Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS023051S
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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:16 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:17 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:19 Today, we're going to be looking at lesson 12. 00:23 This is lesson 12 of 13. 00:24 We are very near the end of the quarter, 00:26 but we are not there yet. We're looking 00:27 at a very significant story 00:29 and some lessons that we can learn from it today; 00:32 but before we begin, let's have prayer. 00:35 Father, we ask that You will be with us and bless us today 00:38 as we look at this incredible story, 00:40 a story of how You are very much at work in the world, 00:43 and we ask that You will bless us 00:45 with encouragement from it. 00:46 We thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 00:49 Well, we're grateful to have back with us again this week 00:52 Jeff Scoggins. Jeff, thanks for coming back with us again. 00:55 >>Jeff Scoggins: Thank you. 00:56 >>Eric: So last time we came together, 00:58 we were looking at reaching the unreached 01:00 or mission to the unreached. 01:01 This week, we're looking at a little bit different story. 01:02 We're looking at Esther and Mordecai. 01:05 It's a story that I think most of us 01:07 are somewhat familiar with 01:09 and maybe even very familiar with, 01:11 but perhaps we're gonna learn a few new things about 01:14 this story this week as we go through the lesson study 01:18 and as we kind of look at this story in a whole. 01:22 So give us a little summary of what we're looking at here. 01:25 Where does this story take us, 01:28 and what do you think we could learn from it? 01:30 >>Jeff: Okay, maybe one of the first questions 01:32 that we might ask in a study about mission is, 01:35 how is this a mission story? 01:37 There's voluntary mission, and there's involuntary mission, 01:39 right? And so, Esther and Mordecai, 01:43 they were missionaries, not by choice, 01:46 but that's how they had ended up. 01:48 And so that's kind of where we're going, 01:50 the perspective we're going to be taking, 01:52 a look at this here. 01:54 One of the key things that probably most of your listeners 01:57 have heard is that this is the one book in the Bible, 02:00 Esther, that never mentions God's name at all. 02:05 The closest we get is to some prayer, and that's it, 02:09 and God simply--in fact, this bothers people so much 02:14 that there are sometimes that people suggest 02:16 that Esther shouldn't even be in the Bible. 02:19 So, but it is, and I think it should be, 02:22 and I think there's actually a very profound thing 02:26 that's happening here in the story, 02:28 but let's just kind of quickly go through the story, 02:31 kind of summarizing the story overall 02:33 in this first part of it. 02:35 And what I would like us to do is to kind of pull out 02:38 everything that is--that seems like a coincidence. 02:42 What just happened? 02:45 And at first, you know, something just happening 02:48 seems normal, because things do happen. 02:51 But when it starts building, you start to think, 02:54 "Wait a minute. Could this really just happen?" 02:58 All right, so we start off, King Ahasuerus-- 03:02 King Xerxes--is the king of Persia. 03:07 Persia is at the pinnacle of its power. 03:10 They are the empire that reigns over the known world, really. 03:16 And they're fabulously wealthy, and the king is--how to say-- 03:25 he is all-powerful, as far as a human being can be. 03:29 Anything he wants, he gets, okay? 03:30 So, the story starts off describing 03:34 how this little girl is born named Hadassah, 03:39 and her parents die. 03:41 And she's an orphan, and her uncle Mordecai comes 03:45 and gets her. 03:46 Mordecai is in the service of the king, 03:49 this king, Ahasuerus-- or Ahasuerus in-- 03:52 what is it, Greek? No, it's Xerxes in Greek. 