Greg Lorry and Harvest Ministries recommend a new resource from best-selling author Max Lucato dealing with your thought life.
So many people have Max Lucato books already in their library, but this is his brand new book to help you learn how to team your thoughts. Our thoughts really ultimately affect pretty much everything. And folks, we want to offer you this book by Max Lucato. Team Your Thoughts. for a gift of any amount at harvest.org.
Today, Pastor Greg Laurie says we can place our confidence in God in good times and especially in bad. You know, we're going through life and there are times we sense the presence of the Lord. There are times when we see the hand of God. And then there are other times when we don't feel God's presence and we wonder, has God Abandon us and the answer is no. Never.
He never has and he never will. Jesus said, I will never leave you or forsake you. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Of ancient grace, how sweet the sound.
Can you hear all the angels singing? This is the day, the day when life begins. We've all heard the phrase, for such a time as this. Today we begin a study of where it comes from. Glad you're along for a new beginning today.
As Pastor Greg Laurie begins a study of courage in the face of danger. and of God's providence when the odds are stacked against us. It concerns a young woman named Esther who was chosen to be queen. but more importantly, how God chose her to help bring deliverance to the Jewish people. It's a fascinating study of a true biblical hero.
Grab your Bible and turn to Esther. This is going to be a fantastic series that I'm really looking forward to. It's been an absolute blast to study for. It's a powerful story. But as you read it, let me take a quick poll.
How many of you have read the whole book of Esther? Raise your hand up.
Okay, it's quite a few of you. How many of you have never read it before? It's okay, I won't mock you. Really? No, I went.
Okay, read the book of Esther. You're going to love the book of Esther. I told this story to my granddaughter, Allie, last night. She said, Papa, tell me a story. And I sometimes make up stories, and sometimes I will just tell her a Bible story.
So I told her the book of Esther, and then afterwards, I said, tell the story back to me. I'm telling you, she got the whole story. And you know why? Because it unfolds almost a little bit like a fairy tale. There's no fairies, of course.
There's no mermaids. There's no unicorns. But uh there's a story of a princess. who was living in basic poverty. who was chosen by God to change everything.
It follows almost the fairy tale trajectory because so many of those stories, that's obscure girl is rescued by a prince. But fairy tales are not true. But this story is true. This story is actual history. A beautiful orphan girl.
who wins a beauty contest and becomes a queen. Enter an evil man that plots her destruction along with her people. But because of her courage, she saves a nation, and literally, the people live. Happily ever after. Here's a unique feature of the book of Esther.
The name of God is not mentioned one time. Not only that, but there's not a single prayer offered to God.
Well, that should not cause us to wonder if it's inspired by God. It indeed is, and it's here in the canon of Scripture. But I believe that the author, being led by the Holy Spirit, uses as a literary device. And by that I mean he told a story. of God's providence at work without mentioning God in it, to simply make this point.
There are times in life when God seems absent, but He never is. God is always at work in the life of the believer every hour of every day. Listen to this. His silence is not his absence. His hiddenness is not his abandonment.
So says Timothy Keller. Remember when the two disciples were discouraged after the crucifixion of Christ? And they thought the plans had gone south and there was no hope for them. And who joins them on their journey but Jesus himself, the risen Lord? He actually says to them, guys, Why the long faces?
What's the problem? Haven't you heard, they said to Jesus, about Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty indeed. We were hoping he was the one to deliver Israel, but it's been three days since these things happened. They didn't realize it, but Christ Himself was walking with them. And at the end of their journey, He revealed Himself to them.
And life can be that way too. You know, we're going through life, and there are times we sense the presence of the Lord. There are times that we see the hand of God. And then there are other times that we don't feel God's presence and we don't see His hand, and we wonder: Has God abandoned us? And the answer is never.
He never has. And he never will. Jesus said, I will never leave you or forsake you. I want to introduce you to a word you're probably familiar with, but I don't know if you understand the meaning. It's the word.
Providence. We use that a lot. Oh, it was providential. It's providence. What does that mean?
The word providence comes from the Latin word providence. Providentia. The word pro means before or ahead of time. Videntia means to see. We get our word video from it.
So, when we use the word providence, we're simply saying this: God sees things before they happen. God sees things before they happen. There's nothing haphazard about the book of Esther. There's nothing accidental. Or a result of dumb luck.
