[0:00] I found a way to take Esther and make a Thanksgiving sermon out of it. But stop and remember where we have been.
[0:35] Esther and Mordecai and the rest of the Jews have been under the gun. Thirteenth day of the twelfth month, all the Jews were to be killed by decree from Ahasuerus and Haman.
[0:52] Haman kind of manipulated Ahasuerus into signing this decree, kind of fooled him into it. And once Ahasuerus found out what was actually going on through Esther, he was upset.
[1:04] And he had Haman killed. So Haman is gone. And he raises Mordecai, a Jew, to the position that Haman had had.
[1:15] He gets to take over Haman's house. And Mordecai and Haman had never gotten along. And now Mordecai has everything that Haman ever wanted. But they still have a problem. They have this decree.
[1:29] And you remember we've talked about the laws of the Medes and the Persians. Once it was put into place, it could not be changed. Even the king could not change a law once it had been put into place.
[1:40] So then they had to come up with something to do. So what do they do? He leaves it in Mordecai and Esther's hands. And they come up with, we can't change the law.
[1:50] But we can change the way that it is handled. And so permission is given throughout the entire empire. 127 provinces, remember, from India all the way to Ethiopia. That the Jews on that particular day could get together as a group to defend themselves, be armed, and ready to take on anybody who might attack them.
[2:12] So they were able to do that. Look at verse 11 of chapter 8, actually. Verse 11 of chapter 8. He says, Look, you can get together.
[2:40] You can put yourself together like an army in every city and defend yourself. God was giving them a way to protect themselves. Now, a few weeks ago, we've looked at this.
[2:56] You know, the Jews were in a very dark time. Remember when we first had the law come out? There was weeping and wailing and fasting and praying and all these different things. Now, it's a time of celebration.
[3:09] They can defend themselves. Look at chapter 9, verse 3 and 4. And all of the rulers of the provinces and the lieutenants and the deputies and the officers of the king helped the Jews because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
[3:23] For Mordecai was great in the king's house. And his fame went throughout all the provinces. For this man, Mordecai, waxed greater and greater. They said, We're going to help them.
[3:35] We want to get in good with Mordecai. He's second in command now. Here's King Ahasuerus and then Mordecai. We want to get in his good graces. We want to help. So we're going to help the Jews in the things that they do.
[3:47] And because of Esther pleading her case before the king, we're going to see three great results. Number one, the protection of the Jews. The protection of the Jews.
[3:58] Let's have a word of prayer before we begin. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this time this morning. Lord, as we look at this passage, as we look at what you did, as we look at how you took care of your people, as we look at how they celebrated afterwards, Lord, I just thank you that we can remember and we can have this remembrance of how you have worked in people's lives in the past.
[4:21] Lord, I pray that you would just help us this morning to learn about your help, your protection, your great grace toward us.
[4:37] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The protection of the Jews. Mordecai's new doctrine said, gather together, defend yourself, don't worry about it. And it wasn't just the fact that they had this order now that they could do this.
[4:52] They had Mordecai and Esther on their side. They also had the king's favor on their side. The king's favor was on their side. And it came about more, you know, partly because of Esther and everything that she had done and Mordecai.
[5:07] But he noticed something about God's people. As I mentioned these next verses, look at the end of the verse. I'll be told these verses. 9, verse 10.
[5:19] But on the spoil they laid not their hands. Verse 15. But on the prey they laid not their hands. 16. But they laid not their hands on the prey.
[5:31] Three different times. The king's looking out. He's watching. They were given permission to defend themselves. They were given permission to take any spoil, like a spoil of war. And they could have it.
[5:42] But the king's watching. He's looking at what's happening. And they did not take the spoils of war. And that impressed him. These people aren't fighting to get rich.
[5:53] These people aren't fighting to make money. These people aren't fighting for whatever they can get out of it. They're fighting to defend themselves, their countrymen, and their nation.