03:56 And he comes and takes her. He raises her. 04:01 And the king decides that he wants to attack Greece, 04:09 'cause he's never been able to subdue Greece, 04:12 and so he calls this council of war. 04:14 It's described as a banquet; but really, 04:17 what's happening is it's a council of war, 04:19 because the Persians had this weird idea (laughs) 04:22 that all councils of war had to take place in two phases. 04:27 You would make a decision when you were sober, 04:29 and then you had to get drunk 04:30 and see if it was still a good decision, and then-- 04:32 or you would make a decision while you were drunk, 04:35 and then you would get sober to make sure 04:37 it was a good decision. (laughing) So they're-- 04:39 so they have 180 days of this partying, 04:43 and drinking is the big thing. 04:45 And so they're just getting smashed and not-- 04:48 and they decide to go and attack Greece, 04:51 which turns out to be a massive failure. 04:54 They lose, and this is really kind of the decline 04:57 of the empire, the Persian Empire. 05:01 But the king comes back; and, of course, he's depressed. 05:05 And so his counselors suggest, 05:08 "Hey, you had to get rid of your wife." 05:11 I skipped that part of the story. 05:12 He calls his wife in during this banquet, the queen, 05:14 to be gawked at by all the men. 05:17 And she refuses, and so he kicks her out. 05:20 And his advisors then come after this disastrous campaign 05:22 and say, "Why don't you just start testing young ladies 05:27 "from around the empire? And we'll bring 'em to ya. 05:30 "And when you find one you like, make a new queen, 05:33 you know, and this will make you feel better." 05:34 And it gives you a little bit of an insight 05:38 into the shallow character of this king 05:40 because he goes for it. "Oh, great, let's do it." 05:43 Okay, and so they go around kidnapping young ladies, 05:47 and that's what this was. 05:48 I mean, the storybooks sometimes make it sound like 05:50 this is a beauty pageant, and the ladies 05:52 were just overwhelmed and happy to be chosen. 05:55 That's not the way it was. That's not what happened. 05:59 So they come in. They bring in these girls, 06:01 they spend a night with the king, 06:03 and they can never go back to life as normal. 06:05 They go into a harem, very like--never to marry-- 06:08 very likely to never even see the king again. 06:11 It was almost worse than a death sentence, really, 06:14 for a young lady to do this. 06:15 And so, Esther is one of these that happens to be taken. 06:21 Long story short, she pleases the king. 06:25 We won't get into the ethics. 06:27 We won't get into any of that stuff. 06:28 That's not the point. 06:30 God works with us where we're at. 06:34 She gains the king's favor, 06:35 happens to gain the king's favor. Okay, so far so good. 06:39 Then the story switches, 06:40 and there's this guy named Mordecai, Esther's uncle. 06:43 They don't know the connection-- the Persians don't. 06:46 And then there's Haman. 06:48 Haman is the assistant to the president. 06:50 He's the king's advisor. 06:52 He's the second-hand man, and he owns the ring of power. 06:55 Okay, the king gives him his signet ring, 06:59 signet signature. You know, I mean, he is king, basically. 07:02 Anything that he wants to do, he puts that signet ring on, 07:05 and the king's name is on it-- powerful dude. 07:09 And he doesn't like Mordecai 07:12 because Mordecai won't bow to him. 07:14 And so Haman is upset. 07:16 Now, Haman-- we sometimes miss this-- 07:18 Haman was an Agagite. Where does that come from? 07:22 Most of us just read right over that 07:23 and don't even think about it, 07:24 but it comes from Agag, the king of the Amalekites, 07:28 back from Saul's time, when God said, 07:31 "Go and wipe out the Amalekites. Their cup is full." 07:34 And Saul spared Agag, if you remember that. 07:37 Now, apparently, some other people got away 07:39 or whatever it was because this is a descendant 07:41 of that person or that king. 07:43 And the story also hints at the idea 07:46 that Esther and Mordecai descend from Saul's line. 07:50 It's all in there in the story. 