Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Thinking and Saying What’s Right—Regardless, Part 1

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Thinking and Saying What’s Right—Regardless, Part 1 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Everyone loves a hero, but most heroes don't feel like
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  Speaker 1: one when the moment arrives. Today, on Insight for Living,
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  Speaker 1: Chuck Swindall continues his study of Esther, and he'll bring
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  Speaker 1: us to a pivotal crossroads in her story. One Person,
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  Speaker 1: One Moment, One Impossible choice, Chuck explores what it really
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  Speaker 1: means to stand alone when everything is at stake, and
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  Speaker 1: why God may have placed you exactly where you are
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  Speaker 1: for such a time as this. Chuck titled his message
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  Speaker 1: thinking and saying What's right regardless.
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  Speaker 2: For Esther's people in Persia, life had turned bleak overnight
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  Speaker 2: because of a wicked plan born in the antisemitic mind
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  Speaker 2: of a man named Hayman. In the nation was suddenly
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  Speaker 2: living on borrowed time.
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  Speaker 3: Think of it.
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  Speaker 2: Before the year was out, their epitaphs would be chiseled
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  Speaker 2: in stone. What a frightening thought. The capital city of
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  Speaker 2: Susa was thrown into a state of confusion and panic.
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  Speaker 2: Can this really be true? Can there be anyone who
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  Speaker 2: could change the plan, or delay it, or completely abolish it?
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  Speaker 2: The Jews were absolutely devastated. Today we pick up the
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  Speaker 2: account in the Book of Esther, chapter four. I'll be
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  Speaker 2: reading this passage from the New American Standard Bible. Chapter four,
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  Speaker 2: verse one begins, when Mordecat learned all that had been done,
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  Speaker 2: he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and
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  Speaker 2: went out into the midst of the city, and loudly
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  Speaker 2: and bitterly he went as far as the King's gate,
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  Speaker 2: for no one was to enter the King's gate clothed
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  Speaker 2: in sackcloth. In each and every province where the command
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  Speaker 2: and decree of the king came, there was great mourning
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  Speaker 2: among the jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing, and many
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  Speaker 2: lay on sackcloth and ashes. Then Esther's maidens and her
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  Speaker 2: eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in
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  Speaker 2: great anguish, and she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, that
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  Speaker 2: he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did
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  Speaker 2: not accept him. Then Esther summoned Haytak from the king's eunuchs,
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  Speaker 2: whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered
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  Speaker 2: him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was
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  Speaker 2: and why it was. Aek went out to Mordecai to
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  Speaker 2: the city square in front of the King's gate. Mordecai
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  Speaker 2: told him all that had happened to him, and the
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  Speaker 2: exact amount of money that Haymon had promised to pay
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  Speaker 2: to the King's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
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  Speaker 2: He also gave him a copy of the text of
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  Speaker 2: the edict which had been issued in Sousa for their destruction.
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  Speaker 2: But he might show Esther and inform her, and to
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  Speaker 2: order her to go into the King to implore his
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  Speaker 2: favor and to plead with him for her people no
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  Speaker 2: Verse thirteen. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther,
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  Speaker 2: do not imagine that you, in the King's palace can
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  Speaker 2: escape any more than all the Jews. For if you
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  Speaker 2: remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise
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  Speaker 2: for the Jews from another place, and you and your
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  Speaker 2: father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have
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  Speaker 2: not attained royalty for such a time as this. Then
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  Speaker 2: Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, Go assemble all
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  Speaker 2: the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me.
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  Speaker 2: Do not eat or drink for three days night or day.
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  Speaker 3: I and my.
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  Speaker 2: Maidens also will fast in the same way, And thus
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  Speaker 2: I will go into the King, which is not according
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  Speaker 2: to the law. And if I perish, I perish. So
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  Speaker 2: Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.
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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Esther on your own, be sure to
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  Speaker 1: purchase our Searching the Scripture's Bible Study workbook by going
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  Speaker 1: to insight dot org slash offer Chuck title Today's message,
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  Speaker 1: thinking and saying what's right regardless.
