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Thinking-and-Saying-What-s-Right-Regardless · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: For the people of ancient Persia, life had turned leak
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  Speaker 1: overnight because of an evil scheme. Every Jewish person in
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  Speaker 1: the land was living on borrowed time. It would take
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  Speaker 1: a miracle to thwart the plan and convince the king
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  Speaker 1: to change directions. Today on inside for living Chucks Wendaul
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  Speaker 1: uses this life threatening conflict to ask a penetrating question,
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  Speaker 1: one that's just as relevant today. Does one person really
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  Speaker 1: make a difference? Chuck's answer may surprise you and move
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  Speaker 1: you to action. We begin in Esther Chapter three, Chuck
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  Speaker 1: titled today's message thinking and saying what's right.
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  Speaker 2: Regardless, the Jews have been threatened with extermination. Look at
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  Speaker 2: verse thirteen ofter three and you'll see it. In one verse,
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  Speaker 2: letters were sent by couriers to all the King's provinces
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  Speaker 2: to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews,
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  Speaker 2: both young and old, women and children in one day,
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  Speaker 2: the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the
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  Speaker 2: month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder. That's
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  Speaker 2: the plan. It has the makings of the worst kind
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  Speaker 2: of holocaust. What a day for a heroic patriot to
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  Speaker 2: step forward. And her name is Esther follow the story
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  Speaker 2: as we find the response of the people. Beginning at
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  Speaker 2: verse one of chapter four, they are lost in mourning
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  Speaker 2: and weeping. When Mordecai 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: when out into the midst of the city and wailed
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  Speaker 2: loudly and bitterly. Then Esther summoned Hathak from the king's eunuchs,
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure one of the runners, one of her trusted assistants,
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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. She doesn't know. Mordecai knows that
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  Speaker 2: he has put the issue on the line for Esther,
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  Speaker 2: and he knows if she acts on this, it could
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  Speaker 2: mean her life. This is no time for rumor. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: the last of verse eight says, order her to go
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  Speaker 2: into the king to implore his favor and to plead
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  Speaker 2: with him for her people tell her that's what she's
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  Speaker 2: to do. Esther said verse eleven. All the king's servants
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  Speaker 2: and the people of the king's provinces know for any
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  Speaker 2: man or woman who comes to the king to the
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  Speaker 2: inner court, who is not summoned. He has but one law,
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  Speaker 2: that he be put to death unless the King holds
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  Speaker 2: out to him the golden scepter so that he may live.
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  Speaker 2: And I have not been summoned to come to the
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  Speaker 2: king for these thirty days. I'm not sure I can
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  Speaker 2: do that. It's a dilemma. You see. Mordecai knew Esther,
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  Speaker 2: he had reared her, he had trained her. He knew
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  Speaker 2: how far he could push. He knew her character. So
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  Speaker 2: do all wise parents, who at times must be the
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  Speaker 2: reason their children develop character. You have occasions in your life,
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  Speaker 2: brief vignettes, little windows of time for you can step
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  Speaker 2: forward until your children to be brave, step forward and
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  Speaker 2: do it. There are times when you must call upon
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  Speaker 2: your children to stand alone and to trust them to
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  Speaker 2: do it. Mordecai is at that moment, and he receives
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  Speaker 2: Haythak's answer back, and he tightens a sash on his
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  Speaker 2: sackcloth Verse thirteen. He 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. I
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  Speaker 2: love that he says he really follows three tracks. First,
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  Speaker 2: if you do nothing, don't think you will escape death.
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  Speaker 2: You do or die. But second, don't make too much
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  Speaker 2: of this. God is not limited to you or me.
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  Speaker 2: It may be in his plan to have us removed,
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  Speaker 2: but his people will not die. He will use someone,
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  Speaker 2: and so Third, how great it would be if he
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  Speaker 2: would use you. Could it be that you have attained
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  Speaker 2: royalty for such a time as this. Could it be
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  Speaker 2: that you have been given this promotion, my friend, for
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  Speaker 2: such a time as this. Could it be that God
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  Speaker 2: brought you into this situation, for this moment and for
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  Speaker 2: this hour? Well a great speech. Winston Churchill was a
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  Speaker 2: master of such remarks. In a speech to the British
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  Speaker 2: in the House of Commons June eighteenth, nineteen forty, I
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  Speaker 2: wish I had that great British accent to read his words.
