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Max Lucado - The Call to Courage Uplifting Sermon · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Let's pray together, and then we'll get right to work
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on the next lesson in our series based on the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: book of Esther, entitled.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Searching for Springtime. Thank you, Lord for.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Your mercy, your kindness, your awareness of who we are
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and who you are. We confess that we believe you're
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: here in our midst and that you, Heavenly Father, are
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: not confused by what confuses us, not weakened by what
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: weakens us, not challenged by what challenges us. And so
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: we do our very best right now to incline our
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: our hearts to you, to hear you, Lord, and to
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: bless you in Jesus' name, and to all the church.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Said, Amen, Amen, if you hear me clearing my throat
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: a lot, it's not what you're thinking.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I have tested negative. You know, He's great to be
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: negative on occasion.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Right. I'm doing a lot of.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Videos these days, and Monday and Tuesday was just non stop,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: about eight hours worth, and I think my vocal cords
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: are still in recovery, so I just wanted to say
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: that there it is. I'll be okay if you are,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: we'll make it. As far as rescue stories go, mine
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: is really, really wimpy.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: It won't be made into a movie.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I was never interviewed by a news outlet, never contacted
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: by National Geographic or reader's digest. In the end encyclopedia
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of rescue operations, mine.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Would not warrant a footnote.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Yet what was no news to others was big note
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: news to the three of us who got plucked out
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: of that cold prairie on that December night. We were
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: college students trying to make a little bit of extra
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: cash by working in the oil field over Christmas break.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: It was a blustery, it was a windy, it was
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: an extra set of long John's December Day. Now in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the oil patch food chain, part time college kids rank
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: somewhere near pond scum. We're at the very bottom. And
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: rousabouts were always unimpressed with these smooth skinned kids who
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: would show up for a couple of weeks every December,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: kids who could hardly tell the difference between a room
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and a shovel. Consequently, whenever there was some dirty work
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to be done, we got to do it. That day's
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: dirty job was a ditch that needed to be dug
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: some twenty miles from the nearest sign of civilization. The
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: boss drove us out, dumped the three of us off
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: with the necessary tools and our lunch kits, and told
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: us that he would be back to pick us up
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: around five pm. The terrain was skillet pan flat. The
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: wind was bone chilling cold. We pulled toboggans over our
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: ears and jacket collars around our necks, and we got
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: to work, and by five PM we were frozen. We
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: were tired, and we were tired of being frozen, and
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: we were dreaming of a ride home in a warm
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: pickup truck. We put our shovels on the ground and
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: we looked down the dirt road.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: No truck.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Five point thirty came and went, no truck. The sunset,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the chill factor dropped into single digits.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: No truck. Now we had no way of calling.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Remember I'm so old that my college days were just
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: barely out of the stone age. We didn't have cell
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: phones or GPS. We were stuck. We were marooned in
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Sunset became nightfall. Stars began to appear, the coyotes began
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to howl. Our hands were numb or our cheeks were icy.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: The situation was desperate, and we were just about just
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: about to begin hiking home when we saw the most
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: wondrous of sights, a set of headlights bouncing in the distance,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: up and down like a waving flashlight. Turns out the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: person that was supposed Fetchius had forgotten all about us. Now,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I told you the story wasn't much, and the only
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: reason I share it is to highlight that emotion that
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: we felt that perhaps you can understand when we saw
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: the headlights, and that is relief. Relief was on the way.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Rescue was on the way. We were still cold, we
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: were still tired, but relief was coming and that changed everything.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Do you know that feeling Mordecai did. His rescue story,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: unlike mine, is deservedly told and retold by Jews every
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: year at the feast of Purim. It occupies pages in
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the Bible, and it serves to reveal the kind of
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: courage that happens when relief is spotted on the horizon.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Let's take a moment to review Mordecai's moment. Remember we're
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: in the Book of Esther today. We're in chapter four.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: By this point, we've learned that Mordecai is a closet Jew.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: His Persian neighbors had no idea that he owned a Yamulka,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: or spoke Hebrew. He had chameleioned his way up the
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: ladder until he landed in King Haman's I'm sorry in
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: King xerxes court.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: But then Hayman showed up. You remember Haman.