07:54 So, anyway, so you've got all this history. 07:56 For anybody that recognizes what's happening here, 07:58 they're going, "Agagite, Kish"--you know, 08:01 for that was Saul's descendants. 08:03 There's something more going on underneath the story here. 08:06 So all of this background is alluded to; 08:08 and you can just, if you know the stories, 08:09 you can just incorporate it into the story. 08:13 So Mordecai won't bow. 08:17 Haman gets upset, he goes to the king, and he says, 08:20 "I'd like to wipe out this whole bunch of people, 08:23 because they're different." 08:25 And the king, we already have some insight 08:27 into his personality, says, "Yeah, whatever. 08:30 Here's the ring." 08:32 And so they go, and then they toss some dice, pick a day. 08:37 And this, of course, sends this ripple effect 08:39 through the Jewish people. 08:42 They're all gonna die in a single day. 08:44 There's lots of eschatological Revelation stuff going on 08:47 in here, too, that we won't have time to get into, but anyway... 08:54 this, of course, makes a crisis. 08:55 Mordecai goes around weeping. 08:57 Esther hears about it, finds out what's going on, 09:01 and she's scared to death because Mordecai suggests, 09:05 "You need to go in and see the king." 09:07 And Esther says, "I can't do that, 09:10 "Because as soon as you do that, I'm dead. 09:12 You don't go in to the king uninvited." 09:15 (chuckles) So she finally says-- he says, you know, 09:19 "You're not gonna get away with this. 09:21 You'll be found out, and you're not going to get away with it." 09:25 And so she says, "All right, pray three days, 09:28 no food, no water." 09:30 Pretty extreme prayer, and she said, "I'll go." 09:33 She goes. She happens to gain the favor of the king. 09:35 He doesn't kill her. 09:36 She invites him to a banquet-- two banquets. 09:39 The Persians have this flair for drama. 09:41 And if she had said what she wanted, the first one, 09:43 it would have been a kind of a letdown. She says, 09:44 "Come back for another one." 09:46 In the meantime, Haman goes home, brags to his wife, 09:49 builds a gallows for Haman-- I mean for Mordecai, 09:53 that he's going to hang Mordecai on, 09:56 comes back, and Esther drops the bomb. 10:01 She says, "My request is that you spare my life." 10:04 And the king-- (strangled sound) "What?" 10:07 He says, "Who's doing this?" And she points at Haman. 10:09 The king runs out angry, comes back to find Haman 10:14 falling on the queen's couch, which is a big no-no. 10:16 We'll develop that in the second part. 10:19 And so, he just kind of nods his head, 10:23 and Haman is taken out. 10:25 They cover his head. He's dead. 10:27 And all of this happens through one chance after another. 10:31 Oh, I forgot one critical part, 10:33 and that is the night the king couldn't sleep, 10:36 and he asks for the history to be read to him. 10:39 He finds out that Mordecai saved his life one time, 10:42 and he asks, "What reward was given to him?" 10:46 And they say, "Nothing, nothing." 10:48 And so, that's when he says, "We need to do something. 10:51 Who's in the court?" 10:52 Haman comes in just at that time, 10:55 just happens to come in at that time. And he says, 10:57 "What should be done for the man who the king desires to honor?" 11:00 And Haman thinks, "Well, who could that be but me, right?" 11:02 And he makes this extreme thing, that announcing and going 11:08 before them on a horse, and all of this kind of stuff. 11:11 And the king says, "Go do it for Mordecai." 11:14 And, of course, Haman then is just 11:17 absolutely embarrassed and shamed through all of this. 11:21 All this stuff happens, happens, happens, happens 11:25 and makes it to where the point, 11:26 where you start to think, "Wow, 11:30 there's more really going on here." 11:32 Sorry, I dominated this entire thing. 11:34 >>Eric: No, you hit on so many points in there, 11:36 and then I want to kind of pull them out 11:38 and just run through them. 11:40 Okay, so these coincidences are what we might be tempted 11:42 to call coincidences. >>Jeff: Right. 