Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Thinking and Saying What’s Right—Regardless │ Msg 512 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k)

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Thinking and Saying What’s Right—Regardless │ Msg 512 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k) · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: For Esther's people in Persia, life had turned bleak overnight
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: because of a wicked plan born in the antisemitic mind
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of a man named Hayman. Every Jew in the nation
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: was suddenly living on borrowed time. Think of it, before
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the year was out, their epitax would be chiseled in stone.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: What a frightening thought. The capital city of Susa was
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: thrown into a state of confusion and panic. Can this
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: really be true? Can there be anyone who could change
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the plan, or delay it, or completely abolish it? The
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Jews were absolutely devastated. Today we pick up the account
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: in the Book of Esther, chapter four. I'll be reading
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: this passage from the New American Standard Bible. Verse one begins,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: when Mordecat learned all that had been done, he tore
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: He went as far as the King's gate, for no
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: one was to enter the King's gate clothed in sackcloth.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: In each and every province where the command and decree
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: with fasting, weeping and wailing, and many lay on sackcloth
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  Speaker 1: and ashes. Then Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish, and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Then Esther summoned Haytak from the king's eunuchs, whom the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: it was so. Haytak went out to Mordecai to the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: city square in front of the king's gate. Mordecai told
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: him all that had happened to him, and the exact
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: amount of money that Haymon had promised to pay to
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. He
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: also gave him a copy of the text of the
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  Speaker 1: edict which had been issued in Sousa for their destruction,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: that he might show Esther and inform her, and to
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: order her to go into the king to implore his
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: favor and to plead with him for her people no
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Verse thirteen. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Do not imagine that you, in the King's palace can
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  Speaker 1: escape any more than all the Jews. For if you
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: for the Jews from another place, and you and your
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  Speaker 1: father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: not attained royalty for such a time as this. Then
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  Speaker 1: Esther told them to reply to Mordechai. Go assemble all
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  Speaker 1: the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me.
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  Speaker 1: Do not eat or drink for three days night or day.
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  Speaker 1: I and my maidens also will fast in the same way,
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  Speaker 1: and thus I will go in to the king, which
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  Speaker 1: is not according to the law. And if I perish,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I perish. So Mordechai went away and did just as
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Esther had commanded.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: In an overpopulated world, how easy it is to underestimate
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: the significance of one I mean, let's face it, there
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  Speaker 2: are so many people doing so many things that are
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  Speaker 2: so important, and they are so gifted.
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  Speaker 3: Who needs me? What can I, as a single.
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  Speaker 2: Individual, contribute to the great, vast, overwhelming needs of our world.
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  Speaker 2: I like the way Edward Everett Hale put it I
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  Speaker 2: am only one, but still I am one. I cannot
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  Speaker 2: do everything, but still I can do something. And because
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  Speaker 2: I cannot do everything, I will not.
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  Speaker 3: Refuse to do the something that I can do. But
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  Speaker 3: a great statement in a world.
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  Speaker 2: Like ours, there is only one you, Only one person
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  Speaker 2: with your exact heritage, precise series of events in the
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  Speaker 2: pilgrimage and sufferings of life that have brought you to
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  Speaker 2: this hour. Only one with your personal convictions, your makeup,
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  Speaker 2: your skills, your appearance, your touch, your voice, your style,
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  Speaker 2: your mark.
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  Speaker 4: Only one.
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  Speaker 2: History and biblical truth are full of accounts of individuals
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  Speaker 2: who have made a difference. Think of the military battles
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  Speaker 2: that were one because of one person. Think of the
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  Speaker 2: artists and the contribution of their lives, whether Michelangelo or
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: da Vinci, or Brahms or betave In. Think of the
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  Speaker 2: scientific geniuses, the technological experts that have made a contribution
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  Speaker 2: that had changed the course of history. Think of the preachers,
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  Speaker 2: the clergyman, the ministers down through time that stood alone
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  Speaker 2: in the gap and made a difference. You say, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: but wait a minute, Wait a minute. Those are all
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  Speaker 2: incredible people. Those are sort of genius types.
