Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / After the Ache . . . Celebrate! │ Msg 1112

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After the Ache . . . Celebrate! │ Msg 1112 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: After the ache of their near extermination, the Jews had
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: much to celebrate. God had spared their lives through the
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  Speaker 1: most unlikely young woman. Early in her life, just an
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  Speaker 1: orphan girl who had won the heart of a king
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and swayed him ultimately to spare her people. Although the
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  Speaker 1: book of Esther does not mention God's name per se,
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  Speaker 1: Every page bears the marks of his handiwork. His unseen
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  Speaker 1: but glorious name, not the king's, nor Mordecai's, nor even
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Esther's name, but God's name is to be praised. The
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  Speaker 1: story of Esther was recorded so that when future generations
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  Speaker 1: of God's people recalled their hardships, they would look back
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  Speaker 1: not on the pain but on God's abiding presence and
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  Speaker 1: enduring faithfulness through the trial. Let me read for you
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  Speaker 1: sections from Esther chapter 9, and as I do, let
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  Speaker 1: your heart sing in celebration of God. Beginning in verse
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: 20 of chapter 9, Then Mordecai recorded these events, and
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  Speaker 1: he sent letters to all the Jews who were in
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  Speaker 1: all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
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  Speaker 1: obliging them to celebrate the 14th day of the month
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  Speaker 1: Adar and the 15th day of the same month annually,
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  Speaker 1: because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies.
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  Speaker 1: And it was a month which was turned for them
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  Speaker 1: from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.
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  Speaker 1: that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing
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  Speaker 1: and sending portions of food to one another and gifts
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  Speaker 1: to the poor. Thus the Jews undertook what they had
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  Speaker 1: started to do and what Mordecai had written to them.
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  Speaker 1: For Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, the adversary
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  Speaker 1: of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to
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  Speaker 1: destroy them and had cast purr that is, the lot,
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  Speaker 1: to disturb them and destroy them. But when it came
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  Speaker 1: to the king's attention, he commanded by letter that his
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  Speaker 1: wicked scheme, which he had devised against the Jews, should
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  Speaker 1: return on his own head, and that he and his
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  Speaker 1: sons should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore they called
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  Speaker 1: these days Purim, after the name of Pur, So these
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  Speaker 1: days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation,
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  Speaker 1: every family, every province, and every city. And these days
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  Speaker 1: of Purim were not to fail among the Jews or
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  Speaker 1: their memory fade from their descendants.
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  Speaker 2: Most Christians seem to handle pain better than pleasure. For
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  Speaker 2: some twisted and strange reason, we seem to do better
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  Speaker 2: with hard days than with easy days, with tough times
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  Speaker 2: rather than times of relief and celebration and leisure.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure our.
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  Speaker 2: Critics would tell us that it is because of our
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  Speaker 2: consuming guilt we simply cannot seem to reward ourselves for
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  Speaker 2: good times. Hard days and tough times we seem.
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  Speaker 1: To handle well.
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  Speaker 2: Stress and anxiety we not only experience, we tend to excuse.
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  Speaker 2: The times of reward, times of relief. If we're honest
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  Speaker 2: with ourselves, we tend to keep those times to ourselves.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Because even though.
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  Speaker 2: We may be among the few who can handle them,
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  Speaker 2: many of our friends cannot. We tend to weep with
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  Speaker 2: those who weep much more easily than rejoice with those
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: who rejoice, don't we? Most folks I know who take
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: a two-week vacation tell me that it takes about a
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  Speaker 2: week to begin to enjoy it. Often because we're so
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  Speaker 2: wound up, we don't relax, and sometimes it's because we
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  Speaker 2: have to take that long a time to give ourselves permission.
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  Speaker 2: to enjoy the rewards of a long year of work
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  Speaker 2: well done. Deep within our minds, there is sort of
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  Speaker 2: a bad news mentality. Have you noticed that about yourself?
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: If someone says to you at church on a given Sunday,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I want to talk to you before long
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  Speaker 2: about something that's been on my mind for quite some time,
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  Speaker 2: usually it's not a thought in your mind that says, oh,
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure he wants to tell me something real good.
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  Speaker 2: Often you find yourself saying, why don't you just tell
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  Speaker 2: me now so I don't have to worry about it
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  Speaker 2: for the next period of time. Or if someone says,
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  Speaker 2: I've written you a letter, you'll get it in a
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  Speaker 2: day or two.
