Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Sermon Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.

So that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Our title today, I have not been called. I have not been called. You're going to understand this in just a minute.

Brother Frank read our story, a part of it. Let me, if I can, walk you through it. Quickly today, some of you, you know, the book of Esther is in the Bible, and you might know a few little things about Esther, but if I asked you, can you explain the book? You might not really be able to.

Now, I'm giving you a surface exposition here. There is a whole lot of in-and-outs that we just don't have time to do, but I want you to kind of get context here so that you can understand the principles that God has laid on my heart today. The book of Esther starts really with some main characters. It's King Ahasai, and I might be saying that incorrectly, but it doesn't matter. I'm the one up here right now.

Okay, so we're just going to leave it at that. And he is king of Persia. No, it's Persia. I just wanted to throw that in.

Okay, anyway, he's king of Persia. And in the book of Esther, it's called Shushan quite a bit. And he has a queen. Her name is Vashti. All right.

So here's King Ahaseris. Here's Queen Vashti. Everything's okay in the kingdom. And he decides to have a big banquet, I guess you would say. And he had all the princes of all the provinces.

And the Bible literally says that the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, were before him at this banquet. And he decides that he wants the queen to come in. He wants them to see her beauty. He was very proud of her. And so he calls for Vashti to come in, Queen Vashti, and she won't come.

Now, it's hard to imagine a woman not obeying orders. It's very hard to, but this is all the way back in Old Testament times. It doesn't happen in our time. This is all the way back, okay, my wife. My wife's not here.

That's exactly why I'm doing. No shoe is being thrown at me at this point. But he calls for her to come to the banquet. She just won't come. She refuses.

Well, this embarrasses King Ahasaris, and not only that, it embarrassed the princes of the provinces, and they all felt offended by this.

So this started no small stir here in Persia and Shushan. And so bottom line, he decides that, you know what, I've got to remove the queen. And he stripped her of all her power, her authority, everything she had, and he removed her from being a queen. But that left now an issue is that now there's a king and there's no queen.

Well, during this, there is a man that worked in the palace named Mordecai. Mordecai was a Jew that had been taken out of Jerusalem in captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. You've heard of that. And so here's Mordecai taken in captivity.

Now he's here in Persia. He's working in the palace. And now they decide to bring all the young virgins, young ladies, for the king to meet so that he can pick. a new queen.

Well, Mordecai had a niece. Her name was Esther. She had no dad, no mom, and he had taken her into his house as his own. And so he thought maybe this is an opportunity.

Somehow, Esther was beautiful and she was pure. She was a virgin, which was a requirement, obviously, for the king. And so he brings Esther, and some of her maidens come in, and all these other women in the kingdom that want to be queen. Obviously, it means a wonderful lifestyle, a privilege, and all those things. And so, hey, here you have all these other ladies.

You have Esther and her maidens, and all this stuff there in the palace.

Now, I want you to look at this verse, chapter 2, verse 17. Catches us up here. It's on the screen for you. And the king. loved Esther.

above all the women.

Now, I don't know if that's a compliment or not. I told my wife one time, listen, Julie, I love you above all the other women. And she didn't take that very well.

So that was not a compliment. But what he is saying here is that the king loved Esther above all the women. Notice this, and she obtained. Grace and And favor in his sight more than all the other virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen. instead of Vashti.

All is well in the palace. Wow, God gave grace. God granted favor. Put a Jewish young lady here as queen in Persia in the palace. It's amazing.

Here, Mordecai, her uncle, who is like her dad's working in the palace. Everything just seems hunky-dory, as my dad would say. But then, King Ahasaris decides he's going to promote a guy named Haman. And he was one of the princes of one of the provinces, but he decided that he was going to promote Haman. He was a wicked man, an evil man.

But he was going to promote him above all the princes of the provinces. And so they have a big ceremony, and he promotes him. Everything's fine, but Mordecai. Esther's uncle, who worked there in the palace, being a Jewish man. When the king honored Haman and promoted him, everybody bowed to him, paid homage to him.

Mordecai didn't bow. Mordecai didn't pay homage to him. because he knew he was a wicked, evil man.

