It's all about God, behind the scenes. You know, I often like to say, and I've said it for years, John Nelson Darby's famous quote, God's ways are behind the scenes, but He moves all the scenes that He is behind.
So, providence simply means that God supernaturally arranges natural events, and He arranges natural events so that a supernatural outcome comes to pass. Today, on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip shows you how God is always working out His plan, even when we can't see it. We're glad you tuned in today. Connect with Skip is all about helping listeners like you strengthen your walk with Christ. Today, we invite you to connect others like you to the life-changing power of the gospel with a gift to help keep these teachings you love on the air all around the world. Your support is essential to help grow this ministry to reach many others by expanding into more major U.S. cities. Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Okay, let's get started.
We'll turn to Esther 4 as we tune into Skip's teaching. Remember how Democrats and Republicans sang on the steps of the Capitol together? God bless America. Churches were filled. We came together over this tragedy, over this grief. But in this case, the tragedy and the anxiety produce activity. Something is stirred in Mordecai.
Something has to be done about this, he thinks. And he wants to get that message to Esther to think the same thing. By the way, the perpetrator of this plot, get ready, get ready. The perpetrator of this plot is a guy named Haman. Okay, his full name is given in chapter 3, verse 1. If you have your Bible, notice he is called Haman the Agagite.
Four times, four times, he is called Haman the Agagite. You guys are awesome. I'm going to take you on the road with me. Just kidding. So, boo because I'm going to take you on the road with me? Oh, because I'm not going to take you on the road.
I'm not going to take you on the road. Fair enough. Question, why does the Holy Spirit feel it's so important to include the Agagite? Here's why.
So that we will know the cost of disobedience. What are you talking about? Well, a thousand years before this happening, right here, a thousand years prior, the children of Israel were back in Egypt. They were slaves and they are on the way to the Promised Land. On the way to the Promised Land, a group called the Amalekites were attacking the Jews and killing old men and children, the scatterers at the back of the crowd. And because of their harassment of God's people, God judged them and pronounced a judgment upon them and said, they're to be wiped out, eliminated. That was a thousand years before this. A few hundred years before this, King Saul, the first king of Israel, sat on the throne of Israel. The prophet Samuel told him to go out and execute God's judgment on the Amalekites. Saul brings a guy back, the king of the Amalekites named Agag, along with some of the animals for himself, although he says, oh, I brought these animals to sacrifice to the Lord.
And if you know the story, you know that Samuel the prophet stepped forward and what did he do? Anybody know what he did? Anybody know? Hacked him to pieces.
That's it. Some translations, they killed him. No, he hacked him to pieces. We now have an ancestor or we have the progeny of Agag who never forgot that. He knows his history.
He knows his history. He remembers that it was a Jewish prophet that hacked his ancestor to pieces. Moreover, Mordecai, who's also part of the court, he's a Jew, he's a Benjamite and the first king of Israel, Saul, who fought the Amalekites was a Benjamin. So he's putting all of that together and he has a grudge against the Jewish people and he wants to make good on that grudge.
So, as I said, to this day, the Jewish people have not forgotten the name of Haman. So they do that in the synagogue service. They stomp their feet. But on Purim every year, 51 times as his name is mentioned, they not only say boo or hiss or make the noise or stomp their feet, but they shout out in Hebrew, Yimach Shemoh. So that's your new little line. Yimach Shemoh.
Just kidding. You don't have to say that because you're just going to like spit on somebody sitting in front of you if you do that. That's a Hebrew phrase that means may his name be blotted out. It's one of the strongest curses in Hebrew. So to this day, they remember the name of this Agagite named Haman. Yimach Shemoh. Yimach Shemoh, yes.
That's what they say. Now, at this point again, Esther, she's secluded in this harem. She doesn't know what's going on. Mordecai knows what's going on, tears his clothes, sackcloth and ashes. Though Mordecai is an officer of the court, he can't go into the courtroom because he's wearing the clothes of sackcloth and ashes.
Can't do that. He can't march in and tell the queen because of that. And so he uses an emissary by the name of Hathach. Hathach is given a letter by Mordecai to Esther reading, hey, this is what's going down, girl. We're going to die. There's this edict for 15 million Jews to be slaughtered like in a year's time. You need to go tell the king. You need to put a stop to this.
Now we read that and we go, okay, that's easy enough. Not really, because according to Persian court protocol, you don't enter the king's chamber unless the king summons you. If you walk in on the king and he hasn't summoned you, if he doesn't like you being there, you get killed immediately. He has to raise the golden scepter. If he puts it down, you're dead.
If he raises it, you're good to go. So she has an issue, which takes us to the third trait of this kingdom-minded woman. She seized a strategic opportunity. Let's read it. Look at verse 10. Then Esther spoke to Hathach, that's that little go-between, that emissary, and gave him a command for Mordecai. So she hears what the plot is, and she said, all the king's servants and all the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court of the king who has not been called, he has but one law, put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called in to go to the king these 30 days.