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  Speaker 3: Granted, some are some were when I read God's word.
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  Speaker 2: I don't find a series of stories about great crusades
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  Speaker 2: and citywide revivals and mass meetings and God's attention upon
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  Speaker 2: an entire country or an entire community. I find one
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  Speaker 2: person here who made a difference and set the pays,
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  Speaker 2: or cut a swath, or stood.
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  Speaker 3: In the gap and made the way.
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  Speaker 2: It's an account from Genesis to Revelation of how God's
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  Speaker 2: hand was on one man or one woman in an era,
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  Speaker 2: and as a result history was made. Listen to some
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  Speaker 2: verses that declare this for the eyes of the Lord
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  Speaker 2: moved to and fro throughout the earth, that he may
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  Speaker 2: strongly support those whose heart singular is completely his Second Chronicle,
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  Speaker 2: sixteen nine. Now the Lord saw, and it was displeasing
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  Speaker 2: in his sight that there was no justice. And he
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  Speaker 2: saw that there was no man, and was astonished that
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  Speaker 2: there was no one to intercede Isaiah fifty nine, fifteen
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  Speaker 2: and sixteen Rome to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 2: Had look now and take note and see in her
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  Speaker 2: open squares. If you can find a man, if there
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  Speaker 2: is one who does justice, who seeks the truth, then
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  Speaker 2: I will pardon her. Jeremiah five to one, and I
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  Speaker 2: search for a man among them who should build up
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  Speaker 2: the wall and stand in the gap before me for
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  Speaker 2: the land, that I should not destroy it. But I
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: found no one Ezekiel twenty two thirty one. More, they
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  Speaker 2: forgot God, their savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
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  Speaker 2: awesome things by the Red Sea. Therefore he said that
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  Speaker 2: he would destroy them, had not Moses, his chosen one,
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  Speaker 2: stood in the breach before him to turn away his
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  Speaker 2: wrath from destroying them. Only one, only one missionary gets
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: into an area, and a tribe is reached. Only one
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  Speaker 2: statesman stands alone, and a country is saved. Only one strong,
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  Speaker 2: willed and determined citizen says, I stand against this evil.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: And a community changes its direction, and a city follow suit.
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  Speaker 2: All of this is a perfect introduction for the fourth
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  Speaker 2: chapter of the Book of Ester, which we are studying.
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  Speaker 2: Unusual book because it never once mentions the name.
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  Speaker 3: Of God per se.
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  Speaker 2: He's woven through the tapestry of all the chapters, admittedly,
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  Speaker 2: but he has never once declared. He is working through
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  Speaker 2: the lives of individuals, but his name is never once
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  Speaker 2: mentioned specifically in all the Book of Ester. Remember the
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  Speaker 2: background to where we are today, the Jews have been
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  Speaker 2: threatened with extermination. Wicked Hayman has influenced the king, King
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  Speaker 2: of Hajuaris, the King of Persia, and he has said
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: to the King, because of this plan I have set up,
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  Speaker 2: it is possible for me to pour this money into
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  Speaker 2: your treasuries and for us to rid the land of
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  Speaker 2: these people who will not bow down and worship you
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  Speaker 2: as the king. Agree with me, and we will set
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  Speaker 2: a date. Sure enough, Hasuaras gave him the okay, and
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  Speaker 2: plans were underway. Look at verse thirteen of chapter three,
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  Speaker 2: and you'll see it. In one verse, letters were sent
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  Speaker 2: by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill,
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  Speaker 2: and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old,
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  Speaker 2: women and children in one day, the thirteenth day of
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to
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  Speaker 2: seize their possessions as plunder.
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  Speaker 3: That's the plan.
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  Speaker 2: It has the makings of the worst kind of holocaust.