Well, word began to spread with the servants, and somehow word got back to Haman that this guy Mordecai, this servant Mordecai in the palace, he wouldn't pay homage to you. He wouldn't bow to you. He wouldn't recognize you. And this got Haman very upset.

So he decided, I'm going to try to kill Mordecai. But he thought, even better, how can I orchestrate this without it looking bad?

So he came up with a plan.

Now you need to listen to this because I want you to understand the book of Esther. His plan was that he found out that Mordecai was Jewish.

So his plan was he was going to come up with a way to make the king form a decree that all the Jewish people had to be killed.

So he comes to King Ahasai, and he says, There's a group of people, they don't worship you, they don't bow to you, they serve another king. And he really painted this whole picture. It's a lot like what happened to Daniel all the way back in the book of Daniel. And he does this, and the king, this sounds good to him. And so the king makes a decree.

And the decree that the king makes is that on a certain day, in one day, all Jewish people would be killed, all women, all children, everybody would be killed in one day. And so he's going to publish this decree so that the whole kingdom will know it ahead of this particular day. Not knowing, the king not knowing that his own queen. was Jewish.

So I want you to look at chapter 3, verse 5 here on the screen. It says, And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath, and he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone. For they had showed him the people, showed him that he was Jewish of Mordecai. Wherefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews. That were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasai, even the people of Mordecai.

Now look at verse 13 of chapter 3. And the letters were sent by post into all the king's provinces.

So they start spreading out this whole decree. Notice this: to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish. All juice. Both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the 13th day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil. of them for a prey.

Look at verse 14. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people that they should be ready against that day. It was coming. The post went out. being hastened by the king's commandment and the decree was given in Shushan, the palace.

And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city Sushan was perplexed. This was a horrible thing.

Now you got Jewish people all over the kingdom that are mourning. They can't go anywhere. They have no defense. They know that this means they're all. Listen, you're talking about moms and dads.

Listen, I have a son in a hospital, but that's different than knowing in just a few days, I'm going to be killed. My wife's going to be killed. My son, all three of my sons are going to be killed. Your daughters would be killed. Everybody in your family would be killed in one day.

This is a horrible thing. Notice in chapter 4, verse 3, look at it. It says, and in every province, Whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was a great mourning among the Jews. and fasting and weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Now, the Jewish people had already been through an awful lot. And here we go again.

So Mordecai decided. We might have a chance here. There's not much hope here, but one chance would be that our queen. is Jewish. Maybe our queen.

Could somehow find favor with the king and ask him if he could spare the Jewish people. people.

Now Um Mordecai sends word to her. To Esther, that she needs to do this. This might be their only chance. But there was a problem. The problem was that if anybody went to the king, without the king inviting you to come.

If the king wanted to speak to you, you came to him. But if you wanted to speak to the king, you didn't just show up. The king had to invite you. Because if you would do that without him asking you to come, even if you're the queen, if you would do that, you would be killed. And so Esther understands what he's asking, but she's telling him, listen, I'm going to be killed.

I can't do that. It's against the law to do that.

Now look at verse 10 of chapter 4. It's on the screen for you. And again, Esther spake unto Hatak, which is the messenger, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai. This is what she says back to Mordecai. All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces do know.

that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court who is not called. There is one law of his to put him to death. Except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live.

Now, listen to what she says. But I have not been called. to come in unto the king. these 30 days. She says, Mordecai, listen, I know what you're saying, and I understand what you're saying, and I know I'm Jewish, and I know that he's getting you ready to kill all the Jewish people, but there is a law, and the law is that you can't go in unto the king unless he invites you, unless he holds out his golden scepter towards you.

Well, then you're invited, and then you have audience with him. But if you show up and he hasn't called you and he doesn't extend to you the golden scepter, you're put to death immediately. And so she lets him know: listen, I can't do this, and let me tell you why. I've not been called, he hasn't called me. For these last 30 days, so there's no way for me to go to him, so there's nothing I can do.

So now Mordecai decides, well I need to send her word back.

So Mordecai said, you need to go to the king. She says, I can't go to the king because I'm going to be killed if I do.

