eunuch.'"

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You say, "Is that
what I think it is?"

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Yep.
Sad.

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"'Who is in charge of the women.
Let the cosmetics be given them.

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"'And let the young woman who
pleases the king be queen

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"'instead of Vashti.'

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This pleased the king,
and he did so."

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He's in this depressed,
despondent, discouraged place.

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You been there?

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Just that bad day where you're
just--all of a sudden your life

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collapses and crashes in on
you, and as you look at it,

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you really can't just
blame other people.

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You've done it to yourself
with some bad decisions,

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with some selfishness, with some
pride, with some foolishness,

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with some emotional outbursts.

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You've done it to yourself.

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And let me say this: we all get
into these places because we're

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all sinners, and when we do, we
are particularly susceptible

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to bad counsel.

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Be careful who you confide in.

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Be careful who you
receive counsel from,

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especially when you're in
your vulnerable moments.

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So, the great King Xerxes, who
rules over the Persian Empire,

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3 million square miles,
multiple languages, nations,

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and people groups, the most
powerful man on earth in history

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to that day, the richest
man on earth, he's lonely,

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he's sad, he's depressed,
and he receives bad counsel.

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How did he get
into this position?

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How many of you would like
to know how he got into this

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position so you could
vicariously learn from his

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mistakes and maybe let
him pay your dumb tax?

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Good idea?

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Here's the big idea:
those who chase the glory

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only get the misery.

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Those who chase the glory
only get the misery.

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Up until this
point in the story,

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what we have seen
from King Xerxes,

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he lived for his own glory.

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Here's what we know about
the guy: he sits on a throne,

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he calls himself king of kings,

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he calls people in
for a 6-month party

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to feast in his presence
and to toast in his honor,

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he wants his orders
to be obeyed,

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he wants women
to be brought to him,

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he wants gifts to be
distributed from him,

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he wants praise
to be sung to him.

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He's a guy who lives
for his own glory.

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"It's only about me,
it's always about me,

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it's totally about me."

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And he ends up chasing glory
and receiving misery.

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And it's true.

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And you and I, we need
to know, myself included,

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that we are prone
to this same folly.

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Martin Luther said, rightly,
that sin is the self

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bending in on the self.

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We were made to glorify,
we were made to praise,

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we were made to worship,
and because of sin,

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we glorify or seek
to glorify ourselves.

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It's about my fame, my money,
my pleasure, my reputation,

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my wants, my hurts,
my longings, my needs,

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and the world should acknowledge
my glory and serve my glory,

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and we end up in misery

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because the glory is not
fitting for us.

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The glory belongs to God alone.

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The glory is intended
for God alone,

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and those who chase
glory end up in misery,

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and the Bible tells this story
with various characters in

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various ways at various times,
over, and over, and over.

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It's the story of
Solomon and many others.

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Whose glory are you living for?

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What glory are you living for?

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Those who chase
the glory get the misery.

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And he's lost.

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He lost his wife.
You know why?

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Because if you live
for your own glory,

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you will be impossible
to live with.

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And so his wife tells him no,
and she was right and he was

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wrong, but rather than repent of
his sin, he rejected his wife.

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And it says that
after time had passed,

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so it's 4 years here--not only
in that time had he lost his

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wife, history tells us outside
of Scripture, through Herodotus,

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the father of history,
that he also lost a war.

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See, he wanted glory.

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He wanted to be a king who ruled
all the kingdoms of the earth.

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His father was
the great King Darius

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who had established this empire
that he inherited,

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and his father had one
blemish on his military mark,

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and that was that his
conquest of Greece failed.

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He was defeated,
and so Xerxes the Great decided

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that he would assemble
the largest army

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in the history of the world,

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and that he would march
from Persia into Greece,

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and he would conquer the Greeks,
and he would supersede

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his father's glory,
and he was defeated.

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I'm not saying
you should see it,

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but it's depicted
in the movie "300."

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Two and a half thousand years
later, we're still telling

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the story of
this guy losing.

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And to this day, there is
a regiment of the Greek army,

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as I understand it, that still
uses as their motto

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something that was said
to King Xerxes.

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When he marched into Greece
and was ultimately humiliated

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and defeated,
it is reported that he

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told one of their
Greek commanders or generals,

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"You need to surrender
your arms,"

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and the soldier said, quote,

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"You'll need to come
and take them."

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And to this day, that's
the motto of the Greek army,

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and they tell this story to the
kids growing up in Greek school,

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and if you enlist for
the military in Greece,

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they talk about how,
"Hey, we crushed Xerxes.

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Welcome to our team."

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If you chase the glory,
you get the misery.

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And here is this man,
he's miserable,

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he's lonely, he's defeated.

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He's rich, and powerful,
and bored.

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Number two: when you
don't turn to God,

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you turn to someone
else to replace God.

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Xerxes doesn't come to his
senses and say, "I'm a sinner.

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I need God's help."

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Instead of turning to God,
he turns to single guys.

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Single guys!

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Man!

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You'd think he could afford
better counseling than that.

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Right?

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Like, he basically walked into
a fraternity, said, "Hey guys.

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Rough time for me.
What do you think I should do?"

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Oh, and lo and behold,
what do the frat guys say?

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"Uh, let's find young,
beautiful virgins."

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Same thing
dumb frat guys always say.

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That'll fix it.
Right?

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So, here's his wise counselors.

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If you don't turn to God,
you'll turn to someone else.

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Who do you turn to?

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Who have you turned to?

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Which counselors have you
received counsel from

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and it was foolish counsel,
not wise counsel?

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And as he turns to his
foolish counselors,

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they tell him that the answer
is to not turn to God

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in repentance,
but to turn to a woman.

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"What you need is a wife.
You need a woman.

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That's what you need.
That'll fix it."

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Some guys still think this.

243
00:11:19,375 --> 00:11:21,708
"I'm miserable.
My life is a failure.

244
00:11:21,792 --> 00:11:24,417
"I'm not following God.
It's all falling apart.

245
00:11:24,500 --> 00:11:26,667
I need a woman."

246
00:11:26,750 --> 00:11:28,333
No, you don't.

247
00:11:28,375 --> 00:11:30,500
You need God.

248
00:11:30,583 --> 00:11:33,208
And what happens is our
relationships suffer and fail

249
00:11:33,292 --> 00:11:36,375
because we hand to people
the job description

250
00:11:36,458 --> 00:11:38,333
that only God can fill:

251
00:11:38,375 --> 00:11:41,125
never leave me, never
forsake me, never fail me,

252
00:11:41,167 --> 00:11:43,500
always help me.

253
00:11:43,583 --> 00:11:47,708
People fail under
the weight of being God to us.

254
00:11:47,792 --> 00:11:50,000
His whole life has collapsed.

255
00:11:50,083 --> 00:11:52,708
He's lost his wife and a war.

256
00:11:52,792 --> 00:11:54,500
He is a laughing stock.

257
00:11:54,542 --> 00:11:56,083
He is humiliated.

258
00:11:56,167 --> 00:11:57,833
He is denigrated.

259
00:11:57,875 --> 00:11:59,792
He is despairing.

260
00:11:59,833 --> 00:12:03,375
And he wants a woman
to fix it.

261
00:12:03,458 --> 00:12:05,125
I'll tell you what:

262
00:12:05,167 --> 00:12:07,000
as a husband,
I'm guilty of this.

263
00:12:07,083 --> 00:12:08,875
I've done this to my wife.

264
00:12:08,958 --> 00:12:11,333
I've handed her a job
description that only Jesus

265
00:12:11,375 --> 00:12:13,333
could fulfill
at times in our marriage,

266
00:12:13,375 --> 00:12:16,333
and we do this to family,
and we do this to friends,

267
00:12:16,375 --> 00:12:19,500
and we do this to coworkers,
and we do this to our children,

268
00:12:19,542 --> 00:12:21,208
and we do this
to our spouses,

269
00:12:21,292 --> 00:12:22,917
and we do this
to our counselors.

270
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,125
And ultimately, the story of
Xerxes is the story of all of us

271
00:12:26,167 --> 00:12:31,792
to some degree on some days.

272
00:12:31,833 --> 00:12:38,000
The plan is, "Let's do
'The Bachelor: Persia.'"

273
00:12:38,042 --> 00:12:41,708
That's what the frat guys
come up with.

274
00:12:41,792 --> 00:12:46,583
You see all the frat guys
sitting around the house,

275
00:12:46,667 --> 00:12:49,000
"Let's do 'The Bachelor.'

276
00:12:49,042 --> 00:12:52,167
"Let's have a bunch
of beautiful, young virgins

277
00:12:52,250 --> 00:12:57,500
"all come for a year at the spa
to get prepared

278
00:12:57,583 --> 00:13:00,708
"for their one night
with the king,

279
00:13:00,792 --> 00:13:03,833
"and the woman who pleases
the king most shall win.

280
00:13:03,875 --> 00:13:06,625
"This will be an amazing
television drama.

281
00:13:06,667 --> 00:13:09,167
"This will be the best
reality show ever.

282
00:13:09,250 --> 00:13:12,083
"Just the idea is already
trending on Twitter.

283
00:13:12,167 --> 00:13:13,667
"It's unbelievable.

284
00:13:13,750 --> 00:13:18,583
Oh, you get to be with that guy!

285
00:13:18,667 --> 00:13:21,417
Isn't it amazing, though, that
2,500 years later we still have

286
00:13:21,500 --> 00:13:23,917
reality television shows
based upon, essentially,

287
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,625
the same premise?

288
00:13:26,667 --> 00:13:29,667
Because the human heart never
changes, though the nations,

289
00:13:29,708 --> 00:13:33,333
and the rulers,
and the dates may.

290
00:13:33,417 --> 00:13:37,958
Number three:
when you use everyone,

291
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,417
you don't love anyone.

292
00:13:42,500 --> 00:13:46,042
And the men are choosing these
women based upon their beauty,

293
00:13:46,125 --> 00:13:49,917
and then Xerxes will choose his
wife based upon her beauty

294
00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:51,750
and her sexual performance.

295
00:13:51,833 --> 00:13:56,500
Sadly, tragically, the same
thing that many men do today.

296
00:13:56,583 --> 00:14:00,208
"What does she look like and
how does she conduct herself?

297
00:14:00,292 --> 00:14:03,667
"And then I'll sample all
of the different options

298
00:14:03,750 --> 00:14:06,125
"that I can possibly bring
before me,

299
00:14:06,167 --> 00:14:08,917
"like a god to be
worshiped in my glory,

300
00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,333
"and the one that I find most
beautiful and pleasurable,

301
00:14:12,375 --> 00:14:16,125
she gets the grand finale
of being with me."

302
00:14:16,167 --> 00:14:19,500
All he is
is a dirty American.

303
00:14:19,583 --> 00:14:21,667
Moving right along.

304
00:14:21,750 --> 00:14:24,500
You're now going to meet--
let me ask you this too.

305
00:14:24,542 --> 00:14:28,208
How many of you dads read this
story with me and freak out?

306
00:14:28,292 --> 00:14:30,875
These girls are
probably teenagers.

307
00:14:30,958 --> 00:14:32,500
I've got a teenager daughter.

308
00:14:32,583 --> 00:14:35,167
I mean, this is where my
head goes to scrambled eggs.

309
00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:37,000
Right?
Like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!

310
00:14:37,083 --> 00:14:39,208
What if this was
my--would I let her go?"

311
00:14:39,292 --> 00:14:40,708
I talked to Ashley about this.

312
00:14:40,792 --> 00:14:43,417
I was like, "Uh, honey, what
do you think about this?"

313
00:14:43,500 --> 00:14:45,625
She's like, "Dad, I'm
not even going to Tolo."

314
00:14:45,667 --> 00:14:48,833
Praise God, I know, let alone to
go marry some pervert who thinks

315
00:14:48,875 --> 00:14:50,833
he's God and the sun speaks
through him

316
00:14:50,875 --> 00:14:52,625
while he sits on a throne drunk.

317
00:14:52,667 --> 00:14:56,000
I'm reading this thinking,
"Man, can't God show up

318
00:14:56,083 --> 00:14:57,875
"and just kill people?

319
00:14:57,958 --> 00:15:00,750
"He does it earlier
in the same Book.

320
00:15:00,833 --> 00:15:02,875
He's--"
You know?

321
00:15:02,958 --> 00:15:04,875
How about one of those
Egyptian plagues?

322
00:15:04,958 --> 00:15:06,500
That flood was nice.

323
00:15:06,542 --> 00:15:09,583
Can we get a revisitation
of the surfing opportunity?

324
00:15:09,667 --> 00:15:13,583
Is there not a way that we can
get the road tar to come down from

325
00:15:13,667 --> 00:15:15,750
heaven that hit
Sodom and Gomorrah?

326
00:15:15,833 --> 00:15:18,750
Isn't there another bucket up
there that we can just sort of

327
00:15:18,833 --> 00:15:20,167
pour down on Persia?

328
00:15:20,208 --> 00:15:22,875
How many of you dads--see, you
single guys are reading this,

329
00:15:22,958 --> 00:15:24,625
you're going, "Mark, I
don't--it seems like

330
00:15:24,667 --> 00:15:26,292
a perfectly legitimate idea."

331
00:15:26,333 --> 00:15:29,667
You dads, right,
that's single guy head.

332
00:15:29,750 --> 00:15:31,583
Again, like, you're not
the sharpest knife

333
00:15:31,667 --> 00:15:33,333
in the drawer,
you single guys, right?

334
00:15:33,375 --> 00:15:34,917
And you don't understand women.

335
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:36,333
You don't understand.

336
00:15:36,375 --> 00:15:39,000
You don't even have a woman.
You don't understand women.

337
00:15:39,083 --> 00:15:42,167
Now, and you single guys, you're
like a dog chasing a fire truck.

338
00:15:42,250 --> 00:15:45,333
Like, if you get one, you
don't know what to do with it.

339
00:15:45,375 --> 00:15:47,500
That's how you are with women.
You don't understand.

340
00:15:47,583 --> 00:15:49,000
Now, when you become a dad,

341
00:15:49,083 --> 00:15:50,417
the whole world
looks different.