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  Speaker 2: Let us brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear
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  Speaker 2: ourselves that if the British Empire and its commonwealth last
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  Speaker 2: for a thousand years, men will still say this was
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  Speaker 2: their finest hour, and not quite four months later to
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  Speaker 2: an even greater broken Great Brittain. Death and sorrow will
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  Speaker 2: be the companions of our journey, hardship, our garment, constancy,
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  Speaker 2: our valor and our only shield. We must be united,
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  Speaker 2: we must be undaunted, We must be inflexible. Stand, don't stop,
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  Speaker 2: stand alone, fight to the end. Great moment. It's a
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  Speaker 2: Patrick Henry's give me liberty or give me death. It's
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  Speaker 2: a Nathan Hales. I regret that I have but one
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  Speaker 2: life to lose for my country. It is patriotism as
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  Speaker 2: fest And he says to Esther, this is your hour. Stand, speak, die,
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  Speaker 2: But whatever you do, don't be silent. Verse fifteen makes
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  Speaker 2: you love her all the more. Then Esther told him,
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  Speaker 2: you see something has changed. Now, she said, time to think.
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  Speaker 2: She's had to weigh her words. And now his counsel
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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 Sousa, 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 2: And I and my maidens also will fast in the
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  Speaker 2: same way. And thus I will go into the king.
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  Speaker 2: Look at those great words I will go, I will go.
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  Speaker 2: I'll do that which is not according to the law.
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  Speaker 2: And if I perish, I perish. Is that a great
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  Speaker 2: answer or what is this a great woman? Is she
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  Speaker 2: going to make a difference? If I perish, I perish.
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  Speaker 2: If a guard drives a sword through my body, I
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  Speaker 2: die doing the right thing. She has changed from fear
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  Speaker 2: to abandonment and faith, from hesitation to confidence and determination,
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  Speaker 2: from concern for her own safety to concern for her
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  Speaker 2: people's survival. It can happen in a life just like that,
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  Speaker 2: from a message just like this, and you find yourself
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  Speaker 2: realizing there is a cause. Do you recall when young
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  Speaker 2: David was taken from the sheep and asked by his
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  Speaker 2: father to bring a few cheeseburgers to the fellows in
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  Speaker 2: the field at the valley of Ela, there was this
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  Speaker 2: uncircumcised philistine roaming like that giant across the way, taunting
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  Speaker 2: and blaspheming the God of Israel. Young David comes and
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  Speaker 2: serves the burghers and the guys are munching on him,
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  Speaker 2: and he asked, what's going on? And he says, let's
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  Speaker 2: do something about it. His older brother, remember eliab oh
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  Speaker 2: older brothers tend to do this. Oh, so you're gonna
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  Speaker 2: be the big time hero. How are all those little
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  Speaker 2: sheep doing while you're out here in the field with us?
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  Speaker 2: And David says, is there not a cause? And he
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  Speaker 2: whips out this slingshot hits him right between the running
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  Speaker 2: lights and the giant falls. Of course there is a cause.
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  Speaker 2: What do we do sitting around in our tents with
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  Speaker 2: knees knocking? There is a giant out there who hates
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  Speaker 2: the cause of the living God. What are you men
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  Speaker 2: doing here? I mean, I'm just nive enough to believe
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  Speaker 2: our God will fight for us. If I perish, I perish.
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  Speaker 2: You know what Esther realized, She realized there is an enemy. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: she realized other things, but she especially realized that. I
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  Speaker 2: think for the first time, the softness of the palace
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  Speaker 2: became uncomfortable, and she realized that there is being bred
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  Speaker 2: in this country the plot of the adversary. And that
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  Speaker 2: does something to you. Eugene Peterson, in his great work
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  Speaker 2: Five Smooth Stones rites, wherever there is a people of God,
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  Speaker 2: there are enemies of God. A realization that there is
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  Speaker 2: in fact an enemy forces a reassessment of priorities. The
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  Speaker 2: moment Hayman surfaced. Esther began to move from being a
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  Speaker 2: beauty queen to becoming a Jewish saint, from being an
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  Speaker 2: empty headed sex symbol to being a passionate intercessor, from
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  Speaker 2: the busy, indolent life in the Harem to the high
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  Speaker 2: risk venture of speaking for and identifying with God's people.