No, it's all guided by the providence of God. And so is our life. Our life is described in the Bible as a story that's already been told. Or if it's easier to understand, your life is like a movie. It has a beginning, it has a middle, and it has the end.
Now, some lives are like the sound of music. With raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. And other lives are like, I don't know, brave heart, lots of conflict, lots of battle. But everyone has a life that is being lived, and sometimes it doesn't make sense. But if you put your faith in Christ, be confident of this.
God is at work in your life. As Christians, we do not believe in coincidence. We believe in providence. Because Scripture says the steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives.
I'm sometimes asked what my favorite Scripture in the Bible is. Kind of a hard question to answer, isn't it? I have a lot of favorite scriptures, don't you? A lot of it depends on what I'm going through in the moment. For instance, if I'm in a difficult and worrisome situation, I suppose my favorite scripture is.
Philippians 3. Where it says, don't worry about anything, pray about everything. And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Then again, if. Things aren't making sense or are seeming a bit chaotic.
Maybe my favorite scripture at that moment is John 14. Where Jesus says, Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You believe in God, believe also in me. When things are not making sense, oh, absolutely, Romans 8:28 is a go-to verse, right? For we know that all things are working together to those that love God and are called according to his purpose.
And it continues on For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestine to be conformed into the image of His own dear Son. But overall, if I had to just pick one verse, I would have to say Jeremiah 29, 11. is a favorite. And that's where the Lord says: I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and out of evil, to give you a future and a hope. You know, if God had simply said, I know the single thought that I had about you for a nanosecond, says the Lord, I would be happy with that, wouldn't you?
To think that the Almighty God, the creator of the universe, even had a passing thought about little old me or you. But that's not what God says. He says, I know the thoughts, not singular, plural. I know the thoughts, God says, that I think towards you.
So they're not past tense, they're present tense and future tense. I know the thoughts that I'm thinking towards you, says the Lord.
Well, That can be good or bad on what kind of thoughts they are. If they're bad thoughts, well, I don't think I like that.
Well, they're good thoughts. I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Whereas another translation puts it, to give you an expected end. You see?
So God is at work in your life and He has a plan and He has a purpose. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey, everybody, you can watch our Sunday services on a special broadcast that we call Harvest at Home. It's streaming on the Harvest Plus platform.
So download that app right away, Harvest Plus, and you can enjoy being a part of our extended church family every Sunday.
Well, Pastor Greg is launching a study today in the Old Testament book of Esther. Hopefully you can read along in your copy of God's Word.
Well, the story of Esther begins with a king of Persia. Xerxes. also known as Ahaserares, but better known as Xerxes.
Now Um Why are we looking at Esther on the heels of Nehemiah? Because there's an overlap between these two books. As you recall, the people of Israel were taken into exile by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar turned his kingdom over to Belshazzar. Who openly mocked God, and that is when the judgment of the Lord came upon Babylon, and they were conquered by the Medo-Persians.
So enter Cyrus the Great. Who comes in and now is in control, and he changes Babylon to Persia. And he releases the Jews. He says, you can go on home if you want. Go back and build your temple if you want to.
Some did, many did not. And that first wave was led by Ezra, and they rebuilt the temple. And then later, along comes Nehemiah, and he rebuilds the walls, and we looked at that together. But now, this is a story of the people, the Jewish people, that stayed in Persia, modern Iran, by the way.
So, Xerxes is a powerful king ruling over this massive empire that ranges from India to Ethiopia. Again, he's the son of Darius the Great and the grandson of Cyrus the Great. History depicts Xerxes as physically towering over his contemporaries. Archaeologists doing some excavation at Susa have unearthed inscriptions in which King Xerxes is described as the great king or the king of kings.
So this is the guy that had a big ego. And it was very powerful. Powerful. And so he decided to have a party one day. Not just any party.
He decided to have a party that would last for six months. Food and drink? Provided by the king. Eat all you want, drink all you want, and it was in the beautiful palace on. A series of plates and the ornaments, and it was just.
Awe-inspiring. And so then the king, after he had shown all of his stuff to his people and all of his possessions, decided to bring out his crown jewel. And that would be Queen Vashti.
So let's read about that, Esther chapter 1, verse 10. On the seventh day of the feast, When King Xerxes was in high spirits because of the wine, In other words, when he was drunk. He told the seven eunuchs who attended him, their names are listed, bring Queen Vashti. With a royal crown on her head. He wanted the nobles and the other men to gaze on her beauty, for she was a very beautiful woman.