342
00:15:50,500 --> 00:15:53,208
Every man looks like a terrorist
with a grenade

343
00:15:53,292 --> 00:15:55,000
that has a pin pulled.

344
00:15:55,083 --> 00:15:58,083
He's dangerous and you need to
get far away with your girl.

345
00:15:58,167 --> 00:16:00,083
Amen?

346
00:16:00,167 --> 00:16:03,333
Oh, I can tell, some of
you don't have daughters, right?

347
00:16:03,417 --> 00:16:06,000
Those of you who do,
you're, "Yes, yes!"

348
00:16:06,042 --> 00:16:09,000
Here's the big idea: all of
these gals are being paraded in.

349
00:16:09,042 --> 00:16:10,667
Where's their dads?
What are they saying?

350
00:16:10,750 --> 00:16:12,167
What are they doing?

351
00:16:12,208 --> 00:16:16,042
And I just keep thinking
this: "Somebody needs to die!"

352
00:16:16,125 --> 00:16:18,958
And then I realize I
slept with a teenage girl,

353
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:20,667
and I should die,
and Jesus died,

354
00:16:20,750 --> 00:16:22,125
and, "Ahhh!"

355
00:16:22,167 --> 00:16:23,500
Back to the gospel.

356
00:16:23,583 --> 00:16:25,917
Okay, going right along.

357
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,083
Mordecai and Esther, 2:5-11.

358
00:16:29,167 --> 00:16:31,083
"Now there was a Jew in Susa."

359
00:16:31,167 --> 00:16:32,833
He's not supposed to be in Susa.

360
00:16:32,875 --> 00:16:36,208
He's supposed
to be in Jerusalem.

361
00:16:36,292 --> 00:16:38,500
"The citadel whose
name was Mordecai."

362
00:16:38,583 --> 00:16:41,500
It's a derision of--
it's a pagan god,

363
00:16:41,583 --> 00:16:43,500
Marduk from Babylon.

364
00:16:43,583 --> 00:16:45,625
That's a derivative of the name.

365
00:16:45,667 --> 00:16:48,833
"The son of Jair, the son
of Shimei, the son of Kish."

366
00:16:48,875 --> 00:16:50,833
All this is historical,
and actual, and factual.

367
00:16:50,875 --> 00:16:52,333
"A Benjaminite."

368
00:16:52,375 --> 00:16:54,500
So, he descends from
the line of King Saul.

369
00:16:54,583 --> 00:16:56,208
"Who had been carried
away from Jerusalem."

370
00:16:56,292 --> 00:16:57,708
That's where
God's presence lives.

371
00:16:57,792 --> 00:17:00,167
"Among the captives
carried away with Jeconiah,

372
00:17:00,250 --> 00:17:01,833
the king of Judah."

373
00:17:01,917 --> 00:17:04,333
I'll explain all of this.
It's a lot of history.

374
00:17:04,417 --> 00:17:07,083
"Whom Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon had carried away.

375
00:17:07,167 --> 00:17:10,875
He was bringing up
Hadassah, that is Esther."

376
00:17:10,958 --> 00:17:12,792
She's got two names,
and I'll explain that.

377
00:17:12,833 --> 00:17:14,375
"The daughter of his uncle,

378
00:17:14,458 --> 00:17:16,333
"for she had neither
father nor mother.

379
00:17:16,417 --> 00:17:19,833
"The young woman had a beautiful
figure and was lovely

380
00:17:19,917 --> 00:17:22,917
"to look at, and when her father
and her mother died,

381
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,708
"Mordecai took her
as his own daughter.

382
00:17:24,792 --> 00:17:27,625
"So when the king's order
and his edict were proclaimed,

383
00:17:27,667 --> 00:17:31,000
"and when many young women were
gathered in Susa the citadel

384
00:17:31,083 --> 00:17:35,375
in the custody of Hegai,
Esther--"

385
00:17:37,292 --> 00:17:40,000
Alright, she's got a book of
the Bible named after her.

386
00:17:40,083 --> 00:17:43,500
Here she is.
We're meeting her.

387
00:17:43,542 --> 00:17:45,833
"Also was taken into," where?

388
00:17:45,875 --> 00:17:47,792
"The king's palace."

389
00:17:47,833 --> 00:17:50,000
Uh-oh.

390
00:17:50,083 --> 00:17:52,167
Teenage girl.

391
00:17:52,250 --> 00:17:55,333
"And put in custody of Hegai,
who had charge of the women.

392
00:17:55,375 --> 00:18:00,042
And the young woman pleased him
and won his favor," or grace.

393
00:18:00,125 --> 00:18:02,875
"And he quickly provided her
with her cosmetics

394
00:18:02,958 --> 00:18:08,000
and her portion of food,"
cheeseburgers, wings, nachos.

395
00:18:08,042 --> 00:18:12,167
"And with seven chosen young
women from the king's palace,

396
00:18:12,250 --> 00:18:15,167
"and advanced her and her
young women to the best place

397
00:18:15,250 --> 00:18:17,500
"in the harem.

398
00:18:17,542 --> 00:18:20,333
Esther had not made known
her people or kindred."

399
00:18:20,417 --> 00:18:22,625
She didn't tell
him she was a Jew.

400
00:18:22,667 --> 00:18:24,167
"For Mordecai,"
her adopted father,

401
00:18:24,250 --> 00:18:26,500
"had commanded her
not to make it known.

402
00:18:26,583 --> 00:18:29,000
"And every day Mordecai
walked in front of the court

403
00:18:29,083 --> 00:18:31,083
"of the harem to learn
how Esther was

404
00:18:31,167 --> 00:18:32,792
and what was
happening to her."

405
00:18:32,833 --> 00:18:34,167
First of all, Mordecai.

406
00:18:34,250 --> 00:18:36,500
He appears 52 times in the book.

407
00:18:36,542 --> 00:18:41,167
He is, to this day,
they believe buried in Iran.

408
00:18:41,250 --> 00:18:45,500
So, he's an actual,
factual, historical figure.

409
00:18:45,583 --> 00:18:49,333
He is man who is living
far away from God.

410
00:18:49,375 --> 00:18:51,208
Let me explain this.

411
00:18:51,292 --> 00:18:53,208
There's a lot of history here.

412
00:18:53,292 --> 00:18:55,417
So, if you read
the book of Daniel,

413
00:18:55,500 --> 00:18:57,917
what happened was God
allowed a king, named here,

414
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,167
Nebuchadnezzar, to come in to
take his people as a consequence

415
00:19:01,250 --> 00:19:05,042
and a punishment for their sin
and to exile them to Babylon.

416
00:19:05,125 --> 00:19:06,750
That's the book of Daniel.

417
00:19:06,833 --> 00:19:09,875
It gives the story
of that occurrence.

418
00:19:09,958 --> 00:19:14,667
And then, a king came along
who was not a worshiper of God,

419
00:19:14,750 --> 00:19:18,583
but was a man who believed
that no one should be slaves,

420
00:19:18,667 --> 00:19:20,542
and so the Bible commends him.

421
00:19:20,625 --> 00:19:23,000
It's one of the few
commendations in Scripture of

422
00:19:23,042 --> 00:19:28,208
an unbelieving but good-ruling
king, named Cyrus.

423
00:19:28,292 --> 00:19:31,500
And he made a decree that
God's people could go free,

424
00:19:31,583 --> 00:19:33,708
and they were free
to leave Babylon

425
00:19:33,792 --> 00:19:36,417
and to go back to Jerusalem.

426
00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:39,500
God's people were given that
land basically from the time of

427
00:19:39,583 --> 00:19:42,833
Abraham as their home, and they
were to have a temple there

428
00:19:42,875 --> 00:19:44,583
where the presence
of God would dwell,

429
00:19:44,667 --> 00:19:47,333
and they would worship God
and be the people of God

430
00:19:47,375 --> 00:19:48,708
in the presence of God.

431
00:19:48,792 --> 00:19:52,000
So, to be away from Jerusalem is
literally to be, at that time,

432
00:19:52,083 --> 00:19:54,583
away from God.

433
00:19:54,667 --> 00:19:58,708
Now they were freed and
liberated to return to Jerusalem

434
00:19:58,792 --> 00:20:01,208
and many people did.

435
00:20:01,292 --> 00:20:04,625
You could read about them in
the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

436
00:20:04,667 --> 00:20:07,125
It talks about those people
who went back to Jerusalem

437
00:20:07,167 --> 00:20:09,708
to rebuild the city
and to rebuild the temple.

438
00:20:09,792 --> 00:20:12,625
The question is: did everyone
move back or did some people

439
00:20:12,667 --> 00:20:15,208
stay in Persia, modern-day Iran?

440
00:20:15,292 --> 00:20:17,125
They did.

441
00:20:17,167 --> 00:20:22,833
Mordecai's family was one of
those families that didn't go.

442
00:20:22,917 --> 00:20:25,042
And the question is: well,
should they have gone?

443
00:20:25,125 --> 00:20:28,667
Yes, because the prophet Isaiah
gave a prophecy on behalf

444
00:20:28,708 --> 00:20:31,833
of the Lord that God's people
in Babylon were to return to

445
00:20:31,875 --> 00:20:34,333
Jerusalem, and they didn't.

446
00:20:34,375 --> 00:20:40,917
So, Mordecai is part of
the disobedient people of God.

447
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,958
We might go so far as
to say he is part of

448
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,167
the rebellious people of God.

449
00:20:46,208 --> 00:20:48,667
He didn't want
to walk toward God,

450
00:20:48,708 --> 00:20:51,833
he didn't want to walk with God,
he didn't want to worship God.

451
00:20:51,875 --> 00:20:58,458
So, he and his family, they
stayed in the pagan country,

452
00:20:58,500 --> 00:21:03,125
culture of Persia, and they
were compromised and worldly.

453
00:21:03,167 --> 00:21:05,417
How many of you,
that's your background?

454
00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:07,417
He wasn't an atheist,

455
00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:09,708
but he didn't likely tell people
that he worshiped

456
00:21:09,792 --> 00:21:11,917
the God of the Bible,
and he told Esther,

457
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,667
"Don't tell anybody that we
worship the God of the Bible."

458
00:21:14,750 --> 00:21:16,667
Their faith is very
private, it's not public.

459
00:21:16,750 --> 00:21:18,500
So, they're disobeying
the Old Testament,

460
00:21:18,583 --> 00:21:20,625
eating the food that
they're not supposed to,

461
00:21:20,667 --> 00:21:23,333
they're engaged in the holidays
they're not supposed to,

462
00:21:23,375 --> 00:21:25,458
they're living where
they're not supposed to,

463
00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:27,250
they're doing what
they're not supposed to,

464
00:21:27,333 --> 00:21:28,750
and if you ask them privately,

465
00:21:28,833 --> 00:21:30,958
"Do you belong to
the God of the Bible?"

466
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,417
"Yeah, we do, but don't
tell anybody

467
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:35,417
"because we're compromised.

468
00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:37,250
We're lukewarm."

469
00:21:37,333 --> 00:21:39,458
In our day, we would call
these Cultural Christians.

470
00:21:39,500 --> 00:21:42,458
These are the kind of people
who they do believe in God,

471
00:21:42,500 --> 00:21:44,750
but they're possibly
not truly believers,

472
00:21:44,833 --> 00:21:46,667
and they're not
walking with God,

473
00:21:46,708 --> 00:21:50,167
and they're not living for God,
and they're not obeying God,

474
00:21:50,208 --> 00:21:52,958
but they would say that
they belong to God.

475
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,333
So they're either hypocrites,
or unbelievers, or rebellious.

476
00:21:56,417 --> 00:21:57,833
They're in some category.

477
00:21:57,917 --> 00:22:00,792
How many of you,
that's you?

478
00:22:00,833 --> 00:22:02,792
You're like,
"I'm not an atheist."

479
00:22:02,833 --> 00:22:04,333
Are you living for Jesus?

480
00:22:04,375 --> 00:22:06,500
"Well, I'm not living
for Jesus either.

481
00:22:06,542 --> 00:22:11,208
"I believe in God, but
the evidence wouldn't hold up

482
00:22:11,292 --> 00:22:13,875
in court if you
examined my life."

483
00:22:13,958 --> 00:22:16,625
That's Mordecai.

484
00:22:16,667 --> 00:22:18,625
That's Mordecai.

485
00:22:18,667 --> 00:22:20,833
And here he is,
he does a good thing.

486
00:22:20,875 --> 00:22:25,250
He adopts Hadassah,
Esther, his cousin.

487
00:22:25,333 --> 00:22:27,750
He's older, so as the
closest living male relative,

488
00:22:27,833 --> 00:22:29,542
he adopts her.

489
00:22:29,625 --> 00:22:32,333
But here's what he does:
he let's her go to

490
00:22:32,417 --> 00:22:36,750
the "Persian Bachelorette"
auditions.

491
00:22:36,833 --> 00:22:39,167
Now, is he worried about her?

492
00:22:39,208 --> 00:22:40,750
Yes or no?

493
00:22:40,833 --> 00:22:42,958
Yeah, because it says,
"Everyday he checks on her."

494
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,667
So you get the idea Mordecai is
like, "Oh, I hope she's okay...

495
00:22:46,708 --> 00:22:48,042
I hope she's okay."

496
00:22:48,125 --> 00:22:49,458
He's looking through the gate.

497
00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:50,958
"Oh, I wonder what's going on."

498
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,458
But he doesn't say anything
and he doesn't do anything.

499
00:22:53,500 --> 00:22:57,625
A lot of men, particularly
a lot of dads, are like that.

500
00:22:57,667 --> 00:23:00,333
Sometimes, we sin
through commission,

501
00:23:00,375 --> 00:23:01,833
we do what we shouldn't do.

502
00:23:01,875 --> 00:23:03,333
That's what Xerxes is doing.

503
00:23:03,375 --> 00:23:05,000
But sometimes,
we sin through omission.

504
00:23:05,042 --> 00:23:07,583
We don't do what
we're supposed to do.

505
00:23:07,667 --> 00:23:09,500
Mordecai is like Adam.

506
00:23:09,583 --> 00:23:13,292
Adam, our first father's sin was
he didn't say or do anything.

507
00:23:13,333 --> 00:23:16,625
Mordecai's sin here is he
doesn't say or do anything.