11:43 >>Eric: Esther is kidnapped. 11:45 It could have been anybody. Esther is kidnapped. 11:47 Mordecai overhears the plot against the king. 11:50 >>Jeff: Yeah. 11:51 >>Eric: An Agagite who plots for the Jews' destruction, 11:54 Esther gains the king's favor a second time. 11:57 We've got Haman building the gallows the day before 12:00 he himself is gonna hang on. >>Jeff: (chuckles) Yeah, yeah. 12:02 >>Eric: The king has insomnia. 12:04 Haman enters the court at a crucial moment. 12:06 Haman honors Mordecai. 12:07 Haman falls on Esther's couch. 12:09 Haman gets the exact punishment he had intended for Mordecai. 12:12 Mordecai ends up with the ring of power. 12:14 >>Jeff: Yeah. >>Eric: "Coincidences." 12:16 >>Jeff: Over and over and over. 12:17 >>Eric: Or not, or not, but that's kind of what we're gonna 12:20 look at in the second part, 12:22 and we're going to dive deeply into this. 12:25 So the story of Esther and Mordecai, 12:28 maybe some things that you haven't seen or heard before, 12:33 but we're digging into that and looking at it 12:35 from the perspective of sharing the gospel with others. 12:40 I wanna encourage you, if you haven't already done so, 12:42 now would be an excellent time to pick up the companion book 12:46 to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 12:48 It is "God's Mission My Mission" by Gary Krause. 12:51 You can find that at itiswritten.shop. 12:54 Again, itiswritten.shop. 12:57 And it adds so much more to what you're already learning 13:00 in this quarter's Adult Bible Study Guide lesson. 13:04 We're going to come back in just a moment 13:06 as Jeff and I continue to take a look at the story of Esther 13:09 and Mordecai, and we're going to see God very much at work, 13:13 even if His name isn't found in the book. 13:15 We'll be right back. 13:17 ♪♪♪ 13:21 >>John Bradshaw: Among Jesus' final words 13:23 to His closest friends was a commission 13:25 to take the gospel to the world. 13:27 What would He say to His friends today? 13:31 Don't miss "To Seek and to Save." 13:34 Join me for reports and insights from around the globe and see 13:37 what God is doing to reach the lost with the good news. 13:40 We'll visit It Is Written mission projects 13:43 around the planet, and you'll learn how you can participate 13:46 in growing the kingdom of God. 13:48 Of the 8 billion people in the world, 13:50 almost 6 billion are not Christian, 13:53 and it's said that 3 billion people alive today 13:57 have never had the chance to hear the gospel. 14:00 It's time. "To Seek and to Save," 14:03 an inspiring look at the power of God 14:06 to change a life and the opportunities 14:08 you have to lead someone to salvation. 14:12 "To Seek and to Save," 14:14 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 14:22 >>John: You know that at It Is Written, 14:24 we are serious about the study of the Word of God, 14:27 and we encourage you to be serious about God's Word also. 14:32 Well, I wanna share with you another way 14:34 that you can dig deeper into the Word of God. 14:36 And here it is: itiswritten.study. 14:41 Go online to itiswritten.study, and you can access 14:45 the It Is Written Bible Study Guides, 25 in-depth 14:50 Bible studies that will walk you through the Bible. 14:54 It's gonna be good for you, and it's the sort of thing 14:57 that you will want to tell somebody else about, 15:00 so that they can dig deeper into the Word of God 15:03 and come to know the things of the Bible intimately. 15:07 As you get into the It Is Written 15:08 online Bible study guides, 15:10 you'll understand the prophecies of the Bible, 15:12 the plan of salvation, and more. 15:14 So don't forget: itiswritten.study, 15:17 itiswritten.study. 15:21 ♪♪♪ 15:26 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 15:27 brought to you by It Is Written. 15:29 Jeff and I are taking a look at the story 15:32 of Esther and Mordecai, 15:34 and we are taking a look at some of these, 15:36 well, supposed coincidences that happen in this story. 