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  Speaker 2: The Jewjews will no longer be in our land. We'll
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: be rid of these people. In case you wonder what
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  Speaker 2: impact it had on the community, look at the last
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  Speaker 2: word in the third chapter Confusion. While Haemon and a
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  Speaker 2: hazu era sat over their drinks at the table in
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  Speaker 2: the palace. The Jews wandered in bewilderment and disillusionment, wondering
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  Speaker 2: how how can we continue? How can we exist? You
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  Speaker 2: talk about time for one person, but who could do it?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this is in the days of the laws
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  Speaker 2: of the Means and the Persians, and when an edict
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  Speaker 2: was set forth, it was final.
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  Speaker 3: Nobody changed.
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  Speaker 2: The plant.
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  Speaker 3: Certainly knows you.
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  Speaker 2: What a day for a heroic patriot to step forward,
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  Speaker 2: And her name is Esther. Follow the story as we
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  Speaker 2: find the response of the people. Beginning at verse one
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  Speaker 2: of chapter four, they are lost in mourning and weeping.
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  Speaker 2: When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore
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  Speaker 2: his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out
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  Speaker 2: into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.
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  Speaker 2: We read of sackcloth and ashes, but it seldom explained
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  Speaker 2: to us. It was common in those days to wear
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  Speaker 2: loose fitting, dark colored garments made of goat's hair, and
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  Speaker 2: they hung on you like a large gunny sack. When
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  Speaker 2: in bankruptcy, or in mortal loss, or living with a
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  Speaker 2: dread disease, or having buried a family or a mate,
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  Speaker 2: or a child, or having gone through some terrible disaster
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  Speaker 2: in one's home or in one's city. The people would
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  Speaker 2: commonly wear these dark, coarse clothes, and they would take
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  Speaker 2: ashes and get fists fulls of them, and would throw
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  Speaker 2: them on themselves, so that they would be covered with.
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  Speaker 3: Them, and a peer is unclean.
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  Speaker 2: Or they would even sit in the midst of a
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  Speaker 2: cold ash heap and throw the ashes on themselves as
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  Speaker 2: an expression of their grief. In our land, we do
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  Speaker 2: not express our sorrow in mourning. We hold it in.
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  Speaker 2: Even when a president is assassinated. There is a dark
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  Speaker 2: veil that hangs over the face of the first lady,
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  Speaker 2: now a widow, and we don't even see her tears,
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  Speaker 2: and people speak graciously and gratefully of her strength in
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  Speaker 2: time of morning. Not so in the East. You and
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  Speaker 2: I have seen many pictures, often on television, of great
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  Speaker 2: mobs as they push a casket through the crowd, and
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  Speaker 2: they scream and they cry out, and they speak verses
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  Speaker 2: from their sacred word, and they claw at the casket.
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  Speaker 3: And they wail and they mourn. That's what is here.
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  Speaker 2: This is in Persia Mordecai holds nothing back, and in
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  Speaker 2: sackcloth and ashes. He stumbles toward the gate of the palace,
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  Speaker 2: but he isn't allowed in because he's considered unclean. Verse two.
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  Speaker 2: He went as far as the king's gate, for no
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  Speaker 2: one was to enter the King's gate clothed in sackcloth.
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  Speaker 2: One wonders if he has in mind the hope getting
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  Speaker 2: the attention of the Queen, For it's doubtful she knew much,
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  Speaker 2: if anything, of this edict. She lives in the secluded environment,
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  Speaker 2: the indulgence of that lovely palace. She doesn't concern herself
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  Speaker 2: with the people of the streets. He thought, if only
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  Speaker 2: I could get her attention. It isn't just in Sousa,
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  Speaker 2: the capital, in each and every province where the command
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  Speaker 2: and decree of the king came.
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  Speaker 3: There was great.
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  Speaker 2: Mourning among the Jews, and fasting and weeping and wailing,
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  Speaker 2: and many lay on cyclaw and ashes. It's a picture
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  Speaker 2: of incredible mourning and loss and sorrow. Have you noticed,
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  Speaker 2: by the way how suffering brings people together? Have you watched,
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  Speaker 2: as I have, with delight to see how the people
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: of South Carolina have responded to the storm. One man
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: set on televisions. He was responding to the loss of
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: his home. He said, well, at least one thing. It's
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: got me really in touch with my neighbors. I've met
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  Speaker 2: everybody on this block. I've met everybody within a few
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  Speaker 2: miles of here. It pushes us out.