And when they conveyed the king's order to Queen Vashti, she refused to come. This made the king furious, and he burned with anger. We'll stop there.
So Vajdi is like the ultimate trophy wife. A woman of incredible beauty, the king gives the decree. Tell Queen Vosti to come out wearing her crown.
Some commentators believe this implies he wanted her to come out only wearing her crown. In other words, no clothes, just the crown. But even if that's not the case, the sense here in this verse is that he wanted to sort of put her on display. He objectified his wife, treated her as a servant, and didn't value and love her as he should have. He wanted to sort of.
Parade her around his subjects, and she wanted nothing to do with that. Because she thought it would be humiliating.
Now the king's in a quandary. If he lets her get away with this, His aides say, none of our wives will do what we want them to do anymore. And what they'll do is they'll say, Well, Queen Vashti didn't show up when the king called him. Why should we show up when you call us? This isn't going to work.
You need to get rid of her.
So now the king, in his drunken rage, makes a decision. He decides to reject Queen Vashti and remove her crown and replace her. Enter Esther. Esther chapter 2, verse 5, we read these words.
Now in the fortress of Susa there was a certain Jew named Mordecai.
son of Jaar, He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shemai, his family, and had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. along with King Jehoiakim of Judah and many others. This man had a beautiful and lovely young cousin named Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When her father and mother had died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter. And a result of the king's decree, Esther, along with many other young women, was brought into the king's harem at the fortress of Susa and placed in Hegel's care.
Hegel was an assistant to the king that would help to select who this. candidate would be to bring before the king. Ahega was very impressed with Esther and treated her kindly. He quickly ordered a special menu for her and provided her with beauty treatments and Nutra System. No, I put that in.
He also arranged or assigned her seven maids specially chosen from the king's palace, and he moved her and her maids into the best place in the palace.
So we'll stop there.
So the search is on for the next great beauty. of Persia. Whoever won it would be the next queen. And I bet a lot of young girls were hoping they'd win. I want to be queen.
I want to wear that crown. What is it with girls wanting to be princesses, right? You know, they want to have the scepter. They want to rule us even when they're little. You know?
Before they can even talk, they want the crown and they want the scepter, right? I'm sure many girls were pining for this. Hoping for this, and many girls today, and young men for that matter, long for something very similar. I read an article about the desire of young people searching for fame today. This article is not written from a Christian perspective, just as an observation of culture.
And I quote from it now. Blame it on reality TV. Blame it on the entrenched loneliness of postmodern America. Blame it on an educational curriculum that's designed to promote self-esteem but ended up overshooting the mark. Pick your cultural poison.
The result remains the same. American teenagers are fixated on fame. More than a third of them would prefer fame over beauty, intelligence, or strength. Even more problematic, the article continues, these teens aren't just dreaming about famous, they're planning on it. 31% of American teenagers expect that they'll be famous one day, end quote.
So whoever won this contest. would be the most famous person in the kingdom. And uh here's Esther. I don't think she ever aspired to be a queen. though she was stunningly beautiful.
I don't think she had any videos posted on YouTube. No headshots over on her Facebook page. Our Instagram She probably just figured she would live a quiet life in obscurity. Marry a nice Jewish boy. And follow the Lord God and have a family.
But God had a plan for her life. And even Haggai was impressed with her. He served the king. He saw something special in Esther. What did he see?
Was it just her drop-dead, gorgeous looks?
Well, you couldn't ignore that. But there was more. Because Esther was beautiful on the outside and the inside, you see. She was what the Bible calls a woman of virtue. Virtue.
The Bible says, Who can find a virtuous woman? Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at her future. Though she was very young. There was something special about her because God had put his hand on her, and so the Lord put her in this special place. But let me close with this.
Maybe you're at a point in life where you're saying, I don't feel like God is with me at all. I feel as though I'm all alone.
Well, let me just say this. If you are not a Christian, God is with you in a broad sense. Because God is omnipresent. God is everywhere. You can call on God wherever you are.
But there's a difference between God being with you and God being in you. That's really what being a Christian is: it's having Christ live inside of you. And God wants to be a part of your life.
So maybe it seems like God isn't paying attention to you, but actually, He is. I read about a hardened atheist who had a young daughter, He didn't want her to believe in God.