15:39 But as you mentioned, 15:40 it's an awful lot of coincidences. 15:43 You mentioned before that this story-- 15:45 and it's been observed by a number of people-- 15:47 this story is lacking something significant. 15:50 >>Jeff: Exactly. >>Eric: But in its lack, 15:52 it's almost as if it's screaming something significant. 15:55 So talk about that a little bit more. 15:57 >>Jeff: Okay, yeah, this is the one book of the Bible 16:00 where God's name, His name is never, never mentioned; 16:05 and yet by the time we get done looking at all the things 16:10 that just happened, we can't help but recognize-- 16:14 at least I can't, can't help but recognize 16:16 that God is the entire point of the whole story. 16:21 But as much as we feel like God is absent today, 16:25 this story is just all about that. 16:28 It's, this is reality; and if we know what to look for, 16:33 we can see God at work all over the place. 16:36 >>Jeff: So if you and I were to read another book, 16:41 a work of fiction, if you will-- >>Jeff: Yeah. 16:43 >>Eric: ...authors of works of fiction 16:46 don't rely on coincidences. >>Jeff: On coincidences. 16:49 >>Eric: There are things that happen. Otherwise, I mean, 16:51 the book would be-- >>Jeff: Unbelievable. 16:53 >>Eric: ...completely unbelievable. 16:55 But this, again, it seems like coincidences, 16:58 a ridiculously long stream of coincidences. 17:01 So either that's a coincidence, 17:05 or there's actually something going on here. 17:08 Help us look at this string of supposed apparent coincidences 17:13 and see if we can pull something together. 17:16 Walk us through some of these. >>Jeff: Okay, sure. 17:19 We'll just take a smattering of them. There's a lot more 17:21 that we could look at. But first of all, 17:23 it's Esther who's kidnapped, all right? 17:25 This is kind of like when Joseph is kidnapped. 17:27 Was that a coincidence? 17:29 No, God had a whole plan. So we start off with this. 17:34 Now, to start off with one big coincidence, 17:36 that's normal; that's fine. That's not a problem. 17:38 Okay, but this is an absolute tragedy for Esther. 17:44 And like Joseph, sold into slavery, absolute tragedy. 17:47 And the question they might ask is, 17:49 "Where is God?" 17:51 And it's almost like the entire rest of the story 17:53 is answering that question without ever mentioning God 17:57 and without her maybe even understanding 17:58 or recognizing that God is moving here. 18:01 And this is what I really like so much 18:03 about the story of Esther, because when I put myself 18:05 into that kind of life, saying, "Okay, 18:06 "maybe I don't see God everywhere. 18:08 "But let's take a look at what's been happening. 18:11 Look back at how He's led in the past, all right?" 18:13 Then Mordecai overhears a plot against the king. 18:18 Now, plots against the king in this day and age 18:20 were not surprising, so, but the fact that he overheard, 18:25 this is something of a coincidence. 18:27 But what maybe is even bigger coincidence 18:29 is that he was not rewarded. 18:32 Persian kings or kings of all sorts 18:34 who lived in fear for their lives, 18:37 there were people lurking around every corner ready to kill them. 18:40 And so, when someone showed loyalty, 18:43 the rewards were extravagant. Extravagant. 18:48 The fact that Mordecai was overlooked is just unheard of, 18:54 absolutely unheard of. Coincidence? 18:57 Okay, so let's just (laughs) keep going. 19:00 We mentioned Haman, who's an Agagite. 19:03 All right, number one, there was no reason 19:05 for the story to include that little piece of information, 19:08 unless it was significant. 19:10 And so then, like I mentioned at the first part of the thing, 19:13 we have to bring in all of that story with it, 19:17 plus the fact that it mentions that Esther and Mordecai 19:22 were descendants of Kish, who was Saul's father, okay? 19:25 So all of this stuff comes in. Coincidence? 