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  Speaker 1: He's the dastardly, narcissistic Hayman with his royal robe in
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: his requirement that everyone bow as he passed by. Mordecai,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the closet Jew would have none of it. And as
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: we discussed last week, he recalled how Hayman's ancestors were
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: intent on destroying his ancestors, and one side of Haman
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and Mordecai stood up physically and spiritually he would not bow.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Hayman tattletaled on Mordecai to Xerxes, and he convinced the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: easly convincible king to destroy all the Jews. And so
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: by the time we opened the Bible to ast chapter four,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the dice has been cast, the date of death has
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: been set, the campaign has been funded, and Mordecai got
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: word of the impending holocausts, and then he cast aside
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: all pretense. When Mordecai learned of all that had been done,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: he tore his clothes. He put on sackcloth and ashes,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and he went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: But he went only as far as the King's gate,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. Now,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: when Esther remember, Esther is now queen and has been
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: for some time. When Esther got word of Mordecai's mourning,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: she send him a batch of clothing and told him,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: in no uncertain terms, to get his act together and
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to be quiet. What followed in chapter four was a
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: flurry of couriered messages between the two. Finally, Mordecai sent
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Esther a copy of the orders to exterminate all the Jews,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: and she urged her to reach out to her husband.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: She reminded Mordecai, Queen can't just saunter into the throne room.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: If she shows up uninvited, a cranky king might have
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: her head.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Sounds to me.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Like the Persian court could have used some marriage therapy.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Mordecai gave her a reply some thought, and then he
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: sent her what is now the most famous message in
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the book of Esther. Look at Mordecai's message. Wait, maybe
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: you don't know what the message is I'm thinking that
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: there might be somebody who has never heard the words
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: that we're about to read. If so, then I have
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: a multiple choice question for you. What do you think
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Mordecai said. What did Mordecai say in response to Esther?
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I have three choices. You pick number one, hey, cousin,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: got room in the Queen's quarters for a soulaway. Number two,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: I'm catching the red eye of Panama City. Been nice
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: knowing you. Or number three we're stuck, Esther. I'm not
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: gonna lie to you. This is really bad. But look
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: out there in the distance. Do you see what I've seen?
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Drug headlights? Are you getting on board to get out
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: of here?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: You're right.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Mordecai never mentioned anything about headlines, but he knew, he
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: knew somehow, He knew that relief was on the way,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: that they would be rescued, and that Esther had a
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: choice to climb in or stay out in the cold. Now,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: before we read what Mordecai said, I need to tee
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: them up. They are some of the most profound words
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: you will ever read in the Bible, which makes them
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: some of the greatest words ever spoken by humanity. What
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: he says in these two verses is worth two volumes
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: of consideration. Somehow, Mordecai the Jew is about to become
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Mordecai the Theologian, and he makes a declaration that reveals
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the heart of a person who has encountered the heart
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: of the Holy God. You're about to hear the greatest
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: one paragraph summary of divine providence ever spoken by a
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: human tongue? Have I sufficiently raised your expectations? See if
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: you don't agree? He sent back this answer. Do not
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  Speaker 1: think that because you are in the king's house, you
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: alone of all the Jews, will escape. For if you
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Jews will arise from another place, But you and your
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: father's family will perish. And who knows but that you
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  Speaker 1: have come to your royal position for such a time
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  Speaker 1: as this, Friends, how do we survive the difficult seasons
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: of life? How do we stay steadfast and strong during
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: a winter in which we're searching for springtime? How do
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: we keep from going crazy when a crazy king has
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: declared a holocaust? How do we stay faithful when the
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: pandemic has no vaccine, when the marriage has no joy,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: when the crib is empty, or the grave is occupied,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and the double bed is down to you, and you
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: can't quit crying yourself to sleep at night when life
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: leaves you stranded marooned on a Texas prairie with no
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: protection from a whipping wind. I'm wondering if Mordecai's words
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: might be worth the retelling. He made a couple of
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: very starchy observations. First of all, he said, no one
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  Speaker 1: gets a free pass. No one, not even the Queen
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: of Persia. He said, do not think that because you're
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: in the king's house, you alone of all the Jews,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: will escape. You might dodge one bullet, but the chamber
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: has five more. So don't think you're immune. Don't think
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: you'll be excluded. Don't think for a second that you'll
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: get through the genocide unscathed. No one gets a free pass. Well, gee,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: thinks Max. That's exactly what I needed to hear to
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: brighten my day. I'm so glad you told me that. Well,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: maybe you didn't need the reminder, but friends, someone does.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Someone does.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Someone has been led to believe that the Christian life
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: is a yellow brick road, and that a trip home
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: to Kansas is only a click of the ruby reds away.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: And consequently, when the bad stuff happens, and it does happen, Amen,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: they are forced to face not just the bad stuff,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: but then some tough questions. Their expectations of God were
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: not met. God did not keep his promises to keep
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: him or her healthy and happy, to which God says,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I never made those promises. I never did. Here's what
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: God said. He said in this world, you'll have trouble.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Here's what God said. God said, at times, you'll feel
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: like you're under the sentence of death. Here's what God said.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: God said that you will pass through waters, you'll pass
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: through rivers, you'll pass through fires. God shot straight and
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  Speaker 1: shoots straight with us. Life comes with challenges, Life comes
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: with difficulties, and we gain nothing by pretending they don't.