508
00:23:16,667 --> 00:23:18,625
Men, we are supposed to speak.

509
00:23:18,667 --> 00:23:21,375
Men, we are supposed to act,
especially when it involves

510
00:23:21,458 --> 00:23:26,542
women, especially young women,
especially our young women.

511
00:23:26,625 --> 00:23:28,917
Some of you guys
are dads like that.

512
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:30,708
You're like,
"Well, she's an adult now.

513
00:23:30,792 --> 00:23:32,458
"She gets to make
her own decisions.

514
00:23:32,500 --> 00:23:35,167
"She's dating a total loser,
and he doesn't believe in God,

515
00:23:35,208 --> 00:23:36,667
"and I think they're
sleeping together,

516
00:23:36,708 --> 00:23:38,417
"and now they're gonna
move in together.

517
00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:41,167
"And I'm really stressed out,
and I text, and I call,

518
00:23:41,208 --> 00:23:43,333
and I check in on her,
and I'm worried."

519
00:23:43,375 --> 00:23:44,708
Have you said anything?

520
00:23:44,792 --> 00:23:46,917
"Well, no.
I don't want to create a scene."

521
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:48,333
Have you done anything?

522
00:23:48,375 --> 00:23:49,833
"No, I haven't done--"
Dump him!

523
00:23:49,875 --> 00:23:51,208
Gentlemen, dump him.

524
00:23:51,292 --> 00:23:55,625
It's far more emotionally easy
for me to dump a man, amen,

525
00:23:55,667 --> 00:23:57,833
than my daughter.
Right?

526
00:23:57,917 --> 00:24:00,667
My daughter's not dating,
praise be to God,

527
00:24:00,750 --> 00:24:04,708
but if she was dating a loser
and she's like, "Oh Dad,

528
00:24:04,792 --> 00:24:08,000
you know, he sends me
flowers and I feel bad."

529
00:24:08,042 --> 00:24:09,500
Not me!

530
00:24:09,583 --> 00:24:12,125
I'd be like, "You are dumped!
Bye!"

531
00:24:12,167 --> 00:24:14,000
No crying, no tears.

532
00:24:14,083 --> 00:24:16,208
Don't send me flowers,
don't text me.

533
00:24:16,292 --> 00:24:17,625
I'm not in the mood.

534
00:24:17,667 --> 00:24:22,333
I can dump any guy
quickly, easily,

535
00:24:22,375 --> 00:24:24,833
between sips of something.

536
00:24:24,875 --> 00:24:27,375
I mean, it's not a big deal.

537
00:24:27,458 --> 00:24:30,000
Right?

538
00:24:30,042 --> 00:24:34,000
So, dads, just feel
free to dump boyfriends.

539
00:24:34,083 --> 00:24:35,500
Right?

540
00:24:35,583 --> 00:24:37,000
No, no, no, no.

541
00:24:37,083 --> 00:24:38,875
And tell your friends no.

542
00:24:38,958 --> 00:24:40,333
Right?

543
00:24:40,375 --> 00:24:42,083
I was talking to
Ashley about this.

544
00:24:42,167 --> 00:24:43,500
I was like, "Argh!"

545
00:24:43,542 --> 00:24:49,208
Because this freaks--as
a dad, freaks me out.

546
00:24:49,292 --> 00:24:54,833
Some nasty pervert takes my
daughter for a year at the spa

547
00:24:54,875 --> 00:24:59,083
to compete against four hundred
women with one night in bed.

548
00:25:02,125 --> 00:25:05,667
Okay.

549
00:25:05,750 --> 00:25:08,542
I asked Ashley,
my sweet daughter.

550
00:25:08,625 --> 00:25:11,083
I said, "What would you do?"

551
00:25:11,167 --> 00:25:14,292
She said, "I would say no.
I would run away.

552
00:25:14,333 --> 00:25:15,875
"I would move
to another country.

553
00:25:15,958 --> 00:25:17,333
"I would throw a fit.

554
00:25:17,417 --> 00:25:19,667
"I would be so disobedient,
basically, in the palace,

555
00:25:19,750 --> 00:25:21,083
they would send me home."

556
00:25:21,167 --> 00:25:23,417
"Yes, okay.

557
00:25:23,500 --> 00:25:25,208
What do you think I would do?"

558
00:25:25,292 --> 00:25:27,000
She said, "You would fight."

559
00:25:27,083 --> 00:25:28,833
"Yes.
I would."

560
00:25:28,875 --> 00:25:31,292
"First you'd try to smuggle
me out of the country,

561
00:25:31,333 --> 00:25:33,500
"or you'd hide me,
or you'd declare war,

562
00:25:33,583 --> 00:25:35,000
"or you'd storm the castle.

563
00:25:35,083 --> 00:25:36,708
Anything."
Right?

564
00:25:36,792 --> 00:25:39,500
Here's what I would not do:
"Well, I hope she's okay.

565
00:25:39,542 --> 00:25:41,000
"I'm really stressed about it.

566
00:25:41,042 --> 00:25:43,125
I don't know what
I could say or do."

567
00:25:43,167 --> 00:25:45,375
Right?

568
00:25:45,458 --> 00:25:48,500
There's passive, there's
passive aggressive,

569
00:25:48,583 --> 00:25:50,083
and then there's aggressive.

570
00:25:50,167 --> 00:25:53,708
I vote for that.
Right?

571
00:25:53,792 --> 00:25:56,125
Men, it's your daughter.

572
00:25:56,167 --> 00:25:58,667
It's your daughter!

573
00:25:58,750 --> 00:26:01,542
Don't just pray,
and feel bad, and worry.

574
00:26:01,625 --> 00:26:03,875
Say something.
Do something.

575
00:26:03,958 --> 00:26:10,167
Don't let the guys make the
decision for your daughters.

576
00:26:10,250 --> 00:26:13,333
Esther, her name appears
55 times in the book.

577
00:26:13,417 --> 00:26:15,375
She's also buried in Iran.

578
00:26:15,458 --> 00:26:17,250
She's an orphan, she's adopted.

579
00:26:17,333 --> 00:26:19,667
She's likely in her
teens or maybe her early 20s.

580
00:26:19,708 --> 00:26:22,917
Xerxes, the king,
is in his mid-30s.

581
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,625
Hadassah is her Hebrew
name, it means myrtle,

582
00:26:25,667 --> 00:26:27,833
which is symbolic
for peace and joy.

583
00:26:27,875 --> 00:26:32,000
It's something that they carry
in processions and pageants.

584
00:26:32,083 --> 00:26:34,000
Esther's her Persian name.

585
00:26:34,042 --> 00:26:37,333
It means the goddess of love,
derivative of Ishtar.

586
00:26:37,375 --> 00:26:39,333
It also could mean star.

587
00:26:39,375 --> 00:26:42,208
So, here's
something interesting,

588
00:26:42,292 --> 00:26:45,500
and I don't want to read
too much into the text.

589
00:26:45,583 --> 00:26:49,083
She's got two names.
You notice that?

590
00:26:49,167 --> 00:26:51,208
And it puts them both,
Hadassah and Esther.

591
00:26:51,292 --> 00:26:53,000
Well, which is she?

592
00:26:53,083 --> 00:26:55,625
She's both.

593
00:26:55,667 --> 00:27:01,042
It's as if she's a gal
with dual identity.

594
00:27:01,125 --> 00:27:05,458
She's got a Persian name
and a biblical name,

595
00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:07,292
and she lives in the world,

596
00:27:07,333 --> 00:27:09,542
but she also says
she belongs to God.

597
00:27:09,625 --> 00:27:12,500
She is conflicted.

598
00:27:12,542 --> 00:27:17,417
She is a hypocrite.

599
00:27:19,042 --> 00:27:23,833
That's Esther, Hadassah.

600
00:27:23,875 --> 00:27:26,708
She belongs to God, but she
doesn't show it publicly.

601
00:27:26,792 --> 00:27:28,500
She says she belongs to God,

602
00:27:28,583 --> 00:27:31,333
but she disobeys his
dietary laws in Scripture.

603
00:27:31,375 --> 00:27:34,667
She says she belongs to God,
but she lives far away from him.

604
00:27:34,750 --> 00:27:37,125
She says she belongs
to God, but at this point,

605
00:27:37,167 --> 00:27:39,625
we've never seen her pray,
open the Bible, worship God,

606
00:27:39,667 --> 00:27:41,000
repent of sin.

607
00:27:41,083 --> 00:27:42,708
No indication that she has
any relationship

608
00:27:42,792 --> 00:27:44,500
with God whatsoever.

609
00:27:44,542 --> 00:27:46,333
She's passive.

610
00:27:46,375 --> 00:27:47,833
At this point,
she hasn't spoken.

611
00:27:47,875 --> 00:27:49,208
She hasn't done anything.

612
00:27:49,292 --> 00:27:51,708
She doesn't seem to have
much of her own convictions.

613
00:27:51,792 --> 00:27:54,083
All the decisions are
getting made for her,

614
00:27:54,167 --> 00:27:57,333
and it's almost like her life is
a river and she's just

615
00:27:57,375 --> 00:28:01,333
a little twig being carried by
the current of the decisions of

616
00:28:01,417 --> 00:28:05,542
others like Mordecai and Xerxes.

617
00:28:05,625 --> 00:28:07,667
How many of you are like that?

618
00:28:07,708 --> 00:28:10,292
Sort of a Christian,
sort of a non-Christian;

619
00:28:10,333 --> 00:28:12,542
sort of obedient,
sort of disobedient;

620
00:28:12,625 --> 00:28:14,292
sort of following
the Scripture,

621
00:28:14,333 --> 00:28:16,083
but sort of not
following the Scripture;

622
00:28:16,167 --> 00:28:21,250
privately believing in God,
but publicly, no one knows;

623
00:28:21,333 --> 00:28:23,417
you know what
the Scriptures say,

624
00:28:23,500 --> 00:28:26,625
but you don't do what
the Scriptures do.

625
00:28:26,667 --> 00:28:30,208
And it's hard with people like
that, as it is with Esther.

626
00:28:30,292 --> 00:28:32,500
Is she a believer
who's carnal?

627
00:28:32,583 --> 00:28:34,292
Is she a believer
who's rebellious?

628
00:28:34,333 --> 00:28:35,917
Is she a believer
who's apostate?

629
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:37,875
Is she not yet a believer?

630
00:28:37,958 --> 00:28:39,375
Is she just a religious person?

631
00:28:39,458 --> 00:28:41,417
Is she a spiritual person?

632
00:28:41,500 --> 00:28:44,125
Is she living in rebellion
against God or is she blind

633
00:28:44,167 --> 00:28:45,500
and doesn't even know God?

634
00:28:45,583 --> 00:28:47,500
How many of you know
people like that?

635
00:28:47,583 --> 00:28:49,292
You're not sure
where they are.

636
00:28:49,333 --> 00:28:51,625
You say, "Well, they
say they believe in God,

637
00:28:51,667 --> 00:28:53,125
"but they don't live for God.

638
00:28:53,167 --> 00:28:54,625
I don't know where they're at."

639
00:28:54,667 --> 00:28:56,708
How many of you,
that's your story?

640
00:28:56,792 --> 00:29:01,583
You say, "That sounds
like my story."

641
00:29:01,667 --> 00:29:06,667
Esther is
a complicated character,

642
00:29:06,708 --> 00:29:09,833
and so are we.

643
00:29:09,917 --> 00:29:14,167
Where she's at is not always
clear, and so it is for us.

644
00:29:17,500 --> 00:29:21,000
What's going to happen?

645
00:29:21,042 --> 00:29:24,917
We've got the tension
mounted, right?

646
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,125
Xerxes has an audition,

647
00:29:29,167 --> 00:29:33,000
Esther's
in the harem at the spa.

648
00:29:33,083 --> 00:29:35,875
She's got her number,
she's in line.

649
00:29:35,958 --> 00:29:41,000
Her night is coming,
the one night with the king.

650
00:29:41,042 --> 00:29:44,500
What will she do?

651
00:29:44,583 --> 00:29:49,042
What do you think she should do?

652
00:29:50,667 --> 00:29:53,917
"Now when the turn came
for each young woman

653
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,125
"to go in to King Ahasuerus,

654
00:29:57,167 --> 00:30:00,083
"after being twelve months
under the regulations

655
00:30:00,167 --> 00:30:04,500
"for the women, since this was
the regular period of their

656
00:30:04,583 --> 00:30:09,417
"beautifying, six months with
oil of myrrh and six months

657
00:30:09,500 --> 00:30:12,500
with spices and ointments
for women."

658
00:30:12,583 --> 00:30:14,500
They smell awesome.

659
00:30:14,583 --> 00:30:18,417
They smell potpourrific.

660
00:30:18,500 --> 00:30:21,792
"When the young woman went
in to the king in this way,

661
00:30:21,833 --> 00:30:24,500
"she was given whatever she
desired to take with her from

662
00:30:24,583 --> 00:30:26,000
the harem to the king's palace."

663
00:30:26,083 --> 00:30:30,250
So as they're going in,
they get any gift they want.

664
00:30:30,333 --> 00:30:34,708
What will she choose?

665
00:30:34,792 --> 00:30:38,000
"In the evening
she would go in,"

666
00:30:38,083 --> 00:30:40,667
at night time.

667
00:30:40,708 --> 00:30:43,333
Are they going on a date?

668
00:30:43,417 --> 00:30:44,917
No.

669
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,667
Does it start with dinner, and
"Tell me about your family,"

670
00:30:47,708 --> 00:30:49,042
"What's your favorite color?"

671
00:30:49,125 --> 00:30:52,333
"Do you know how to read?"

672
00:30:52,375 --> 00:30:53,833
Nothing.

673
00:30:53,875 --> 00:30:55,625
Where do they start?

674
00:30:55,667 --> 00:30:58,000
At bed time.

675
00:31:00,542 --> 00:31:03,292
He's like a lot of guys:

676
00:31:03,333 --> 00:31:05,792
"Let me sleep with you,
and then I'll figure out

677
00:31:05,833 --> 00:31:10,167
if I want to get to know you."

678
00:31:10,250 --> 00:31:12,917
"And in the morning she would
return to the second harem

679
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:18,708
in custody of Shaashgaz,"
an ancient Persian rapper.