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  Speaker 4: In an overpopulated world, how easy it is to underestimate
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  Speaker 4: the significance of one I mean, let's face it, there
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  Speaker 4: are so many people doing so many things that are
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  Speaker 4: so important, and they are so gifted.
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  Speaker 3: Who needs me?
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  Speaker 4: What can I, as a single individual, contribute to the great, vast,
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  Speaker 4: overwhelming needs.
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  Speaker 3: Of our world.
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  Speaker 4: I like the way Edward Everett Hale put it, I
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  Speaker 4: am only one, but still I am one. I cannot
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  Speaker 4: do everything, but still I can do something. And because
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  Speaker 4: I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do
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  Speaker 4: the something that I can do. But a great statement
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  Speaker 4: in a world like ours, there is only one you,
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  Speaker 4: only one person with your exact heritage, precise series of
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  Speaker 4: events in the pilgrimage and sufferings of life that have
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  Speaker 4: brought you to this hour. Only one with your personal convictions,
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  Speaker 4: your makeup, your skills, your appearance, your.
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  Speaker 3: Touch, your voice, your style, your mark, only one.
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  Speaker 4: History and biblical truth are full of accounts of individuals
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  Speaker 4: who have made a difference. Think of the military battles
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  Speaker 4: that were one because of one person. Think of the
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  Speaker 4: artists and the contribution of their lives, whether michelangel or
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  Speaker 4: Da Vinci or Brahms or Beta. And think of the
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  Speaker 4: scientific geniuses, the technological experts that have made a contribution
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  Speaker 4: that had changed the course of history. Think of the preachers,
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  Speaker 4: the clergyman, the ministers down through time that stood alone
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  Speaker 4: in the gap and made a difference. You say, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: but wait a minute, Wait a minute. Those are all
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  Speaker 4: incredible people. Those are sort of genius types. Granted some
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  Speaker 4: are some were. When I read God's word, I don't
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  Speaker 4: find a series of stories about great crusades and citywide
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  Speaker 4: revivals and mass meetings and God's attention upon an entire
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  Speaker 4: country or an entire community. I find one person here
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  Speaker 4: who made a difference and set the pays, or cut
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  Speaker 4: a swathe, or stood in the.
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  Speaker 3: Gap and made the way.
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  Speaker 4: It's an account from Genesis to revelation of how God's
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  Speaker 4: hand was on one man or one woman in an era,
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  Speaker 4: and as a result history was made. Listen to some
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  Speaker 4: verses that declare this, for the eyes of the Lord
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  Speaker 4: moved to and fro throughout the earth, that he may
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  Speaker 4: strongly support those whose heart singular is completely his Second
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  Speaker 4: Chronicle sixteen nine. Now the Lord saw, and it was
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  Speaker 4: displeasing in his sight that there was no justice. And
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  Speaker 4: he saw that there was no man, and was astonished
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  Speaker 4: that there was no one to intercede Isaiah fifty nine,
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  Speaker 4: fifteen and sixteen Rome to and fro through the streets
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  Speaker 4: of Jerusalem. And look now, and take note and see
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  Speaker 4: in her open squares. If you can find a man,
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  Speaker 4: if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth,
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  Speaker 4: then I will pardon her Jeremiah five to one. And
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  Speaker 4: I search for a man among them who should build
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  Speaker 4: up the wall and stand in the gap before me
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  Speaker 4: for the land, that I should not destroy it. But
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  Speaker 4: I found no one Isekil twenty two thirty one. More,
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  Speaker 4: they forgot God, their savior, who had done great things
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  Speaker 4: in Egypt, awesome things by the Red Sea.
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  Speaker 3: Therefore he said that he would destroy them.