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  Speaker 1: You go, oh no.
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  Speaker 2: Rather than a letter of affirmation, we expect confrontation.
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  Speaker 1: Why are we like that?
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  Speaker 2: One author writes, the highest and most desirable state of
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  Speaker 2: the soul is to praise God in celebration for being alive.
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  Speaker 2: Without perks, our lives are easily lost in the world
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  Speaker 2: of money, machines, anxiety, or inertia. Our poor splendid souls,
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  Speaker 2: how they fight for food. They have forgotten how to
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  Speaker 2: request the little perks. Our hurried, stressful, busy lives are
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  Speaker 2: unquestionably the most dangerous enemy of celebrating life itself. Somehow
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  Speaker 2: we must learn how to achieve momentary slowdowns, and request
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  Speaker 2: from God a heightened awareness of the conception that life
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  Speaker 2: is a happy thing, a festival to be enjoyed rather
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  Speaker 2: than a drudgery to be endured. Life is full of
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  Speaker 2: perks if we train ourselves to perceive them. As someone
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  Speaker 2: has said, a thousand tiny things from which one can
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  Speaker 2: Weave a bright necklace of little pleasures for one's life. Say,
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  Speaker 2: when is the last time you would weave together a
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  Speaker 2: bright necklace from the little pleasures of life?
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  Speaker 1: Take Christmas, for instance. Some of you say, yeah, take Christmas.
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  Speaker 1: That would be a relief. I believe that if our
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  Speaker 1: focus were right and if our attitude were right, not
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  Speaker 1: only would we enjoy the celebration of the day itself,
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  Speaker 1: we could even enjoy the.
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  Speaker 2: Busy times that lead up to it. You know, there
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  Speaker 2: are songs to sing. There are smells to smell at
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  Speaker 2: Christmas time. There are sounds to hear. We'll hear no
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  Speaker 2: other time of the year. My son was, the other day,
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  Speaker 2: saying to me, our youngest son said, I don't mind
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  Speaker 2: the crowds. He said, these people that get all their
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  Speaker 2: stuff bought in September and October, they miss all the fun.
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  Speaker 1: Of the crowds. I thought, that is a terrific attitude.
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  Speaker 1: What a great response.
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  Speaker 2: I heard a terrific story the other day of a
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  Speaker 2: hassled shopper who came into a busy department store and
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  Speaker 2: wormed her way to the cosmetic counter, and there was
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  Speaker 2: a busy sales lady gift wrapping one gift and waiting
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  Speaker 2: on two other ladies and the gal looking for something
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  Speaker 2: said rather hurriedly to the sales lady, say, do you
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  Speaker 2: still have Elizabeth Taylor's passion? And the sales lady said,
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  Speaker 2: if I did, honey, would I be working here? How
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  Speaker 2: great it is to hear you laugh. How wonderful it
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  Speaker 2: is that God has given us joy rather than a
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  Speaker 2: life full of mourning, tears, and sadness. I thought a
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  Speaker 2: lot about why we're like that.
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  Speaker 1: Why is it that we can even turn Christmas into
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  Speaker 1: a time of dread? I think I know.
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  Speaker 2: I believe our focus is more on the past than
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  Speaker 2: on the future. And being negative by nature, being bad.
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  Speaker 1: News people by habit, We tend to pick out of
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  Speaker 1: the past the.
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  Speaker 2: Things that make us sigh and let them bleed into
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  Speaker 2: the present so that they color and stain our every day.
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  Speaker 2: When I look back into the past and when you
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  Speaker 2: look back into the past, the things that make us
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  Speaker 2: sigh are four in number. People, events, circumstances, and decisions.
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  Speaker 2: There were people that we wronged. There were people who
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  Speaker 2: wronged us. There were occasions where conversations were held and
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  Speaker 2: we feel badly about what we said or we are
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  Speaker 2: hurt within when we remember and how we've recorded them
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  Speaker 2: of the things that were said by those individuals.
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  Speaker 1: And because of the past and the sadness connected with
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  Speaker 1: wrong relationships or unhappy, unfulfilling, unproductive relationships, our present is
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  Speaker 1: marred because of people of the past. It was the
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  Speaker 1: same in the days of Esther.
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  Speaker 2: As the Jews look back, I'm sure many of them
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  Speaker 2: would say, it's Haman I remember.
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  Speaker 1: It's Haman's henchmen. It's Haman's sons. It's Haman's followers.
