What do we learn from this ancient account?

Esther recognised that it was not just the battle between the Jews and Haman, this was a part of the great controversy between good and evil. Yes, Haman because of pride and a wounded ego - he wanted to annihilate the Jews that remained after the decree to go home to rebuild Jerusalem. Yes, the Amalekite Haman, because of the historical enmity between the Jews and the Amalekites, he wanted to revenge and spite them - and even kill them. But, ladies and gentlemen, the threat against the "Jews throughout the kingdom" (3:6) is a threat against the ultimate issue of redemptive history - if you destroy all the Jews, you have destroyed all what God had designed to be a model of His salvation for the world. You have destroyed the light! So, you see, the victory that needed to be secured was essentially on a spiritual realm - thus she pleads for prayer and fasting as the greatest of her master battle strategy. How often have we brought secular answers to spiritual questions? Quite often we bring experience from the world to the church of God. I do here submit that there is a lot we can learn from the non-church world: Their accounting and engineering is fine, their information technology and their telecom is good, but we cannot bring their values and norms in these areas in to the house of God. We cannot bring unholy fire into the altar!

• God is always there on time, but He is never in a hurry. He doesn’t panic – for God is always under control. I had someone sing the other day, and he said, "He’s got the whole world in His hands",

• God will always raise a man or a woman for the occasion. The problem is that when God calls some of us for such a time as this - he finds us in the discos;

• Caressing the enemy

• drinking Castle
• Drowning our souls

• with somebody’s husband/wife

• skirts too short

• and wires dangling on our ears

• and Babylon bound

God can do without you and me. Mordecai's confidence for the deliverance of the Jews is based on God's sovereignty in working out his purposes for His people. God chooses to use humans but he is not limited to them. Esther has a choice to use her individual responsibility - but if she chooses otherwise God will still do what He wants to do - even without her. You see, no one can ever frustrate God!

If He chooses to use us – it is always inspite of ourselves

If He uses us – it's a privilege undeserved that we should accept with humility.

I heard/read somewhere that if we stop singing our praises, the rocks will be too glad to burst out in symphony of praise to Him.

So I have come to you today to say, By the mercies of the Almighty, let the rocks keep quite and stay put. I will sing His praises- let my life and my labours be a symphony of heaven that the angels will be proud to listen to.

How often have we kept silent when God has put so much for us to shout about. We have even gone to an extent of silencing those who dare to speak out. What is even more tragic, some of us have effectively silenced our own consciences to the extent that our conscience can no longer remind us of the impending judgement when we sin against God. How many of us are shacking in and sleeping around and not only is our conscience silent but we are also proud about it? Some wickedness have now become status symbols even among the believing community. But remember - if you can't hear the still small voice now you won't hear the loud trumpet on that great and terrible day referred to by the prophet Malachi.

In ways foreign to human workings, Jehovah-jirah in many ways come to us already from the future. By the time God's children reach their future - they find that God has already been there to make provision for them - they find the tables already set. Talk to me about a God who comes to us from the future and I will tell you about a God who went into Jacob's future and put Joseph in Egypt for a time such as is when there is drought. By the time Abraham went into his future of obedience and willingness to sacrifice to a thus sayeth the Lord - he found that God had already provided a ram there. When God says "Go forward - go forward - even if you can't see how, go forward God will make a way. He will dry the red seas and the stormy Jordans. God will make a way for you. Esther had come to the kingdom - for such a strategic time as this one. None of us is accident, neither are living in these times by accident. It is not just one of those things that you are an Adventist that lives in your neighbourhood, neither is it incidental that we are where we find ourselves to be. God has a purpose for us. We need to catch God's vision for us for such a time as this one.

We cannot, my brothers and sisters be careless in our approach to responsibility that we are given in the church of God.

• Whether you are called upon to sweep the church or to say a prayer,
• Whether you are called upon to be a deacon or to care for the little ones,
• Whether you are called upon to be an elder or to be a youth leader,
• Just be too glad if they say to you "Let us ascend into the house of the Lord"
• If it is God's business, let's do it with all our might and dedication
• But let's do it with humility too - because God's church would still sail on without us! For you see, if we are not willing to be used in the house of God, and "remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for (God's Church) will arise from another place, you and your father's house will perish" Verse 14. God has a million ways to do just one thing!

• The whole world is screaming at us today, it is impatiently calling for Christians who will save it from itself. People are dying, young and old.
• Man created weapons of mass destruction, and he’s afraid of his own creation.

• Abused children grow up to be angry and pained adults.
• Things fall apart and the centre of marriages cannot hold.

Yes the world heard us say Jesus is the answer, but now the world wants to see how Jesus is the answer. Can you show in your life how He is the answer. Would you mean it if you sang:

"Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever ...

"I surrender all",

"Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus".,

"We ‘re marching to Zion".

