Transcript

Good morning, church. Good morning. Great seeing you today. We're kicking off a new series today through the Book of Esther. We've entitled it the Hidden Hand of God.

And we're going to be going through these 10 chapters of Esther over the next six weeks. We're excited about it. And before we begin, I want to begin with prayer today. Lord, thank you that we can study your Word together. And Lord, I pray you'd prepare our hearts and minds today.

And I pray for those that have come in today with anxiety that they would encounter the living Lord Jesus by His Spirit and find their hearts and their minds guarded by him, so that in the place of anxiety they have peace that passes understanding. Lord, I pray for those that come in today hurting the that they would find your presence as a healing presence in their life today. I pray for those that are here today that feel dry, that they would be refreshed. And we're thankful for the rain today, Lord, and we ask that your spirit would rain upon us now through your word, through your presence in Jesus name. Amen.

The Hidden Hand of God. That's what we've titled this Book of Esther. I had no idea when I outlined this book and put it on the calendar for the spring part of our sermon calendar, had no idea of what the world would be like. I'm just like you. I can't see what's going to happen tomorrow.

God can, but I can't. I can put it on the calendar. I can plan it. But no man knows what hour Christ will return or what tomorrow holds for each of us as individuals. At the end of every year, the last week of December, it's my pattern over these past years to prepare a sermon calendar for the whole year.

And I will look back at what we've covered in previous years. I'll look at what we haven't covered in the scripture. We have 66 books to go through, and I go through. And which ones have I not covered in the last 10 years? Let's say I'll look at that.

I'll look at you and pray about you and think, what does our church need right now? And so I lay out a calendar. And then I trust God that His Holy Spirit's guiding me. And so when I laid out Esther had no idea that we'd be in war against Iran. And I just found, even as we were going through the last series, I was just thinking, wow, God, you knew.

I didn't know. And you might say, well, why does that matter? And it's because this book is. It takes place in ancient Persia, which is modern day Iran. Now, this book is not a prophetic book in the sense that it's not telling us what's going to happen today in Iran.

But it is a very practical book that tells us that God is not surprised by what's happening in the world and that he's at work even when we don't see him, and that he's on the throne even when the nations rage. And regardless of who's in the White House or who's in your house, he's in charge, he's in control, he's at work behind the scenes. Now, the Book of Esther, we're not sure who wrote the book. We know its author is God, but who was the human author that he used? It's an anonymous book, we don't know.

It has no autograph, but it must have been written by a Jewish person close to the scene, also to the timing of the events, because they're very familiar with the inner workings of the palace of Persia. And so that's why many Jewish scholars recommend the father, first cousin of Esther, Mordecai, that perhaps Mordecai was the author. But we're uncertain, to be honest, who the human author is. It describes events taking place in the fifth century B.C. 500 years before Christ, probably between 483 and 473 B.C.

is when the events of the book described are taking place. It's a very unique book. Why is it unique, you ask? Well, first of all, it's one of only two books in the Bible named after a woman, and so the other being the book of Ruth. But what really makes it unique, speaking of names, is there's one name missing that's in all the other books of the Bible, and that's the name of God.

It's never mentioned in 10 chapters. The name of God never mentioned in this book. It's strange, it's unique. His name is absent, but his hand is not. Perhaps even the fact that he's not mentioned makes you look for him all the more in the book.

And so we see. We don't see parting of seas, we don't see thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai, but we see God at work behind the scenes. I wonder today, are you struggling with the chaos in this world? Do you struggle with anxiety because you just can't figure out where life's going these days?

If you're a type a person like myself, we kind of like to make a plan. We like things to go after. We make the plan according to plan, right? How's that working out for you?

I've been at this for a long time. I keep trying to be in charge. And the more I try, the more the Lord reminds me that he's God and I'm not. And so I don't know how God's working in your life, but that's one central place. He keeps working at me, carving those pieces off of me that are not like Jesus, to trust him completely.