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  Speaker 2: How miserable they have made our lives if they chose
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  Speaker 2: to do that and they would sigh. Looking back into
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  Speaker 2: the past at people who have made life miserable for us,
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  Speaker 2: who wouldn't sigh?
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  Speaker 1: Then there are events.
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  Speaker 2: When we look back, we don't remember the times of celebration,
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  Speaker 2: the great birthday parties, the fun things we attended, the
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  Speaker 2: joys of an evening around a fireplace, the pleasures of
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  Speaker 2: family together.
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  Speaker 1: You know what we remember? We remember earthquakes. Isn't it strange?
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  Speaker 2: Even the newspaper brings up anniversaries for earthquakes. I've never
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  Speaker 2: been able to understand. Three years ago today, we had
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  Speaker 2: a 5.6 shaker.
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  Speaker 1: I thought, so what? Who needs to remember it was
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  Speaker 1: three years ago today? Forget it. We live through it.
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  Speaker 1: We'll be able to go on beyond it.
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  Speaker 2: But if we're not careful, the events of our lives
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  Speaker 2: that are negative will stick. It would be true in
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  Speaker 2: the days of Esther, and they would sigh. The day
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  Speaker 2: the king wrote the edict, the day Haman handed it out,
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  Speaker 2: the day the couriers came to our province and announced,
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  Speaker 2: the Jews will die on the 13th of Adar, and
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  Speaker 2: don't you forget it.
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  Speaker 1: What a horrible event.
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  Speaker 2: And if they lived in the light of that event,
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  Speaker 2: their whole life would be negative, down, sad, and sorrowful.
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  Speaker 2: Then there are circumstances, conversations, difficult jams, situations we found
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  Speaker 2: ourselves in, relational barriers.
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  Speaker 1: It could be true in Esther's day, and it would
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  Speaker 1: be true in our day. And we would sigh.
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  Speaker 2: Perhaps the worst of the four would be decisions. There
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  Speaker 2: isn't a person listening to me right now who hasn't
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  Speaker 2: made wrong decisions. Who hasn't made a foolish decision. Who
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  Speaker 2: hasn't gone too far or not far enough. Who didn't
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  Speaker 2: step out on faith or who called it faith and
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  Speaker 2: it wasn't faith. It was presumption. And you look back
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  Speaker 2: now through the perspective of the past number of years
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  Speaker 2: and you You see it as a wrong decision or at.
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  Speaker 1: Least a weak one.
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  Speaker 2: And we're all hung up in today because we are
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  Speaker 2: snagged on the people and events and circumstances and the
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  Speaker 2: decisions of the past.
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  Speaker 1: None of which we can change. None. But the enemy
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  Speaker 1: of our souls continues to announce to us failures, wrongs, disappointments, disasters, calamities.
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  Speaker 2: And we try to put our lives together in this
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  Speaker 2: long tunnel called the present.
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  Speaker 1: We can't do it.
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  Speaker 2: Let me show you something from the book of Philippians
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  Speaker 2: chapter 3 before we turn back to the ancient scroll
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  Speaker 2: of Esther yet again. And let me show you 14
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  Speaker 2: words from the New Testament that can make a difference.
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  Speaker 2: These are words that I call the secret of celebrating life.
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  Speaker 1: How do I do it? What does it require?
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  Speaker 2: This isn't that complicated.
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  Speaker 1: But it will require some mental discipline.
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking at Philippians 3, 13 and 14. And there
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  Speaker 2: isn't a person listening right now who couldn't do better
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  Speaker 2: by applying what I'm going to read. In the middle
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  Speaker 2: of verse 13, we read, Forgetting what lies behind and
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  Speaker 2: reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on.
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  Speaker 1: There they are.
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  Speaker 2: Most of you are counting. Just make sure there are 14.
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  Speaker 2: When you finish that, please underline the words. Forgetting what
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  Speaker 2: lies behind.
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  Speaker 1: Look closely. That's only part of it. Reaching forward to.
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  Speaker 2: What lies ahead, I press on. You know what that
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  Speaker 2: kind of philosophy will do to your whole life? It
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  Speaker 2: will turn you into a celebrant. You will find that
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  Speaker 2: you mourn and sigh less, and you laugh at life
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  Speaker 2: with God by your side. Turn from Philippians 3 back
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  Speaker 2: to Esther chapter 3.
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  Speaker 1: Will you do that?
