[0:00] it is indeed a privilege to have this opportunity to share the infallible holy word of god with you this morning i always tell people that they should excuse my african accent but i am sure the holy spirit will help you understand what the lord want to communicate to us this morning the passage has been read and i'm thankful for the reader was fluent and i'm sure you understood it clearly as i was reading through this part of esther i come up with the heading or my sermon topic embracing the purpose of god in you embracing the purpose of god in you and the verse 14 according to me is a text verse or key verse let me also read it to us for if you keep silent at a time at this time relief and deliverance will rise for the jews from another place but you and your father's family for the house will perish and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for a time such as this now a i looked at a few points that i want to focus on from this passage to me it is send us on trusting god and if someone trusts god the person live faithfully if a person trusts god look up to god even in times that are distrustful with the hope that god will make it if someone trusts god the person fulfills the purpose of god in and through him or her now i have got what i call the big idea we tend to summarize everything in case you may miss what i want to say but this summary will be enough for you this is what that african guy was trying and failing to say god has a purpose for you and for all of us in his mission we need to embrace it with joy god has a purpose for for us in his mission so you and i need to embrace that purpose with joy everything that we are doing is to cooperate with god in his mission with the peoples of this world that they may all come to know him as the only god worth of worship and praise now if you look at the book of esther it does not mention the triune god in any way god father son and holy spirit you don't find it in any part of esther but the deliverance the hand of god is clearly seen and for the jews after this deliverance they had a feast they were celebrating in susa which is called the parim in remembrance of the remembrance of the deliverance that god had done to them so if we look a chapter
[4:06] before that's chapter three and beyond we find that esther after the the queen disobeyed the king the king was displaced and esther finally landed in the king king's palace as the new queen so all those we may ask ourselves how can a foreign jew become the king in the queen in a foreign land it's all in god's providence and design that she ended up being there and god has a purpose which these people the jews were not aware of but we are aware because everything is now put together for us to see but for them they didn't know otherwise they even asking why is esther ended up in the in the kingdom of this foreign land uh in chapter three we are told that her man has been elevated above all the the king's nobles and the king ordered that her man should be respected people should kneel before him and honor him this was happening to everyone in susa including the royal um um guys at the gate when her man was passing through they would kneel down in honor of him but there was one one guy the jewish guy modekai could not do that his fellows talked to him want to encourage him to respect her man the highest guy in susa but her man could not instead he told them that he was a jew what was it important that he told them of his identity being a jew was separate to to to him and to to modekai because a jew was were the people of god who only worship god and not any other of god and to modekai kneeling for her man and owner him was idolatry which was forbidden and is still forbidden for us as the church of god so he could not do that and was not even aware of the consequences but could not go outside the guidance and the will of god the word we can see also in babylon that there are some boys also from jude from judah daniel and his three friends they faced almost the same scenario in the early days of exile they were supposed they were cohesed to worship the king in daniel's case and for his friends the statue that the king has put in place but they couldn't even if they were foreigners in the foreign land they kept their identity otherwise it is an encouragement for us as christians who are foreigners in this land we are sojourners on this world that we should keep our identity as christian no matter the challenges that might surround us no matter what the world will say let us keep our identity even if it comes with a challenge some of which is very painful but if we can listen to what the three friends of daniel says they said god is able to save but even if you may choose not to save them they were not going to kneel before an idol the jews who were faithful to god knew that idolatry was against god and they didn't want to
[8:16] sin against god in the same scenario even in our in our time today there are some laws that are against the will of god how are we going to respond to them as christians are we giving in because we are citizens of the land are we going to live in the land are we going by the floor because everyone else is doing it more the guy alone could not kneel before haman and it had the consequences when haman saw that well haman was told that look this jewish guy is not respecting you as the king ordered that you should and he was very very upset and he wanted to do away with modekai and the extent of his anger and hatred also spelled off to the other jewish people he wanted to destroy the entire jewish people in the 127 provinces of susa so as the highest noble of the king it was easy for him to go and convince the king that the jewish people that the jewish people dead should be told should be said that they should be destroyed completely from susa and the king agreed and gave me him a signet ring to make that decree or a law which was irrevocable in persia so in other ways the jews were meant to be destroyed completely and he offered to give 10 000 talents to the treasury i tried to find out how much could it be in pounds and it is around the three million pounds for the destruction of the jewish people we can imagine the hatred that he had this came to note modekai and he saw the decree that they were as good