I don't know if you feel like I hadn't felt your presence in a while, Lord. I feel dry. I don't know if you feel like I haven't seen you at work in my life or I feel that. I feel I'm just going through the motions. I'm showing up at church, I'm serving, I'm doing the things I'm supposed to do.

But where are you, God? I'm struggling. Some of you are like that this morning. I think this book is in the Bible for you. Because even when circumstances seem out of control and the people and the powers that are over, you are doing unpredictable things and you're feeling like you're living in the midst of chaos, we see God still at work.

He's at work even when we don't see him at work. In the Book of Esther, the author showed God's people living in exile under Persian rule under the Persian emperor Ahasuerus, or as the Greeks called him, Xerxes. And. And we see depicted here that even though they were in this exile situation under a foreign kingdom, yet God was at work in their lives. And I believe today we're like the people of God in this book.

This book that now is 2,500 years old. This book of Esther. And I believe today that we as believers are like exiles. And we might feel like that we're under powers beyond our control in this world, but we're not. If you're a believer today, God's at work in your life, and I believe we can trust that.

As we look at the text today, we're going to unpack chapters one and two. We don't have time to read all of it. I encourage you when you get home this week to really dig in and read both of the chapters. But I'm going to give you the highlights so we capture the essence of the story. But as we look, we're going to look for three ways that we can know that God is working behind the scenes in our lives.

So let's start with chapter one, verse one. Now in the days of Ahasuerus the Ahasuerus, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces. In those days, when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, in the third year of his reign, he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Sousa, the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace.

And then, verse 10, on the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded verse 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command, delivered by the eunuchs. At this, the king became enraged and his anger burned within him. We see. He goes to his advisors to see what should be done about her disobedience.

Verse 19. They reply, if it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let. Let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike. This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. This is God's word. We're looking for three ways we can know that God is working in our lives. Here's the first.

And by recognizing his power over worldly kingdoms. By recognizing his power over worldly kingdoms. This chapter, to me is humorous. It really is. It really cracks me up.

Here's the king of the largest kingdom in the history of man up until that time. It's described that he reigns from all of India all the way to Ethiopia, in Africa. If we have descriptions like this, what do you know about your pastor? I love maps, so here comes a map very quickly. It looked better on my laptop, but I hope you can see it from India over here, all the way over to Libya and Ethiopia.

And Egypt and Africa and all the way through this is all modern day Turkey, all of that. And right up against going across the land bridge into Thrace and Macedonia and he starts bumping up against the Greek city states right there, which is a whole other story. You probably saw the movie called the 300. It depicts it kind of in a sort of crazy way. But anyway, it's part of that story.

But the story that we're reading today is taking place in the capital city of Susa, which is kind of center of this whole area. Susa, the citadel is what we keep seeing here. And so here he is, King Ahasuerus, which is the Hebrew pronunciation of his Persian name. Whenever we get the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it spells it Xerxes. And so that's how the Greeks pronounced his Persian name.

I don't know how to pronounce his Persian name. I've seen it written down. I don't read Farsi, I don't read Persian. So I don't know how to pronounce that. But I know that this is the same man.

This is Xerxes I. This is his third year of his reign. It says in verse three, it's in the third year, in fact, this very specific, that this. It's taken place over a period of 12 years. As we read verse three, it's in his third year of his reign.

We see in verse two, 16, chapter two, verse 16, it's the seventh year of his reign. And then in chapter three, verse seven, it's the 12th year of his reign. And so the author of this book is very particular about the chronology and points these things out, the timing of this because he celebrates his splendor and royal glory and his wealth for 180 days so that all across the provinces they're celebrating it. And it's three years since he's been set up as king. And many historians believe this was the time period where he was trying to raise up unity in order to build this army from Persia and Media so that they could take on the Greek city states.