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  Speaker 2: By now your Bible probably opens automatically to this old
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  Speaker 2: book that had gathered so much dust over the years.
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  Speaker 2: By now you remember the story of the book, how
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  Speaker 2: the plot thickened, how disaster seemed to be written across
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  Speaker 2: every Jewish life, how doom was spelled so clearly, so eloquently,
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  Speaker 2: and how God changed the events to turn wrong into right.
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  Speaker 2: I'm reading from Esther 3. Locate verse 6, and let's
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  Speaker 2: begin about the middle of the verse.
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  Speaker 1: 3-6.
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  Speaker 2: Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people
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  Speaker 2: of Mordecai who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
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  Speaker 2: In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in
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  Speaker 2: the 12th year of King Ahasuerus, now circle this next word, Pur,
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  Speaker 2: that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day
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  Speaker 2: to day from month to month until the twelfth month,
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  Speaker 2: that is the month Adar.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds a little bit vague, a little oblique. Let me explain.
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  Speaker 2: You may recall when Haman was trying to decide when
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  Speaker 2: to carry out his plot to exterminate the Jews, he
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  Speaker 2: relied on an ancient custom of casting lots. A lot
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  Speaker 2: was called in those days pur, P-U-R. And in the
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  Speaker 2: casting of the lots in some strange manner as a
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  Speaker 2: result of continuing the process, he came upon a date,
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  Speaker 2: the 13th of Adar. What interests me is not only
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  Speaker 2: the date, but the name of the lot, Pur. Let's
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: take a little excursion in linguistics and let me help
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  Speaker 2: you with this. In English, we pluralize a word by
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  Speaker 2: adding S or ES most often. In Hebrew and its
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  Speaker 2: sister language Aramaic, a singular term is turned into plural
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  Speaker 2: by adding IM. The English word for angel is cherub.
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  Speaker 2: The Hebrew plural for cherub is not cherubs, but cherubim.
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  Speaker 2: Seraph is another kind of angel, and the plural for
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  Speaker 2: seraph is not seraphs, but seraphim. The god Baal is
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  Speaker 2: sometime proliferated through the Old Testament in multiple forms, and
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  Speaker 2: that's called not Baals, but Baalim, Baalim for plural. So
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  Speaker 2: if we were to pluralize pur and make the lot
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  Speaker 2: represent lots, plural, it would be Purim.
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  Speaker 1: Purim.
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  Speaker 2: He decided that there would be the final death knell
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  Speaker 2: on the Jews on a certain day. Locate verse 13
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  Speaker 2: of this third chapter. Letters were sent by couriers to
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  Speaker 2: all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, to annihilate
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  Speaker 2: all the Jews, both young and old, women and children,
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  Speaker 2: in one day. the 13th day of the 12th month,
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  Speaker 2: the month of Ar, to seize their possession as plunder.
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  Speaker 2: What is interesting, and you know the story now, is
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  Speaker 2: that between the third and the ninth chapter, the tables
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  Speaker 2: were turned. Haman was captured in all of his antisemitism
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  Speaker 2: and murder. And the queen's heart won the king's mind,
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  Speaker 2: and the king made the decision not only to kill Haman,
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  Speaker 2: but to wipe the slate clean and to remove the
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  Speaker 2: dread of the Jews from the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: And so this day.
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  Speaker 2: Of the 13th of Adar, which is their last month
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  Speaker 2: of the year, was turned from mourning and sadness to
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  Speaker 2: a time of celebration. As a matter of fact, when
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  Speaker 2: you turn to chapter 9, turn please, you'll discover that
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  Speaker 2: on the 13th of Adar, they, rather than being killed,
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  Speaker 2: turned tables on their enemies and annihilated many of them.
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  Speaker 2: Verse 16, chapter 9, the rest of the Jews who
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  Speaker 2: were in the king's provinces assembled to defend their lives
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  Speaker 2: and rid themselves of their enemies and kill 75,000 of
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  Speaker 2: those who hated them, but they did not lay their
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  Speaker 2: hands on the plunder. This was done look at this,
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  Speaker 2: on the very day they were originally to have died.
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  Speaker 2: And in honor of this remarkable switch of events, They
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  Speaker 2: declared a day of celebration, which you anticipate was named Purim,
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  Speaker 2: or the Feast of Purim, as we call it today.
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  Speaker 2: And to this day, it is still celebrated by the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: To this day.