[6:04] There's a nobility about that. And the king saw it. He says they are doing this for the right reasons. They're doing it because they want to protect their people.
[6:16] You know, he saw that. They did that. And he said, you know what? They want to honor their God. They want to protect themselves.
[6:28] You know, we as Christians should have that same attitude. When we go out and we stand up for the Lord, are we standing up because we want to see him get the glory?
[6:40] Are we standing up because we want to see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? There's too many people out there today who, in the name of Christianity, are getting rich. They're going out and they're doing things and they're finding ways to make money off of it.
[6:53] You know, they get money, they got houses, they got cars. Like Pastor Donato, they have their own jet, you know.
[7:07] No, he does not. We, you know, they're trying to do all kinds of things in order to make money off of Christians. And the king saw that that wasn't the case with these Jews.
[7:22] They cared about safety and protection in honoring their God. Look at verse 12. And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed 500 men of Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman, which have they done in the rest of the king's...
[7:44] What? Let's try that again. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now, what is thy petition? And it shall be given thee. And what is thy request further?
[7:55] And it shall be done. Think about this for a second. Three times he asked Esther, What do you want? And I will give you anything up to half the kingdom. And when she finally told him what she wanted, she said, I want my life and the life of my people to be preserved.
[8:14] And he found out what was going on and what was supposed to happen, and he's like, Oh, no, no, no. You're going to get your request. We're going to help you take care of that. Now he asked her again, What do you want?
[8:29] And here's the queen's final request. The queen's final request, and she makes two of them. Look at verse 13 and 14. Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews, which are in Shushan, to do tomorrow also unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
[8:55] And the king commanded that it so be done. And the decree was given in Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons. Oh, why did she ask for that? That's bad.
[9:06] Why did she want the ten sons to be? Before you get ahead of yourself there, look back at verse 10. What does it say in verse 10? It says this, The ten sons of Haman, the son of Amadathah, the enemy of the Jews, slew they.
[9:22] But on the spoil they lay down their hands. Apparently, according to Weersbe, and I would agree with this, the Jews were not the aggressors. The people were attacking them, as they said they were going to on that 13th day of the 12th month.
[9:38] And apparently Haman's sons were among those attacks, and they wound up being killed as part of the attack. But Esther says, I want them to be hung from the gallows that Haman had made so that everybody sees that when you go against God and his people, there's a consequence to pay.
[9:58] And so the king agrees. He has it done. Then the other thing she asked was, let us do the same thing one more day.
[10:10] Let the Jews gather together, let them be armed, and let them defend themselves, because there's still going to be people out there. Whether it's people who maybe somebody had been slain and they wanted their family member revenged, or they were still after the Jews, whatever.
[10:23] She says, give them one more day. So two requests. Verse 15. For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the 14th day also of the month they died, and slew 300 men of Shushan.
[10:39] But on the prey they laid not their hands. 300 more came attacking them. Suppose they had all gone home and just stayed there and were in their individual neighborhoods, each one by themselves.
[10:51] No, Esther was wise in asking for them to have another day so that they could protect themselves and take care of things. What happened?
[11:02] The Jews were preserved. The Jews were preserved. The danger that was in Shushan might have been the same throughout the whole empire, we don't know, but at least in Shushan it says, verse 16, but the other Jews, other provinces that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together and stood for their lives and had rest from their enemies and slew their foes 75,000 but laid not their hands on the prey.
[11:34] They defended themselves against 75,000 people died who were trying to attack the Jews and to kill them. He said, but they still didn't take the spoils of war.
[11:45] They still didn't go after any of those things. They were just defending themselves and their people. When they were all done, it was complete.
[11:57] It was successful. They had done everything that they needed to do in order to stay alive. But the story doesn't end there. The next thing that happened was the praise of the Jews.
[12:11] The praise of the Jews. That's the second thing. God had heard their prayers. He had ministered to them. He had protected them. He had given Esther and Mordecai wisdom and how to take care of things.