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  Speaker 3: Of our homes.
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  Speaker 2: It forces us to grab hands and shoulders with one another,
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  Speaker 2: and to pull together. Suffering never ruined a nation. Affluence does,
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  Speaker 2: but not suffering, not hardship. It pushes everybody to the
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  Speaker 2: same level, with the same goal of survival. And so
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: these Jews weep and wail and fast together. Esther's maidens
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  Speaker 2: and her eunuchs came and told her, I'm sure they
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: mentioned the presence of Mordecai at the palace gates. The
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  Speaker 2: queen writhed in great anguish. Remember this is her home,
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  Speaker 2: these are her roots.
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  Speaker 3: She wonders, whose day died, what's been lost? Why the sorrow?
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  Speaker 2: She can't speak to Mordecai directly, so she sent garments
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  Speaker 2: to clothe Mordecai, that he might remove his sackcloth from him.
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  Speaker 2: She hopes that perhaps in the change of clothing he
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  Speaker 2: would be allowed entrance and she could dialogue with him
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  Speaker 2: about what had happened. He refused them, he would not
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  Speaker 2: accept him. Then Esther summoned Haythak from the King's eunuchs,
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure one of the runners, one of her trusted
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: assistants whom the king had appointed to attend her, and
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  Speaker 2: ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this
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  Speaker 2: was and why it was. She doesn't know, She has
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  Speaker 2: no idea. So Haydek went out to Mordecai to the
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  Speaker 2: city square in front of the King's gates, and Mordecai
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  Speaker 2: much carefully told him all that had happened to him
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  Speaker 2: and the exact amount of money that Hayman had promised
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: to pay to the King's treasuries for the destruction of
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: the Jews, first time she ever heard this. He also
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: gave a copy of the text of the edict which
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: might show Esther and inform her. I am impressed with
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: the accuracy with which Mordecai carries out his job.
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  Speaker 3: He informs her of.
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  Speaker 2: All that had happened, He specifies the exact amount of
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: money in the deal, and he even sends along a
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: text of the edict. He says, have her read this.
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  Speaker 2: This is with the King's signet, from the King's ring.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: This is exactly what he has said. Why do I
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: make such a point of this because we live in
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: a day of hearsay? How few there are who pass
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: along information that is exact and precise and reliable. Do
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: you when you were asked your response to a certain
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: issue that has to do with information that could hurt
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: or hinder another?
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  Speaker 3: Are you very careful with what you say?
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  Speaker 2: Do you have the facts? Do you present texts?
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  Speaker 3: Do you prove.
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  Speaker 2: The information to be exactly right? I hope so. Time
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: couldn't allow me to name the people who have been
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: hurt like rumor and innuendo and exaggeration and hearsay. Maybe
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: you as well. I forgive this personal illustration, but it
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: happens to me a lot. I had a fellow writing
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: this last week and he said, tell me when you
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: almost committed suicide. I heard this past week that when
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: you spoke to name the group that you had mentioned
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: that you had almost taken your life.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: I thought back, and when was that?
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: I have never almost taken my life. I remembered speaking
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: in a group and I spoke of some strains and
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: difficulties in ministry. And I'm sure the person who heard
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: that read into that a little more than I ever
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: even implied. And it makes a lot better story if
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Swindle's about to take his life and he decided that
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: that's really what I meant, It's not what I meant. Now,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: up in the Northwest, word is out that I am divorced,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: and so rather regularly I have to send.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Word up there. Have never married before.
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  Speaker 2: If you knew how young I was when I'm married
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: the first time, you'd know that I'd had been a
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: child groom to have married before. This is the same
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: woman that's been willing to stay with me all these years.