So Mordecai comes back with what we see as a well-known passage in Esther. Look at verse 13. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther. This is what he said. Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews.

He says, Don't think that just because you're in the palace that you're going to escape death. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace, notice this at this time. If you don't do something now, notice this, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. It means possibly, maybe God will deliver them some other way. Maybe we don't know.

But. Thou and thy father's house, which means Mordecai. shall be destroyed. And He says, think about this. Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom?

for such a time as this. I mean, Esther, think about this. Maybe this is what God, maybe the whole reason you got favor, maybe the whole reason you got grace, maybe the whole reason the king chose you, maybe the whole reason you're in this palace is because God brought you here for this particular time. Look at verse 15. Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer.

This is what she sends back. Go Gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast. ye for me. and neither eat nor drink three days, night, or day. I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king.

which is not according to the law. Here's what she said. And if I perish. I perish.

So that's kind of the key of this whole thing. That's the whole book of Vestra. This is how we come all the way to the thing, and we'll read you the few verses to know obviously how it ends, and you know how it ends, that God works miracles, and we'll explain all that. But I want you to notice a few things about some of the things that we've read today. And let me tell you how this came about.

Yesterday I was there in the hospital with Caden. And um I asked him, how you doing? And he said, I'm doing okay. And I just said, are you frustrated yet? And mom was over there.

I said, are you frustrated yet? He said, yeah, maybe a little. And when we got there that day, Thursday, when they admitted him into the hospital, one of our biggest obstacles is getting his IVs. And it was a nightmare. A nurse came in and kept trying to find a vein, found one, then she exploded the vein.

He's screaming in agony. They have to go in.

Now we've got to bring another whole team to come in, try to get just an IV so they can draw blood. This is a big rigmarole that went on, extremely painful for him. And now it hasn't even been done.

Now they got to send another team. And when they left to go get the other team. Caden was just, why is it always me? None of my friends have to go to the hospital. None of them have to keep getting blood.

None of them have to do their best treatments every day. None of them have to do this. Why is it always me? And by the way, can I tell you something? He's already handed it way better than I would have.

Let me tell you something. I would have probably said some things I couldn't say here. I probably would have been mad at everybody. If I've been through half the things he's been through. And I sat there yesterday and I said, you know Caden?

I said, I was reading a story about a lady in the Bible named Esther. And I explained a little bit. like what I explained to you. And I said, you know, Caden, maybe. Maybe God has allowed all this.

to bring you here to this hospital. for this time. Maybe there's a whole purpose in all this. Maybe it's not about your lungs or your sickness. Maybe it's about a greater purpose that God has going on right now.

Maybe God, just maybe. This isn't everything that we're thinking and seeing. I said, you know, God did all this, brought Esther, and now she's in a situation, they're facing a death sentence. It doesn't sound like God was in this, doesn't sound like God loved them very much to allow this whole thing to take place. It sounds like they're in a situation that they didn't ask for, that they didn't create, and it doesn't seem fair.

And it seems like, you know, here the Jews have already been in captivity.

Now, one guy gets mad at one guy and he talks the king into trying to kill an entire race of people. I mean, that doesn't sound real fair either, but you know what? God told Esther and God made it known that, you know, what of all the things that happened, God brought her here for this particular time, in this particular place. God gave her a favor in the king. God orchestrated this entire thing.

And it really wasn't about Esther and it really wasn't about Mordecai. It was about something far greater than that. And the simple fact is, Esther had to come to grips with it. That although it didn't look like the greatest thing, and although this might mean certain death, and although I don't feel like I have freedom, and there's a law in place, and everything's stacked against you, at some point, you have to realize maybe this isn't an accident, maybe it's divine appointment. And all I'm saying to you today is that maybe there's some things going on in your life right now, and you keep fighting against it, but it might not be that you're the victim like you think you are and everything.

It might be that God's brought you to a certain place for a certain purpose for this particular time. And somehow you and I have got to get beyond ourselves and out of ourselves and realize if God's allowed this, God might have a reason. As I look back, and I'll draw that net a little bit better here in just a minute, but I want us to look at a couple things. I just want to give you some principles out of this, this surface explanation of Esther. Number one, I want you to write this down.