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  Speaker 4: Had not Moses his chosen one stood in the breach
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  Speaker 4: before him to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
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  Speaker 4: Only one, only one missionary gets into an area, and
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  Speaker 4: a tribe is reached. Only one statesman stands alone, and
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  Speaker 4: a country is saved. Only one strong, willed and determined
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  Speaker 4: citizen says I and against this evil, and a community
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  Speaker 4: changes its direction, and a city follow suit. All of
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  Speaker 4: this is a perfect introduction for the fourth chapter of
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  Speaker 4: the Book of Esther, which we are studying. Unusual book
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  Speaker 4: because it never once mentions the name of God per se.
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  Speaker 4: He's woven through the tapestry of all the chapters, admittedly,
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  Speaker 4: but he has never once declared he is working through
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  Speaker 4: the lives of individuals, but his name is never once
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  Speaker 4: mentioned specifically in all the Book of Esther. Remember the
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  Speaker 4: background to where we are today.
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  Speaker 3: The Jews have.
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  Speaker 4: Been threatened with extermination. Wicked Hayman has influenced the king,
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  Speaker 4: King of Hajuaris, the King of Persia, and he has
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  Speaker 4: said to the King, because of this plan I have
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  Speaker 4: set up, it is possible for me to putore this
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  Speaker 4: money into your treasuries and for us to rid the
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  Speaker 4: land of these people who will not bow down and
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  Speaker 4: worship you as the King, agree with me, and we
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  Speaker 4: will set a date. Sure enough, Asuaras gave him the oka,
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  Speaker 4: and plans were underway. Look at verse thirteen of chapter three,
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  Speaker 4: and you'll see it. In one verse, letters were sent
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  Speaker 4: by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill,
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  Speaker 4: and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old,
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  Speaker 4: women and children in one day, the thirteenth day of
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  Speaker 4: the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to
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  Speaker 4: seize their possessions as plunder. That's the plan. It has
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  Speaker 4: the makings of the worst kind of holocaust. The Jews
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  Speaker 4: will no longer be in our land. We'll be rid
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  Speaker 4: of these people. In case you wonder what impact it
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  Speaker 4: had on the community, look at the last word in
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  Speaker 4: the third chapter, confusion. While Haemon and a haju Era
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  Speaker 4: sat over their drinks at the table in the palace,
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  Speaker 4: the Jews wandered in bewilderment and disillusionment, wondering how how
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  Speaker 4: can we continue?
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  Speaker 3: How can we exist? You talk about.
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  Speaker 4: Time for one person, but who could do it? I mean,
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  Speaker 4: this is in the days of the laws of the
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  Speaker 4: Means and the Persians, and when an edict was set forth.
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  Speaker 4: It was final. Nobody changed the plant, certainly no jew.
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  Speaker 4: What a day for a heroic patriot to step forward,
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  Speaker 4: and her name is Esther. Follow the story as we
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  Speaker 4: find the response of the people. Beginning at verse one
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  Speaker 4: of chapter four. They are lost in mourning and weeping.
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  Speaker 4: When Mordeca I learned all that had been done, he
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  Speaker 4: tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went
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  Speaker 4: out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly.
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  Speaker 3: And bitterly.
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  Speaker 4: We read of sackcloth and ashes, but it seldom explained
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  Speaker 4: to us. It was common in those days to wear
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  Speaker 4: loose fitting, dark colored garments made of goat's hair, and
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  Speaker 4: they hung on you like a large gunny sack. When
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  Speaker 4: in bankruptcy, or in mortal loss, or living with a
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  Speaker 4: dread disease, or having buried a family or a mate
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  Speaker 4: or a child, or having gone through some terrible disaster
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  Speaker 4: in one's home or in one's city, the people would
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  Speaker 4: commonly wear these dark, coarse clothes, and they would take
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  Speaker 4: ashes and get fists fulls of them, and would throw
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  Speaker 4: them on themselves. They would be covered with them, and
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  Speaker 4: a peer is unclean.
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  Speaker 3: Or they would even sit in.