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  Speaker 2: What was once going to be their death turned and became.
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  Speaker 1: Their future. their celebration. Aging Vance Havner, the evangelist, wrote
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: a little book entitled It Is Toward Evening. And in it,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: he tells the unforgettable story of a little town in
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  Speaker 1: Alabama that made its living raising cotton. One year, as
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: the cotton was growing and it appeared to be a
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  Speaker 1: bumper crop, the boll weevil invaded. devastated the crop and
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: destroyed the economy of that little town in Alabama. Farmers, however,
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  Speaker 1: are an ingenious lot and they were determined not to
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  Speaker 1: just simply sit back and move into the poorhouse. One
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  Speaker 1: of the farmers got the idea of planting peanuts instead.
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  Speaker 2: Bold weevils don't like peanuts. And another decided to plant
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  Speaker 2: yet another produce and others still others And before long,
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  Speaker 2: bumper crops of these began to bring the economy back
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  Speaker 2: to what later came to be known as Enterprise, Alabama.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's significant. And do you know what they did?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they erected a monument to the boll weevil.
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  Speaker 1: It's there to this day.
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  Speaker 2: Vance Havner writes, all things work together for good to
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  Speaker 2: the Christians. even our boll weevil experiences. Sometimes we settle
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  Speaker 2: into a humdrum routine as monotonous as growing cotton year
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  Speaker 2: after year. Then God sends the boll weevil. He jolts
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  Speaker 2: us out of our groove and we.
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  Speaker 1: Must find new ways to live.
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  Speaker 2: Financial reverses, great bereavement, physical infirmity, loss of position, How
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  Speaker 2: many have been driven by trouble to be better husbandmen
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  Speaker 2: and to bring forth far finer fruit from their souls?
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  Speaker 2: The best thing that ever happened to some of us
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  Speaker 2: was the coming.
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  Speaker 1: Of our bull weevil.
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  Speaker 2: Without that, we might still have been a cotton sharecropper.
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  Speaker 2: I'm speaking to people today, all of whom could raise
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  Speaker 2: up your own monument to the boll weevil.
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  Speaker 1: It invaded your life. It took your joy.
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  Speaker 2: It had the audacity to come without invitation and probably
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  Speaker 2: by surprise. And it devastated your faith at the time.
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  Speaker 2: You were cut down to size. The lot was cast.
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  Speaker 2: But your problem is you haven't yet built your monument.
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  Speaker 2: You haven't established Purim.
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  Speaker 1: You're feasting.
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  Speaker 2: You're still living in the sigh and the pain of
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  Speaker 2: all the sadness that comes over you when you remember
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  Speaker 2: the brokenness.
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  Speaker 1: That's what this is about.
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  Speaker 2: This isn't the story about some ancient feast. Not just that.
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  Speaker 1: It is that. But it's so much more. God has
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  Speaker 1: given us his word not to teach us dates and
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew words. He's given us his word to reconstruct our lives.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: To build monuments where we once wept and bled and
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: some died. Where lives were hurt and hearts were hardened.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: And we were devastated. But forgetting that which lies behind
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: and moving toward that which lies ahead, this is the
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: way to press on. Don't just forget the past. Don't just,
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: with the passing of your hands, say, oh yeah, it
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: was awful.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Build a monument. Celebrate the feast.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Pass along the lessons that led to the maturity and
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: the changes that were so essential in your life and
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: so different from when you were just a cotton sharecropper.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: But I read verses 17, 18, and 19. I read
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: about a people who.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Decided, let's name this day a day for a holiday.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Let's call it Purim. which could be translated, in your face, Haman,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: or something like that. Here's to you, Haman. Here's to
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: our God. Look at 17.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: It's wonderful. All this annihilation of the enemy was done
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: on the 13th day of the month Adar, and on
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the 14th day.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: They rested, of course. They made it a day of
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: feasting and rejoicing. How appropriate.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: The Jews who were in Susa assembled on the 13th
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: and the 14th day of the same month.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: They rested on the 15th day. Took them a little
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: longer to kill their enemies. And they made it the
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: day of feasting and rejoicing. How appropriate. How good.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Therefore, the Jews of the rural areas who live in
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: the rural towns make the 14th day of the month
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Adar a holiday for rejoicing and feasting and sending portions
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: of food to one another. One of the early Christmas times.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: They wrap up gifts and send them to friends.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Especially to the poor.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: It reminds me of the spontaneous celebration that occurred shortly
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: after Jamestown and Plymouth. But after enduring the bitterness of winter,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: the early forefathers of our great country decided to kill
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: a few wild turkeys and in primitive kind of ovens
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: to bake fine cakes and pies.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: And to pull from.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: The land some of the produce and from the sea
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: some of the fish and have.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: A feast to celebrate a giving of thanks to God