680
00:31:18,792 --> 00:31:22,750
"Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch,

681
00:31:22,833 --> 00:31:24,625
who was in charge
of the concubines."

682
00:31:24,667 --> 00:31:28,458
So, do you see this?

683
00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:30,458
A whole year,
she's preparing.

684
00:31:30,500 --> 00:31:33,417
There's a line,
let's say, 400 women deep.

685
00:31:33,500 --> 00:31:35,833
Every night for 400 nights.

686
00:31:35,917 --> 00:31:38,333
You're number 327.

687
00:31:38,417 --> 00:31:40,833
Your date is set
on the calendar.

688
00:31:40,875 --> 00:31:46,542
If you please the king, you're
crowned Miss Persia, and if not,

689
00:31:46,625 --> 00:31:49,042
you go live in a nice
room at the palace,

690
00:31:49,125 --> 00:31:54,042
never marry or have kids, your
life is plush but pointless.

691
00:31:54,125 --> 00:31:56,542
And the gals go in,
and then they come out,

692
00:31:56,625 --> 00:31:57,958
and they all talk.

693
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,167
"What's he like?
What happened?" You know?

694
00:32:00,250 --> 00:32:03,333
And can you imagine
the intrigue, and the fighting,

695
00:32:03,375 --> 00:32:06,000
and the complicated
relationships in the harem?

696
00:32:06,083 --> 00:32:09,000
Crazy.

697
00:32:09,083 --> 00:32:13,292
And the gals go in at night, and
they come out in the morning.

698
00:32:13,333 --> 00:32:14,917
Do they have breakfast?

699
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,333
They go for a walk?

700
00:32:16,375 --> 00:32:18,000
Do they visit?

701
00:32:18,083 --> 00:32:19,917
Nothing.

702
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,500
You can go into his
bedroom when it's bedtime.

703
00:32:22,583 --> 00:32:26,167
You need to get dressed and get
out of the room by the time

704
00:32:26,208 --> 00:32:30,167
the sun rises because
he's done with you.

705
00:32:30,208 --> 00:32:35,167
You may never see him again, you
may never speak to him again.

706
00:32:35,208 --> 00:32:41,167
You're not allowed in his
presence unless he summons you.

707
00:32:41,208 --> 00:32:45,167
How many men treat
women like that?

708
00:32:45,208 --> 00:32:48,167
"I don't want to know her,
I don't want to date her,

709
00:32:48,208 --> 00:32:51,167
"I don't want to love her,
I don't want to marry her.

710
00:32:51,208 --> 00:32:54,333
"I want her to show up at night
and leave in the morning,

711
00:32:54,375 --> 00:32:57,042
"and I don't want her to
call, text, or e-mail me.

712
00:32:57,125 --> 00:32:59,750
"If I want to see her
again, I'll let her know.

713
00:32:59,833 --> 00:33:01,208
Other than that, goodbye."

714
00:33:01,292 --> 00:33:05,083
And what's devastating
is women in that day,

715
00:33:05,167 --> 00:33:11,667
like women in this day, will
compete for those kinds of men.

716
00:33:11,750 --> 00:33:17,167
The tale turns dark
and tragic, right?

717
00:33:19,833 --> 00:33:23,042
"So, she would go into the king
again--she would not go in to

718
00:33:23,125 --> 00:33:25,458
"the king again, unless the king
delighted in her

719
00:33:25,500 --> 00:33:28,167
"and she was summoned by name.

720
00:33:28,208 --> 00:33:32,250
When the turn came
for Esther--"

721
00:33:32,333 --> 00:33:34,625
Ladies, what do you think
she's going to do?

722
00:33:34,667 --> 00:33:38,417
What do you think she should do?

723
00:33:38,500 --> 00:33:41,833
"The daughter of Abihail
the uncle of Mordecai,

724
00:33:41,875 --> 00:33:45,500
"who had taken her as his own
daughter, to go in to the king,

725
00:33:45,583 --> 00:33:47,958
"she asked for nothing except
what Hegai the king's eunuch,

726
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:49,958
"who had charge of
the women, advised.

727
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,833
Now Esther was winning
favor," or grace,

728
00:33:52,917 --> 00:33:55,000
"in the eyes of
all who saw her."

729
00:33:55,083 --> 00:33:56,833
Very important word.

730
00:33:56,875 --> 00:33:59,208
"And when Esther
was taken to King Ahasuerus,

731
00:33:59,292 --> 00:34:01,500
"into his royal palace,
in the tenth month,

732
00:34:01,583 --> 00:34:03,500
"which is the month of Tebeth,

733
00:34:03,542 --> 00:34:05,208
"in the seventh year
of his reign,

734
00:34:05,292 --> 00:34:07,208
the king loved Esther."

735
00:34:07,292 --> 00:34:09,208
Be careful with that word.

736
00:34:09,292 --> 00:34:12,208
It means everything from a man
who loves his wife like Christ

737
00:34:12,292 --> 00:34:15,833
loves the church to how Tamar
was treated in, I believe,

738
00:34:15,875 --> 00:34:20,375
it's 2 Samuel 13 by a man who
wanted nothing more than just

739
00:34:20,458 --> 00:34:24,000
to sleep with her.

740
00:34:24,042 --> 00:34:26,625
"The king loved Esther
more than all the women,

741
00:34:26,667 --> 00:34:30,125
"and she won grace and favor
in his sight more than

742
00:34:30,167 --> 00:34:31,792
"all the virgins,

743
00:34:31,833 --> 00:34:34,208
"so that he set
the royal crown on her head

744
00:34:34,292 --> 00:34:35,917
and made her queen
instead of Vashti."

745
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:37,333
She won.

746
00:34:37,375 --> 00:34:39,500
Is that a good thing
or a bad thing?

747
00:34:39,583 --> 00:34:42,500
Yes.

748
00:34:42,583 --> 00:34:44,208
"Then the king gave
a great feast."

749
00:34:44,292 --> 00:34:46,417
This guy keeps throwing parties.

750
00:34:46,500 --> 00:34:50,333
Bar's open, buffet's set, "for
all his officials and servants;

751
00:34:50,375 --> 00:34:52,125
it was Esther's feast."

752
00:34:52,167 --> 00:34:54,125
They hadn't had
a queen in 4 years.

753
00:34:54,167 --> 00:34:56,333
Here she comes.
He picked a new queen!

754
00:34:56,375 --> 00:34:57,917
You're going to meet her.

755
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,167
The media's there, everybody
shows up, national holiday.

756
00:35:00,250 --> 00:35:03,292
"He also granted a remission of
taxes to the provinces

757
00:35:03,333 --> 00:35:07,000
and gave gifts
with royal generosity."

758
00:35:07,042 --> 00:35:09,667
Everybody's happy now, right?

759
00:35:09,750 --> 00:35:14,667
Xerxes lived for his glory
and he ended up in misery.

760
00:35:14,750 --> 00:35:17,500
And he's still
living for his glory,

761
00:35:17,542 --> 00:35:22,375
and it's causing
misery for others.

762
00:35:22,458 --> 00:35:25,667
I'll tell you, as a daddy
of two daughters

763
00:35:25,750 --> 00:35:30,375
that I love with all my heart,

764
00:35:30,458 --> 00:35:36,000
all my heart, the thought
of them competing for a man,

765
00:35:36,042 --> 00:35:41,667
performing for a man,
it's devastating.

766
00:35:43,958 --> 00:35:48,667
She wins, but it's
a tragic victory.

767
00:35:51,167 --> 00:35:53,917
Here's the question.

768
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,167
You ready for it?

769
00:35:56,250 --> 00:36:02,000
Here's the question we're going
to examine together:

770
00:36:02,042 --> 00:36:08,333
was Esther always a godly woman?

771
00:36:08,417 --> 00:36:10,500
You can debate this in
your women's Bible studies.

772
00:36:10,542 --> 00:36:13,792
I'm sure you will.

773
00:36:13,833 --> 00:36:16,167
You can debate this
in your Community Group.

774
00:36:16,250 --> 00:36:19,000
I think you should.

775
00:36:19,042 --> 00:36:22,000
Was Esther always
a godly woman?

776
00:36:22,083 --> 00:36:26,500
What do we do with this story?

777
00:36:26,542 --> 00:36:28,292
I wrote a blog about it.

778
00:36:28,333 --> 00:36:29,833
You can read it.

779
00:36:29,875 --> 00:36:31,917
Let me summarize it.

780
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,000
Here's what's agreed on.

781
00:36:34,042 --> 00:36:36,292
Number one,
Xerxes is an awful man.

782
00:36:36,333 --> 00:36:38,000
Can we just all vote?

783
00:36:38,042 --> 00:36:40,333
All in favor,
Xerxes is a jerkses.

784
00:36:40,375 --> 00:36:41,708
Yay?

785
00:36:41,792 --> 00:36:43,125
Who votes with me?

786
00:36:43,167 --> 00:36:45,000
Yeah, okay.
Yeah. Yeah.

787
00:36:45,042 --> 00:36:47,500
Like, if this guy came
to my house and said,

788
00:36:47,583 --> 00:36:49,583
"I'd like to meet
your daughter,"

789
00:36:49,667 --> 00:36:52,208
I'd be doing prison ministry
from the inside for the things

790
00:36:52,292 --> 00:36:53,708
I would do to this man.

791
00:36:53,792 --> 00:36:56,208
Okay?
No.

792
00:36:56,292 --> 00:36:58,292
Number two:
at the end of the book,

793
00:36:58,333 --> 00:36:59,792
Esther's a godly woman.

794
00:36:59,833 --> 00:37:02,167
At the end, way down...
she's godly.

795
00:37:02,208 --> 00:37:05,542
She stops being passive,
she starts being active.

796
00:37:05,625 --> 00:37:08,000
She starts speaking for herself,

797
00:37:08,042 --> 00:37:10,542
not just allowing others
to speak for her.

798
00:37:10,625 --> 00:37:13,042
She starts to swim against
the current of culture

799
00:37:13,125 --> 00:37:14,667
and not be worldly,

800
00:37:14,708 --> 00:37:16,042
but start to act godly.

801
00:37:16,125 --> 00:37:17,458
There's a guy named Haman.

802
00:37:17,500 --> 00:37:19,167
He's like the Hitler in his day,

803
00:37:19,250 --> 00:37:21,375
and he wants to annihilate
the people of God.

804
00:37:21,458 --> 00:37:23,875
And she stands up,
and she is brave and bold,

805
00:37:23,958 --> 00:37:25,292
and she takes a risk.

806
00:37:25,333 --> 00:37:27,500
And I don't want to spoil
the whole thing.

807
00:37:27,542 --> 00:37:30,625
I've still got a few weeks to
preach, but she takes him down.

808
00:37:30,667 --> 00:37:32,083
So, she ends godly.

809
00:37:32,167 --> 00:37:33,583
We all agree on that.

810
00:37:33,667 --> 00:37:38,833
She ends godly, but the question
is: was she always godly?

811
00:37:38,875 --> 00:37:41,708
Is she basically like
Jesus' mother, Mary.

812
00:37:41,792 --> 00:37:45,000
You meet her, godly;
see her later, godly;

813
00:37:45,042 --> 00:37:46,833
last time we see her, godly.

814
00:37:46,875 --> 00:37:49,583
Pretty much just awesome.

815
00:37:49,667 --> 00:37:52,125
Is she Mary 1.0?

816
00:37:52,167 --> 00:37:54,833
Young, godly, teenage girl.

817
00:37:54,875 --> 00:37:57,125
Number three:
Esther is, perhaps,

818
00:37:57,167 --> 00:38:00,083
the most difficult book in
the entire Bible to interpret.

819
00:38:00,167 --> 00:38:06,083
It is, because number one,
it doesn't tell us.

820
00:38:06,167 --> 00:38:09,458
It says, "She went in,
she came out, she won."

821
00:38:09,500 --> 00:38:10,833
Huh?

822
00:38:10,917 --> 00:38:12,833
Well, what did she think?
Don't know.

823
00:38:12,917 --> 00:38:14,333
What did she feel?
Don't know.

824
00:38:14,417 --> 00:38:16,083
What were her motives?
We don't know.

825
00:38:16,167 --> 00:38:17,500
What did they do?

826
00:38:17,542 --> 00:38:19,500
I think we know,
but we don't know.

827
00:38:19,542 --> 00:38:21,792
It doesn't give us
a lot of details.

828
00:38:21,833 --> 00:38:26,000
Esther is told in a way that
doesn't tell us feelings,

829
00:38:26,083 --> 00:38:30,167
thoughts, motivations,
intentions, just the facts.

830
00:38:30,250 --> 00:38:33,208
In addition, it doesn't give
us any divine perspective.

831
00:38:33,292 --> 00:38:36,000
God never speaks,
a prophet doesn't show up.

832
00:38:36,042 --> 00:38:38,000
God is never mentioned.

833
00:38:38,042 --> 00:38:40,500
And if you go to other
books of the Bible,

834
00:38:40,542 --> 00:38:42,000
they never mention Esther,

835
00:38:42,083 --> 00:38:44,125
so there's no commentary
in Scripture.

836
00:38:44,167 --> 00:38:46,667
And the first 7 centuries
of the Christian church,

837
00:38:46,750 --> 00:38:49,417
there wasn't even one commentary
written on Esther because

838
00:38:49,500 --> 00:38:51,917
everybody's looking at it
like, "Well, I don't know.

839
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:53,625
"It's like a land mine.

840
00:38:53,667 --> 00:38:55,625
"We'll just back away
and go to Romans.

841
00:38:55,667 --> 00:38:57,125
I don't know."

842
00:38:57,167 --> 00:38:59,208
It's a tough book.

843
00:38:59,292 --> 00:39:03,583
So, let me say this: I like
to say, "Thus saith the Lord,"

844
00:39:03,667 --> 00:39:08,292
but sometimes you've
got to say, "I think."

845
00:39:08,333 --> 00:39:10,667
When God is clear,
we need to be clear.

846
00:39:10,750 --> 00:39:14,083
When it's unclear, we need
to be as clear as God is.

