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.
You know, the Bible does not condemn A girl being attractive. That is all fine. Here's what the Bible is critical of. Only focusing on the outside and neglecting the inside. Find the balance.
Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to the book of Esther for insight on how to have godly priorities when surrounded by an ungodly culture. Put God first in all things and have inner beauty. as well as who you are on the outside. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again, you hear all the ancients are singing. This is the day, the day when I begin. Millions of young girls wish they could look like the models they see on magazine covers.
Well, here's a little secret. The models themselves wish they look like what they see on magazine covers. The pictures have been enhanced by a graphic artist.
Well today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us all set our sights on what's real. We look to a real-life example of beauty, grace, and godliness as we study the book of Esther. And Pastor Gregg also reflects on the life of Dr. Billy Graham.
Well, you know a lot has been said, and rightly so, about Billy Graham and his life and his legacy. And I've read columns written by Christian leaders, you know, applauding Billy, celebrating Billy, and that's all great. But you know, the greatest tribute you can pay to Billy Graham is just do what Billy did. And what did Billy do? When it was all said and done, yes, he was a chaplain to presidents, and yes, he was an influential leader.
But really, when it was all said and done, what Billy did was he shared the gospel and he invited people to Christ. That's what he did. That's what we all need to be doing. That's why we're committed to crusade evangelism through Harvest America and the so-called harvest and other things that we do. We're always looking for those new opportunities to bring the gospel to people who have not heard it before.
You know, I was with Billy once and I asked him if he had any regrets in life. And he said, yes, inviting you to come with me. No, he didn't say that. He should have. I really pestered him a lot.
It was always questions, questions when I was around him.
So I said, Billy, do you have any regrets? He says, yes, I have a regret. He said, I was uh at the Prayer breakfast in Washington, D.C. This is when President Kennedy was in office. And Billy spoke, and afterwards, the president said.
Billy, I would like you to ride with me back to the White House. I have something I want to talk to you about. And Billy was very sick. He had the flu. He said, Mr.
President, I would love to, but I'm afraid I would give you what I have. Maybe we could get together at another time and have that discussion. The president agreed. And shortly after, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Billy says, I always regret.
That I didn't take that ride with the president and talk to him. You know, there are strategic opportunities that come in life that drop in your lap. It's up to you what you do with them. And we're looking at an extraordinary life of a woman named Hadassah, better known as Esther, who put it all on the line when push came to shove. God put Billy on this earth for a purpose.
I think he fulfilled it beautifully. God has put you on this earth for a purpose, too. He's put all of us where we are for such a time as this.
Now, you can find that purpose and dedicate your life to the glory of God, or you can ignore it and chase after the empty promises of this world. It's really your choice. But the book of Esther is about how God placed the right woman In the right place at the right time, and she saved the Jewish people. A. B.
Simpson, no relation to Homer, said, God is preparing his heroes. And when the opportunity comes, he can fit them into their places in a moment, and the world will wonder where they came from. End quote. Isn't that a great statement? Did it ever occur to you that you could be one of God's heroes?
And God is equipping and preparing you for something yet ahead, for such a time as this. We're always trying to get out of the situation we're in, or the circumstances we're in, or maybe a relationship we're in. And maybe there's a place for that, but then there is also the recognition that God is in control of our lives.
Now, let's pick up where we last left off: King Xerxes. the ruler of the mighty Persia. Put on a six-month feast. Man, that is one long party. And the drinks around the house and the food too.
The king was flaunting all of his wealth and his power and his bling. And I think there may have been an ulterior motive for Xerxes because, according to history, we know on the heels of this feast, he mounted a large-scale invasion of Greece. Maybe he was buttering the people up. Getting them ready for this big battle that was ahead, and sort of saying to them, hey, check out all of our cool stuff. And all of our power.
Man, you're on the right team, so I hope you're gonna back me on this because in attendance at this great feast were all of the leaders of Persia, because it was a far-flung empire.