as dead because the deity was set for them to be destroyed modekai thought of a that esther could help but surprisingly enough modekai did not go to esther straight he tore his clothes and humbled himself before the lord putting sick clothes wailing loudly and he was in ashes the same thing applies to all the other jews who saw this decree they did the same looked up to god they trusted god even if the irrevocable decree has been put but god has the power sorry to reverse it so they did looked at god after looking at god and the medicare was in the same clothes the clothes esther's eunuch saw him and he reported to esther it did not go down well with esther why did my cousin in the same clothes and ashes so she thought of an idea of doing away and bringing modekai new clothes but that was not the answer to modekai instead modekai did to tell them that he could not take the clothes then he attack attack attack was sent to go and find out the reason why modekai was in say clothes and modekai told attack everything and he even gave a cup of the decree to make sure that esther could see that they were really in danger they are about to be killed instead instead they were as good as dead as dead because they're dead they were only waiting for the dead for them to be destroyed so they were just good
[12:23] as dead people but when esther had this she had also a dilemma that no one could go to the inner court without invitation doing so would result in someone being killed unless the king extends his he saved them that someone is is said to leave otherwise going to the king without invitation was calling for one's death also so esther sent back to the king without a doubt to the answer but yeah even if she felt sorry and had seen the degree but it is very difficult for her to go to the king fearing for her own life but modekai did not back off he kept on pressurizing esther to go and stand in between in the gap for the the jews to be spared of death if we look to the key verse that i read verse 14 there are two important things that modekai got clearly that no nothing can stand in the plan of god with his people so he's telling esther that if esther could not intervene god's plan to save the jews will come to pass in the other way which he might not even know so but he was sure that god will save his people but how he was not clear about it and he goes on to say and to talk about god's providence that esther's being in the palace was in god's providence at a time as they were facing now god knew the end from the beginning so he had prepared esther to be an object that he would use to save the jews god has done that before i just want to read from exodus 3 verses 7 and 8a when god was talking to moses he said then the lord said i have surely been i i have sure the lord said i have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in egypt and they have heard their cry because of their taskmasters i know they are suffering and i have come down to deliver them out of the hand of egyptians now the lord is talking to moses he said he has come down and he's going to deliver them but who is going to deliver the israelite that the people see it is moses so god works through people in his providence whom are his instruments to perform his purpose with the people this was the same thing that mordecai was telling esther that you are in the office of the queen for a time as this so if you don't go that being disobedient to god because god had prepared you for a time as this we are trapped in death we are about to be killed but you are the only person who can come to our rescue as you can reach the king as the queen but unfortunately esther is saying 30 days has passed before she was invited into the palace so it was again a threat but they could not back off i looked again in some parts of scripture and see the providence of god which is
[16:24] timely like it is now with esther if we look at joseph joseph was sold by his brothers and it took quite some time for him to go into the high post in egypt but he only got there at the appropriate time to save the people also david his father sent him at the appropriate time to go and fight for the israelites so god is the way of doing things is the way of doing things is timely and he uses the people at the appropriate time if we look at genesis 50 verse 20 david is telling his brothers that when they were selling him they used it for evil but usually god used the same thing they used for evil for good that he would save the people from a hunger as the same as also with david he had gone to the helpless uh israelites including saul the king and his brothers but god uses david to go and help the useless and helpless people of god all this was pointing towards our lord jesus christ who came to save the trapped sinner who was helpless to help himself or the other one so jesus came to help us from death that is awaiting us because of sin we were all trapped in sin but jesus came and showed and made a way for us back to the father because being away from the father is equal to death if you can look at jim look 15 the parable of the prodigal son the father said let us make merry for this my son was lost and is found he was dead and is alive so being away from the father is equally dead so jesus came to make way for us back to the father and he demonstrated it to us through that love on the cross when he was crucified and he did his part and what did he say as the father sent me i also sent you as i said earlier on that god calls the people and prepared them for a particular time to intervene and save the trapped people who are trapped in sin right jesus did it and he gave us the responsibility from the great commission it is not the pastor's role it's every christian's role to participate in the church in the church today what is happening today might not have happened because we were not there you and me what is happening with the church today is happening because you and me are there whom god has prepared to stand in the gap for the church what is happening in your family with regard to christianity was not today but is happening today because you are there in your family what is happening in your neighborhood is happening because you are there for god what is happening in scotland is happening because you are there to stand for god of course there might be consequences but we should always stand in the gap god wants you and me to fulfill the purpose yes with the people normally people would say we don't have resources to reach out we don't have the capacity to go and share the gospel but today you can reach the world from where you are there are people from different parts of the world next to you