847
00:39:14,167 --> 00:39:17,750
And so what I can tell you in
Esther is there are times

848
00:39:17,833 --> 00:39:22,208
we can say, "This is possible,
but this probable,"

849
00:39:22,292 --> 00:39:25,375
but sometimes we
can't get beyond that.

850
00:39:25,458 --> 00:39:28,000
So, back to
the original question,

851
00:39:28,042 --> 00:39:31,625
because what I was trying to do
is get you all to agree with me.

852
00:39:31,667 --> 00:39:33,125
So, I hope I've
accomplished that.

853
00:39:33,167 --> 00:39:35,500
Now, here's where we're
going to disagree.

854
00:39:35,542 --> 00:39:40,000
Was Esther always
a godly woman?

855
00:39:40,083 --> 00:39:43,167
There's three perspectives.

856
00:39:43,250 --> 00:39:46,333
Number one: Esther was
always godly, amazing,

857
00:39:46,375 --> 00:39:49,167
from beginning to end.

858
00:39:49,250 --> 00:39:51,667
If you see the movie
"One Night with the King,"

859
00:39:51,750 --> 00:39:53,667
and I'm not trying
to trash the film.

860
00:39:53,750 --> 00:39:55,833
They're trying to tell
a story of the Bible.

861
00:39:55,875 --> 00:39:57,500
I'm for that.
Okay?

862
00:39:57,583 --> 00:40:01,000
But the way they tell the story,

863
00:40:01,083 --> 00:40:04,333
I don't think it's that great.

864
00:40:04,375 --> 00:40:07,000
Through the whole story,
Esther's basically memorized

865
00:40:07,083 --> 00:40:09,167
verses of the Bible,
and quoting Scripture,

866
00:40:09,250 --> 00:40:11,417
and leading Bible studies
and women's prayer groups

867
00:40:11,500 --> 00:40:13,500
in the harem with
all the concubines.

868
00:40:13,583 --> 00:40:17,375
And then when it comes
time to be with the king,

869
00:40:17,458 --> 00:40:20,167
she probably doesn't even sleep
with him and maintains her

870
00:40:20,250 --> 00:40:24,250
virginity, though she has sort
of a fantasy dream about perhaps

871
00:40:24,333 --> 00:40:26,208
sleeping with the king.

872
00:40:26,292 --> 00:40:28,667
So, they leave the intimation
that she was like

873
00:40:28,708 --> 00:40:30,667
the Virgin Mary up
until her wedding night,

874
00:40:30,708 --> 00:40:33,333
and that Xerxes really loved
her and they're like

875
00:40:33,417 --> 00:40:36,333
Romeo and Juliet, and he's even
denying other women

876
00:40:36,417 --> 00:40:38,000
who want to sleep with him

877
00:40:38,083 --> 00:40:39,958
because his heart
is only for her.

878
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,000
And I'm like,
"Eh, probably not."

879
00:40:42,083 --> 00:40:44,500
I don't know any guy
who lines up 400 women

880
00:40:44,583 --> 00:40:48,042
so he can practice fidelity.

881
00:40:48,125 --> 00:40:50,833
Right?

882
00:40:50,917 --> 00:40:54,833
And some of the reason we tell
the story in that way is

883
00:40:54,875 --> 00:40:57,708
there's a religious reading of
Scripture by Jews, Christians,

884
00:40:57,792 --> 00:41:01,167
and others that is this: "There
are good people, bad people.

885
00:41:01,250 --> 00:41:03,208
"God loves good people,
not bad people.

886
00:41:03,292 --> 00:41:04,917
"God uses good people,
not bad people.

887
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:09,542
If God used Esther, she must
have been a good person."

888
00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:18,208
Well, then that's
a worthless Book.

889
00:41:18,292 --> 00:41:23,625
If the story is, "God loves and
uses good people and he doesn't

890
00:41:23,667 --> 00:41:29,708
love and use bad people,"
that's a worthless Book.

891
00:41:29,792 --> 00:41:31,833
If that's the story,

892
00:41:31,875 --> 00:41:33,833
that I have to be
my own savior,

893
00:41:33,917 --> 00:41:37,042
I have to be my own hero,
I've got to straighten out

894
00:41:37,125 --> 00:41:38,458
all that I made crooked.

895
00:41:38,500 --> 00:41:40,542
Or worse yet,
if you've made it crooked,

896
00:41:40,625 --> 00:41:42,333
it can't be
straightened out at all,

897
00:41:42,375 --> 00:41:45,250
because you're a bad person and
God doesn't love bad people,

898
00:41:45,333 --> 00:41:46,958
and you've done bad things

899
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,333
and God doesn't use people
who've done bad things.

900
00:41:50,417 --> 00:41:53,542
What that leads to is one of
two things: pride or despair.

901
00:41:53,625 --> 00:41:56,333
"I'm a good person,
God uses me,"

902
00:41:56,417 --> 00:41:58,833
or despair, "It's too late.
I've already blown it.

903
00:41:58,875 --> 00:42:01,667
"I'm a bad person.
I'm not Esther, I'm Xerxes.

904
00:42:01,750 --> 00:42:06,208
I'm not Esther, I'm Mordecai."

905
00:42:06,292 --> 00:42:08,375
This is a very important
interpretive issue for

906
00:42:08,458 --> 00:42:09,917
how we approach the Bible.

907
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:11,625
And religious people
who approach it,

908
00:42:11,667 --> 00:42:13,000
"Good people, bad people.

909
00:42:13,083 --> 00:42:15,000
"Do good things
and God will bless you.

910
00:42:15,083 --> 00:42:17,000
Do bad things
and God won't bless you,"

911
00:42:17,083 --> 00:42:19,167
they miss the entire
message of grace,

912
00:42:19,250 --> 00:42:21,333
that God loves the undeserving,
God loves the ill-deserving,

913
00:42:21,375 --> 00:42:24,958
God uses the undeserving,
God uses the ill-deserving,

914
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,958
and they miss the point
that sometimes the people

915
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:32,542
in the Bible are painfully
normal, like us.

916
00:42:32,625 --> 00:42:36,167
Esther might be
painfully normal.

917
00:42:36,208 --> 00:42:39,833
Today, the story might be told:
There was a young gal, poor,

918
00:42:39,917 --> 00:42:42,833
living in a big city,
working a dead-end job.

919
00:42:42,917 --> 00:42:48,042
And "The Bachelor"
came to town and she won.

920
00:42:48,125 --> 00:42:50,167
And she said she
was a Christian

921
00:42:50,208 --> 00:42:52,667
but she didn't click that box
on her Facebook page

922
00:42:52,708 --> 00:42:55,458
because she didn't
want anyone to know.

923
00:42:55,500 --> 00:42:58,167
She might be a lot
like many of us.

924
00:42:58,208 --> 00:43:01,208
And what happens with that kind
of religious reading of

925
00:43:01,292 --> 00:43:04,208
the story is then we miss
all the parts about sin.

926
00:43:04,292 --> 00:43:06,500
So it's like, "Abraham was a man
of faith—

927
00:43:06,583 --> 00:43:08,208
who twice gave away his wife."

928
00:43:08,292 --> 00:43:09,917
Oh, we missed that.

929
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,125
That's twice too
many, by the way.

930
00:43:12,167 --> 00:43:15,000
You're like, "Oh, Noah was
a godly man, built a boat."

931
00:43:15,083 --> 00:43:17,292
Yeah, got off the boat,
got drunk and naked.

932
00:43:17,333 --> 00:43:19,000
He's like the first
drunken sailor.

933
00:43:19,083 --> 00:43:20,917
We missed that.

934
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,542
Passed out drunk, naked in
his tent like a redneck

935
00:43:23,625 --> 00:43:25,250
on a 3-day holiday.

936
00:43:25,333 --> 00:43:28,000
That's Noah.
Right?

937
00:43:28,083 --> 00:43:30,333
You say, "No, no, there's
good people in there."

938
00:43:30,417 --> 00:43:31,750
Who?

939
00:43:31,833 --> 00:43:33,958
"Well, David was a man
after God's own heart."

940
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:35,333
And another man's wife.

941
00:43:35,417 --> 00:43:36,833
Oh yeah.

942
00:43:36,917 --> 00:43:39,333
And he killed the man
and kept the wife.

943
00:43:39,375 --> 00:43:41,500
You don't have to be
a Christian to go,

944
00:43:41,583 --> 00:43:42,917
"I don't think that's right.

945
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,917
I don't think that's right."

946
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:49,542
Some of you say, "Oh, but at the
end he was a very godly man."

947
00:43:49,625 --> 00:43:51,750
You know what he did
on his death bed?

948
00:43:51,833 --> 00:43:53,083
Put out an assassination hit.

949
00:43:53,167 --> 00:43:56,000
Let me just submit this to you:
Billy Graham's nearing the end.

950
00:43:56,042 --> 00:43:57,375
I love him.

951
00:43:57,458 --> 00:44:00,167
If on his death bed, he's
like, "Go kill that guy,"

952
00:44:00,250 --> 00:44:02,000
I'm gonna be
pretty bummed out, right?

953
00:44:02,042 --> 00:44:03,375
"Billy, you're doing great.

954
00:44:03,458 --> 00:44:05,375
"Oh, you dropped
the ball on the one.

955
00:44:05,458 --> 00:44:07,167
An assassination hit
from your death bed?"

956
00:44:07,208 --> 00:44:08,500
That's what King David did.

957
00:44:08,542 --> 00:44:09,875
So you know what?

958
00:44:09,958 --> 00:44:12,083
This really is a good Book,

959
00:44:12,167 --> 00:44:15,875
and even the heroes are
just little "h" heroes,

960
00:44:15,958 --> 00:44:22,000
and they all need a big
"H" Hero named God, Jesus.

961
00:44:22,042 --> 00:44:25,917
So, I don't believe that Esther
was most likely--it's possible,

962
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:31,000
but not probable that she was
a godly woman her whole life.

963
00:44:31,042 --> 00:44:36,208
Number two, and this is a more
serious view:

964
00:44:36,292 --> 00:44:38,708
we want to consider it,

965
00:44:38,792 --> 00:44:41,292
and that is that Esther
was an innocent victim of

966
00:44:41,333 --> 00:44:43,708
sexual assault.

967
00:44:43,792 --> 00:44:49,917
The story is told, she's poor,
she's young, she's powerless.

968
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:53,500
A king commands
her into the harem,

969
00:44:53,583 --> 00:44:57,417
she is taken against her will
to sleep with a man that she

970
00:44:57,500 --> 00:45:00,250
has not chosen, along with
hundreds of other women,

971
00:45:00,333 --> 00:45:02,875
and this is like trafficking.

972
00:45:02,958 --> 00:45:06,458
And it's possible,
but let me say this:

973
00:45:06,500 --> 00:45:09,542
it may not be probable.

974
00:45:09,625 --> 00:45:11,875
If this happened to Esther,
it's horrible, it's evil,

975
00:45:11,958 --> 00:45:13,792
it's horrific.

976
00:45:13,833 --> 00:45:15,792
And Mars Hill Church
exists for many things,

977
00:45:15,833 --> 00:45:19,167
but one of the things that is
near and dear to our heart is

978
00:45:19,250 --> 00:45:22,417
helping women and men,
1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men,

979
00:45:22,500 --> 00:45:24,083
who have been
sexually assaulted.

980
00:45:24,167 --> 00:45:26,333
Grace and I talk about
this in "Real Marriage."

981
00:45:26,375 --> 00:45:28,208
Justin and Lindsey Holcomb
wrote the book,

982
00:45:28,292 --> 00:45:31,375
"Rid of My Disgrace" to help
those who have been assaulted.

983
00:45:31,458 --> 00:45:33,208
We have Redemption Groups
to help those

984
00:45:33,292 --> 00:45:34,625
who have been assaulted.

985
00:45:34,667 --> 00:45:37,375
We have the Rest Ministry to
help those get out of

986
00:45:37,458 --> 00:45:40,000
assaulting situations,
trafficking situations.

987
00:45:40,083 --> 00:45:42,833
This matters to us.

988
00:45:42,875 --> 00:45:47,625
And that is possible, but I'm
not certain that it is probable

989
00:45:47,667 --> 00:45:51,583
because it doesn't say that.

990
00:45:51,667 --> 00:45:56,083
It doesn't say what happened.

991
00:45:56,167 --> 00:46:02,333
All it says is she went in,
she went out, he picked her.

992
00:46:02,417 --> 00:46:07,500
It doesn't say how she felt
or whether she was forced.

993
00:46:07,542 --> 00:46:10,375
It doesn't say.

994
00:46:10,458 --> 00:46:14,750
And let me submit to you
that when the Bible speaks,

995
00:46:14,833 --> 00:46:17,083
it speaks very plainly
and very clearly,

996
00:46:17,167 --> 00:46:20,083
so when there are other
occasions of sexual assault

997
00:46:20,167 --> 00:46:22,792
in Scripture,
the Bible tells it.

998
00:46:22,833 --> 00:46:25,917
I'll give you a devastating
example is in Genesis 34 with

999
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,000
a young woman named Dinah.

1000
00:46:28,083 --> 00:46:31,000
The story is told that she went
out and a young man

1001
00:46:31,042 --> 00:46:34,708
assaulted her, and the story is
told plainly, and clearly,

1002
00:46:34,792 --> 00:46:38,125
and devastatingly.

1003
00:46:38,167 --> 00:46:41,708
And so the Bible isn't shy,
and the Bible isn't cowardly,

1004
00:46:41,792 --> 00:46:45,333
and the Bible isn't timid, and
when something evil happens,

1005
00:46:45,375 --> 00:46:49,708
God shows it in its full evil.

1006
00:46:49,792 --> 00:46:53,417
He doesn't varnish over it.

1007
00:46:53,500 --> 00:46:55,500
He leaves it as is.

1008
00:46:55,583 --> 00:46:58,708
And the truth is, you just read
everything with me that is said.

1009
00:46:58,792 --> 00:47:00,333
It doesn't say that.

1010
00:47:00,417 --> 00:47:03,750
So, I think we might be able
to read that into the story,

1011
00:47:03,833 --> 00:47:07,042
but I'm not sure we can
read that out of the story.

1012
00:47:07,125 --> 00:47:09,792
The first two perspectives
are possible.