19:28 You know, as it builds, the more and more you start to think, 19:30 "Okay, this is just unrealistic." 19:32 Well, first of all, Esther gains the king's favor the first time. 19:36 Coincidence? Well, maybe. 19:37 She was the most beautiful and all of that, 19:39 but then she gains the king's favor a second time. 19:42 This becomes more unrealistic, 19:45 because she's now just another woman in a harem of thousands, 19:53 right? She was made queen. Yes, that helps. 19:56 But the story points out, significantly, 19:59 that she's concerned when Mordecai asks her 20:02 to intervene in this situation of Haman, that she says, 20:10 "The king hasn't called for me in more than a month." 20:13 You know, so she's either falling out of favor, 20:15 or he's just out of sight, out of mind; 20:17 he hasn't thought about her. 20:19 She's not at the level that it seemed like she was for a while. 20:24 And so, she's really putting her life in her hands 20:27 to go before the king. 20:30 And then you insert this bit of prayer in there. 20:36 And so, when the king holds out his scepter and accepts her 20:42 and doesn't order her killed instantly, which is 20:44 what happened, usually, when someone would come in like that. 20:48 Is it a coincidence? 20:50 Okay, so, God here has been inserted in really 20:54 quite a powerful way, even though He's never mentioned. 20:56 She comes into there. Now, 20:58 Haman has this grudge against Mordecai. 21:01 He is invited to the queen's banquet. 21:05 The first day is great for Haman. 21:07 He goes home, and he's so pleased. 21:09 He's telling his wife about how everything is great. 21:12 He's the only one that has been invited 21:15 to Queen Esther's banquet, 21:18 how his sons-- he has these 10 sons. 21:21 "But I still have this guy Mordecai." 21:24 And his wife says, "Well, build him a gallows. 21:26 Hang him on it tomorrow." 21:29 And when you know the rest of the story, 21:30 coincidence? Right? >>Eric: Yeah. 21:33 >>Jeff: Okay, so then 21:35 she invites them back the second time. 21:38 And there's this flair for drama. They love this. 21:41 I had a class in this particular book of the Bible at seminary, 21:45 and they kind of really dug deep into some of this. 21:47 This is the way the Persians worked, 21:49 this flair for drama and postponing the request 21:52 and all of this. And so when-- this is fascinating-- 21:56 when Esther points to Haman, the king is angry. 22:05 He jumps up and runs out into the garden. 22:07 Why? Because he now has a problem. 22:10 You see, whose signature was on the law? 22:15 It was his. >>Eric: His own, yep. 22:17 >>Jeff: It was his signature. 22:18 Can he come back and execute Haman for a law 22:21 that's something that he did? No. 22:25 So what happens? (chuckles) 22:30 He comes back in. 22:32 And...at that moment, Haman is falling on the queen's couch. 22:39 Now, there's something you need to understand about the way 22:43 that the Persians worked, with the king and his wives. 22:47 There was a 7-foot buffer zone around the queen 22:52 that no male was allowed to enter. 22:55 Instant death if that were to happen, okay? 23:00 Coincidence? 23:03 If Haman wanted to secure his fate, 23:08 it would be to cross that line. 23:10 In fact, the rabbis writing the commentary, 23:14 the Mishna on this, said him actually falling 23:18 on the queen's couch is so impossible 23:22 that they say the angel Gabriel pushed him. 23:24 >>Eric: The what? (laughs) >>Jeff: That's what they say. 23:27 You know, we, of course, have no hint 23:29 that that's actually reality. >>Eric: Sure, sure. 23:31 >>Jeff: But that's how unrealistic this coincidence is. 23:35 And coincidence? 23:36 The king just happens to walk back in at that moment? 23:40 And he instantly has the excuse that he needs to execute Haman. 23:47 "He's even going to molest the queen in my presence?" 23:50 And he doesn't even have to say, "Kill him." 23:52 At that moment, they put something 23:54 over his head and take him out. 23:56 And once again, I skipped over one of the most key parts 23:59 of this--because I talked about him building the gallows-- 24:03 but in between that night, the king couldn't sleep. 