If you have notes, listen, you need to write this down because you need to tell some of your coworkers the story of Esther, because I guarantee you they don't know it either. They don't know exactly what all has gone on and why this all is happening and what brings this moment to this particular moment just like this. I want you to notice, number one, it's all the way back in chapter 2, verse 17. It says, And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight. Number one is this: listen, when you get to situations in your life that you don't understand, don't ever get over God's grace.

She was in the palace because of God's grace. The very food she ate at her table every day was because of God's grace. The clothes she had on her back as queen of Persia was because of God's favor and grace. It's amazing how God can be so good to us, and then all of a sudden something happens we don't understand, and now we back up.

Now, we're not necessarily willing to do something for God here because we're the victim and all these things. Can I tell you something? Everything she had in her life was God's grace. She didn't have a mom, she didn't have a dad, she didn't really have a family. All she had was an uncle.

She's a Jewish young lady in captivity in Persia, and of all things, God puts her right in the queen's chair. Let me tell you something, what you're facing in your life right now, what you might be going through right now. If you're not careful, you'll forget God's grace. If you're not careful, you're going to forget all the things God did for you. There's one thing as a pastor that has always been very, very hard over the years.

We have people we'll give money for when they're in need, but the moment the church asks for one thing, the moment the pastor does one thing, all of a sudden, now, uh-oh, I can't do that. Uh-uh. Wait a minute, what about all the things we've done? What about all the grace we've bestowed? It's amazing to me how so many times the people you help out are the very ones that'll turn on you.

And I want to encourage you, let me say, you and I do that to God too. I mean the first moment that all of a sudden now we're in the hospital, now we're kind of mad at God. Have you forgotten all the grace? Listen, I told Caden, imagine of all things, there's a lot of people that have to go to the hospital every day of their lives. But not everybody has an entire church come forward to pray for you.

And not everybody has a Dr. David Gibbs that calls the night before and prays for you on the phone. Not everybody has pastors from California and people that call and say, hey, we heard about Fake Hayden. We saw him on the Facebook. Listen, don't forget God's grace.

When you're in the middle of these situations. Don't forget how good God's been. But it's really easy to forget. The good and the favor that God has done. All of a sudden, now things are contrary to what we want.

Listen, she was in this position because of God's grace. Don't ever get over that. Notice number two. And I love this. Everything's great till Haman's brought on the scene and the king promotes him and Boy, if that doesn't describe America, the evil being promoted.

Interesting here in verse 6, notice what it says: wherefore, Haman.

Sot to destroy all the Jews.

Now, principle number two is this: God already has a solution before the problem ever happens. That's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of a sudden, Heyman's promoted.

Well, I can't believe God did that. Wait a minute. God promoted you, Esther. Yeah, yeah. Esther is a Jew in Persia.

God promoted her to the queen's seat. Are we going to get all been out of shape now that some bad guy ends up in a prince's seat? But here's what's interesting. They get the news, they get the decree, all the Jews are mourning, all of them are fasting, all of them are in sackcloth and ashes. Even Esther's disturbed and she's grieved and all these things.

Are you looking at me? Before Haman was ever promoted, before that decree was ever signed, God had already put Esther in the queen's chair. God already had the solution before the problem ever showed up. And Carl Run Baptist Church, I want you to know something. You might not know it.

You might not see it yet, but God already has a solution for you before your problem ever shows up. Listen, God had a solution before they ever said that about you. Before you ever got criticized for doing what God wanted you to do, God's got a solution for that already. See You and I often, we're too impatient to let the whole thing play out. God already had, listen, oh Haman, he wrote this decree.

He's mad at the Jews. He went after him and he got the king. Listen, I understand all that. But way before that ever took place, God showed grace and favor and put a Jewish young lady right in the queen's chair because God knew the whole time this was going to be the solution before there was ever even a problem. Number three, I want you to see this in verse chapter four, verse eleven.

Now this is huge. Are you buying what I'm selling today or not? Say amen. Please don't tell me if you're not. I'm already, my nerves are already half shot, okay?

I'm still getting over the Philippines, let alone. hospital and revival and everything else. Look at verse 11 of chapter 4. This is what she says. There is one law of his to put him to death.