1013
00:47:09,833 --> 00:47:13,792
It is my opinion that the
third perspective is probable,

1014
00:47:13,833 --> 00:47:17,292
and that is that Esther is not
a static or flat character

1015
00:47:17,333 --> 00:47:19,875
who's consistent through
the whole book.

1016
00:47:19,958 --> 00:47:21,750
You'll meet them.

1017
00:47:21,833 --> 00:47:23,875
Haman is a consistent,
flat character,

1018
00:47:23,958 --> 00:47:25,500
because he never repents.

1019
00:47:25,583 --> 00:47:27,500
He's just evil.

1020
00:47:27,542 --> 00:47:29,292
Xerxes is a flat,
static character.

1021
00:47:29,333 --> 00:47:33,500
He never changes
because he never repents.

1022
00:47:33,583 --> 00:47:36,375
Those who repent are no longer
static, they're dynamic.

1023
00:47:36,458 --> 00:47:39,333
They don't stay the same,
they change.

1024
00:47:39,375 --> 00:47:41,667
We call it progressive
sanctification.

1025
00:47:41,750 --> 00:47:44,500
It means that when you meet
the God of the Bible,

1026
00:47:44,583 --> 00:47:46,917
you change, and the longer
you're walking with him,

1027
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,167
the more you change.

1028
00:47:49,250 --> 00:47:51,208
And she worships Jesus.

1029
00:47:51,292 --> 00:47:52,792
Let's just be clear on that.

1030
00:47:52,833 --> 00:47:55,708
She's waiting for
the coming of a promised Savior.

1031
00:47:55,792 --> 00:47:57,833
So are we.

1032
00:47:57,875 --> 00:48:00,083
She got a little
bored waiting for him.

1033
00:48:00,167 --> 00:48:02,083
So do we.

1034
00:48:02,167 --> 00:48:05,000
So she had a dual identity,
kind of in the world,

1035
00:48:05,042 --> 00:48:08,458
kind of in God's kingdom; kind
of sinning, kind of obeying;

1036
00:48:08,500 --> 00:48:11,792
kind of spiritual,
kind of not spiritual.

1037
00:48:11,833 --> 00:48:13,667
She's conflicted.

1038
00:48:13,708 --> 00:48:15,500
She's got a dual identity.

1039
00:48:15,542 --> 00:48:18,542
The Bible would say, in the
New Testament, she's worldly.

1040
00:48:18,625 --> 00:48:22,292
I believe she started out as
not the most godly women--

1041
00:48:22,333 --> 00:48:24,125
woman, rather, but by the end,

1042
00:48:24,167 --> 00:48:26,125
she's among the most
godly of women.

1043
00:48:26,167 --> 00:48:27,875
And here are my reasons.

1044
00:48:27,958 --> 00:48:31,417
Number one: at this point
in the story of Esther,

1045
00:48:31,500 --> 00:48:33,375
no one's walking with God.

1046
00:48:33,458 --> 00:48:35,000
I'm not just picking on Esther.

1047
00:48:35,083 --> 00:48:37,208
Some of you are like,
"You're picking on Esther."

1048
00:48:37,292 --> 00:48:40,208
I pick on Xerxes, I pick
on Mordecai, I pick on me,

1049
00:48:40,292 --> 00:48:41,625
I pick on you.

1050
00:48:41,667 --> 00:48:43,500
Like, everybody gets
a fair crack, right?

1051
00:48:43,583 --> 00:48:46,500
And just because we're examining
one woman doesn't mean

1052
00:48:46,583 --> 00:48:48,333
we're criticizing all women.

1053
00:48:48,375 --> 00:48:50,417
In the same way,
if we criticize Xerxes,

1054
00:48:50,500 --> 00:48:54,625
it doesn't mean we criticize
all men, though we can,

1055
00:48:54,667 --> 00:48:57,125
because all men are sinners
and all women are sinners.

1056
00:48:57,167 --> 00:49:00,292
And all of us, if they took
the story of our life

1057
00:49:00,333 --> 00:49:02,000
and told it
in painstaking detail,

1058
00:49:02,042 --> 00:49:05,792
we'd all be
a little bummed, right?

1059
00:49:05,833 --> 00:49:09,042
No one in the story at this
point is walking with God.

1060
00:49:09,125 --> 00:49:11,000
No one.

1061
00:49:11,042 --> 00:49:13,542
No one's praying,
no one mentions God,

1062
00:49:13,625 --> 00:49:16,000
no one's worshiping God,
no one's tithing to God,

1063
00:49:16,042 --> 00:49:19,500
no one is going to Jerusalem,
no one is celebrating the feasts

1064
00:49:19,542 --> 00:49:22,333
and festivals, no one's offering
a sacrifice for their sin.

1065
00:49:22,375 --> 00:49:23,917
There's nothing.

1066
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:25,833
Nobody quotes a verse.
Nothing.

1067
00:49:25,875 --> 00:49:28,333
Nothing spiritual.

1068
00:49:28,375 --> 00:49:32,917
And so it's not just that
Esther's not godly, no one is.

1069
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,292
Number two: she's living
far away from God.

1070
00:49:36,333 --> 00:49:39,500
The command was given, again
through Isaiah, go to Jerusalem.

1071
00:49:39,583 --> 00:49:41,375
That's where
the presence of God is.

1072
00:49:41,458 --> 00:49:43,000
She's not there.

1073
00:49:43,042 --> 00:49:45,167
She's living far away
from the presence of God.

1074
00:49:45,250 --> 00:49:50,333
Number three: she's disobeying
the commands of God through

1075
00:49:50,375 --> 00:49:55,500
Isaiah and she's living in
rebellion, just like we do.

1076
00:49:58,292 --> 00:50:01,708
Number four:
she could have said no.

1077
00:50:01,792 --> 00:50:03,625
Now, some people
want to say,

1078
00:50:03,667 --> 00:50:05,208
"Well, she could have
gotten punished."

1079
00:50:05,292 --> 00:50:08,833
Sometimes people in the Bible
say no to rulers

1080
00:50:08,875 --> 00:50:10,708
and they're punished.

1081
00:50:10,792 --> 00:50:13,208
Sometimes people in history
say no to rulers

1082
00:50:13,292 --> 00:50:16,375
and they're punished.

1083
00:50:16,458 --> 00:50:18,917
We call them bold.

1084
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,292
But the truth is, there's no
indication that she

1085
00:50:21,333 --> 00:50:22,708
would have gotten punished.

1086
00:50:22,792 --> 00:50:25,458
There was one woman who's
already stood up to the king

1087
00:50:25,500 --> 00:50:27,458
and said no, and what
happened to her?

1088
00:50:27,500 --> 00:50:30,458
She got banished, which is
kind of what she wanted.

1089
00:50:30,500 --> 00:50:33,208
Vashti said, "Tell the king

1090
00:50:33,292 --> 00:50:35,208
I don't want to be
in his presence,"

1091
00:50:35,292 --> 00:50:37,333
and the king says,
"I make a sovereign decree

1092
00:50:37,417 --> 00:50:39,333
she's not allowed
in my presence."

1093
00:50:39,417 --> 00:50:42,833
"Okay, we agree."

1094
00:50:42,875 --> 00:50:45,833
So, she probably was sent
over somewhere in the palace,

1095
00:50:45,917 --> 00:50:48,667
away from the king.

1096
00:50:48,708 --> 00:50:50,833
That might have been all that
happened to Esther

1097
00:50:50,917 --> 00:50:53,042
if she would have refused.

1098
00:50:53,125 --> 00:50:56,833
Number five: she's eating
the food that the Old Testament

1099
00:50:56,917 --> 00:50:59,958
forbids, so she's
disobeying Scriptures.

1100
00:51:00,083 --> 00:51:02,833
And there's another guy named
Daniel who lived a little bit

1101
00:51:02,875 --> 00:51:06,500
before her, and he was a young
man under a godless king named

1102
00:51:06,583 --> 00:51:08,708
Nebuchadnezzar,
who's mentioned here.

1103
00:51:08,792 --> 00:51:10,833
And when they told Daniel,
"Eat the food,"

1104
00:51:10,875 --> 00:51:12,417
what did Daniel say?

1105
00:51:12,500 --> 00:51:14,708
"No."

1106
00:51:14,792 --> 00:51:18,833
And Esther says yes.

1107
00:51:18,917 --> 00:51:22,542
She does what
should not be done.

1108
00:51:22,625 --> 00:51:26,000
Here's what we do
know--minimal facts.

1109
00:51:26,042 --> 00:51:29,500
A year of preparation,
goes in at night,

1110
00:51:29,542 --> 00:51:32,083
comes out in the morning,
and the king says,

1111
00:51:32,167 --> 00:51:35,000
"She's my favorite."

1112
00:51:35,042 --> 00:51:37,375
The Bible doesn't give
us a lot of details.

1113
00:51:37,458 --> 00:51:40,583
It doesn't paint Esther in
a strong negative light,

1114
00:51:40,667 --> 00:51:45,500
but it's a light
critical light.

1115
00:51:48,708 --> 00:51:52,583
What do you think?

1116
00:51:52,667 --> 00:51:55,833
How many of you,
your story's like Esther's?

1117
00:51:55,917 --> 00:51:59,375
"Yeah.
I've broken some commandments.

1118
00:51:59,458 --> 00:52:02,833
"I've slept with
somebody or bodies.

1119
00:52:02,917 --> 00:52:05,333
"I've hidden
my Christian faith.

1120
00:52:05,417 --> 00:52:10,333
"I've kept a foot
in each world.

1121
00:52:10,417 --> 00:52:15,167
"I've lived a life
that is compromised

1122
00:52:15,208 --> 00:52:18,167
and inconsistent."

1123
00:52:18,208 --> 00:52:19,875
Do you know what?

1124
00:52:19,958 --> 00:52:23,000
I find great encouragement and
hope in the story of Esther,

1125
00:52:23,042 --> 00:52:24,500
because you know what?

1126
00:52:24,542 --> 00:52:26,167
I'm like Esther.

1127
00:52:26,250 --> 00:52:28,167
I grew up in
a marginal Catholic home.

1128
00:52:28,208 --> 00:52:30,667
My mom did love Jesus.

1129
00:52:30,750 --> 00:52:34,500
I didn't worship God,
I didn't read the Bible,

1130
00:52:34,542 --> 00:52:37,667
I didn't pray except for when
I thought I was in real trouble

1131
00:52:37,708 --> 00:52:40,667
and I'd sort of throw out
a fire insurance policy to God.

1132
00:52:40,708 --> 00:52:44,750
"God, get me out of this please!
Thanks."

1133
00:52:44,833 --> 00:52:47,833
Occasionally, I'd show up for
a Christmas or Easter service

1134
00:52:47,917 --> 00:52:51,167
at the church, bored to death
because my mom wanted me to,

1135
00:52:51,208 --> 00:52:53,292
and it was sort of tradition.

1136
00:52:53,333 --> 00:52:55,667
If you would have said,
"Are you a Christian?"

1137
00:52:55,708 --> 00:52:57,500
I would have said, "Yeah,"

1138
00:52:57,542 --> 00:53:01,000
but the evidence
wouldn't hold up in court.

1139
00:53:01,083 --> 00:53:03,958
Same as Esther.

1140
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,833
Sexually sinning,
doing my thing, teenager.

1141
00:53:06,917 --> 00:53:09,958
Not an atheist, but definitely
not living a relationship with

1142
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:13,750
God, and not growing
and changing.

1143
00:53:13,833 --> 00:53:16,500
And I believe what happens
to Esther is, in the story,

1144
00:53:16,583 --> 00:53:17,917
God gets her heart

1145
00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:19,917
and she has a conversion
experience of sorts,

1146
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:22,125
and she starts to grow
spiritually as a person.

1147
00:53:22,167 --> 00:53:24,833
I experienced the same
thing in my life at age 19.

1148
00:53:24,917 --> 00:53:26,333
I don't want to condemn Esther.

1149
00:53:26,417 --> 00:53:29,750
What I want to do is I want to
invite everyone whose story is

1150
00:53:29,833 --> 00:53:33,333
like Esther to meet Esther's God
and to change like Esther did.

1151
00:53:33,417 --> 00:53:36,208
Don't you find great hope
in the story of Esther?

1152
00:53:36,292 --> 00:53:38,750
God takes messed up people,
perverted people,

1153
00:53:38,833 --> 00:53:41,458
rebellious people, people
who are not walking with him,

1154
00:53:41,500 --> 00:53:44,667
people who are not obeying him,
people who are not close to him,

1155
00:53:44,708 --> 00:53:47,167
and he gives them grace,
and he gives them favor,

1156
00:53:47,208 --> 00:53:48,542
and he chooses them.

1157
00:53:48,625 --> 00:53:50,250
Wow!
There's hope!

1158
00:53:50,333 --> 00:53:51,833
That's the hope.

1159
00:53:51,917 --> 00:53:54,417
And so I have hope.

1160
00:53:54,500 --> 00:53:56,750
Here's a little hope for
God's worldly people.

1161
00:53:56,833 --> 00:53:58,500
Some of us are God's
worldly people.

1162
00:53:58,583 --> 00:54:01,333
Number one: like Esther, God
walks with you even when you

1163
00:54:01,375 --> 00:54:02,708
don't walk with him.

1164
00:54:02,792 --> 00:54:04,917
Esther's not going to synagogue.

1165
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:06,792
Esther's not reading
the Scriptures.

1166
00:54:06,833 --> 00:54:08,417
Esther's not praying.

1167
00:54:08,500 --> 00:54:10,125
Esther's not worshiping.

1168
00:54:10,167 --> 00:54:11,833
Esther's not tithing.

1169
00:54:11,875 --> 00:54:13,375
Esther's not going to the temple

1170
00:54:13,458 --> 00:54:15,208
to offer a sacrifice
and obey God.

1171
00:54:15,292 --> 00:54:16,625
Esther's not doing that.

1172
00:54:16,667 --> 00:54:19,667
She's not walking with God,
but God's walking with Esther.

1173
00:54:19,708 --> 00:54:22,708
Through his subtle,
soft hand of providence,

1174
00:54:22,792 --> 00:54:25,333
he's working through
the circumstances of her life.