"There's power in the blood"

We need to be willing to stand up and be counted among those who are willing, by the grace of Almighty God, to rise and live a convincing Christian life, even if it meant we should perish - indeed "If I perish, I perish". But we need to perish for the Lord's sake. We need to demonstrate to the world that we can and are willing to dare do what we know is right - even though we know it is not according to the laws of this world. Yes we will stand before the kings of this world and say and do what is right. If we perish, we perish!

• We know it is against the laws of this world to be pure and chaste.
• We know it is against the laws of this world to be honest and truthful.
• …to be humble and kind
• …to be courteous and considerate
• but we will stand for these virtues anyhow!

• Somebody needs to be willing to dare stick out his neck even at a risk of it getting chopped up.
• Dare to stand up to be counted among the few.
• The different
• The peculiar
• The strange ( we’re strangers here, haven't you heard?)
• The radicals
• Dare to stand and be something

-for you never become a victor if you don’t engage in a fight .

-A conqueror if not in war

-A winner if you don’t join in the race.

-Champion if not persistent.

-You don’t get there if you are not on the way there

Yes, Esther was beautiful - extra ordinarily beautiful she must have been, that the king and his counselors were forced to ignore the racial and national prejudices and select her to be the nation's queen. From slavery to queendom. May be physical beauty may be both an incident and an accident - but this young woman displayed another realm of her existence

• she was both bold and beautiful.

• Boldness is not blindness and ignorance.
• Being bold is not being naive and childish.
• Rather, boldness and courage are born from conviction.
• And conviction is what hold us, not what we hold, for what we hold we can let go when the going gets tough but conviction hold us through thick and thin.

• You got to believe in something enough to can die for.

• For if you can die for nothing, then you’re living for nothing.
• And if you’re living for nothing then you’re already dead and dead for nothing.

When we go to stand before the kings of this world, as we will sometimes be called upon to stand - we must have already purposed in our minds that we shall not partake of the king's meat:-

-We shall not defile ourselves

-We shall not bow down

-We shall not eat their food

-We shall not drink their water

-We shall not marry their offspring

-We shall not go to their corners

• But we must have purpose and resolve before our encounter with the situation. We cannot leave nothing to chance. For often we are called upon to stand and called upon to show the stuff we are made of.

• You see, courage and boldness are never called for unless there’s a practical danger and real threat.
• For the courageous and the bold going forward doesn’t suggest ignorance or absence of threat and danger but rather go on inspite of the danger and threat. And it has to be for a worthy cause.

• You can’t stand though the heavens fall if you can’t even sit when skies are up and blue.
• For how will you rise to make great moral decisions when you can’t even make small moral choices.
• So I say to you this morning, that some cannot stand though the heavens fall because even when the skies are up, especially when there are stars and the moon – they are lying flat on their bellies of sin and compromise.

• Someone here needs to realize that if you don’t want to offend anyone, then you will offend God. If you obey everybody, you will definitely disobey God.

• Dare to be a Daniel – dare to stand alone- dare to have a purpose firm- dare to make it known.

• Talking about Daniel, we know his position in his youthful days but later on when he was old and there was a party ... Good times,

• Good times were rolling-Hoo lalala- they went – Hoo lalala

• And then there was a handwriting on the wall, and I am told no one could read it- yes they could not read it for they didn’t even know who the author was. Now I am told , they went out of the party to look for oom Daniel. Oom Daniel was not in the party.

• They called him in to interpret the writing on the wall. Daniel would not have seen a thing had he been part of that partying. It was only when he came from outside that he could not only read but also recognised the handwriting at first glance for he had seen it earlier write his name in the book of life.

• And one day there will be a handwriting on the walls of this world, will you read it? God's children need to learn to stay out - out of the in-things of this world. For only then will they be able to catch God's vision for them.

• You can’t be a conqueror without engaging in a fight. You can’t be a winner if you don’t race.

• You won’t be a victor if you are not a fighter.

Won't get there if you’re not in your way there.

• And don’t tell me you’re climbing on the rough side of the mountain, for if the mountain was smooth, you would not be able to climb it anyway.

-So just climb on, keep on climbing,

-If you get bruised by the sharp edges so be it but climb on.

-If you’re alone and it feels lonely climb on.

-If you’re rejected, climb on.

-If you fall - fall on the mountain and then rise and climb on.

-keep in the middle of the road - don't turn to the right nor to the left.

-Stay on the narrow way and go through the narrow gate - it leads home - only it leads home.

Stand up young man - stand up young woman.

Stand up with the bold - stand up with the righteous.

Stand up with the pure, stand up with the forgiven.

Stand up young man stand up young woman.

Stand up for the right, stand up to live right.

Stand up to serve, stand up to save.

Pacify the family, sanctify the church.

Educate the community, emancipate the bound.

Elevate the truth, extend God's Kingdom.

Stand up - stand up!