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  Speaker 2: Enough of the easy life. It's time to put my
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  Speaker 2: name on the line. I am Jewish, and I stand
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  Speaker 2: for my people. If I perish, I perish. It occurs
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  Speaker 2: to me that if Esther had lived in the days
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  Speaker 2: of Isaac Watts, she could have paraphrased his hymn, I
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  Speaker 2: am a soldier of the Cross. I am a follower
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  Speaker 2: of the Lamb, and I will not fear to own
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  Speaker 2: his cause or blush to speak his name. There are
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  Speaker 2: foes for me to and I will stem the flood.
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  Speaker 2: This vile world is no friend to grace. To help
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  Speaker 2: me onto God. This isn't a book about Persian history.
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  Speaker 2: You've heard me say that every time we've gotten together.
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  Speaker 2: This isn't to help you put together the events in
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  Speaker 2: the life of a haju Earas and Aimen and to
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  Speaker 2: harmonize them with Mordecai and Esther and a few other
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  Speaker 2: Jewish characters along with the gentiles. This is a book
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  Speaker 2: about life. This is a book about standing alone, the
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  Speaker 2: personal involvement of each individual. Remember my opening comment. In
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  Speaker 2: an overpopulated world, it is easy to underestimate the significance
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  Speaker 2: of one. Let me make it even more personal. In
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  Speaker 2: an overpopulated world like this time, it is easy to
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  Speaker 2: underestimate the value of you, your vote, your convictions, your
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  Speaker 2: determination to say we stand against this. I'll tell you
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  Speaker 2: it makes a difference in your family when they see
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  Speaker 2: a dad and or a mother do that. I was
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  Speaker 2: only nine years old when my dad broke the picket
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  Speaker 2: line and the Machinist Union back in the days of
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  Speaker 2: the war, when the union had the audacity to go
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  Speaker 2: on strike. My father's patriotism and love for his family
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  Speaker 2: was greater than his loyalty to some union. And I
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  Speaker 2: remember his driving our forty one Ford home with broken
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  Speaker 2: windshields and eggs running down the side of the car
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  Speaker 2: now dried because he was willing to be called a
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  Speaker 2: scab for his convictions. And it left an impression on
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  Speaker 2: this nine year old boy, and my eleven year old
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  Speaker 2: sister and my twelve year old brother. We learned it's
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  Speaker 2: important enough to stand alone, even when friends don't understand,
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  Speaker 2: even when coworkers disagree. The major issue arises from this message.
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  Speaker 2: What does it matter if I get involved or not?
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  Speaker 2: It matters all the world to your character. Yes, God
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  Speaker 2: has other ways, He has other people. He isn't frustrated
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  Speaker 2: because you and I may be indifferent. But how wonderful
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  Speaker 2: it would be to think that we have been elevated
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  Speaker 2: to this position or to this generation for such an
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  Speaker 2: hour as this may. I ask some specific questions about issues.
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  Speaker 2: What is your involvement in helping dysfunctional families? How about
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  Speaker 2: those who are homeless and hungry? How about those who
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  Speaker 2: are addicted to drugs and or drink? What do you
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  Speaker 2: do for the orphans? What do you do for the
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  Speaker 2: sake of morality or to stand against pornography or to
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  Speaker 2: support the cause of a pro life movement against abortion?
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  Speaker 2: Where do you stand as it relates to prejudice, the
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  Speaker 2: absence of masculinity, the whole extreme feminist movement, sexual abuse.
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  Speaker 2: How about the subject of the races as they are
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  Speaker 2: moving in greater numbers into our community, helping them with
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  Speaker 2: the language of this country and the culture. What about
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  Speaker 2: the developmentally disabled? Is it a pad on the head,
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  Speaker 2: a soft, piteous comment to those that are in a wheelchair,
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  Speaker 2: and we pass on our own way. I met a
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  Speaker 2: man this past week. I spent lunch with him who
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  Speaker 2: has decided to get off the fence as it relates
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  Speaker 2: to to the developmentally disabled. He is now editor of
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: a magazine that comes out quarterly, doing a marvelous job.
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  Speaker 2: It's been a seminars. I was thrilled to say ours
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  Speaker 2: was one of the few evangelical churches listed in the
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  Speaker 2: entire seminar. What do you do to fight the cause
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  Speaker 2: of crime the mistreatment of children? You say, well, I
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  Speaker 2: don't march. I don't march against the law. I don't
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  Speaker 2: believe in blocking the way to abortion clinic. All right,
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  Speaker 2: have you opened your home to an unwed mother. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not asking you to do it someone else's way. I'm saying,
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  Speaker 2: do something be counted? Say I vote against it, I
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  Speaker 2: stand for this against that. Normally you don't have to
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  Speaker 2: be obnoxious about it. Sometime you have to make such
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  Speaker 2: a stand that it does get some kind of attention.
