A Call to Stand Part 1

It's time for The Line of Fire with your host messianic bible scholar and cultural commentator Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Here to infuse you with faith, truth, and courage so you can stand strong in the Lord in these critical times. Welcome back to The Line of Fire friends.

We're doing things differently as we get to the Christmas new year season. Yesterday and the day before we took you into a message I preached in Hawaii. This I believe I preached in Texas some months ago called call to stand. You'll hear it today and tomorrow. Let's go into the message. We're going to start in the book of Esther, the fourth chapter.

Esther chapter four beginning in verse one. Today I want to give you a call to stand and tying in with this theme of reformation. I mentioned three R's in our ministry.

This is what everything we do leads into. Revival in the church. Seeing God's people come alive.

Repentance from backsliding and lukewarmness. A burning fresh fire to serve and know the Lord. Holy visitation in our midst. Revival in the church and out of that a revived church impacting the culture. A gospel based moral and cultural revolution. And on the heels of a healthy church provoking Israel to envy the redemption of Israel. As Pastor Landon announced the theme for this year I was really struck because we just released a book the beginning of the year called Seize the Moment. How to fuel the fires of revival. When God begins to move how do you take hold of that?

Whether it's personal visitation or corporate visitation. How do you ride that wave to the fullness to see everything God wants to do? Because their pockets here here there all over America God's beginning to pour out his spirit mightily.

What happened last year at Asbury was just an exclamation point of God saying I'm on the move. Things are happening in the midst of the shaking and our people. But that book is titled as from revival to reformation book one. Book two comes out in May and I'm scheduled to be part of the conference reformation conference in June.

Book two comes out in May called Turn the Tide. How to ignite a cultural awakening. I truly believe that as Jesus changes us we are to have an impact on the society around us. I truly believe as the light shines in us it should shine into the darkness of the world and bring about change. Yes there will be conflict. Yes until Jesus comes there will be a battle between good and evil. Yes America will always be mixed. America has never been a perfect Christian nation. America will not be a perfect Christian nation. The only time we'll see the perfect expression of the kingdom of God is when Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom.

I understand that. We're in a conflict but we are in a war and and my mentality is that that let's just say it's a tug of war all right and every generation it's a tug of war between good and evil between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. Let's say we're over here on the side of the kingdom of God. When I leave this world I want the rope to be pulled in this direction.

You hear what I'm saying? I want to leave a better world to my kids or grandkids or great-grandkids. I want to see what Jesus could do through yielded human vessels while we have the opportunity and Dietrich Bonhoeffer said the ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children. Esther the fourth chapter there is a plot from Haman to wipe out the Jewish people. Mordecai finds out about it the older cousin of Esther who helped raise her as a child. Esther is now the queen but her Jewish identity has been hidden. When Mordecai learned of all that had been done he tore his clothes.

This is the edict to wipe out the Jewish people. Put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the city wailing loudly and bitterly but he went only as far as the king's gate because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it and every province to which the edict and order of the king came there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting weeping and wailing many lay in sackcloth and ashes. When Esther's eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai she was in great distress.

She sent clothes for him to put on instead of a sackcloth but he would not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hotach one of the king's eunuchs assigned to attend her and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why. So Hotach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. Mordecai told them everything that had happened to him including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation which had been published in Susa to show to Esther and explain it to her and he told them to instruct her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. Hotach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai all the king's officials and the people of the royal promises know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to spare to them and spare their lives. But 30 days have passed since I was called to go to the king. So she understands that Mordecai wants her to go to the king and say hey you want to kill all the Jewish people? I'm a Jew. Do you understand that?

These are my people. But she knows that to do so she has to risk her life even though she's a queen that's the law. You don't come in unless you are explicitly invited and if you just walk in without being invited unless the king raises the scepter you're dead. You're dead.

She understands the reality and the weight and the consequences. When Esther's words were reported back to Mordecai he sent this answer. Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. Look at this verse 14. For if you remain silent at this time relief and the deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place but you and your father's family will perish and who knows but you have come into your royal position for such a time as this. Wow.

Let me just keep reading. Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai. Go gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me.

Do not eat or drink for three days night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do when this is done. I will go to the king even though it is against the law and if I perish I perish.

So Mordecai went and carried out all of Esther's instructions. Now what's fascinating is that few books in the Bible have more examples of overt direct clear definite divine intervention and yet God is never mentioned in the book of Esther. Not God. Not Lord. Not a reference to the heavenly being or heavenly father.

Zero. The closest reference is when Mordecai says deliverance will come from another place. That's one reason that there's a name for God in Judaism which is Hamakom which literally means the place. Why in the world would God be called the place? It's a reference to this.