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  Speaker 2: That's the amazing thing. That's what's remarkable. Be careful what
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: you say about an individual, well, be careful how you
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: say it. Be careful that the person gets the right message,
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  Speaker 2: review it, give proof, or be quiet. Mordecai knows that
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  Speaker 2: he has put the issue on the line for Esther,
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  Speaker 2: and he knows if she acts on this it could
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: mean her life. This is no time for rumor. In fact,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: the last of verse eight says order her to go
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: into the king to implore his favor and to plead
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  Speaker 2: with him for her people. Tell her that's what she's
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: to do. No one knows she's Jewish. No one will
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  Speaker 2: know until she says it. Now there's the hook. Does
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  Speaker 2: one person make a difference? Would that Jewis make a
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: difference to the nation. Would anyone have more the ear
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: of the king than the queen? James Hastings' writes, Mordecai
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: contemplated this bitter necessity. He gazed upon it till his
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: eyes were a fountain of tears. He studied the situation
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: till the iron entered into his very soul. Then he
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: made his appeal to Queen Esther to stand forward as
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: the savior of her people. I am certain that when
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: he saw Haythack, and when he stood there in his
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: sackcloth and ashes, he thought, this.
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  Speaker 3: Is the moment, this is my only chance.
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  Speaker 2: Tell Esther to stand in the gap, Tell her to
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: stand alone. Haythak comes back verse nine and relates Mordecai's
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: words to Esther. Esther spoke to Haythak and ordered him
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  Speaker 2: to reply to Mordecai. Now, before I read it, let's
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: not be too harsh with Esther. And before you sit
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: there feeling like a Nathan Hale or Patrick Henry that
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: you would have never responded like that. Remember you're surrounded
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: by friends in a very comfortable place in the daylight,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: and there are no armed soldiers outside, and there was
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: no threat on your race. Just remember you are in
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: a very protected situation, in a bubble of security. How
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: easy for all of us to be brave when we're
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: all together. Let's not be too harsh with her first response.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I can identify, I can understand it. Esther said verse eleven.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: All the King's servants and the people of the King's
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  Speaker 2: provinces know that for any man or woman who comes
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  Speaker 2: to the King to the inner court, who is not summoned,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: he has but one law that he'd be put to
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: death unless the King holds out to him the golden
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: scepter so that he may live. And I have not
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, I haven't even seen the man. I don't
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: even know what his feelings are toward me.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: Now, I I'm not sure I can do that.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: It's a dilemma. You see, Mordecai knew esther. He had
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: reared her, he had trained her, He knew how far
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: he could push. He knew her character. So do all
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: wise parents, who at times must be the reason their
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: children develop character. You have occasions in your life, brief vignettes,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: little windows of time, for you can step forward and
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: tell your children to be brave, step forward and do it.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: There are times when you must call upon your children
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: to stand alone and.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: To trust them to do it.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Mordecai is at that moment, and he receives Haythak's answer back,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: and he tightens a sash on his sackcloth verse thirteen.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: He told them to reply to esther. Do not imagine
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: that you, in the King's palace can escape any more
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: from another place, and you and your father's house.
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: Will perish.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: such a time as this. I love that he says.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: He really follows three tracks.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: First, if you do nothing, don't think you will escape death.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: You do or die.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: But second, don't make too much of this. God is
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: not limited to you or me.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: It may be in his plan to have us removed,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: but his people will not die, he will use someone,
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: and so third, how great it would be if he
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: would use you. Could it be that you have attained
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: loyalty for such a time as this? Could it be
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: that you have been given this promotion, my friend, for
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: such a time as this. Could it be that God
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: brought you into this situation for this moment and for
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: this hour.