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  Speaker 1: No one gets a free pass.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: But everyone is offered a ride home in the pickup truck. Everyone.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, but said it so much more eloquently when he said,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: relief and deliverance will arise.
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  Speaker 2: For the Jews.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: What an astounding comment for him to make. Is this
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the same Mordecai? Is this the same Mordecai that we've
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: been reading about in the Book of Esther the same
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Mordecai who made himself so Persian, who distanced himself from
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: his Hebrew ancestry, that he could become a member of
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: the king's court and no one would know it, and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that he.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Would convince esther.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: To sign up for a pagan star search contest that
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: would require her sleeping with the king and then eventually
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: marry the king and become the queen and nobody know it.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Is this the same Mordecai. What happened to him? Here
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: he is talking about God, talking about faithfulness. What happened
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: to him? Here's my best guess. I think his encounter
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: with Hayman activated a subterranean belief. He began thinking about
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: all the stories he had been told about his family
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: tree on his mama's knee. He had learned how Moses
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: in a million Hebrews, had an angry sea on one
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: side and angry Pharaoh on the other.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: How a boy by.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: The name of David stood waist high with a giant
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: named Goliath. How Daniel, the famous prophet, could hear the
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: growling of the lions and the growling of their tummies.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: But then God spoke up.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Then God spoke up, and the sea opened up, and
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: David rose up, and the lions shut up. And at
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: some point Mordecai came to understand that his God, the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: God of his people, the God of Abraham and Isaac
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and Jacob, was alive and well and undefeated in battle.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Not once was his God threatened, undone, bewildered or befuddled.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: That his God is the problems what a hurricane is
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: to a mosquito.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: There is no match. Mordecai got this. Do you do
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: you get this? Do you know the rest of the verses?
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Yes, Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: declares Jesus.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: But I've overcome the world. True.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: The apostle Paul said, indeed, we felt that we had
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: received this sentence of death, but that was to make
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: us rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the dead. And he delivered us from such a deadly peril,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: and he will deliver us on him. We have set
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: our hope that he will deliver us again. Yes, God
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: said to Isaiah, when you pass through the waters, we
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: will pass through waters. But God said, I'll be with you.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: We will pass through rivers. But God said, they will
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: not overwhelm you. You will walk through a fire, but
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: you shall not be burned. The flames shall not consume you.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Here's my question for you today. Does your view of
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: God include a dramatic deliverance and a certain salvation?
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: This is no small question. Indeed, this is the question.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Are you able.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: To assess the struggles of life, to process the problems
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: of life knowing that you will soon see headlights on
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: the horizon?
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Listen?
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: The vast majority of people cannot. The vast majority of
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: people cannot. In fact, if asked for a philosophy of life,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the vast majority of people would say something like this, Well,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: we live in a beautiful but broken world. It cannot
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: be fixed, nothing can be done. We make the best
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: of it, and then we die. Isn't that the outlook
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: of most people? No wonder, depression and suicide or sky rocketing.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Yet God offers us a different story. If you were to.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Write a worldview or a philosophy of life based on
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: God's promises, it would read something like this, we live
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: in a beautiful but broken world. However, my creator made
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: this world and did not DestinE it for brokenness. He
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: destined us for a wonderful life. He intends us good
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: he cares so much for us that he became one
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of us, and he took on our brokenness, even to
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the point of death, and he gave birth to our life,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: eternal life. He arose from the dead, and he is
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: recreating our world and invites all of us to be
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: a part of it. And one day he will restore
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the world and its intended beauty, reclaim his family, and
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: we will live with him forever. Now, which is the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: better story? Which is your story? This was the message
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: of Mordecai, and Esther's response is significant. Will conclude by
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: looking it Esther's resolve. Esther's resolve. Then Esther sent this
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: reply to Mordecai. Go gather together all the Jews who
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: were in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: or drink for three days, not or day. I and
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: my attendance will fast as you do. And when this
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: is done, I will go to the king, even though
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: it is against the law. And if I perish, I
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: perish what moved Esther from. I can't do anything to.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I'm willing to.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Lose everything what moved Esther from.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: If I go all perish to If I perish, I perish.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It had to be the straightforward message of Mordecai. Yes,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the world is a mess. Yes we've fallen victim to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: a brutal hayman. But relief will come. And who knows?