[12:23] And now it is time to praise God for what he has done. And Mordecai sends out a message. Look at verse 17. On the 13th day of the month of Deir, and on the 14th day of the same, rested they and made a day of feasting and gladness.
[12:40] Getting towards the Thanksgiving part. They had a day of rest and a day of thanksgiving and gladness. How do you worship God? There's one maybe you haven't thought of.
[12:52] One of the things he said is they rested. A day of rest. They rested. To take time to just stop.
[13:05] They had a great victorious day. It was probably a very trying day or two where they had defended themselves and had been battling against people and they were probably been up over 24 hours and they were tired and they took time to rest.
[13:18] They had done what God wanted them to do. God had blessed them. God had taken care of them. And now it was time to rest. You know, when evil is taken care of, when evil is done away with, it's time for some rest and some peace.
[13:36] And that's what happened. Proverbs 11 verses 10 and 11. It said this, When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth.
[13:47] And when the wicked perish, there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted. But it's overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
[13:59] When the righteous are in control, when the righteous win, when the righteous are doing what God wants them to do, he says, look, they're going to be exalted. There's going to be rejoicing. There's going to be shouting.
[14:10] There's going to, he says, do that. Get the rest that you need. And then he's going to give them a second thing. But before we talk about that, let me talk some more about the rest.
[14:21] I almost forgot. First of all, they have, there's spiritual rest in Christ. We as Christians, we need to take time to have spiritual rest in Jesus Christ.
[14:34] In Hebrews chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, it says this, There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that entereth into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his.
[14:49] What did these people find out? They could rest because God is in control. They could rest because God had won the victory for them. They could rest because they knew they could trust God no matter what was going on.
[15:02] Christian, do you know that? We spend a lot of time worrying about things. We spend a lot of time with anxiety. We spend a lot of time with all kinds of things. Why?
[15:13] We can rest in God. A lady put up on Facebook yesterday a thing. She says, Why do I spend so much time worrying when I have a God who has never failed me?
[15:28] That's a good question. Why do we spend so much time worrying when we have a God who has never failed us? We need to trust him. You know, when we can stop and rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ, what he did for us at the cross, what he did for us by his resurrection, why do we have so much anxiety, so much worry?
[15:56] Our God is faithful to us. The second thing, there's a physical rest. Actual physical rest. You know how we have bodies. We have spirits, but we also have bodies.
[16:11] We also have bodies, and those bodies need rest from time to time. There's a passage in Scripture in Mark, chapter 6, verse 31, where Jesus says, He saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while.
[16:29] For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. You ever been so busy you don't even have time to eat? God says, take time to rest.
[16:42] Don't bypass the rest. Make sure you have that because your body needs to be restored. Your mind needs to be restored. Take time. I had a, I think it was one of my former pastors who said this.
[16:54] I don't remember who said it exactly, but I think it was one of my former pastors. He said, Sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap. I like that.
[17:07] Guess what I do on Sunday afternoons? The most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap. Recharge yourself. Get yourself back in the right frame of mind. You get too tired.
[17:18] You get too many things going on. You get too much pressure. And how do you start treating people? And you know the weird thing about it is I can come to church and I can be nice to all of you and stuff.
[17:30] Then I'm done and I'm tired and stuff and I go home and brrrr. No, I shouldn't do that. And I don't usually. But why do we take it out on the family?
[17:42] We've got this going on, that going on, this and that, but we take it out on the family. Why? Get some rest. Know what God wants you to do. And then the second thing they did, they rested, but they also had a feast.
[17:55] They had a feast that day. Mordecai had sent out to them and said, look, let's have a day of remembrance. Look at verse 20 and 21. And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king of Hazaras, both nigh and far, to establish this among them, that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adair, and the 15th day of the same yearly.
[18:27] He's setting up a remembrance. He's setting up a feast. He's setting up a holiday for them to remember what God has done and how he has taken care of them.