And we know that he ran into a tough spot over there as he hit a little narrow place in the geography there called Thermopylae. And he ran into King Leonidas and the Spartans and got stopped there for three days and ultimately caused them to lose, taking that land. That's who we're talking about. He's a powerful man. What's humorous to me is not that it said he gets drunk and asks his Queen to come, and she says no.

He can order the whole world around, but he can't get that woman to do what he tells her. How about that? That's something, isn't it? He's a boss at work, but when he comes home, he's a nobody. Yeah, that's what happened to him there.

But what made it worse was it happened publicly. Like, if it just happened at the house, he probably would have let it go because he was drunk. Anyway, it says. I mean, look at verse 10. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he was drunk.

He'd been drinking for seven days. And he. I had to skip over some of it just for the sake of time, but he'd already said, hey, don't shut it down. Let the wine flow, anybody. Let every man drink according to his desire.

Well, he drunk it up, and he said, let me tell you something. My wife is the most beautiful wife in this whole kingdom, right? And her name, Vashti actually means that. That's what her name actually means. It means beautiful.

That's what her name means. I'm going to parade her out. Well, she was holding a special little retreat for the women of the kingdom in another space. And she said, no. Now, ladies, you.

You probably are thinking, she did the right thing. And because she, you know, he might be king, but he's still her husband, and he. I'm not going to be parading around from the bunch of drunk men, you know, she probably did the right thing. Well, the Bible doesn't say yay or nay, but the Bible does let us know this, that he went to his wise men and he said, what should I do about this? The king of the largest kingdom in the whole known world at the time had to get advice on what to do.

I got to get counseling. My wife and I are having marital problems. And what they basically said, if you let her by with this, all the wives in the whole kingdom will stop submitting to their husbands. And we're going to have a message.

They will. They will. It says they will hold their husbands in contempt. You can't let this go. This is a big deal.

And so they all were in a panic because of Queen. It's a funny story. You got to admit, it's a little bit funny. But what's God doing here? He creates a vacancy in the throne room.

That's what's going on here. That it looked like Ahasuerus is in charge, but he's not.

And Queen Vashti, she's Not in charge either, because what result there is, since she wouldn't come when she was commanded, the answer from the wise men was, she's no longer allowed to come in, see the king's face ever again. So she's deposed, and so now there's a vacancy. God's at work even when you don't see him behind the scenes, God is at work. It says in Psalm 103, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Proverbs 21.

The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. I don't know what you're going through today. I don't know if you've been overlooked by your boss for a promotion. I don't know if you're feeling like the teacher at the school you go to seems to pick on you the most and you get lower grades than you think you deserve.

I don't know if you're having a situation in life where it just seems like the powers over you, whatever they are, seem to be against you. As believers who understand such things, some of us, you may feel like you're going through a season of spiritual warfare, like everything's breaking down, my car's breaking down, my house is breaking down. It's all adding up and anxiety. As things break down, anxiety builds up and you start thinking, God, where are you?

Where are you, God, are you at work? I see the stories in the scripture, but where are you in my life? Do you see what's happening to me?

And when you feel out of control, and by the way, control is an illusion. You're never in control. You can't even control whether or not you're going to breathe the next breath. You're not in control whether your heart will beat the next beat. It's an illusion.

God's sovereign, he's at work. Even when you don't see him, even when you don't hear him, even when you don't feel his presence, he's at work. And we believe this, and we stand on it by faith. Because when we look back now, friends, think about it. When we look back, you have to live through a few things.

Anybody here ever lived through a few things? Maybe you're still living through something right now, going through something. You'll look back and you go, wait a minute. He was right there when I was going through that. And the only reason I know that now is because of what happened later.

But he was right there. Sometimes when you're in the midst of it. You just can't. You just can't. But here we are in this story, this crazy Persian story.

And now there's a vacancy. When your life feels out of control, when circumstances shift, when decisions are made that affect you, that don't go your way, God's not reacting. God is ruling. He's at work in this world, bringing his purposes, his plans to bear. Even when you can't see it.