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: for surviving the awful winters of the past. It wasn't
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: official until the governor of Massachusetts made it official in
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: their new England But until then, it was a spontaneous
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: celebration of praise. It was their Purim.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Those in the old country said, you will never make it.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: You will regret it.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: And it was their thanksgiving to God for changing their
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: sorrow into joy. It becomes official at verse 20 down
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: through verse 28 and how significant these words appear. Mordecai
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: whom I believe wrote the book of Esther recorded these
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: events and he sent letters to all the Jews who
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus both near
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: and far. Now take notice of several things in this
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: present time. First of all notice the.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Date of the celebration.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Obliging them to celebrate the 14th day of the month
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: and the 15th day of the same month annually. So
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: it was to be an annual holiday. Two holidays, really,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: the 13th and the 14th. Next, notice the reason for
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: the holiday. Because on those days, the Jews rid themselves
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: of their enemies. And it was a month which was
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: turned for them from sorrow into gladness, from mourning into
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: a holiday. You see, they had already planned who would
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: be buried where. And who would die and how? I mean,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: the families had perhaps rehearsed it in their mind over
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: the dinner table. They knew it was coming until God intervened.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: And now they chose the very days when they would
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: have been annihilated and exterminated. And they turned those days
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: from sadness and mourning to rejoicing and celebration.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: It was to.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Acknowledge the change of events. That's the reason for this
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: time of celebration. Look at the expression of it.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: 22 continues.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: That they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: and sending portions of food to one another and gifts
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: to the poor. This is all being written into the record.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: This is the way it will be for the Jews
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: from henceforth. Then the name of the holidays.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Thus the Jews undertook what they had started to do
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman, the
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: son of Hamadathah, the Hagagite.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: The adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against them
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: to destroy them and had cast poor, that is the lot,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: to disturb them and to destroy them. And when it
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: came to the king's attention, He commanded by letter that
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: his wicked scheme, which he had devised against the Jews,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: should return on his own head and that he and
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: his son should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore, call
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: these days Purim, after the name of Pur. And because
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: of the instructions in this letter, both what they had
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: seen in this regard and what had happened to them,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: let it be written. The custom was to take place annually.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: The Jews established and made a custom for themselves and
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: for their descendants, for all who allied themselves with them.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Look at this, so that they should not fail to mourn.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: No, to celebrate. To celebrate two days according to their
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: regulation and according to their appointed time annually. Ask many
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: people what the book of Esther represents, they will tell
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: you it's a book of tragedy. I don't read tragedy
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: in Esther.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: They will tell you it's the early Holocaust. There's no
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Holocaust in Esther. There's a threat of a Holocaust. Do
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: you know this is the only book the Jews can
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: turn to to find the roots for their holidays of Purim?
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: Do you know when they still to this day read
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: from the scrolls of Esther that little children and young
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: adults and old alike, when the name Haman is mentioned,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: they pound on their their desks and they pound on
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: tables and even with shoes they pound on pieces of
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: wood boo and hiss and then others when they announce
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Mordecai and Esther they cheer and they shout voices with
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: the voices of joy in honor of Esther it's a
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: it's a reenactment of the story of triumph it's called
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Purim look at 28 Here's the purpose. So these days
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: And by the way, it's still going on.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Every family, every province, and every city. And these days
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: of Purim.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Were not to fail from among the Jews or their
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: memory fade from their descendants. There it is.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: You know, in two or three generations, Nobody would have
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: remembered Purim.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Oh, only a few.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: But it's like talking to today's generation about the difficulties
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: of World War II. And they listen. They smile a
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: bit or cock their head to the side. And they
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: have no memory of what many of us call the
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Great War. You know, in another generation, Vietnam will just
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: be a place on the map. There will be no memory.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: There will be no sense of anguish, no sadness over loss.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Even the emotion would be gone if it weren't for
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: the establishment of a celebration. You see, this is the
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: reason many of us appreciate a return to Washington, D.C.,
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: a city of memorials and monuments. Don't you love going there?