[18:38] You know, remember, Mordecai is now the right-hand man. He can do this. He can send out those proclamations and things. And he sent letters to all the Jews, and he says, look, I want you to remember what God has done in preserving Israel and we're going to do it by having a feast every year.
[18:58] Kind of sounds like Thanksgiving, doesn't it? We have Thanksgiving for what? To remember what God has done. We'll talk some more about that later, but it was a time of rejoicing for the Israelites, a time of them to reflect and remember what God had done.
[19:14] So it was a time for them to stop and think about how God had taken care of them. So let's put it so we have a P, the pondering of the Jews.
[19:25] The pondering of the Jews. Mordecai decided it's not going to just be one day, it's going to be two days because remember they carried over an extra day of defending themselves.
[19:36] So it's going to be two days. And so they start a holiday called Paran. And Paran is widely celebrated in the Jewish culture. On the day of Paran celebrated on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Deir, which can be either February or March depending on where it lands, they begin a celebration at the synagogue.
[20:00] And they go to the synagogue and what did they do? The first thing they do is they hear the book of Esther read twice. They read through it twice to remind them of how God has taken care of them.
[20:15] They're reminded of how God met their need. They're reminded of the danger they were in and the sorrow they were facing and how God brought joy to their life by helping them be protected.
[20:27] And you'll love this part. When they're reading through the book of Esther twice, they, every time that the name of Haman is mentioned, they have noisemakers or they stomp their feet.
[20:44] So every time Haman's name is mentioned, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, because they don't want to hear his name. They don't want that name to be heard because he is such an evil person.
[20:56] So, nope, we don't want to hear his name. So they made these noisemakers. Kind of a cool thing, isn't it, that they do? Parham is also a time, though, for giving to the needy, sending food gifts to one another, for feasting with family and friends.
[21:15] It's a time of banding together. See, all of those, again, sound like Thanksgiving, a little bit of Christmas thrown in, the giving thing. They have this time of remembering what God has done.
[21:27] And one of the great things about it, look at verse 22. As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned into them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day.
[21:44] It went from mourning and sorrow, possibly going to lose our lives, and it became a good day, that they may make days of feasting and joy, of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
[21:59] Think about the four things mentioned in this verse. There's four things mentioned in this verse that they're going to do during this day of celebration. Notice what it is. First of all, it's a day of gladness.
[22:10] A day of gladness. It went from mourning until a good day. You ever had days like that? You wake up in the morning, you don't know why, you just woke up, but you're, but then something happens during the day and you're like, oh, wow, this turned out to be a really good day.
[22:28] I was kind of, hmm, this morning, but it's turned out good. That's what happened that day for them. What was supposed to be a day that you are all going to die was a day of victory. And he went from mourning to a good day.
[22:42] A day of feasting, the second thing, a day of feasting. It says that they should make them days of feasting and joy, says there in verse 22. Make them days of feasting and joy.
[22:53] Remembering. Gifts. It says, and of sending portions one to another. It was a day of giving. to one another. And a day of benevolence and gifts to the poor.
[23:06] It sounds like a pretty good day, doesn't it? It sounds like a great day. They're having fellowship. They're having joy and gladness. They're feasting together. They're giving to one another.
[23:17] They're giving to those others. It's just, wow, what a day that they're having. Harem was a great day of celebration. celebration. But, it also had a purpose.
[23:32] It was a purposeful day. A purposeful day. Look at verse 21 again. To establish that among them they should keep the 14th day of the mother there and the 15th day of the same yearly.
[23:47] Mordecai said, I want you to do this every year. every year. Why would we do it every year? Well, you know from my experience.
[23:59] There are certain important days in history, right? And they go into the history books and there they are in the history book when we pick up a history book and read it when we're in school no other time.
[24:10] You know, we find, oh, they did this on that day and that happened on that day. Oh, that's kind of cool. Then, we get older and they're gone. Unless there's a holiday. 4th of July.