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: What a great speech.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Winston Churchill was a master of such remarks. In a
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: speech to the British in the House of Commons June eighteenth,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: nineteen forty, I wish I had that great British accent
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: to read his words. Let us brace ourselves to our duties,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: its commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: say this was their finest hour, and not quite four
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: months later, to an even greater broken Great Britain. Death
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: and sorrow will be the companions of our journey. Hardship,
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: our garment, constancy, our valor and our only shield. We
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: must be united, we must be undaunted, We must be inflexible, stand,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: don't stop.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: Stand alone, fight to the end.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Great moment, it's a Patrick Henry's give me liberty or
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: give me death.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: It's a Nathan Hales. I regret that I have but
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: one life.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: To lose for my country. It is patriotism at its finest.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: And he says to Esther, this is your hour.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Stand, speak, die, But.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Whatever you do, don't be silent. Verse fifteen makes you
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: love her all the more. Then Esther told him, you
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: see something has changed. Now she s had time to think,
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: she's had to weigh her words. And now his counsel
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Esther told them to reply to Mordecai. Go assemble all
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: the Jews who are found in Sousa and fast for me.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Do not eat or drink for three days.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: Night or day.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: And I and my maidens also will fast in the
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: same way. And thus I will go into the king.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Look at those great words. I will go. I will go.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: I'll do that which is not according to the law.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: And if I perish, I perish. Is that a great answer?
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Or what is this a great woman? Is she going
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: to make a difference? If I perish, I perish. If
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: a guard drives a sword through my body, I die
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: doing the right thing. She has changed from fear to abandonment,
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: and from hesitation to confidence and determination, from concern for
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: her own safety to concern for her people's survival.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: It can happen in a life.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Just like that, from a message just like this, and
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: you find yourself realizing there is a cause. Do you
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: recall when young David was taken from the sheep and
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: asked by his father to bring a few cheeseburgers to
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: the fellows in the field at the valley of Ela,
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: there was this uncircumcised philistine roaming like that giant across
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: the way, taunting and blaspheming the God of Israel. Young
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: David comes and serves the burghers and the guys are
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: munching on him, and he asked, what's going on?
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: And he says, let's do something about it.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: And his older brother, remember Eliad, Older brothers tend to
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: do this. Oh, so you're going to be the big
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: time hero. How are all those little sheep doing while
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: you're out here in the field with us? And David says,
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: is there not a cause? He whips out this slingshot
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: hits him right between the running lights and the giant falls.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Of course, there is a cause. What are we doing
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: sitting around in our tents with knees knocking? There is
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: a giant out there who hates the cause of the
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: living God. What are you men doing here? I mean,
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: I'm just knive enough to believe our God will fight
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: for us if I perish my parents. You know what
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Esther realized. She realized there is an enemy. Oh, she
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: realized other things, but she especially realized that.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: I think for the.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: First time, the softness of the palace became uncomfortable, and
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: she realized that there is being bred in this country
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: the plot of the adversary. And that does something to you.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Eugene Peterson, in his great work Five Smooth Stones, writes,
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: wherever there is a people of God, there are enemies
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: of God. A realization that there is in fact an
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: enemy forces a reassessment of priorities.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: The moment Haymon.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Surfaced, Esther began to move from being a beauty queen
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: to becoming a Jewish saint, from being an empty headed
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: sex symbol to being a passionate intercessor. From the busy,
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: indolent life in the Harem to the high risk venture
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: of speaking for and identifying with God's people. Enough of
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: the easy life. It's time to put my name on
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: the line. I am Jewish and I stand for my people.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: If I perish, I perish. It occurs to me that
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: if Esther had lived in the days of Isaac Watts,
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: she could have paraphrased his hymn. I am a soldier
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: of the Cross, I am a follower of the Lamb,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: and I will not fear to own his cause or
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: blush to speak his name. There are foes for me
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: to face, and I will stem the flood. This vile
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: world is no friend to grace to help me onto God.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: This isn't a book about Persian history. You've heard me
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: say that every time we've gotten together. This isn't to
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: help you put together the events in the life of
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: a Hazu, Earis and Amon and to harmonize them with
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Mordecai and Esther and a few other Jewish characters along
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: with the gentiles. This is a book about life. This
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: is a book about standing alone, the personal involvement of
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: each individual.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: Remember my opening comment.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: In an overpopulated world, it is easy to underestimate the
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: significance of one. Let me make it even more personal.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: In an overpopulated world like this time, it is easy
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: to underestimate the value of you, your vote, your convictions,
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: your determination, to say I stand against this. I'll tell
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: you it makes a difference in your family when they
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: see a dad and or a mother do that. I
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: was only nine years old when my dad broke the
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: picket line in the Machinist Union back in the days
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: of the war, when the union had the audacity to
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: go on strike. My father's patriotism and love for his
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: family was greater than his loyalty to some union. And
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: I remember his driving our forty one Ford home with
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: broken windshields and eggs running down the side of the car,
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: now dried because he was willing to be called a
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: scare for his convictions. And it left an impression on
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: this nine year old boy, and my eleven year old
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: sister and my twelve year old brother. We learned it's
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: important enough to stand alone, even when friends don't understand,
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: even when coworkers disagree. The major issue arises from this message.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: What does it matter if I get involved or not?