So one day He told her to read these words. He wrote these words down on a piece of paper. God is nowhere. And this little girl who was just learning how to read looked at it and he says, I want you to read that out loud. God is.
Nowhere, said So she sounded out the word. She said, okay, I see it, Daddy. God is N-O-W-H-E-R-E. I get it, Daddy. God.
is now here. No, that's not what I was saying. But he was so touched by that that he himself believed. You might say, God is nowhere. No, the opposite is the case, God is now here.
God is here with us right now. God was involved in the life of Esther and her people, and God is here with us, involved in your life. In fact. Does not Scripture say when two or more are gathered together in his name, he's there in the midst of them? And so he's not only here, but he wants to come and live inside of us.
Maybe your life isn't making sense to you right now. But I'm telling you, God can step in and change everything. And you'll never be alone again. Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for your sin. And absorbed God's wrath in your place, and rose again from the dead, is here with you, standing at the door of your life, and he's knocking, and he is saying, If you'll hear his voice and open the door, he'll come in.
Have you asked him to come in yet? He will right now. He's just a prayer away. If you need Christ in your life, If you need your sin forgiven, If you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, respond to this invitation for you to believe in Jesus. If you don't yet, and have you then join The family of God.
Let's all bow our heads. For our prayer, please. Father, thank you so much for loving us. Loving us so much that you sent Jesus to die in our place. And now, Lord Jesus, we thank you that you're here.
Ready to come into any life that will Open up to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Aimed then. Pastor Greg Laurie. With an important prayer about coming to the Lord to find forgiveness of sins.
And if you'd like to do that, A pastor Gregg will help you in just a moment, before today's edition of A New Beginning wraps up. Are you receiving Pastor Gregg's daily devotions each day via email? If not, Let's take care of that right now. You can sign up today, free of charge, at harvest.org. And you'll receive a daily inspirational thought from God's Word each day in your inbox.
Again, go to harvest.org.
Well, Pastor Greg, I know there are some in our audience who felt God speaking to them today, and they want to make a change in their relationship with the Lord. Could you help them with that? Yeah, you know. Dave, the Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
So here's the picture. you're out at sea, you're drowning, you have no energy left, and there's a life guard on the shore, and you need to call out for help.
Sometimes we're reluctant to do this, but if you want to be saved, this is what you need to do.
Well, the same is true in your relationship with God or lack thereof. You're drowning in the sea of sin. Jesus can save you, but you have to call out to him. And the Bible says, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. I'm going to lead you in a prayer where you will be doing just that.
Calling on the name of the Lord.
So listen. if you want your sin forgiven, If you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven. if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and take away your guilt and your shame, Then just stop what you're doing. And pray this prayer with me. right now.
Pray this after me, if you would. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner. I have broken your commandments. I have fallen short of your standards. but two thousand years ago you died on that cross for me.
Then you rose again from the dead.
So Jesus come into my life. And be my Saviour. Am I Lord and Am I God? and my friend. I choose to follow you from this moment forward.
Thank you for calling me and accepting me And forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. And if you have just prayed that prayer with Pastor Greg, we want to help you grow as a new believer.
So let us send you Pastor Gregg's New Believers Bible. It's an easy-to-read translation with scores of study helps, especially for those who are new to the faith. It includes an explanation of key biblical terms in language you can easily understand. We'll send it free of charge if you've prayed with Pastor Gregg today. Just call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. or write a new beginning box four thousand Riverside, California, nine two five one four. Or if it's easier, just go to harvest.org. and click on No God. You know, Pastor Gregg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives.
So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue. Yeah, it's really true, Dave. You know, and even a little bit helps. You know People need to hear the gospel so badly.
They need to hear the teaching of the word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm so passionate about it, and I'm called to do it, and I'm thankful for it. But I can't do it alone.
So I'm going to ask folks that are listening: if you think more people need to hear the gospel. If you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the Word of God, then Prayerfully consider investing in harvest ministries and maybe even become a harvest partner, which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving. and that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us.
So Thanks for that. Yeah, that's right, and we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us any time, day or night, at one eight hundred eight two one thirty three hundred. That's one eight hundred eight two one three three zero zero. or write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside, California, nine two five one four.
or just go online to harvest.org.
Next time, we'll see how the king selects a new queen. Queen Esther. But it was actually part of the plan of God to save the Jewish people from destruction. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.