[24:24] Veterans Day. You know, we have certain days that we remember things. Christmas, Easter. Mordecai said, I want you to remember these days.
[24:36] I want you to remember what happened. I want you to remember what God did. It was a day for them to remember. What are they going to remember? Well, first of all, they're going to remember the trial.
[24:52] Remember the trial. Remember what happened on this day. Remember what God saved us from. Remember what we were going to face. The trial brought them together.
[25:07] The trial united them. The trial was something that they eventually, they prayed about, they fasted over, and eventually celebrated. The day was something that could have meant the end of them as a race.
[25:23] But God didn't allow that to happen. You know, some of you go through dark times. Some of you who have gone through cancer, you probably remember the day that the doctor said, you're cancer free.
[25:40] You probably remember that day. There's certain days that we remember God has given to us. Peter wrote about this. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 4 through 8, it says this, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you.
[26:01] First of all, he says, look, you have an inheritance. Remember that. You have something. Jesus went through things for you. You're going through things for Jesus.
[26:12] But you have an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and is waiting in heaven for you. Then in verse 5, he says, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[26:28] You're kept by the power of God. Verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness to manifold temptations that the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found under the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
[26:53] whom having not seen ye love in whom though ye now see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
[27:06] He says, you're going through things, you're facing things, but Jesus is there with you and you're going to go through these things and you're going to remember not the thing so much as the joy that comes with it.
[27:20] Remembering the trial and you know what happens? When you remember the trial when you remember the thing that you have gone through you also remember secondly you remember the deliverance you remember that God got you through it you remember that he took care of you you remember that he watched over you and that's what the feast of parham is it's a theme of remembering God's intervention God's protection God's perseverance God taking care of them in the midst of the things they had going on and God meeting the need it's also time to remember the safety the safety you know these Jews they had to fight in order to stay alive they had to fight in order to persevere they had to fight but the security and the safety that God gave them through the way he did it helped them to remember that he's always there Hebrews chapter 6 verse 17 through 19 we are in
[28:20] God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which there is impossible for God to lie catch that it's impossible for God to lie he gave them a promise he was going to keep it we might have strong consolation who have fled from refuge to lay hold of the hope that is set before us which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast which entereth within the veil I wish that song was in our hymn book we have an anchor that keeps the soul sure and steadfast in that song we have an anchor we have an anchor whatever you're facing in life you have an anchor whatever is going on you have an anchor and you know what the main anchor that we have came through the blood of Jesus
[29:21] Christ Romans chapter 5 verses 8 and 9 but God committed his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him we are saved for all eternity through Jesus Christ more important that we don't face any of the wrath is coming because of Jesus Christ and what he did by the shedding of his blood Romans 6 23 for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord says look Jesus Christ came he shed his blood he went to that cross he rose again why so that you can have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord remember the blessings remember the blessings look at verse 27 in Esther said the Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their seed and upon all that should join themselves unto them so that it should not fail that they would not keep those two days according to their writings and according to their appointed time every year they did not fail they remembered the blessings that God had given to them they remembered how he had taken care of them why do we remember
[30:36] Thanksgiving! Day? you ever stop and think about why do we have Thanksgiving Day? someone has said ingratitude is contagious and sneaks into our conversations so easily when we are ungrateful when we don't thank God for what he has done we just tend to rely on ourselves look at our country when we forget what God has done for us we start relying on ourselves what happens we're going downhill going downhill quickly because we don't remember the very first proclamation of Thanksgiving Day was issued by President George Washington 1789 October 3rd 1789 and it was to be carried out on November 26th in his part of the proclamation whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God stop right there for a second it is a duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of God we're not doing that anymore we've lost that he goes on acknowledge the providence of