Okay, stop there for just a moment. She's part of a harem. The king has a lot of women, whatever woman he wants and whatever knight he wants. And she's thinking, I can't just go barge in on the king. I haven't even seen him for 30 days.
I don't know if he thinks I'm ugly or what, but I haven't seen a guy. I'm the queen, but I can't go in. So they told Mordecai Esther's words, and Mordecai told them to answer Esther. Now get a load of this little speech. Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews, for if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
You're familiar with this verse, one of the most famous verses in the Bible, for such a time as this. Folks, this is a speech for the history books. This is a speech that changes the course of history, and every now and then there will be such a speech, like Patrick Henry's speech in 1775, give me liberty or give me death, or JFK's famous 1963 speech in Berlin, Ich bin ein Berliner. It changed the course of relationships with that country. Or perhaps one of the most famous in modern history is Winston Churchill in 1940, before the House of Commons, who said, so that if the British Empire lives for another thousand years, they will look back on us and say this was their finest hour. That speech changed the course of world history. This speech changes the course of world history.
He is saying, Esther, girl, this could be your finest hour. This could be why you are even here. Now, I need to tell you this. Some of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, get this. The name of God is not mentioned even once in this book. There's no mention of God's name in the entire book.
This bothers some people. Martin Luther didn't like it. Martin Luther said, I wish this book never would have been written, because he figured you've got a book in the Bible and God's name isn't mentioned. What's up with that?
But you know what? God's name isn't mentioned. God's name isn't mentioned in the Song of Solomon either.
He didn't like that book either. Though God's name isn't in this book, God's hand is in this book. It's called providence. It's really the great lesson of this book. God's name isn't mentioned, but he really is the star of the story. It's all about God, behind the scenes. You know, I often like to say, and I've said it for years, John Nelson Darby's famous quote, God's ways are behind the scenes, but he moves all the scenes that he is behind.
So providence simply means that God supernaturally arranges natural events, and he arranges natural events so that a supernatural outcome comes to pass. So God's name isn't in the book, but God's hand is in the book. In verse 13 and 14, what we just read, Mordecai reminds his cousin Esther of three important truths.
I just want you to mark them with me. Three important truths in these two verses. Truth number one, your position will not guarantee your protection. Just because you're the queen, you are not exempt. You're a Jew. You're not exempt. You're a Jew. Yeah, you might go into the king and die, but you know what, if you don't go in, you're going to die anyway.
And Queen Vashti has been kicked out, but she had a loyal following, and I bet there's women in the court who don't like you either. So your position will not guarantee your protection. Second truth in those two verses, your silence will not prevent our deliverance. You know what, God's going to deliver us whether he uses you or not, Mordecai says. Now why would he say that?
Here's why, and I love this. I love this, because yeah, the name of God isn't in this book, but the doctrine is Mordecai believed the Abrahamic covenant, the promises God gave to Abraham. Mordecai knew the Jews are not going to be annihilated.
They can't be. God gave a promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob for the land and the continuation of the Jewish people. So he knows somehow they're going to be delivered. It's a great truth to all this, and that is this, simply God doesn't need any of us. Do you realize that? God does not need any of us, self-included.
Oh, you're so important. Nobody is needed by God. The question is, look, God is going to do what he's going to do.
Question is, are you in or out? Are you going to be a part of it or not? So God is going to work his unalterable plan somehow in delivering the Jews. Esther, do you want to be part of that plan? Because God doesn't need you. And I tell you what, that's so important to realize. You can be in God's plan, in God's will, or you can opt out of it.
The question is, it's up to you. So here's the third truth in these two verses. Your prominence, Esther, is God's providence. Your prominence is God's providence. If you got up in the morning, Esther, and wondered how did a Jewish girl like you get to a place like this to be queen of the Persian empire, if you've ever wondered why, now you know.
Now you realize you have a certain kind of leverage that no one else has. Think about that in your life. The two most important days of your life are, number one, the day you were born, number two, the day you discover what you were born for. I'm glad you were born.
But when you come to the day when you realize this is why I'm on earth, this is what God's plan and calling is for my life, that is such a significant day. Fourth and finally, fourth trait, she acted with determined bravery. The message, the speech, was read by Hathach in the hearing of the queen.
What does she do about it? Verse 15, chapter 4. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, go gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast for me. Yeah, God's name isn't mentioned, but she says fast for me. If you know the Bible, you know the prayer and fasting go together. This is her way of saying without giving it away that she was Jewish, fast for me, go have a prayer meeting, go have a prayer meeting. Fast for me, neither eat nor drink for three days, day or night.