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  Speaker 2: But whatever may be your way of expressing it, for
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  Speaker 2: God's sake, express it if you perish, You perish, big deal.
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  Speaker 2: Absent from the body at home with the Lord. At
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  Speaker 2: least they'll go home a patriot. Two principles emerge from
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  Speaker 2: this From this passage, they tie together. They won't be
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  Speaker 2: easy to hear. First, Not until we believe one person
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  Speaker 2: can make a difference, will we be willing to risk.
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  Speaker 2: Not until we believe one person can make a difference,
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  Speaker 2: will we be willing to risk. You remember the third
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  Speaker 2: stanza of that hymn, God of Grace and God of glory.
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  Speaker 2: Set our feet on lofty places, gird our lives that
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  Speaker 2: they may be armored with all christ Like graces in
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  Speaker 2: the fight to set men free. Grant us wisdom, Grant
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  Speaker 2: us courage, that we fail, not man nor thee. That
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  Speaker 2: we fail, not man nor thee. Don't be so careful
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  Speaker 2: protecting your own backside. Don't worry that much about what
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  Speaker 2: they will think. You don't answer to them. You answer
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  Speaker 2: to Him. He will help, He will give you wisdom, courage,
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  Speaker 2: grace to him is a prayer. Grant us these things,
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  Speaker 2: and we need them. It isn't as easy as my
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: simply naming a list of evils and wrongs. It involves
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  Speaker 2: getting well here's my next point. Out of the realm
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  Speaker 2: of theory. I was going to say point number two.
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  Speaker 2: Only when we move from the safe harbor of theory
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  Speaker 2: to the world of reality do we actually make a difference.
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  Speaker 2: Only when we move from the safe harbor of theory
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  Speaker 2: to the world of reality do we actually make a difference.
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  Speaker 2: When it comes time to vote, we vote. We don't
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  Speaker 2: think how good it would be to vote. We don't
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  Speaker 2: simply inform someone the best way to vote. We vote.
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  Speaker 2: We vote our conscience. We vote believing we have been
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  Speaker 2: informed correctly. And we vote. We go to the trouble.
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  Speaker 2: We pay the price. Men and women have died that
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  Speaker 2: we might have the privilege. When an issue arises and
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  Speaker 2: we stand against it, we say I stand against it.
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  Speaker 2: Don't wait for this church to say it for you.
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  Speaker 2: Don't wait for this pastor to give you a policy
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  Speaker 2: or permission. Doesn't mean I don't have what it means.
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  Speaker 2: I don't make edicts for this church, nor will I
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  Speaker 2: begin to. You are a thinking citizen, an individual who
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  Speaker 2: knows Christ. Do something about it, say something about it
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  Speaker 2: stand alone. It's the deed that matters, one man writes,
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  Speaker 2: grant us the will to fashion as we feel. Grant
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  Speaker 2: us the strength to labor, as we know, grant us
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  Speaker 2: the purpose, ribbed and edged with steel to strike the blow. Knowledge.
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  Speaker 2: We ask not knowledge, thou hast lent, but Lord, the will.
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  Speaker 2: The will there lies our bitter need. Give us to
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  Speaker 2: build above the deep intent the deed, the deed. We
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  Speaker 2: evangelicals are great on evangelical theory, great on theological theory,
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  Speaker 2: great on moral theory. The deed the deed. We are
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  Speaker 2: not rewarded for our theories. We are rewarded for the deed.
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  Speaker 2: Does one make a difference? Ah did Christ, God so
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  Speaker 2: loved the world that he did something. He didn't select
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  Speaker 2: a committee, He didn't theorize how great it would be
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  Speaker 2: for someone to come to our rescue. He didn't write
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  Speaker 2: a book about it. Not then later he did something,
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  Speaker 2: and the son of God said to God the Father,
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  Speaker 2: I will go. And he took upon himself the form
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  Speaker 2: of a servant, and was made in the fashion of men.
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  Speaker 2: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
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  Speaker 2: himself and became obedient to the death, even the death
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  Speaker 2: on a cross. He did something about it, and that's
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  Speaker 2: why we can be saved. We don't believe in a theory.