So the king waited to bring out His crown jewel. The Pierce des Résistance, the beautiful Queen Vashti.
So he gave the order to Vosti to come out and make sure she wears her crown. Vashti gets the word and she says, I'm not doing that.
Now, some commentators, as I pointed out, believed maybe the implication is the king said, tell Vajdi to come out wearing only her crown. In other words, not her clothes.
Sort of to display, even flaunt her before the others. But even if that's not the case, clearly he was treating her more like an object. Look at my awesome wife, look at my hot wife, my trophy wife. Don't you envy me? Look at how powerful I am.
Vashti wasn't going along with the program. And the king was really embarrassed by this. And so his aides came to him and said, Mean, you cannot let this stand. You cannot let your wife get away with this because if you do, we'll never hear the end of it at home. Our wives would be saying, Well, I'm not going to do what you want.
Queen Vashti didn't do what the king wanted. You've got to get rid of her. and throw her out and remove her crown.
Now, why did the king go along with this? The answer is found in Esther 1:10 on the seventh day of the feast, when King Xerxes was in high spirits because of the wine. Loose paraphrase, he was drunk as a skunk. And when you're drunk, you say and do stupid things. Right?
And that's why the Bible warns us against drunkenness. It tells us in Ephesians, don't be drunk with wine. But be filled with the Spirit. The Bible also tells us in Proverbs 20, verse 1: Wine is a mocker, and strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise. You know, having been raised in an alcoholic home, And seeing what alcoholism does.
I can't think of one good thing I've ever seen that has come out of drinking. But I can see a lot of bad things, and so I have a revolutionary thought for you all to consider. Uh don't get drunk. How about that? Don't get drunk.
Now here's another revel. I'm glad you agreed.
Some don't go, I don't know about that. Hey, draw. Yeah, right. And here's another revolutionary thought: if you don't drink, you won't get drunk. Ah.
There it is.
So King Xerxes was drunk. And apparently, he was one of those mean trunks.
Some people, when they come under the influence of alcohol, get very angry and violent. And that was the king, so he dismisses Vashti.
Now after this he goes out and leads his Army into battle against Greece, and he was humiliated and he returns to the kingdom, and now he's lonely. He misses Queen Vashti.
Now, He had a harem, okay? He had a lot of women that snap his fingers and a woman would be there. But apparently, the king wasn't satisfied with just sexual pleasure, he wanted love. He wanted a companion. He wanted someone that actually cared about him.
The king wanted a queen. And so he decided that he was going to Find that queen somewhere in his kingdom.
Now, I know as we hear the story, it's not a very spiritual story. You have a pagan king with a ham full of women who fires his queen, and now he wants a new queen. You were saying, How could God work? In a situation like this, well, the fact is, God was working. One thing to consider.
If Queen Vozdi had been in power, When Haman hatched his wicked plot to exterminate the Jews, it is very unlikely she would have protested.
So God had to get the right woman in the right place at the right time, and that woman was the beautiful young Esther.
So the king says, I need a queen, which just shows that God's in control. God's in control of kings and queens and prime ministers and presidents. The Bible says that the heart of the king Is in the hand of the Lord, and He guides it wherever He wants it to go. In a moment, we'll see how the king decided to select his new queen. It's a spectacle you'd expect of Xerxes.
More on that in a moment. Hey everyone, I want you to know about our app called Harvest Plus. Think of it as a harvest version of Netflix. We have all of our resources in one place. We have our movies like Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash of Redemption of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope, and much more.
Then we have our television program, daily devotions, and much more.
So go and download the Harvest Plus app.
Well, we're just getting started in our study of ester. And Pastor Gregg continues at the point in the story where King Xerxes acted on his displeasure with Queen Vashti.
So the message goes out to the massive kingdom of Persia that the king wanted a queen. If this was happening today, no question, it would be a reality show, right? And so the word went out, and all these girls applied. The ancient historian Josephus. I believe there was 400 contestants.