1175
00:54:25,375 --> 00:54:28,000
And even when she makes bad
decisions or decisions are made

1176
00:54:28,083 --> 00:54:30,333
that get her in bad situations,
God's still there

1177
00:54:30,417 --> 00:54:33,042
working it out, working
with her, working on her.

1178
00:54:33,125 --> 00:54:35,042
How encouraging is that?

1179
00:54:35,125 --> 00:54:37,542
Some of you say, "I've not
been walking with God."

1180
00:54:37,625 --> 00:54:40,250
Good news for you,
God's been walking with you.

1181
00:54:40,333 --> 00:54:41,750
He's right there.

1182
00:54:41,833 --> 00:54:43,750
He's not far.

1183
00:54:43,833 --> 00:54:46,958
You've walked a long ways,
but he's a committed God.

1184
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:51,250
Number two: like Esther, God
gives quote unquote "favor"

1185
00:54:51,333 --> 00:54:53,917
to undeserving
and ill-deserving people.

1186
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:57,458
It uses this word "favor" and
"grace" she found in the sight

1187
00:54:57,500 --> 00:54:59,958
of one of the rulers
in the palace.

1188
00:55:00,083 --> 00:55:01,833
Friends, this is like election.

1189
00:55:01,875 --> 00:55:04,833
This is God looking down and
saying, "I'm going to bless you,

1190
00:55:04,875 --> 00:55:07,833
"and I'm going to love you,
and I'm going to adopt you,

1191
00:55:07,875 --> 00:55:10,833
"and I'm going to save you,
and I'm going to help you,

1192
00:55:10,875 --> 00:55:12,583
and I'm going to work
with you."

1193
00:55:12,667 --> 00:55:14,583
We look and we say,
"That's not fair."

1194
00:55:14,667 --> 00:55:16,000
No, that's grace.

1195
00:55:16,042 --> 00:55:17,458
It's undeserving,
it's ill-deserving.

1196
00:55:17,500 --> 00:55:19,667
Some of you look
at the story, you say,

1197
00:55:19,708 --> 00:55:21,042
"Esther didn't ask for that."

1198
00:55:21,125 --> 00:55:22,458
That's how it works.

1199
00:55:22,500 --> 00:55:24,625
We don't look for God,
God looks for us.

1200
00:55:24,667 --> 00:55:27,042
We don't cry out to God,
God comes for us.

1201
00:55:27,125 --> 00:55:29,750
We don't get what we deserve,
Jesus gets what we deserve.

1202
00:55:29,833 --> 00:55:31,167
We get grace and favor.

1203
00:55:31,208 --> 00:55:33,417
And this is the Old Testament
concept of hesed.

1204
00:55:33,500 --> 00:55:36,167
It's this Hebrew word that
appears here in Esther,

1205
00:55:36,208 --> 00:55:40,250
and it's God's love for
his covenant people.

1206
00:55:40,333 --> 00:55:43,250
"The Jesus Storybook Bible"
calls it "the Never Stopping,

1207
00:55:43,333 --> 00:55:46,625
Never Giving Up, Unbreaking,
Always and Forever Love.

1208
00:55:46,667 --> 00:55:49,333
That's God's love.

1209
00:55:49,375 --> 00:55:52,417
Number three: like Esther, God
can get you through the trouble

1210
00:55:52,500 --> 00:55:54,042
you've gotten yourself into.

1211
00:55:54,125 --> 00:55:56,917
God's not to blame for some of
the decisions that Mordecai,

1212
00:55:57,000 --> 00:55:59,458
Xerxes, and perhaps
even Esther have made.

1213
00:55:59,500 --> 00:56:01,667
They've made some
decisions that have Esther

1214
00:56:01,750 --> 00:56:03,500
in a very precarious situation.

1215
00:56:03,542 --> 00:56:05,375
How many of you are like Esther?

1216
00:56:05,458 --> 00:56:07,583
Because of choices you've
made and others have made,

1217
00:56:07,667 --> 00:56:10,000
your life right now
is really complicated.

1218
00:56:10,083 --> 00:56:12,000
You're like,
"I married an unbeliever.

1219
00:56:12,083 --> 00:56:13,500
"It's a mess.

1220
00:56:13,583 --> 00:56:15,375
"We have kids,
we're not even married.

1221
00:56:15,458 --> 00:56:17,250
"It's a disaster.

1222
00:56:17,333 --> 00:56:19,667
"It's complicated
and I'm in situations

1223
00:56:19,708 --> 00:56:22,417
"I can't get myself out of.

1224
00:56:22,500 --> 00:56:25,042
I'm kind of stuck, like Esther."

1225
00:56:25,125 --> 00:56:28,250
Once they put the crown on her
head and call her queen

1226
00:56:28,333 --> 00:56:31,750
and sit her up front, she's kind
of stuck with it a little bit.

1227
00:56:31,833 --> 00:56:33,708
Right?

1228
00:56:33,792 --> 00:56:36,542
God gets her through it.

1229
00:56:36,625 --> 00:56:41,167
God doesn't get her out of it,
God doesn't get her around it,

1230
00:56:41,208 --> 00:56:44,042
God works through his
invisible hand of providence

1231
00:56:44,125 --> 00:56:45,708
to get her through it.

1232
00:56:45,792 --> 00:56:49,208
That's what he's
doing in your life.

1233
00:56:49,292 --> 00:56:51,625
Even if you've made decisions
and others have made

1234
00:56:51,667 --> 00:56:55,542
bad decisions that get you into
a difficult position, God will,

1235
00:56:55,625 --> 00:57:00,625
by his providential hand,
get you through it.

1236
00:57:00,667 --> 00:57:05,000
And number four: like Esther,
God needs to save you before you

1237
00:57:05,083 --> 00:57:08,417
can help save anyone else.

1238
00:57:08,500 --> 00:57:10,667
Some of you are worried about
lots of people

1239
00:57:10,750 --> 00:57:12,667
and you want to help
lots of people.

1240
00:57:12,750 --> 00:57:14,333
You're concerned
about lots of people.

1241
00:57:14,375 --> 00:57:17,333
God needs to save you before
you can help save anyone else.

1242
00:57:17,417 --> 00:57:20,708
Before Esther can be the one
that God uses to save

1243
00:57:20,792 --> 00:57:23,708
the people, God has to
first save Esther.

1244
00:57:23,792 --> 00:57:25,333
Change her heart,
change her mind,

1245
00:57:25,417 --> 00:57:28,417
change her life so that she
can be part of his plan.

1246
00:57:28,500 --> 00:57:31,917
God needs to save you before
he can have you help him

1247
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,167
save others.

1248
00:57:34,208 --> 00:57:36,833
And this is by turning from
sin, and trusting in Jesus,

1249
00:57:36,917 --> 00:57:39,542
and getting a new nature,
and getting a new heart,

1250
00:57:39,625 --> 00:57:42,750
and the punishment goes to him
and the new life comes to you

1251
00:57:42,833 --> 00:57:44,917
so that you can have that
conversion experience

1252
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:47,833
and that change in character,
like Esther.

1253
00:57:47,917 --> 00:57:50,833
Well, ultimately,
Esther is a type of Christ.

1254
00:57:50,875 --> 00:57:52,958
She's a portrait,
a picture, a sign,

1255
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:54,750
a symbol pointing
to Jesus Christ.

1256
00:57:54,833 --> 00:57:57,125
The whole Bible--
the whole Bible's about Jesus.

1257
00:57:57,167 --> 00:58:00,667
Now, it's for us,
but it's about him.

1258
00:58:00,750 --> 00:58:04,000
It's not primarily about us,
it's primarily about him,

1259
00:58:04,042 --> 00:58:07,208
and so at this point, they're
waiting for a greater King,

1260
00:58:07,292 --> 00:58:09,708
and another kingdom,
and a Savior, and a deliverer,

1261
00:58:09,792 --> 00:58:12,583
and everybody and everything
is yearning, and longing,

1262
00:58:12,667 --> 00:58:14,875
and leaning toward
the coming of Jesus.

1263
00:58:14,958 --> 00:58:17,000
And so Esther is
a type of Christ.

1264
00:58:17,083 --> 00:58:19,833
She's a little picture
and a portrait.

1265
00:58:19,917 --> 00:58:21,833
Like Esther,
Jesus comes from

1266
00:58:21,875 --> 00:58:23,917
a line of God's
covenant people.

1267
00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:26,833
Like Esther, Jesus grew
up far away from his home,

1268
00:58:26,917 --> 00:58:28,958
his heavenly home.

1269
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:31,667
Like Esther, Jesus grew
up in a sinful world,

1270
00:58:31,708 --> 00:58:34,333
filled with temptation
to compromise.

1271
00:58:34,417 --> 00:58:37,750
Like Esther, Jesus' identity
was unknown for his early years.

1272
00:58:37,833 --> 00:58:40,000
They didn't see him as God.

1273
00:58:40,083 --> 00:58:43,542
Like Esther, Jesus was
adopted by an earthly father,

1274
00:58:43,625 --> 00:58:45,500
a man named Joseph.

1275
00:58:45,583 --> 00:58:49,667
Like Esther, Jesus grew up in
poor and humble circumstances.

1276
00:58:49,708 --> 00:58:54,333
Like Esther, Jesus was
an unlikely choice for royalty.

1277
00:58:54,417 --> 00:58:57,750
Like Esther, Jesus stood up
against evil rulers

1278
00:58:57,833 --> 00:58:59,917
to save his people.

1279
00:59:00,042 --> 00:59:04,917
And like Esther, Jesus
saves his people from death.

1280
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:08,125
Jesus is a better
Savior than Esther,

1281
00:59:08,167 --> 00:59:11,000
and this whole theme of king
and kingdom that echoes

1282
00:59:11,083 --> 00:59:13,708
throughout the whole
story line of Esther,

1283
00:59:13,792 --> 00:59:18,917
it's so magnificent, it's so
prevalent, it's so prominent.

1284
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:22,958
And what happens is that Xerxes
sits on a throne, but for us,

1285
00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:25,833
Jesus sits on a throne.

1286
00:59:25,917 --> 00:59:29,458
And Xerxes rules over a kingdom
that covers many nations,

1287
00:59:29,500 --> 00:59:33,250
and Jesus' throne rules
as a King with a kingdom

1288
00:59:33,333 --> 00:59:35,542
over every nation.

1289
00:59:35,625 --> 00:59:40,208
And what happens is that Xerxes
has people gathering to give him

1290
00:59:40,292 --> 00:59:43,833
glory, and when we
gather as the church,

1291
00:59:43,917 --> 00:59:46,750
we gather around
the risen Jesus,

1292
00:59:46,833 --> 00:59:48,833
a better King with
a better kingdom,

1293
00:59:48,917 --> 00:59:52,333
the one who is alone
worthy of glory.

1294
00:59:52,417 --> 00:59:55,958
And Xerxes would send
out his servants

1295
00:59:56,000 --> 00:59:59,208
to take men and women,

1296
00:59:59,292 --> 01:00:02,833
young boys and girls, and to
bring them into his kingdom

1297
01:00:02,917 --> 01:00:05,542
where they would be castrated
and they would be

1298
01:00:05,625 --> 01:00:08,833
taken advantage of,
and when we go out,

1299
01:00:08,917 --> 01:00:11,958
we invite people to come
meet our King Jesus,

1300
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:14,958
and to become citizens
of his great kingdom,

1301
01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:18,083
and our Jesus never
treats anyone like that.

1302
01:00:18,167 --> 01:00:22,333
Our Jesus does not denigrate
men and he does not abuse women.

1303
01:00:22,417 --> 01:00:24,333
He's not like that.

1304
01:00:24,417 --> 01:00:27,667
The good news is, Mars Hill,
when we go out and we invite

1305
01:00:27,750 --> 01:00:30,167
people to our King
and kingdom, we are assured,

1306
01:00:30,208 --> 01:00:33,167
we are guaranteed that they will
be treated with love, and grace,

1307
01:00:33,250 --> 01:00:35,583
and affection,
and favor, and kindness.

1308
01:00:35,667 --> 01:00:37,667
He's not a God
who gives their shame,

1309
01:00:37,750 --> 01:00:39,500
he's a God
who takes their shame.

1310
01:00:39,542 --> 01:00:42,667
He's not a God who uses them,
he's a God who serves them.

1311
01:00:42,750 --> 01:00:44,667
He's not a God
who discourages them,

1312
01:00:44,750 --> 01:00:46,750
he's a God who encourages them.

1313
01:00:46,833 --> 01:00:49,667
Our Jesus is a much
better King than Xerxes,

1314
01:00:49,750 --> 01:00:52,458
and his kingdom is
a much better kingdom,

1315
01:00:52,500 --> 01:00:55,792
and though Esther is a great
gal at the end of the book,

1316
01:00:55,833 --> 01:01:00,500
our Jesus is even
a better Savior.

1317
01:01:03,833 --> 01:01:07,833
And what they do is they
gather around their king.

1318
01:01:07,917 --> 01:01:11,167
Mars Hill,
we call that church.

1319
01:01:11,208 --> 01:01:14,417
Our King is alive.

1320
01:01:14,500 --> 01:01:18,042
They would gather around their
king to eat and to drink,

1321
01:01:18,125 --> 01:01:20,375
and gluttony, and sin.

1322
01:01:20,458 --> 01:01:25,333
We come to Communion, eating
and drinking in moderation.

1323
01:01:25,417 --> 01:01:28,375
Not to sin with our King,
but to celebrate the King

1324
01:01:28,458 --> 01:01:31,167
who died for our sin.

1325
01:01:31,250 --> 01:01:34,375
They would come to
sing with these huge,

1326
01:01:34,458 --> 01:01:37,167
lavish banquets
the glory of their king.

1327
01:01:37,208 --> 01:01:42,167
We come to sing
and celebrate Jesus,

1328
01:01:42,250 --> 01:01:46,500
our great King
and his great kingdom.

1329
01:01:46,542 --> 01:01:50,167
And Xerxes' rule was
extended by heavy taxation.

1330
01:01:50,208 --> 01:01:52,375
He forced his people to give.

1331
01:01:52,458 --> 01:01:56,875
Our Jesus doesn't
demand, he doesn't take.