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: It matters all the world to your character. Yes, God
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: has other ways, He has other people. He isn't frustrated
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: because you and.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: I may be indifferent.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: But how wonderful it would be to think that we
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: have been elevated to this position or to this generation.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: For such an hour as this may, I ask some
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: specific questions about issues. What is your involvement in helping
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: dysfunctional families? How about those who are homeless and hungry?
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: How about those who are addicted to drugs and or drink?
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: And what do you do for the orphans?
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: What do you do for the sake of morality or
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: to stand against pornography or to support the cause of
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: a pro life movement against abortion? Where do you stand
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: as it relates to prejudice, the absence of masculinity, the
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: whole extreme feminist movement, sexual abuse. How about the subject
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: of the races as they are moving in greater numbers
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: into our community, helping them with the language of this
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: country and the culture. What about the developmentally disabled? Is
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: it a pad on the head, a soft, piteous comment
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: to those that are in a wheelchair and we pass
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: on our own way. I met a man this past week.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: I spent lunch with him who has decided to get
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: off the fence as it relates to the developmentally disabled.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: He is now editor of a magazine that comes out quarterly,
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: doing a marvelous job. It's been the seminars I was
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: thrilled to say ours was one of the few evangelical
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: churches listed in the entire seminar. What do you do
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: to fight the cause of crime the mistreatment of children?
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: You say, well, I don't march. I don't march against
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: the law. I don't believe in blocking the way to
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: abortion clinic. All right, have you opened your home to
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: an unwed mother. I'm not asking you to do it
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: someone else's way. I'm saying, do something be canted, Say
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: I vote against it, I stand for this against that.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Normally you don't have to be obnoxious about it. Sometime
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: you have to make such a stand that it does
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: get some kind of attention. But whatever may be your
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: way of expressing it, for God's sake, express it. If
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: you perish, you perish, big deal. Absent from the body
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: at home with the Lord. At least still go home
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: a patriot. Two principles emerge from past from this passage.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: They tie together. They won't be easy to hear. First,
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: not until we believe one person can make a difference,
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: will we be willing to risk. Not until we believe
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: one person can make a difference, will we be willing
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: to risk? You remember the third Stanza of that hymn,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: God of Grace and God of Glory. Set our feet
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: on lofty places, gird our lives that they may be
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: armored with all christ Like graces in the fight to
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: set men free. Grant us wisdom, Grant us courage, that
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: we fail, not man nor thee. That we fail, not
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: man nor thee. Don't be so careful protecting your own backside.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: Don't worry that much about what they will think. You
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: don't answer to them, You answer to him. He will help,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: He will give you wisdom, courage, grace to him as
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: a prayer.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: Grant us these things, and we need them.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: It isn't as easy as my simply naming a list
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: of evils and wrongs.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: It involves getting.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Well, here's my next point out of the realm of theory.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: I was going to say point number two. Only when
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: we move from the safe harbor of theory to the
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: world of reality do we actually make a difference. Only
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: when we move from the safe harbor of theory to
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: the world of reality do we actually make a difference.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: When it comes time to vote, we vote. We don't
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: think how good it would be to vote. We don't
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: simply inform someone the best way to vote. We vote,
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: We vote our conscience, We vote believing we have been
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: informed correctly, and we vote. We go to the trouble.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: We pay the price. Men and women have died that
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: we might have the privilege. When an issue arises and
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: we stand against it, we say, I stand against it.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: Don't wait for this church to say it for you.