That's part of the reason for it. Deliverance will come from another place namely from God. But he's not even mentioned which is often how he works in history. That you can see the clear marks of God without him publicly saying this is me. This is my hand. So there are two key takeaways here. First, who knows but you've come into the kingdom for such a time as this.

Here's the deal. If you're alive right now it is by the ordination of God. None of us chose to be born. None of us chose the parents we had.

None of us chose to be raised in the environment we're in. That is just what happened. Many cases it was difficult. Many cases Satan wanted to take us out. But God himself is the one who brought you and me into the world. We are all here for such a time as this. It was 10 years ago Pastor Landon reached out to me when he was just doing traveling mainly youth ministry and asked if I'd be a mentor in his life which was unprecedented for me to to deal with a stranger like that. But we felt it was the Lord. At that time I had no clue that God would raise him up to birth Mercy Culture or to lead a network of churches or to start the school or plant other churches. I didn't see any of that whatsoever but it was for such a time as this. Mercy Culture has been raised up for such a time as this.

We are here saved serving God because this was his choice to put us here. Not in another generation. Not in another country. Not in another setting. But here for this hour.

Every one of us you need to grasp that. No matter how insignificant your life may feel to you. No matter how unimportant your life may feel to you. I've been writing some some of my testimony and life story and as I'm going back and doing it I'm remembering the people that would be utterly insignificant in the eyes of man who are highly exalted in God's sight. The people that God used to touch me and shape my life and help me in those early days of coming to the Lord and their names are unknown to the world. There was one brother in the church where I got saved.

His nickname we just knew him as brother Trixie and he and brother Nick. I remember the first service I attended in August of 1971 and I went there 16 years old to persuade my friends to not go to this crazy place. Believe this silly message about Jesus because I felt it was going to break up our band and they they weren't getting high as much with me and so on and doing the crazy things we used to do. And one of the things that struck me that night was the love of the people towards me. Maybe 40 50 people there for a night service but that's what struck me. And these two brothers they were in their 60s I think around 63 years old. So for 16 year old I mean that seems ancient. I'm about to turn 69.

63 feels pretty good right but but it seemed ancient to me. But they were so full of life and energy and love. God used them to impact me. And brother Trixie got his nickname because as a boy he used to run around the neighborhood grab up stray cats from the street run to a church building open the door and throw the cats in.

That's how he got the nickname. Brother Nick we found out used to be on a chain gang before he was saved. He was once thrown in the trunk of a car they were going to kill him and somehow God spared his life in his criminal days. God used these men to impact me.

Years later several decades later I found out from brother Trixie's son who became a a pastor missionary and a pastor I was preaching at his church and he said you know my dad prayed for you every single day of his life until he died. Who knows all the people that God used. I mean we have the the big big man of God big woman of God you know on the platform but who in the world knows who really counts right.

The first will be last and the last will be first. So whoever you are God has brought you into the kingdom for such a time as this. Don't say I'm only this I'm only this because nobody is anybody except for him.

No celebrities, no superstars, only Jesus. That was my whole message in the first service. That's the first thing. The second thing is that obedience is costly. Obedience is costly. To stand up and do what God's called you to do may be costly.

You may lose your job, you may lose your friends, you may lose your family, you may lose your life. That's reality and many people in many parts of the world. When I'm in India every year and the brother I work with baptizes people. This is a man that still has scars for when he was stolen for preaching. This is a man I've stood by side by side with and we risked our lives together preaching.

I mean watched Hindu radicals take over the stage with knives and razor blades in their hands. This is a man where we've laid hands and sent out thousands of workers that have planted probably 10,000 pounds of acres that have planted probably 10,000 churches and tribal regions but five or six of them have been martyred. When he does baptisms, entry-level baptisms, he asks the people after the confession of faith are you willing to live for Jesus to your last drop of blood to your very last breath? That's a water baptism. One brother told me working in the the Muslim world when they're baptizing an ex-Muslim they ask him before they baptize him after his confession of faith are you suffer for Jesus? Are you willing to die for Jesus? Only if they say yes will they baptize them.

That's reality in much of the rest of the world. So don't come complaining to me when someone unfriends you on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or wherever. That's not persecution. But some of you know following Jesus has been costly. You've lost friends at school and rejection stings. You lost your promotion at work.

You didn't get the scholarship. You lost a ministry door because you obeyed the Lord. Esther understood that if I perish I perish. So following Jesus is costly. He said if anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up the cross and follow me.