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: He said to her, who knows, but that you have
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: come into the kingdom for such a time as this.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Mordecai opened a divine window and divine light upon the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: problem of Mordecai's life. He was saying, you're here for
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: a reason, esther, You're here for a reason. Your life
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: is part of a plan. You were placed here on purpose,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: right now, in this generation, in this situation, for a purpose.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: And dear child of God, so were you? So were you?
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Why did God place you on the planet during the
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: season of a pandemic because he has something for you
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: to do? Why did God place you in a country
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: in a time of chaos and division? Because he has
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: something for you to do. You are here on purpose
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: for a purpose. You were made for such a time
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: as this. No, you did not ask for this struggle.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: You want to get past it. You don't know how
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: much longer you can hold up. But what if God
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: is in this? What if God is in this? What
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: if God knew your neighborhood would need someone like you,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: so he placed you there. What if God knew your
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: family would need your resolve and so he placed you there.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: What if God knew that your workplace right now would
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: need someone with faith and hope, and so he placed
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: you there. What if you, like Esther, have an opportunity
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: to act in a way that will bless more people
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: than you could ever imagine.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Here's what I think. This is your hour, this is
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: your moment.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: You were made to stand up like Mordecai, to speak
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: up like Esther friend. Deliverance will come, It will. Deliverance
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: will come on this earth, and then deliverance will ultimately
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: ultimately come in the New Earth. But deliverance will come.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: He will rescue his people. God will have his people.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: So the question is not will God prevail? The question
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: is will you be part.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Of the victory.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: You can retreat if you want. You can stick your
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: head in the sand if you want. You can hibernate.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: You can hide out. You can let your heart get
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: hard and your faith get cold. You can go dark,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: you can stay quiet, or you can see your challenge
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: as a canvas upon which God will draw his greatest work.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: This was the choice.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Made by Nick Vuyachich. He was born without arms and legs.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Three sonograms failed to receive or reveal any complications. But
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: when Nick was born to Serbian immigrants in Melbourne, Australia,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two, he and his family were destined
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: to face a lifetime of choices. His youth and adolescens
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: brought loneliness and depression. He wondered why he was different.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: He questioned why he had ever been born. He said,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I felt cold and bitter. I hated God for doing
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: this to me. I was terrified what would happen when
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: my parents weren't there to look after me. A newspaper
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: article was the equivalent of a Mordecai message. At the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: age of thirteen, he read about a disabled man who
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: had managed to achieve great things to help others, and
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the story changed Nick's view of himself and his view
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: of God. He began to see his challenge through the
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: lens of faith. At the age of nineteen, he delivered
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: his first gospel message. That was thousands of messages ago,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: that was thirty three countries ago. That was here this
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: one million souls a goal, Yes, that's right. Through nixt ministry,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: over a million people have chosen.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: To trust Jesus Christ for salvation.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: His goal is to see one billion people hear the
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Gospel by the year twenty twenty eight. I smile at
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the thought of Nick. Someday in heaven on he treasure
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: his first moments in a glorified body and a heavenly home.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: He'll hug his family, He'll run a sprint, He'll raise
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: hands to the God who made and saved him. And
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: then one by one, millions of people, millions of saved
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: saints will tell him thank you, and they will thank
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Nick for turning people to God than Nick churning himself
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: away from God. We can all make the same choice
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Nick made his, Mordecai made his Esther made hers. No
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: one gets a free past, but everyone is offered a
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: ride home, and the headlights are coming.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Can you see him?
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, have mercy on us now as we receive
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: and process your story.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Grant o, Heavenly Father, that the story of.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Great faith would chase away the clouds of fear that
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: hover over so many of our lives.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: In the name of Christ, we pray Amen.