[20:29] they are different from different parts of the world at your workplace we cross paths from with the people from different parts of the world who do not have christ but god's purpose is having all peoples come to worship him and to realize him as the god worth of praise i was checking through the joshua project on the number of unreached he said there are totally 17 446 people groups in the world of which 3 000 are unreached 3 000 is equal to 290 million people that are unreached by by by unreached they mean the people that are unengaged these are engaged and unreached then the joshua project goes on to define the unreached also as less than 2 percent of evangelical christians is also regarded as unreached in this amount to more than a billion people so we have a responsibility brothers and sisters to share the gospel with the people in the different ways that god lies on our hearts we are all properly positioned god has already done the groundwork in our lives and we have a responsibility to take other people to the same savior through the proclamation of his word and our lives as well the way we live should always reflect christ how much of christ do i show to the people i i talk to how much of christ do i reflect in my family i was talking to the students one day and to say if we want to go and evangelize who are comfortable that we go to the neighbor to their neighborhood and share the gospel with they loved and they say i know the answer the people back there your life and their life is just the same how can you go and evangelize somebody who sees you doing the other side of the story than what you say you are i was looking at a quotation which is presumed to be from saint francis of assist that we must always proclaim the gospel and if possible use the words we must always proclaim the gospel of christ and if possible use the words meaning to say our life speaks more than what we can do with our mouths one day in korea i met somebody in a coffee shop and i wanted to share the gospel with then she said to me what christianity are you telling me our neighbors are christians she was buddhist she said they are life in our life there's no difference so what is i telling me what difference is that christ going to do in my life which i'm not seeing in my neighbors so we might be obstacles to taking peoples back to god we are having challenges in doing so some of which can be even the constitution of the land some of which could be material things which might not be having some of which it might be to keep friendship because if you tell the truth to a friend the friend may not receive you well so it comes with challenges and consequences but how are we going to deal with it are we going to respond to the surrounding are we going to embrace what is within us and not and forget to follow our our lord and his desire whom we are participating with in his mission to making the peoples of the world know him
[24:43] just think for a moment the opportunities that the lord has for you to share his truth the world if his word is the truth as it is you and i have got a responsibility to do where we are at the moment and god has given us the capacity to be his instruments to achieve that normally we look at other people and say this is the work of the elders the elders can do this and look at this story this is esther a lady who is saving the lives of the entire jewish people the example i gave with um david his brother is when we undermining why did with the woman with the woman with the woman to do live there's a little sheep of our father they wanted him to go back but he didn't back off because he wanted to fulfill his mission the man to do it joseph the same we could tell that the the route that david took until he gets the top position in egypt but he followed it faithfully and made it the life if for david when he wanted to even um made king the father did not invite him when samuel wanted to annoy the king because that young boy what can he do so we may also take that for ourselves who am i in this congregation i am just a lady i am just a student i am just a foreigner i am just i don't have any office in the church but you have christ who wants who has come down on you to use you to get to the people that you want to get to you may we consider as we are sitting there what god is saying to you as an individual where god wants you to make a difference which gap god wants you to stand in to connect him with these people to connect him with the people who are still in the dark to connect him with the people who are trapped in sin it is not about you or me it's all about him i was telling the people in the general assembly that when i was made principal at dumissani in the situation that i was surrounding there i said this is too big a task for me but the sermon that was preached by david marideth turned my perspective he preached from joshua and as i was with moses my servant so i will be with with you so the same thing with you brothers and sisters there is a need for you to take a step and reach to those people who need christ christ some people do not even know christ some people say they are christians in court but they are not evangelic evangelical we need to get to those people with the true gospel of god so that together we become evangelical the people who people through whom people the world will see christ christ right i'm leaving you with this challenge that today try to identify the purpose of god in you and you trust god with that purpose and take the first step
[28:45] even if you may have challenges esther said if i perish i perish she had given it to herself to die for the purpose of the jews god's people you and i are god's people his instrument to reach out to the unreached the truth his instrument to rescue those who are trapped in sin so that the world will be filled with the knowledge of god amen let me pray father god thank you for reminding us