If you save your life you lose it. If you lose your life for my sake and the gospel you find it. Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five. Well-known words of Jesus to who?

To the superstars? No to the disciples. To all of us. Verse 13 of Matthew five.

You are the salt of the earth but if the salt loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. That's what's happened in America as the church has lost credibility. As the church has lost its testimony. As we become so embroiled with the world or sometimes better known for sexual scandals or financial scandals or better known for our support of a political leader than our support of the gospel.

We get trampled underfoot no one listens to us. We're always going to be hated and rejected by some but we should have a witness of integrity. We should have a witness of honesty. We should have a witness there's a good reputation with outsiders.

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Call 1-800-771-5584 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. And now back to the line of fire with your host Dr. Michael Brown ready to infuse you with faith truth and courage. Thanks friends for giving us your best ear and I want to continue to pour into you with this message called to stand. You are the salt of the earth verse 14. You are the light of the world. We know that Jesus says in John 8 12 I'm the light of the world but he shines through us. The world finds out who Jesus is through you and me.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. On the ground in our daily lives as a church community we are to shine and part of that shining is good works. The fact that God used this church in this community to give out tens of millions of meals during covid that's good works.

Rescuing women and children and others who've been trafficked those are good works. This is saying hey we're here to make a difference but there's another aspect to light. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. This is another aspect of God's light and what it means to be like. Ephesians 5 beginning in verse 8 for you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness righteousness and truth and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. That's part of what light does. Light calls out sin. Light exposes corruption and darkness. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret but everything exposed by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes the light. That is why it is said wake up sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.

Be very careful then how you live not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. I want to share a few quotes with you and then I want to encourage you. I want to testify.

I want to encourage you and help build your faith and confidence in what God is doing. Look at what D.A. Carson said. New Testament commentator D.A. Carson. He said the point is that if Jesus' disciples are to act as a preservative in the world by conforming to kings and kings and kings by conforming to kingdom norms if they are quote called to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low constantly changing or non-existence they can discharge this function only if they themselves retain their virtue. D.A. Carson quoting R.V.

Tasker. In other words the only way that we can be a moral disinfectant in the society the only way that we can bring conviction to the society is if we ourselves live differently. I understand we're not perfect. I understand we receive grace from God every single day. At the same time I recognize that Jesus changes us. What kind of testimony is it if he doesn't change us?

What kind of new birth is it if we don't live differently than we were before? That's the power of the gospel. Listen to what Dr. Martin Luther King said. The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state but rather the conscience of the state.

Remember that friends. It must be the guide and the critic of the state and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.

Whoa let me read that again. Is this relevant to the American church today or what? If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. I'm not sitting here as the judge of anybody in that regard but I wonder how many of our churches and congregations throughout America fit into that very category.

An irrelevant social club. Stephen Carter, African-American law professor speaking in that context had this to say. Along with many African-American theologians I believe in the tremendous importance of preserving religious communities not only as centers of difference that is places where one grasps the meaning of the world as different from what you find in the dominant culture but even more so as centers of resistance. These centers of resistance do not simply proclaim we don't believe what the rest of you believe but say we are willing and ready to sacrifice to lose something material for the sake of that difference in which we believe.

Praise God. He continues indeed radical transformation will demand a sacrifice but a fundamental demand for sacrifice will not arise in politics. It will have to arise from the church which is really the only contemporary genuine source of resistance to the existing order.

Nobody else can do it. Nobody was ever persuaded to go out and risk life and limb because of reading a smart article on philosophy and public affairs. No people ever said they were going to organize a march and be beaten by the police because of something they read in the New York Times op-ed page. There's only religion that still has the power at its best to encourage sacrifice and resistance. But then he said this yet one should have no illusions all too many pastors today black and white are so worried about filling the seats.

Let me read that again. Yet one should have no illusions all too many pastors today black and white are so worried about filling the seats. Clergy deliver brilliant sermons that preach up to the edge of asking people to do something and then they will pull back. Some pastors display prophetic leadership and call for sacrifice but their numbers are small. Wow penetrating words spoken years ago but absolutely relevant to us today. So let me bear witness as someone saved by the mercy of God in 1971 as someone preaching since 1973 and and have seen the grace of God at work these many many years in so many different ways I want to bear witness to encourage you.

This is not the bible this is not meant to be and the authority of scriptures is just one human being bearing witness to encourage you. All right we're out of time today we're going to conclude the message tomorrow may it be a blessing to you let us stand strong together in the Lord. You've been listening to the Line of Fire. Be sure to sign up for Dr. Brown's faith-building frontlines newsletter at thelineoffire.org.

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