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  Speaker 4: The midst of a cold ash heap and throw the
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  Speaker 4: ashes on themselves as an expression of their grief. In
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  Speaker 4: our land, we do not express our sorrow in mourning.
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  Speaker 3: You hold it in.
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  Speaker 4: Even when a president is assassinated. There is a dark
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  Speaker 4: veil that hangs over the over the the face of
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  Speaker 4: the first lady, now a widow, and we don't even
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  Speaker 4: see her tears. And people speak graciously and gratefully of
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  Speaker 4: her strength in time of mourning.
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  Speaker 3: Not so in the East.
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  Speaker 4: You and I have seen many pictures, often on television,
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  Speaker 4: of great mobs as they push a casket through the crowd,
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  Speaker 4: and they scream, and they cry out, and they and
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  Speaker 4: they speak verses from their sacred word, and they law
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  Speaker 4: at the casket, and they whail and they mourn.
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  Speaker 3: That's what is here. This is in Persia.
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  Speaker 4: Mordecai holds nothing back, and in sackcloth and ashes, he
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  Speaker 4: stumbles toward the gate of the palace, but he isn't
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  Speaker 4: allowed in because he's considered unclean.
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  Speaker 3: Verse two. He went as far as the.
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  Speaker 4: King's gate, for no one was to enter the King's
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  Speaker 4: gate clothed in sackcloth. One wonders if he has in
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  Speaker 4: mind the hope of getting the attention of the queen,
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  Speaker 4: for it's doubtful she knew much, if anything, of this edict.
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  Speaker 4: She lives in the secluded environment, the indulgence of that
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  Speaker 4: lovely palace. She doesn't concern herself with the people of
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  Speaker 4: the streets. He thought, if only I could get her attention.
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  Speaker 4: It isn't just in Susa, the capital, in each and
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  Speaker 4: every province where the command and decree of the king came.
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  Speaker 3: There was great.
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  Speaker 4: Mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping and wailing,
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  Speaker 4: and many lay on syclaw and ashes. It's a picture
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  Speaker 4: of incredible mourning and loss and sorrow. Have you noticed,
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  Speaker 4: by the way, how suffering brings the people together. It
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  Speaker 4: forces us to grab hands and shoulders with one another,
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  Speaker 4: and to pull together. Suffering never ruined a nation. Affluence does,
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  Speaker 4: but not suffering, not hardship. It pushes everybody to the
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  Speaker 4: same level, with the same goal of survival. And so
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  Speaker 4: these Jews weep and wail and fast together. Esther's maidens
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  Speaker 4: and her eunuchs came and told her. I'm sure they
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  Speaker 4: mentioned the presence of Mordecai at the palace gates. The
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  Speaker 4: queen writhed, in great anguish, Remember this is her home,
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  Speaker 4: these are her roots. She wonders, who's died, what's been lost?
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  Speaker 4: Why the sorrow? She can't speak to Mordecai directly, so
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  Speaker 4: she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove
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  Speaker 4: his sackcloth from him. She hopes that perhaps in the
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  Speaker 4: change of clothing he would be allowed entrance and she
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  Speaker 4: could dialogue with him about what had happened. He refused them,
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  Speaker 4: he would not accept them. Then Esther summoned Haythak from
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  Speaker 4: the King's eunuchs, I'm sure one of the runners, one
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  Speaker 4: of her trusted assistants, whom the king had appointed to
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  Speaker 4: attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to
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  Speaker 4: learn what this was and why it was. She doesn't know,
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  Speaker 4: She has no idea. So Haydek went out to Mordecai
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  Speaker 4: to the city square in front of the King's gates,
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  Speaker 4: and Mordecai watched carefully told him all that had happened
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  Speaker 4: to him and the exact amount of money that Hayman
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  Speaker 4: had promised to pay to the King's treasuries for the
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  Speaker 4: destruction of the Jews, first time she ever heard this.
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  Speaker 4: He also gave a copy of the text of the
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  Speaker 4: edict which had been issued in SUSA for their destruction,
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  Speaker 4: that he might show esther and inform her. I am
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  Speaker 4: impressed with the accuracy with which Mordecai carries out his job.