And these girls had to be virgins. They had to go through an extensive makeover. They had a team of stylists there that would do their hair makeup and Help them to become as appealing as possible to the king, and then the winner would be chosen to be the queen. And that's where we pick our story up. Esther chapter 2, drop down to verse 5, and let's read together.
Now at the fortress of Susa there was a certain Jew Nay Mordecai, son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shemai. His family 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 died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her.
As his own daughter. We'll stop there.
So standing out from all of these gorgeous Persian women is the beautiful Jewish girl named Hadassah. She was an orphan adopted by Mordecai, so he became a father. figure to her. Most likely, her aspirations in life would have been to marry a nice Jewish boy. Raise a family, serve the Lord.
and live in relative obscurity, but God had another plan for Esther. For such a time as this, reminding us that there are no coincidences in our life. Only Providence. No coincidences, but Providence. And what does providence mean?
Remember, it means. To see ahead of time. God sees what's coming. He sees it in detail.
So he knew exactly what was in the future, and he was getting Esther ready.
Now, she was a gorgeous girl. We know that because Esther 2:7 says, Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face. There's two Hebrew words that are used here. One is hot, and the other is chiquito. It translates to hot chick.
I made that. This is true. No, I made that up. I made that up completely. She was.
She was a hot chick, okay, to put it in vernacular. Gorgeous, dropped dead, like wow, but The thing about Esther is, it's not just that, but she was beautiful on the outside. She was also beautiful. On the inside. You know, there's so much emphasis put on girls today to be attractive.
And a lot of this is driven by social media. I read that plastic surgeries are at an all-time high right now because people actually want to look in real life like they look in selfies, right? You know, when you take a shot of yourself, or pictures taken, you have these filters that you can get from these apps, and you can make yourself taller, thinner, you can change yourself into someone that actually doesn't exist. And people go to a cosmetic surgeon saying, make me look like this, and all that emphasis. And, you know, oh, I have to lose weight and I have to appear a certain way.
And, you know, and all the women's magazines out there only support that. I subscribe to quite a few of them. I don't subscribe, but here's the latest issue. Uh here's an article on growing thicker hair. I'm gonna read that later.
Um Lose eight pounds a week eating slimming cereal. I kind of like that. Erase the signs of aging. Oh, here's glamour. Uh Spring fashion and beauty, what's next?
Next level makeup skills. Sex without shame. That's the kind of thing you see in these magazines. They promote immorality.
So I was really shocked when I came across the latest cover of Vogue magazine. And it says, Queen Esther on doing what's right. Check this out. Here's what's in this issue: the value of virtue. How the daily study of scripture can help you grow spiritually in your journey.
20 scriptures on how to have a better marriage and be faithful to your spouse. Vogue magazine. How many of you believe this is real? It's not real people. We made it all up.
I had our graphics department mock this up, saying, wouldn't it be cool if this was out there? But it's not out there. Because you never would see that on the cover of a women's magazine or any magazine. 20 scriptures on how to have a better marriage and be faithful to your spouse. Are you kidding me?
They encourage adultery. They encourage premarital sex. They even encourage abortion. Oh, my goodness. What a contrast.
But here was this secular environment, all about outward appearance. And you know, Esther was so gorgeous, she fit in and even surpassed many of the beauties, but she had that inner beauty, and the king took note of it. You know, the Bible does not condemn. A girl being attractive. I think some people think, no, I just need to be playing for God's glory.
Really? You know, sometimes the question is asked, should Christian girls wear makeup? Hey, my response is, if a house needs painting, Paint it. You may need a little brush, you may need a roller, I don't know what kind you need. You go, girl.
The Bible doesn't condemn a girl at dressing attractively. Esther was attractive. The woman of Proverbs 31 is commended for her attractiveness. Proverbs 31 talks about the beautiful clothing the woman is wearing. That is all fine.