My maids and I will fast likewise. Here's the best part. And so I will go to the king which is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.
What a great response. What she says is, okay, I'm willing to risk it all. I'm willing to do God's will, whatever the cost. I might go into the king and get spared by a security guard or get tackled by one of his men. Or this could be my finest hour. This could be the moment. And so she resolves with a determined bravery to step up to the plate. Go for it.
Risk it all. I'll tell you what this reminds me of. It reminds me of a man in the New Testament. You know him well, Paul the Apostle.
He was on his way to Jerusalem. Everybody was saying, don't go, don't go. It's going to be bad. You're going to get arrested.
They're going to beat you up. Prophets were telling him that wherever he went. Keeps going. And he stops off in a little town called Miletus and meets with the Ephesian elders.
And this is what he says. He said, see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city that chains and tribulations await me. But then he said this, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself that I might finish my race with joy in the ministry of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace of God.
Same resolve. I'm going to Jerusalem. Everybody tells me it's going to be really bad. Don't care. It might cost me my life. Don't care. I just want to finish my race with joy and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I want him to be glorified. Same resolve. Same choice as Esther. Now for Esther, everything was against her. The law was against her. The law said you can't barge into the king's presence.
You could get killed. The government was against her. Government authorities just signed a Jewish annihilation bill. Her sex was against her. She was a woman in the court of a male chauvinist. We saw how he treated his first wife.
Not good. Most men in those days fell in that category. So everything was against her. But the Bible says if God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8 31.
If God is for us, who can be against us? And so here's her rationale. Here's a woman of beauty, brains, and bravery. She reasoned thus, it's better to die for a conviction than live with a compromise.
It's better to die for a conviction than live with a compromise. One of our great presidents was Abraham Lincoln. He was driven by a mandate. He believed that he was under a divine mandate, all the biographies that I have read, to be a person of action to end slavery.
He lived and was the president during a very volatile time in our history of the Civil War. And the story goes that he went to church one Sunday morning at the height of the Civil War when he was particularly despondent, very discouraged, really down. But he went to church and he heard a sermon. He was discussing the sermon with his aides. They said, well, what did you think about the sermon? And President Lincoln said, I thought the preacher was clear, he had logical points, and he was very sincere. And so an aide said, so you thought it was a good sermon? And Lincoln said, no, I think he failed because he did not ask of us something great.
He was good, he was logical, it was concise, but he failed because he did not ask of us something great. So I want to ask of you something great. Here's the ask. Stop spending your life. Start investing your life. Stop spending time, wasting time on frivolous things. And start investing your life in kingdom pursuits. Kingdom City is the name of this series. Invest your life in kingdom pursuits.
So here's how it's done. First of all, when you leave this place and throughout the week you ask yourself this simple question, what would God have me do to change the world that I'm in? You can't fix the world, but what is your next step? What would God have me do to change the world that I'm in? Do you think one person can make a difference? Let's ask that of Jesus. Did one person make a difference? Yes, for God so loved the world that he gave. He didn't look at the world and go, you know, the world's messed up. I look at it down there.
I made it, but it's really messed up. He gave his only son, and the son, Jesus, volunteered for the task. He said, I have come to seek and save that which is lost. I've come to give my life give my life as a ransom for many. So it's time to step out from the walls of doctrine and belief which is foundational and important and put feet, action, to what we say we believe.
That's the challenge. I'm asking of you something great. You were born, but now discover what you were born for.
For such a time as this, there's no coincidence, no accident, that you and I were born right now and live right now. What is it God wants you to do? When you discover that, it's the most freeing way to live. That's Skip Heitig showing you how God works in the background to accomplish his purposes and provide for you. It's a teaching from his series, Kingdom City. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will help you know the Holy Spirit more intimately. How deep is your understanding of the Holy Spirit and the gifts he gives?
Listen as Skip Heitig unpacks his person and power in this teaching clip. The Holy Spirit is a divine person who helps us. How many of you think you need all the help you can get to live your Christian life?
Yeah, I'm with you. We need help. As you grow in your understanding of the Holy Spirit through our Connect with Skip Heitig monthly resource, you'll learn how he helps believers, that's you, to walk with Christ. When it comes to living the Christian life, it's not hard. It's impossible on your own. You need his power to be able to do that. You need his help to be able to do that, and we have his help. For your Connect with Skip Heitig gift of $50 or more, we'll send you the complete expound Holy Spirit series and Bring the Rain, Skip's book on expositional teaching.
Call 800-922-1888 or give securely online at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Be sure to tune in tomorrow as Skip begins a message about one young man's resolve to stay faithful to God. And here's what we discovered. This man makes a choice when he's quite young. The choice is rooted in his Jewish past, his relationship with God, that stabilizes him for the future, for whatever might come. He has made a choice that will help him weather the future. Connect with Skip Heitig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