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  Speaker 3: He informs her.
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  Speaker 4: Of all that had happened, He specifies the exact amount
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  Speaker 4: of money in the deal, and he even sends along
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  Speaker 4: a text of the edict. He says, have her read this.
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  Speaker 4: This is with the king's signet, from the King's ring.
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  Speaker 4: This is exactly what he has said. Why do I
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  Speaker 4: make such a point of this because we live in
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  Speaker 4: a day of hearsay.
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  Speaker 3: How few there are.
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  Speaker 4: Who pass along information that is exact and precise and reliable.
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  Speaker 4: Do you, when you were asked your response to a
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  Speaker 4: certain issue that has to do with information that could
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  Speaker 4: hurt or hinder another? Are you very careful with what
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  Speaker 4: you say? Do you have the facts? Do you present texts?
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  Speaker 3: Do you prove the information to be exactly right? I
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  Speaker 3: hope so.
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  Speaker 4: Time couldn't allow me to name the people who have
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  Speaker 4: been hurt by rumor and innuendo and exaggeration and hearsay.
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  Speaker 4: Maybe you as well forgive this personal illustration, But it
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  Speaker 4: happens to me a lot. I had a fellow write
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  Speaker 4: in this last week and he said, tell me when
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  Speaker 4: you almost committed suicide. I heard this past week that
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  Speaker 4: when you spoke to name the group that you had
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  Speaker 4: mentioned that you had almost taken your life. I thought back,
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  Speaker 4: and when was that? I have never almost taken my life.
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  Speaker 4: I remembered speaking in a group and I spoke of
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  Speaker 4: some strains and difficulties in ministry. And I'm sure the
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  Speaker 4: person who heard that read into that a little more
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  Speaker 4: than I ever even implied. And it makes a lot
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  Speaker 4: better story if Swindle's about to take his life and
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  Speaker 4: he decided that that's really what I meant, It's not
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  Speaker 4: what I meant. Now, up in the Northwest, word is
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  Speaker 4: out that I am divorced, and so rather regularly I
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  Speaker 4: have to send word up there. I have never married before.
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  Speaker 4: If you knew how young I was when I'm married
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  Speaker 4: the first time, you'd know that I'd had been a
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  Speaker 4: child groom to have married before. This is the same
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  Speaker 4: woman that's been willing to stay with me all these years.
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  Speaker 4: That's the amazing thing. That's what's remarkable. Be careful what
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  Speaker 4: you say about an individual, well, be careful how you say.
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  Speaker 3: Be careful that the person gets.
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  Speaker 4: The right message, review it, give proof, or be quiet.
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  Speaker 4: Mordecai knows that he has put the issue on the
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  Speaker 4: line for Esther, and he knows if she acts on this,
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  Speaker 4: it could mean her life. This is no time for rumor.
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  Speaker 4: In fact, the last of verse eight says, order her
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  Speaker 4: to go into the king to implore his favor and
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  Speaker 4: to plead with him for her people tell her that's
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  Speaker 4: what she's to do.
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  Speaker 3: No one knows she's Jewish. No one will know until
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  Speaker 3: she says it.
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  Speaker 4: Now there's the hook. Does one person make a difference?
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  Speaker 4: Would that Jewish make a difference to the nation? Would
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  Speaker 4: anyone have more the ear of the king than the queen?
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  Speaker 4: James Hastings' rites. Mordecai contemplated this bitter necessity. He gazed
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  Speaker 4: upon it till his eyes were a fountain of tears.
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  Speaker 4: He studied the situation till the iron entered into his
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  Speaker 4: very soul. Then he made his appeal to Queen Esther
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  Speaker 4: to stand forward as the savior of her people. I
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  Speaker 4: am certain that when he saw Haythak, and when he
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  Speaker 4: stood there in his sackcloth and ashes, he thought, this
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  Speaker 4: is the moment, This is my only chance. Tell Esther
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  Speaker 4: to stand in the gap, tell her to stand alone.