1332
01:01:56,958 --> 01:01:58,667
He invites.

1333
01:01:58,750 --> 01:02:02,667
He invites those that he loves
and those who love him to give

1334
01:02:02,708 --> 01:02:08,708
generously for
the expansion of his kingdom.

1335
01:02:08,792 --> 01:02:13,958
Xerxes' kingdom found its end
in Greece, and he was defeated.

1336
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:17,042
Jesus' kingdom has no end.

1337
01:02:17,125 --> 01:02:20,167
When we give to Jesus' kingdom,
it is that the gospel would be

1338
01:02:20,250 --> 01:02:22,333
preached, and churches
would be planted,

1339
01:02:22,417 --> 01:02:25,375
and lives would be changed
across the nations of the earth,

1340
01:02:25,458 --> 01:02:28,542
that people would meet our King,
and that his kingdom

1341
01:02:28,625 --> 01:02:30,083
would reign on the earth.

1342
01:02:30,167 --> 01:02:31,750
Amen?

1343
01:02:31,833 --> 01:02:34,250
So, here's what we're
going to do at this point.

1344
01:02:34,333 --> 01:02:36,458
We're going to invite
you to respond to Jesus.

1345
01:02:36,500 --> 01:02:37,833
They kept responding to Xerxes.

1346
01:02:37,917 --> 01:02:39,333
We respond to our King.

1347
01:02:39,417 --> 01:02:40,750
We'll take Communion,
we'll sing,

1348
01:02:40,833 --> 01:02:43,792
and we'll collect our offering,
and this is where we give

1349
01:02:43,833 --> 01:02:46,083
for our King and his kingdom.

1350
01:02:46,167 --> 01:02:49,167
And as the financial stewards
are collecting the offering,

1351
01:02:49,250 --> 01:02:51,333
can I share some
good news with you,

1352
01:02:51,417 --> 01:02:54,792
some reports from the expanding
of the kingdom of God?

1353
01:02:54,833 --> 01:02:58,500
There's much to be thankful for.

1354
01:02:58,542 --> 01:03:01,750
I'll start by giving you
some things to pray for,

1355
01:03:01,833 --> 01:03:04,208
and give toward, and care for.

1356
01:03:04,292 --> 01:03:09,000
Let me start by saying
this: we love people,

1357
01:03:09,083 --> 01:03:13,208
and we give generously so
that we can love, help,

1358
01:03:13,292 --> 01:03:15,500
and serve people.

1359
01:03:15,583 --> 01:03:17,833
So, as the stewards are now
collecting the offering,

1360
01:03:17,917 --> 01:03:19,333
keep that in your mind.

1361
01:03:19,417 --> 01:03:22,958
It's not about the resources,
it's about the people we want

1362
01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:25,833
to love, and help, and serve,
and the resources are to be

1363
01:03:25,917 --> 01:03:29,333
sent out to expand the work
of the kingdom.

1364
01:03:29,417 --> 01:03:31,833
And we've had the greatest
year we've had, ever.

1365
01:03:31,875 --> 01:03:34,750
Fourteen hundred people have
met Jesus and gotten baptized

1366
01:03:34,833 --> 01:03:37,250
at Mars Hill Church
in the last twelve months.

1367
01:03:37,333 --> 01:03:41,333
It's great.

1368
01:03:43,583 --> 01:03:45,167
And I'll give you one story.

1369
01:03:45,208 --> 01:03:47,750
I was talking to one of
our leaders, great guy.

1370
01:03:47,833 --> 01:03:49,750
He actually got saved
in Mars Hill Church,

1371
01:03:49,833 --> 01:03:51,750
and his wife's now teaching
in women's ministry.

1372
01:03:51,833 --> 01:03:54,500
And he said, "Yeah, I was
at the gym lifting weights,

1373
01:03:54,583 --> 01:03:57,500
"and I look over and there's
a guy wearing a black t-shirt

1374
01:03:57,583 --> 01:03:59,000
"that says, 'Death,
Burial, Resurrection,'

1375
01:03:59,083 --> 01:04:00,500
which is our baptism t-shirt."

1376
01:04:00,542 --> 01:04:02,500
He walks over to the guy
and he says,

1377
01:04:02,542 --> 01:04:04,500
"Hey, do you go to
Mars Hill Church?"

1378
01:04:04,542 --> 01:04:06,208
The guy's like,
"Yeah, you baptized me."

1379
01:04:06,292 --> 01:04:07,792
"Oh."

1380
01:04:07,833 --> 01:04:09,792
"How's it going?"
The guy says, "Great!

1381
01:04:09,833 --> 01:04:12,792
"I love Jesus, I'm reading the
Bible, I'm in a Community Group,

1382
01:04:12,833 --> 01:04:14,625
"I'm in the membership class.
You know?

1383
01:04:14,667 --> 01:04:16,000
Jesus is changing my life."

1384
01:04:16,083 --> 01:04:17,417
New King.

1385
01:04:17,500 --> 01:04:19,417
Fourteen hundred people are
walking around wearing

1386
01:04:19,500 --> 01:04:22,250
those shirts, just this year.

1387
01:04:22,333 --> 01:04:25,958
Just this year.

1388
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:30,417
And for us, we see
the kingdom of God expanding.

1389
01:04:30,500 --> 01:04:34,542
I say this not in boastful
way but in an exhausted way.

1390
01:04:34,625 --> 01:04:37,750
We were recently honored as the
third fastest-growing church

1391
01:04:37,833 --> 01:04:42,958
in the United States of America,
which means we are tired.

1392
01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:46,833
That's like a woman who said,
"I'm pregnant with seven kids."

1393
01:04:46,875 --> 01:04:49,625
Like, "Yay! Oooh. "
You know?

1394
01:04:49,667 --> 01:04:52,708
It's wonderfully exhausting.

1395
01:04:52,792 --> 01:04:55,333
So, the staff is tired,
and the hours are long,

1396
01:04:55,417 --> 01:04:57,958
and everything's busting,
and we're trying to keep up,

1397
01:04:58,000 --> 01:05:01,500
but we're celebrating because
new life is always a good thing.

1398
01:05:01,583 --> 01:05:04,083
And so be in prayer
for the churches,

1399
01:05:04,167 --> 01:05:06,167
and I'll give you a few reports

1400
01:05:06,250 --> 01:05:08,333
from the expanding
kingdom of God.

1401
01:05:08,375 --> 01:05:09,917
You may be aware of this.

1402
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:13,375
Mars Hill Downtown has now
secured a lease on

1403
01:05:13,458 --> 01:05:15,875
the oldest church building
in the history of Seattle.

1404
01:05:15,958 --> 01:05:18,167
No church has met
there for 5 years,

1405
01:05:18,208 --> 01:05:21,042
and we are preparing and hoping
to enter in a few months

1406
01:05:21,125 --> 01:05:24,167
and to see more people meet
Jesus in what used to be,

1407
01:05:24,208 --> 01:05:26,667
but no longer is, the least
churched city in America.

1408
01:05:26,708 --> 01:05:29,250
In addition--you can clap
for that if you'd like.

1409
01:05:29,333 --> 01:05:33,417
[congregation applauding]

1410
01:05:33,500 --> 01:05:36,208
This is Mars Hill Everett's
potential new building.

1411
01:05:36,292 --> 01:05:39,250
It's an old armory,
which is awesome.

1412
01:05:39,333 --> 01:05:42,542
And we had a vision
meeting there recently,

1413
01:05:42,625 --> 01:05:45,250
and we're trying to finish
raising the money to occupy that

1414
01:05:45,333 --> 01:05:48,958
space, to have far more seats,
to expand the kingdom of God

1415
01:05:49,000 --> 01:05:51,208
north of Seattle.

1416
01:05:51,292 --> 01:05:54,542
And lastly, it is official, we
have obtained one of the oldest

1417
01:05:54,625 --> 01:05:58,708
churches in Tacoma, and we hope
to be opening Mars Hill Tacoma

1418
01:05:58,792 --> 01:06:01,708
there in 2013
in a great, old building.

1419
01:06:01,792 --> 01:06:05,167
And we want to do this because
we believe our King is

1420
01:06:05,250 --> 01:06:08,000
the best king, and his kingdom
is the best kingdom,

1421
01:06:08,083 --> 01:06:10,583
and we want to advance
the King's kingdom.

1422
01:06:10,667 --> 01:06:12,125
Amen?

1423
01:06:12,167 --> 01:06:16,500
That's what we want to do.

1424
01:06:16,542 --> 01:06:18,833
And things are tight,
financially,

1425
01:06:18,917 --> 01:06:20,667
and we need you
to give generously.

1426
01:06:20,708 --> 01:06:23,125
And some of you ask,
"Well, can we afford this?"

1427
01:06:23,167 --> 01:06:25,542
Here's the truth:
for Downtown, Everett,

1428
01:06:25,625 --> 01:06:27,542
and the other facilities
we're looking at,

1429
01:06:27,625 --> 01:06:29,958
the buildings
we're going into have at least

1430
01:06:30,000 --> 01:06:33,667
twice the seating and are less
money than our current rentals.

1431
01:06:33,708 --> 01:06:36,917
So, we're getting twice as many
seats for less dollars than we

1432
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:41,500
currently pay, because our King
also does coupons and Groupons,

1433
01:06:41,583 --> 01:06:45,167
and we appreciate that
very, very, very much.

1434
01:06:45,208 --> 01:06:48,000
In addition, you're
giving around the world.

1435
01:06:48,083 --> 01:06:50,250
Let me show you some of
the church planters

1436
01:06:50,333 --> 01:06:52,958
you are sponsoring in Ethiopia.

1437
01:06:53,000 --> 01:06:56,125
And we're also supporting church
planters in India and other

1438
01:06:56,167 --> 01:06:58,542
nations around the world,
and we'll be giving you

1439
01:06:58,625 --> 01:07:00,917
ongoing updated reports.

1440
01:07:01,000 --> 01:07:03,875
And on behalf of the Lord Jesus,
thank you for caring about

1441
01:07:03,958 --> 01:07:06,708
not just our nation
but his kingdom.

1442
01:07:06,792 --> 01:07:08,500
And I'll close with a story.

1443
01:07:08,583 --> 01:07:10,083
It was great.

1444
01:07:10,167 --> 01:07:12,417
I was in Indianapolis
recently, preaching.

1445
01:07:12,500 --> 01:07:15,000
And there was a line,
very long line of people,

1446
01:07:15,042 --> 01:07:17,667
and every single person I
talked to and prayed with after

1447
01:07:17,708 --> 01:07:20,042
preaching said, "Tell
the people of Mars Hill Church,

1448
01:07:20,125 --> 01:07:21,917
"'Thank you.'

1449
01:07:22,000 --> 01:07:24,417
We get the free resources,
we see what is happening."

1450
01:07:24,500 --> 01:07:25,833
They're praying
for our churches.

1451
01:07:25,875 --> 01:07:27,458
It was pretty overwhelming.

1452
01:07:27,500 --> 01:07:29,833
The guy from Guatemala said,
"Tell them thanks for

1453
01:07:29,917 --> 01:07:32,250
putting stuff in Spanish."

1454
01:07:32,333 --> 01:07:34,542
A woman came up
crying and she said,

1455
01:07:34,625 --> 01:07:36,750
"I left my husband
for another man,

1456
01:07:36,833 --> 01:07:39,667
"and somebody sent me one of
the Mars Hill 'Real Marriage'

1457
01:07:39,708 --> 01:07:42,667
"sermons, and I gave my
life to Jesus, came home,

1458
01:07:42,708 --> 01:07:44,750
"apologized to my husband.

1459
01:07:44,833 --> 01:07:47,417
"He said that Jesus
dies for sins

1460
01:07:47,500 --> 01:07:49,458
so we don't need to kill
our marriage."

1461
01:07:49,500 --> 01:07:51,833
And they're holding hands
and crying and saying,

1462
01:07:51,875 --> 01:07:54,042
"Tell the people of Mars Hill
thanks for putting

1463
01:07:54,125 --> 01:07:56,625
the gospel out for free."

1464
01:07:56,667 --> 01:07:58,917
And so they've reconciled
their marriage.

1465
01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:03,333
And there's just unending
stories of God giving favor

1466
01:08:03,375 --> 01:08:07,625
and grace to people, and we're
really honored and excited

1467
01:08:07,667 --> 01:08:11,833
to be a part of what
he is doing.

1468
01:08:11,875 --> 01:08:14,167
Amen?

1469
01:08:14,250 --> 01:08:16,583
And if you didn't
come prepared to give,

1470
01:08:16,667 --> 01:08:20,500
you can go ahead--
MarsHill.com/give.

1471
01:08:20,583 --> 01:08:22,958
Give to your church,
pray for your church.

1472
01:08:23,000 --> 01:08:24,917
We're part of
the kingdom of God,

1473
01:08:25,000 --> 01:08:26,667
and people really need our King.

1474
01:08:26,708 --> 01:08:28,167
Amen?

1475
01:08:28,208 --> 01:08:29,833
People really need our King.

1476
01:08:29,917 --> 01:08:31,833
Lord Jesus, you're a great King.

1477
01:08:31,917 --> 01:08:34,542
You have the best kingdom.

1478
01:08:34,625 --> 01:08:38,958
Lord Jesus, we confess,
we're like Esther.

1479
01:08:39,000 --> 01:08:43,542
We don't start ready,
prepared, godly, and pure.

1480
01:08:43,625 --> 01:08:50,500
We come guilty, confused,
disqualified, and a mess.

1481
01:08:50,583 --> 01:08:57,167
But you give us hesed, covenant
love, and favor, and grace,

1482
01:08:57,208 --> 01:09:02,500
and you change us, and then
you allow us to be part

1483
01:09:02,583 --> 01:09:07,000
of what you're doing to
expand your kingdom.

1484
01:09:07,042 --> 01:09:09,417
We come now
to partake of Communion,

1485
01:09:09,500 --> 01:09:13,083
to feast with our King, to
sing the praises of our King,

1486
01:09:13,167 --> 01:09:15,833
because our King is
the best King, so we thank you,

1487
01:09:15,875 --> 01:09:18,000
Lord Jesus, amen.