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: Don't wait for this pastor to give you a policy
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: or permission. Had someone call the office back when there
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: was an issue that was on the that was a
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: running around and she want to know what Chuck's position
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: was on it. And my assistant said, but he doesn't
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: have a public position on it. She says, well, how
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: are we supposed to know what to do if he
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: doesn't get a position on it? Well, honey, think, Think
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean I don't have what it means. I don't
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: make edicts for this church, nor will I begin to.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: You are a thinking citizen and individual who knows Christ.
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: Do something about it, Say something.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: About it stand alone. It's the deed that matters, one
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: man writes. Grant us the will to fashion as we feel,
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: Grant us the strength to labor as we know. Grant
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: us the purpose ribbed and with steel to strike the blow.
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: Knowledge.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: We ask not knowledge, thou hast lent, But Lord, the will,
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: the will.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: There lies our bitter need.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Give us to build above the deep intent the deed,
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: the deed. We evangelicals are great on evangelical theory, great
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: on theological theory, great on moral theory. The deed the deed.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: We are not rewarded for our theories. We are rewarded
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: for the deed. Does one make a difference? Ah did Christ?
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: God so loved the world that he did something.
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: He didn't select a committee, He didn't theorize how great
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: it would be for someone to come.
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: To our rescue. He didn't write a book about it.
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: Not then later he.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: Did something, and the son of God said to God
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: the Father, I will go. And he took upon himself
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: the form of a servant, and was made in the
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: fashion of men. And being found in fashion as a man,
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: he humbled himself and became obedient to the death, even
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: the death on a cross. He did something about it,
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: and that's why we can be saved.
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: We don't believe in a theory.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: We believe in a revolutionary faith that comes from the
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: person of Christ who died that we might live. Listen
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: to this. He didn't just think how good it would
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: be to die. He died that we might live.
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: And die with him. Maybe bout together.
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: Please close your eyes. The question is not what do
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: you think of Christ? The question is what have you
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: done about what you think? The issue is not how
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: do you feel about the message of the Gospel. The
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: issue is what have you done about the gospel? Christ
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: has come into the world to save sinners. There is
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: one God and one mediator, one only one between God
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: and man, the man Christ, Jesus. Have you come to
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: God through the Mediator? Have you given your life to
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Have you said, even though I may perish,
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: even though I may be an outcast, even though no
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: one will understand my family, my friends, I will this
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: day do something.
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: About this matter of my sin.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: Until you do, you are lost.
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: Lost.
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: Whosoever believes in the Son of God no longer has
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: the wrath of God upon him, but is accepted in
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: the Beloved. Come today, you may be the only one
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: hearing the message today that needs to respond by faith
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: to Jesus Christ. Be courageous enough to respond, God of
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: Grave and God of Glory, Set our feet on lofty places,
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: gird our lives, that they may be armored with all
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: christ Like graces in the fight to set men free.
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: Grandest wisdom, grandest courage, that we fail not man.
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: Are they.
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: Enable us to be true to our convictions. Our Father
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: give us the intelligence to think, and then the courage
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: to act. May be set aside our own conveniences, the
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: preferences of our own indifference. May we break a mold,
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: and as a result, may your name be glorified for
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: Jesus sake.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 49:58
  Speaker 5: The preceding message, thinking and saying What's right Regardless, was
• 50:02
  Speaker 5: copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety nineteen ninety seven,
• 50:07
  Speaker 5: two thousand and five, twenty eighteen, and twenty twenty six,
• 50:10
  Speaker 5: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty six
• 50:14
  Speaker 5: by Charles R. Swindholm Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 50:18
  Speaker 5: The duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.