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  Speaker 4: Haythak comes back verse nine and relates Mordechai's words to Esther.
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  Speaker 4: Esther spoke to Haythak and ordered him to reply to Mordecai.
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  Speaker 4: Now before I read it, let's not be too harsh
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  Speaker 4: with Esther. And before you sit there feeling like a
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  Speaker 4: Nathan Hale or Patrick Henry that you would have never
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  Speaker 4: responded like that. Remember you're surrounded by friend in a
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  Speaker 4: very comfortable place in the daylight, and there are no
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  Speaker 4: armed soldiers outside, and there was no threat on your race.
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  Speaker 4: Just remember you are in a very protected situation, in
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  Speaker 4: a bubble of security. How easy for all of us
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  Speaker 4: to be brave when we're all together. Let's not be
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  Speaker 4: too harsh with her first response. I can identify, I
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  Speaker 4: can understand it, Esther said, verse eleven. All the King's
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  Speaker 4: servants and the people of the King's provinces know that
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  Speaker 4: for any man or woman who comes to the King
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  Speaker 4: to the inner court, who is not summoned, he has
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  Speaker 4: but one law, that he be put to death unless
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  Speaker 4: the King holds out to him the golden scepter so
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  Speaker 4: that he may live. And I have not been summoned
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  Speaker 4: to come to the king for these thirty days.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I haven't even seen the man.
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  Speaker 4: I don't even know what his feelings are toward me.
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  Speaker 4: Now I'm not sure I can do that. It's a dilemma.
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  Speaker 4: You see, Mordecai knew Esther. He had reared her, he
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  Speaker 4: had trained her, He knew how far he could push,
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  Speaker 4: he knew her carriage. You have occasions in your life,
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  Speaker 4: brief vignettes, little windows of time, where you can step
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  Speaker 4: forward and tell your children to be brave, step forward
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  Speaker 4: and do it. There are times when you must call
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: upon your children to stand alone and to trust them
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  Speaker 4: to do it.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Esther's story reminds us that God often places an ordinary
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  Speaker 1: person in an extraordinary moment, not because they have all
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  Speaker 1: the answers, but because they're willing to act. This is
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: insight for living. Chucks. Wendall has been walking us through
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the remarkable book of Esther, and we have some excellent
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: resources for you to deepen your study. For example, there's
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the ester Bible Study Workbook from our Searching the Scripture's studies.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: It's an in depth companion to this series designed to
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: take you beyond Chuck's teaching into your own personal discovery
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: of the Bible. To purchase your Ester Bible Study workbook,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: go to insight dot org slash offer. Did you realize
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: that Chuck has also written a full length book on Esther.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: It's from the Great Lives series, and you'll love engaging
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: in Esther's story told only as Chuck can tell it.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Everyone loves a transformation story, rags to riches, obscurity to royalty,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: fear to fearless courage. But Esther's story isn't a fairy tale.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: It's a true account of an ordinary woman thrust into
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: extraordinary circumstances and the God who quietly worked behind every scene.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Chuck's book on Esther will take you deeper into her
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: world than you've ever been. You'll walk away with more
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: than inspiration. You'll walk away changed. To purchase Chucks Wendall's
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: full length book on Esther, visit insight dot org slash offer.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Thanks for remembering that insight for living is made possible
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: through voluntary donations. Do you recall the first time Chuck's
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: teaching stopped you in your tracks? Well, that moment, whenever
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: and wherever it was, was made possible by someone you'll
• 26:29
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• 26:33
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• 26:59
  Speaker 1: seven to two eighty eight eighty eight. I'm Bill Meyer.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Chucks Wendall continues to share his thoughts on thinking and
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Saying What's Right Regardless tomorrow on Insight for Living. The
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: preceding message, Thinking and Saying What's Right Regardless was copyrighted
• 27:25
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• 27:36
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