Who's him? Anybody that comes to the king without the king calling, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live. And this is what Esther says to Mordecai. But I have not been called to come in unto the king. These 30 days.

Look at me. Please get this. By the way, before I forget. We have Missions Conference coming up Sunday night. I got to tell you now.

We give our kids gifts.

Now, this is not required, but this is going to be sitting down here every Sunday night, and I want our kids. to give to missions.

So when we give out presents to the kids, mom and dad, Give them some money to put in this bucket. Y'all understand that? Say amen. Don't you want to see our kids give to missions?

Well, that's ten of us. Praise the Lord. It'll take us five years to fill that up with that kind of response, I'm going to tell you. Here's what happened. Look at Esther said, Mordecai?

God hasn't called me to do this. You know why? Because the king didn't call me in. The king didn't call.

So God must not have called. Number three.

Sometimes God calls even when men doesn't.

Sometimes God calls even when man doesn't. Look at me, please get this. Just because the king hadn't called her in? Does it mean God? Hadn't called her to do this.

Now are you ready for the application? Just because the people Don't like what you're doing. Doesn't mean God hasn't told you. That's what to do. Just because family criticizes your decision doesn't mean God hasn't led you to make that decision.

Sometimes God's calling you even when people don't. Guess what I have found out as a pastor?

Sometimes I got to do what God calls me to do. And even if people don't like it, even if they don't feel called to do it, that means God hadn't called me. Are you looking at me, Colonel Baptist Church? You're going to do something for God. You better get a little bit of holy gumption, stubborn backbone in you.

And you better say, God, if you want me to do this, I'm going to do this. And even if man isn't calling, God does call. And even if man hasn't called you into his presence, doesn't mean God hasn't asked you to go to the king's presence. I'm so glad the Weimers are here. You're going to hear a lot from Brother Pat and Miss Vicki over these next two months.

We're selfish with them this time. They come over here and they have to go report in churches. Listen, they're here and we're going to use them. We have our missions emphasis month, the whole month of October. And I've asked Pat while I was in Iceland with him, I want our church to hear the history of what went on.

I don't know if he can concise it into one time, but you as a church, where they're sending church, you need to see. I knew there were details when I learned what really went on with that building that I didn't know, and I've tried to keep up with it. And listen, you need to know that. I'm so glad the Weimers are here. Look at me.

Please get this. I do know one thing: Pat never got a call. From a group of people in Iceland saying, hey, Pat, listen. What we really need is a Baptist church. Do you think you could come over?

What Vicky never got was a group of ladies over in Iceland that just said, Hey, you know what this country needs is a Baptist church. We would really like to be taught something we've never heard. We would really love something that goes against our state religion. Would you mind coming? Listen, nobody ever called them, but that doesn't mean God didn't call them.

Listen, you and I, one of the Bible says the fear of man bringeth a snare. You be careful that everything in your life dictates about what people want, what people do, where they're going. Listen, you and I are to be thermostats, not thermometers. We are not to be controlled by what's popular and controlled by a trend. Can I tell you something?

I get down on my knees and I say, God, what do you want for Kernwoman Baptist Church? And what God tells me to do is what God's told me to do. And it doesn't matter whether the people are calling for it or not. If God's calling for it, that's what I'm going to do. And I hope you won a church like that.

Because I'm going to be honest with you, sometimes God calls even when people aren't. Yeah, it's good. And you just stick with God. I love this. She said, listen, I'm not being called.

I mean, obviously, if God was in this. the king would have asked for me. But he didn't ask for me.

So God must not be in this. And then I just love Mordecai's response. Number four, I want you to see this. This is big. Be careful about presuming.

See, now this seems odd. Be careful about presuming. Oh, but notice this. The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally, Would you take a moment to hear this today?

Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans three twenty three says For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, we're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that, sin carries the penalty of death.

Romans 6.23 says, for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept Him as our Savior.

Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans 10.9 says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Verse thirteen continues For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior?

There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Savior? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at CurwinBaptastChurch.com. or visits that person at one of our three service times. We hope you have a great rest of your day.

God bless you. Mm-hmm.