24:06 And so, what does he do? 24:11 Coincidentally says, "Hey, read me history. 24:14 Go through the books." 24:16 Okay, maybe he's weird that way. 24:17 I don't know, but, 24:19 you know, to me, it's just like, why would he do that? 24:22 But they dutifully come in, and they sit down, 24:25 and they start reading through, 24:26 and they just happen to read this part about Mordecai? 24:30 And he just happens to say, 24:33 "Well, how was Mordecai rewarded for saving my life?" 24:36 And it just happens that they overlooked 24:38 this most important and credible thing. 24:41 And it just happens that he says, 24:43 "Well, we need to fix that," 24:45 and it just happens that Haman shows up right then 24:49 in the court? 24:50 And just happens to be there to ask to kill Mordecai 24:54 on a gallows that he built? I mean, come on. 24:58 By this time, it's just crazy. 25:00 It's ridiculous, the coincidences. 25:03 >>Eric: If they were indeed coincidences. 25:05 >>Jeff: If they were indeed coincidence, but you just 25:07 kind of think, no, it's not possible. 25:09 >>Eric: But you've got God working 25:11 through all of these things and bringing these things to happen 25:15 and causing the king to say, 25:18 "Hey, read me the record of things." 25:20 And they chose to read a portion of the records 25:23 that included Mordecai. >>Jeff: Yeah. 25:25 >>Eric: So many things that God allowed to happen, 25:31 brought to happen just at the right time, 25:32 at the right place, in the right way. 25:36 So, and we didn't even hit on all the coincidences. 25:39 >>Jeff: No, there's more, there's more. 25:40 >>Eric: So many more. What do we learn from these? 25:45 I mean, this--we read through, and we go, 25:47 "Wow, what are the chances?" >>Jeff: Yeah. 25:50 >>Eric: And taken alone, zero would be the chances. 25:54 But if God's involved, 25:56 all of a sudden that changes everything. 25:57 So talk a little bit about that. 26:00 >>Jeff: For me, I just apply this to my life today. 26:03 Really, the first question so many people ask 26:07 when anything bad happens is, "Where is God?" 26:10 And Esther is an answer to that. 26:14 And for Esther, the worst things that could have happened, 26:17 happened; and yet, turns out God was there. 26:21 What does this have to do with mission? 26:23 If you wanna ask that question, too-- 26:24 evangelism and those kinds of things? 26:27 Once again, Esther wasn't a volunteer missionary, 26:30 and yet she became-- and the Jews ended up in power. 26:35 Mordecai ends up with the ring of power. 26:37 Everybody starts to become Jews, it says in the story, 26:41 because they were afraid of what was happening there. 26:43 So no matter what, if it seems like God isn't working, oh my. 26:48 Just look, open your eyes, and you'll start to see things 26:52 that it's obvious that He is. 26:54 >>Eric: And you're right, Jeff. Sometimes in our efforts 26:56 to share the gospel with others, 26:57 it looks as if God isn't there, isn't there, 27:01 when in fact, He's right there in the thick of things, 27:04 if we would simply stop and see it. 27:08 Jeff, thanks for helping to bring so much out of this story 27:11 of Esther and Mordecai. 27:12 And thank you for joining us again this week. 27:15 We are almost at the end of this quarter, 27:17 but we are not yet there. 27:20 We have one more week before we finish out this quarter, 27:24 and we've been looking at God's mission and my mission, 27:28 God's mission and your mission. Each one of us is a missionary. 27:32 Each one of us is a disciple. 27:34 Each one of us is a follower and a sharer of Jesus. 27:37 And this quarter, we're looking at very practical, 27:40 very solid ways that we can do that. 27:42 We look forward to seeing you again next week 27:44 here on "Sabbath School," 27:45 brought to you by It Is Written. 27:47 ♪♪♪ 28:25 ♪♪♪ 28:27 [Captioning provided by Aberdeen Broadcast Services] |
Revised 2023-12-14