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  Speaker 2: We believe in a revolutionary faith that comes from the
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  Speaker 2: person of Christ who died that we might live. Listen
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  Speaker 2: to this. He didn't just think how good it would
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  Speaker 2: be to die. He died that we might live and
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  Speaker 2: die with him. Maybe bout together, Please close your eyes.
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  Speaker 2: The question is not what do you think of Christ?
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  Speaker 2: The question is what have you done about what you think?
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  Speaker 2: The issue is not how do you feel about the
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  Speaker 2: message of the Gospel. The issue is what have you
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  Speaker 2: done about the gospel? Christ has come into the world
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  Speaker 2: to save sinners. There is one God and one mediator,
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  Speaker 2: one only one between God and man, the man Christ, Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: Have you come to God through the Mediator? Have you
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  Speaker 2: given your life to Jesus Christ? Have you said, even
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  Speaker 2: though I may perish, even though I may be an outcast,
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  Speaker 2: even though no one will understand family, my friends, I
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  Speaker 2: will this day do something about this matter of my sin.
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  Speaker 2: Until you do, you are lost. Lost. Whosoever believes in
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  Speaker 2: the Son of God no longer has the wrath of
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  Speaker 2: God upon him, but is accepted in the Beloved. Come today.
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  Speaker 2: You may be the only one hearing the message today
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  Speaker 2: that needs to respond by faith to Jesus Christ, be
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  Speaker 2: courageous enough to respond. God of Grace and God of glory,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: set our feet on lofty places, gird our lives that
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: they may be armored with all christ Like graces in
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: the fight to set men free. Grandest wisdom, grandest courage,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: that we fail not man, are the enable us to
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: be true to our convictions. Our Father, give us the
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  Speaker 2: intelligence to think, and then the courage to act. May
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  Speaker 2: be set aside our own conveniences, the preferences of our
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  Speaker 2: own indifference. May we break a mold, and as a result,
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  Speaker 2: may your name be glorified for jesus sake. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: As Chucks Wyndall said a moment ago, Esther's story transcends theory.
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  Speaker 1: Her conviction and her compassion for the Jewish people were
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  Speaker 1: expressed in tangible deeds, and as her story continues to
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: unfold in the days ahead, we'll see how Esther put
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: her reputation and even her life on the line. You're
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  Speaker 1: listening to Insight for Living at a message. It's Chuck
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  Speaker 1: titled thinking and saying What's right. Regardless if his message
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  Speaker 1: stirred something in you today, a conviction to stop waiting,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to step forward, to be the one person willing to
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  Speaker 1: stand up. We hope you'll pursue that. The Book of
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Esther is full of those moments, and Chuck wrote a
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  Speaker 1: full length biography about her life story. It's twelve chapters
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  Speaker 1: long and follows the biblical account in vivid detail, including
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the standoff that Chuck described today. You know, the cultural
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: chaos in today's world doesn't call for passivity. Our world
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  Speaker 1: needs more Esther's who are willing to stand up and
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  Speaker 1: say what's true, people who are ready to say the
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: right thing regardless. You'll get a fresh perspective of Esther's
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: life when you read Chuck's biography, titled Esther a Woman
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  Speaker 1: of Strength and Dignity. To purchase a copy, call eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight or
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: go to insight dot org slash offer. Inside for Living
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  Speaker 1: is supported in part by monthly audit of mated gifts
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  Speaker 1: from our monthly companions. If you're one of those, we
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  Speaker 1: couldn't provide Chuck's teaching without you, and if you'd like
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  Speaker 1: to take that step today and join this family of
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  Speaker 1: loyal supporters, we'll say thank you for your first gift
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  Speaker 1: by providing chapter five from Chuck's book on Esther. Chapter
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  Speaker 1: five is titled Thinking and Saying What's Right Regardless, and
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  Speaker 1: it features one of the most dramatic encounters in Esther's
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  Speaker 1: life story. Becoming a monthly companion is simple, and the
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  Speaker 1: a monthly companion right now, call us at eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight, or go
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  Speaker 1: to insight dot org slash monthly Companion. I'm Bill Meyer.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Join us when Chucks Windahl describes Queen Esther's finest hour
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Thinking and
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  Speaker 1: Saying What's Right Regardless was copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nineteen ninety seven, two thousand five, twenty eighteen,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: and twenty twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All
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  Speaker 1: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
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  Speaker 1: use is strictly prohibited.