[31:50] God to obey his will to be grateful for his benefits and humbly to implore his protection and favor not things we do very often anymore is it I got another one coming for you he goes on he says and whereas both houses of congress have by their joint committee requested me quote to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and single favors of almighty God a public day of thanksgiving and prayer we have thanksgiving we eat a lot of turkey and other stuff we watch a lot of football games we have a lot of time with family how much time do we spend in prayer on thanksgiving as I read that that really hit me we do all these things for thanksgiving but how much time do we spend in prayer and doing exactly what he said acknowledging the providence of God obeying his will grateful for his benefits humbly imploring his protection and favor and we look at our country and go why is our country such a problem why are we having so many difficulties but it didn't become an annual holiday then it took a lady by the name of
[33:27] Sarah Hale Sarah Hale was a magazine editor and she for 17 years put out the idea we need to have a day of thanksgiving she saw the direction her country was heading in the 1840s and she said we need something that's going to unite us Dana and so for 17 years in her magazine she would promote this having a day of thanksgiving finally Abraham Lincoln did it 1863 during the civil war he proclaimed it a national holiday see she saw something that the rest of us miss a lot of times intentionally having a day of thanksgiving can foster unity what if we actually understood thanksgiving again for what it actually is how would that do in unifying our country bringing it back to where it needs to be okay so let's wrap this up the conclusion
[34:36] I got two points to my conclusion that's not usually what I do but I got two points for my conclusion so alright the Jews have gone from mourning to celebration they're acknowledging what God has done and we need to remember God's goodness in two areas one remember your salvation remember we take our salvation for granted so often are you saved yep you know you're saved yep how do you know you're saved and that's kind of the answer you get sometimes when I'm dealing with people and they say I want to be baptized I say why do you want to be baptized how did you come to know Jesus as your savior you know he says remember your salvation are you truly saved do you know Jesus Christ as your savior have you asked him to come into your life have you asked him to be a part he said when we ask him to come into our life it's one of the greatest things you will never forget it 2nd
[35:49] Corinthians 9 15 thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift when you are saved and you truly understand the salvation that God has given to you you realize you have an unspeakable gift God has given you something so precious he's given you himself he's given you himself for now and for eternity wow God has done something special for us Colossians 3 15 and 16 and let the peace of God rule in your hearts that only happens when you invite him in to which also you are called in one body and be ye thankful how are you going to be thankful what are you going to do to show thankfulness let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord do we do that are we appreciative of the salvation that God has given to us do we rejoice in it do we worship in it do we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs do we do are you thankful for the salvation that God has given to you remember that on Thursday once you have your thanksgiving remember what God has done for you but you know a good thing remember tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday not just on thanksgiving day remember every day what God has done you and the second thing remember your blessings remember your blessings psalm 103 verse 2 through 5 and I'm wrapping it up bless the
[37:31] Lord oh my soul bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits don't forget what God has done for you but what has God done for me verse 3 who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfieth thy mouth with good things that thy youth is renewed like the eagles he says be thankful for God don't forget his benefits he's done all of these things for you do you remember as you go into thanksgiving this week do you remember what he has done now there's a lot of people here today there's probably some things troubling them probably some things going in your life you wish weren't probably some times of discouragement taking place and stuff can I give you some advice for this just like
[38:34] Mordecai did for the Jews remember your God remember your God and what he has done for you celebrate what he has done for you celebrate by remembering who he is and what he has done remember as we've said all throughout this series so far remember that whatever you're facing God's got this God's got it do you remember all that he has done for you it doesn't matter what you're facing what's going on in your life I've told you before about Pastor Williamson the older Pastor Williamson he'd come in my office he'd sit down and he would talk to me and he would tell me things he's been working on and stuff and scriptures he's been reading and sermons he's been developing and all these things but before he left almost every time he'd say
[39:38] I have Jesus for this that was his little catchphrase doesn't matter what he was facing what was going on he was an older gentleman had physical problems I have Jesus for this you know what we have Jesus no matter what's going on no matter what you're facing be thankful I know he's saying this earlier this month but we're going to do it again today my hope is Jesus my hope is Jesus let's stand