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: It is one city that has not considered monuments and extravagance.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: A number of years ago, my daughter and I jogged
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: early one morning in Washington, DC. It was in the summer,
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: the sun was just coming up, and we ran from
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: our hotel down to the Washington Monument and turned and
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: along the lagoon to the Lincoln Memorial and then over
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: and around the Jefferson Memorial and then back down to
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: the Vietnam Memorial. At each memorial, we slowed a pace
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: and we talked as we ran together. We rehearsed a
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: bit of the life or a bit of the history
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: that that memorial represented. Memorials represent places to stand and
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: to be quiet, to read, and to reflect and to
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: pass on to the next generation the roots of a
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: nation's heritage. They give the past significance because they give
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: the past perspective.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: Men and women, my.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: One of my main fears of life and lifestyle where.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Most of us live.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: Is that we have so few memorials, so few monuments,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: even mental monuments. Life is lived in the fast lane,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: quick decisions, quick money, fast action. strong competition, so little
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: time spent stopping.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: And recording and learning.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: Have you observed that a divorce can come and sweep
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: across a family and break it and bruise it and.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Life goes right on?
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: That a young woman can get an abortion And those
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: who know pluck their tongues, frown, shake.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Their head, and life goes on. And she.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Later regrets it with words she cannot even utter. But
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: life goes on. And for another, there's a financial reversal
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: and a business fails and.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Life goes on. And still another, there's a death. or
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: a heartache or a scandal. And before long it's swept
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: up in the whirlwind of activity and life goes on.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: And we're left with the anguish of a memory and
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: so little perspective. You see, In order for there to
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: be perspectives over these things, there must be monuments. There
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: must be memorials. And they must be returned to and
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: learned from.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: And passed on. There must be the Purim's in our
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: lives without which we live rootless fast lane lives without
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: much significance. And you know the worst part of all?
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Our children learn less.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: Than little, often nothing from our failures, our brokenness, and
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: our sorrows. If anything, they learn only to hate like
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: we hated, and to get revenge like we sought to do,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: or simply to drink themselves to sleep like so many
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: choose to do. In 29 through 32, at the end
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: of the story, all of it is made official. Queen
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: Esther steps in and writes with full authority along with
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: Mordecai to confirm this letter about Purim And then the
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: letters are sent to all the Jews in all the provinces,
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: according to verse 30. And they established those days of
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: and Queen Esther had established for them.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: And the command of Esther, this chapter concludes, establishes these
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: customs for Purim, and it is written in the book.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: There's a memorial established. There's a holiday established. for reflection.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: And to this day, even little children centuries removed from
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: the days of Esther take off their shoes and pound
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: on desks to remember the name of Haman and cheer
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: to the top of their voice as.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: They listen again to the name of Mordecai and the
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: name of Esther. They still learn from the ancient scroll.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: What is all of this saying? How does it relate
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: to our lives today? Pray tell.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: Well, most of all, I think it's saying all of us,
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: when looking back, can see sadness and remorse and nothing else.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Unless perspective is provided. And I think it is saying.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Unless we provide some kind of perspective, we will do
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: nothing but sigh and grieve.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Over our past.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: In light of that, I have a suggestion and I
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: have a warning. My suggestion is this, that each one
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: of us raise up memorials Mental monuments that turn tragedies
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: into triumphs.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Each one of us.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: That we raise up memorials to turn tragedies into triumphs.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Webster says a monument is a lasting evidence of something
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: or someone notable. Webster defines memorial serving to Preserve remembrance,
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: a commemoration. Think back for a moment to the coming
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: of the boll weevil. All of you are old enough
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: to have a few crop failures, disasters.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Think back.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: Have you built a monument to it? It may be
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: too close and too raw for you to do it today,
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: but don't spend the rest of your life licking your
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: wounds over yesteryear, or you will experience a grim future.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: What did you learn from it? How did it turn
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: in your life? You can't change it.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: It's over. Sure, you should have known better.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: Sure, I could leave you with all kinds of shame
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: on the shoulds and and woods and aughts that I
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: could lay on you. You could lay on me. But
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: what did you learn from it? You see, it's that
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: that's worth passing on to the next generation and the next.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: Here's the warning.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: Don't turn the memorial into a shrine. Isn't it strange
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: those who travel in the land of Israel today are
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: told this is a piece of wood from the cross?