Here's what the Bible is critical of: only focusing on the outside and neglecting the inside. That's the focus. It's good to have the outside attractive as it can be, but you want to be godly. on the inside. 1 Timothy 4:8 says, Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for the present life and the life to come.
And then over in 1 Peter 3 from the New Living Translation, it says, Don't be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes.
So here's the point: don't make that your primary focus, but on the other hand, don't neglect it altogether.
Okay, just find the balance. Because Jesus said, don't be like the non-believers. All they think about is what they're going to eat, what they're going to drink, what they're going to wear. But you should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Put God first in all things and have inner.
qualities and if you're a girl inner beauty As well as who you are on the outside.
So all of the beautiful women of Persia are paraded before King Xerxes. And he chooses Esther. Look at Esther 2, verse 16. Esther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace in early winter on the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther.
more than any of the other young women. He was so delighted with her, And he set the royal crown on her head. and declared her queen instead of Yeah. Hmm. God was at work.
Now if this was a fairy tale It would end right here. Poor little girl, she becomes the queen. And they lived happily ever after. But this is not a fairy tale. This is a Bible story.
And Bible stories are true. Their history. And so here's what happened after that: the plot. Thickens. As Esther was made queen, her cousin Mordecai was made a counselor to the queen.
And one day, Mordecai uncovered a plot by two of the king's guards to kill him. He revealed it to the king, the guards were arrested, they were executed, and he was never rewarded for that or acknowledged for that. And that happens in life sometimes, doesn't it? You know, we do something for someone and we don't get the credit. Maybe it's your idea, and someone else stole it, and they got all the glory for it.
Or at your workplace, you choose the path of honesty and integrity, and you don't advance, while the person who chose dishonesty and scheming did advance. And you're saying, this isn't fair, it's not right.
Well, Hold on now, Buckaroo. It's not over till it's over. As we're going to see in the book of Esther, how things played out in the big picture. Because, among other things, the book of Esther is about reaping what you sow, both good and bad. Pastor Greg Laurie.
with good insight from our study today in the book of Esther. And as he said, there's more to come here on a new beginning. Pastor Greg, we're seeing God's hand at work in this story. And you pointed out before that God's hand is at work in each of our lives. That's right.
But so many resist the Lord. They turn their back on God. But there may be somebody listening who is ready to turn around and make a change. What would you say to them? I would say that God is just a prayer away.
You know, it doesn't take years to become a Christian, it doesn't take months. Frankly, it doesn't even take hours. It can happen so quickly. It just starts with You saying to God, I am I know I'm a sinner, but I know that You love me? I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead, and I want him to come into my life.
So here's my question to you: Have you done that yet? Because Jesus, who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later, is alive and standing at the door of your life right now, and He's knocking. And He's saying, If you'll hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in. Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die you will go to heaven?
Do you want Christ to come into your life right now? If so, why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me? You could pray it out loud. You can pray it in the quietness of your own heart. But pray this prayer.
to God. Say, Lord Jesus. I know that I am a sinner. But I know that you are the Saviour. Who died on the cross for my sin?
and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin, and I turn from it now. and I choose to follow you From this moment forward, it is I ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Listen.
If you just prayed that prayer, the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says that we will confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So. God bless you. You've made the right decision. The decision to follow Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
And as you begin to live this new life, we want to send you something to help you get started off right. It's Pastor Gregg's New Believer's Bible. It's an easy to understand translation. Plus, hundreds and hundreds of study helps, especially for those who are new to the faith. You know, millions of people have been helped by this resource.
So get in touch for your own New Believer's Bible. We'll send it free of charge. Just call us at 1800-821-3300. That's one eight hundred eight two one three three zero zero. Or write us at a new beginning, box 4000, Riverside, California.
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Well, next time, some practical takeaway truths from our studies in the book of Esther. We'll see how we can be ready to serve God in our own lives. for such a time as this. Join us here on A New Beginning. Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.
This is a day, the day when life begins.