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: And this is a piece of wood from the cross.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: One cynic said, if I gathered up all the wood
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: that was told me to be a piece of.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: The cross, I could have built a battleship. Who cares
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: about a piece of wood from the cross? It isn't
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: in existence. Who needs it? What I need is a
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: memorial and God's given it in the table. The bread
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: and the cup. That's the memorial of the cross. And
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: he left it as a legacy for people of faith.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: And every time we sit at the table, children are to.
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: Understand, sweetheart, the bread represents the body. Honey, this piece
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: of bread is for his body, which was given for,
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: and the juice, this represents his blood.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: This is a memorial. And we remember this because he
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: died for us. But it isn't a place to worship.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: We don't worship the elements. We don't bow before the
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: table where they're served. We worship the memory and the significance,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: the triumph of the cross.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: This is what makes Christmas so wonderful. See, the enemy
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: would love that we just do nothing.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: But keep it merry. Just Merry Christmas.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: The legend is told of the time Satan and his
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: demons were having a Christmas party. As the demonic guests
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: were preparing to depart, one grinned and said to Satan,
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: Merry Christmas, Your Majesty. At that, Satan replied with a growl, Yes,
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: keep it merry. If they ever get serious about it,
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: we'll all.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Be in trouble.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: Get serious about it. It is the birth of the baby.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: It is the coming of God. It is the intervention
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: of God's presence.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: Get serious.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: It is the invitation to take Him and own Him
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: as Lord, Master. Don't seek to find the site where
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: he was crucified. Don't seek to locate the tomb from
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: which he was raised. They've made them all into shrines.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: You need the Savior. Really, what I offer today is
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: an answer to the ache of life. An answer to
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: the Hamans whose shadows have crossed your lives and to
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: the would-have-been holocausts that would have devastated your existence. I
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: suggest you make a memorial out of it. And the
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: lessons you learned from it that have turned you into
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: a person God wanted you to be, those are the
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: things to pass on and on and on. I don't
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: know what all of this says to anyone else, but
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: it says a whale of a lot to me. It says,
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: I'm grateful for a book that has recorded the whole
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: story that hasn't quite yet ended. It will next time.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: But it's a story of triumph that grew out of tragedy,
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: ecstasy out of agony, celebration.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Out of an ache.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: When they nailed him on a cross, I imagine that
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: night a lot of them got drunk. I'm sure they
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: toasted one another with triumphal words.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: I'm sure the.
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: Empty-headed fools that ran the government thought, another crazy gone
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: from us.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: Finally got rid of that headache.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: In the eerie hours of the morning, three days later,
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: there was the beginning of a celebration. And that's a
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: message we return to every Easter because God gave us
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: a memorial. My question to you is how long will
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: you stay at the ache and the heartache and the
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: brokenness of your pain?
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: When will it become for you a Purim? A time
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: to learn and to pass on the lessons. The beginning
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: of the rest of your life.
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: When?
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Let's bow together, shall we?
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: Imagine for a moment stepping before the real tomb from
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: which he was raised. Imagine looking into the distance and
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: seeing the.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: Shadow of the real cross.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: That the sands of time have not erased. The real scene.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: Now imagine standing before him. whose hands are scarred, whose
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: side was pierced.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: Are you real sure.
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: You have a relationship with him that will take you
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: into and beyond eternity? Are you certain he is your
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: God and Savior? He invites wise people to come to
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: him to this day To see themselves in their sin
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: and lostness and brokenness.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: And to come and join the company of the faithful.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: To come and adore him. Our Father, we realize that
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: in life there are these events that occur that bring
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: us a deep ache of heart. In fact, they break
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: our hearts. They're hard to bear. They're hard to hear.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: They're hard to deal with. They're hard to recover from.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: But when we begin to get your perspective on these things,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: when we begin to see your hand at work, turning
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: our heartaches into causes of celebration, we realize yet again
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: that the life of faith pays off. Thank you for
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: honoring your name, even through the midst of our trials.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you for a reminder that in the end, you win.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, for personalizing events in such special ways
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: to make us realize that memorials can be built in
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: places of monuments of misery or memories that break our hearts.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: Bring us back to those memorials from time to time
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: to strengthen our faith as we call to mind what
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: you have done in turning curses and heartaches into causes
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: of celebration blessing. We thank you for all of this,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: and we claim these things today by faith. In the
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, our triumphant King, Amen.
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, After the Ache, Celebrate, was copyrighted in 1989, 1990, 1997, 2005,
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: and 2018 and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: strictly prohibited.