God is working.

Let's keep reading. That's our first way that we see we've been invited into the throne room. We see a vacancy there. Chapter two after these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's young men who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa, the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women.

Let their cosmetics be given them, and let the young women, the young woman who pleases the king and be queen instead of Vasti. And this pleased the king, and he did so. Now there was a Jew in Susa, the citadel, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jar, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives, carried away with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is, Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at.

And when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa, the citadel, in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. I want you to take note of that. That word favor keeps occurring as it regards her.

And he quickly provided her with cosmetics and her portion of food and with seven chosen young women from the king's palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. Esther had not made known her people. In other words, she didn't let it out that she was Jewish or her kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. Then we go down to verse 15. When the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter to go to the king.

She asked for nothing except what Hegai, the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. There's favor again. And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tibet, in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti, the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants. It was Esther's feast.

This leads us to the second way. The first is that he is in power over the powers of the world. The second is that we can acknowledge this by his placement and strategic positions. We can see God at work by his placement in strategic positions. The king is now searching for a new queen.

I like how verse one of chapter two begins after these things, when his anger was abated. In other words, when he got sober and he was over his anger, he realized, uh, oh, I've lost my queen. And then his young advisors come to him, the king's young men come to him. I know what would make you happy. Let's go out and start a Miss Universe contest.

The first Miss Universe contest takes place. Esther is the winner.

This is not a romantic fairy tale. It was a taking. She was taken. You see that in verse eight, she was taken. She didn't sign up for this.

And Mordecai, who was her first cousin, but was raising her as his daughter because his uncle, her father and mother had died. Who is this Esther? Her Hebrew name is Hadassah, which means myrtle tree. We see those around Wilson, don't we? But Esther, that's her Persian name that was given to her because she won the first Miss Universe contest.

And her name means star. She was a star. Esther. That's where we get words like asteroid and astrology and astronomy. It means the study of a star.

Esther is from the Persian, the Farsi word. Her name really is Hadassah. Myrtle tree. She was really just a myrtle tree. She was an orphan.

She was an exile. She was a woman in a man's world. She was nobody. God loves to take nobodies and place them in strategic positions so that everything that happens in his purposes hinges upon them. But you can't see it yet.

We're still in the early part of the story. The queen's seat is vacated. A new queen is put in place. No one knows she's Jewish. She's kept that a secret.

God has placed her there. She's a nobody, but he's given her beauty. You can't earn beauty. She was given beauty. She had a lovely figure.

The scripture says. We didn't have time to read it all, but she had to go through a long period. I don't know how long the beauty contest lasted, but several years have gone by. In fact, we see in the scripture four more years had gone by. So there was one year of beauty treatments.

What did that look like? Twelve months of beauty treatments. It says it. Okay. And she got to choose whatever she wanted in terms of clothing, whatever approach she wanted to take.

But Hegai was in charge of the harem, and it says that she did whatever he told her. She's a humble little girl. She's young. She's probably in her teens.

She was brought up to do what you're told. And everywhere she went, God gave her favor. She just submitted to the authorities that were over. She didn't sign up for this.

And so she found favor with him. And then when it came time for her to go before the king, make no mistake about what that tryout was about. It's a situation, isn't it, for a believer. It's a tough situation in this world. And she took with her only what he told her to take.

And it says the king loved her and she found grace and favor with him because God does that. Why would God work in such a ugly situation? Why would he let his people be in exile to begin with? And then why would he allow this teenage girl to be taken from her family and taken into this harem? I don't know.

He's God, and I'm not. I don't know why you're going through what you're going through. I don't. I don't know the answer to that, but I know this. God's at work.

He's at work in your life. He's at work in her life. This mess you might like. Well, why would God involve himself with such a terrible situation? I don't know.

Why would Jesus leave his heavenly throne and take off his crown of majesty and his robe and step down the ladder of love and take on human flesh and fall even farther by humbling himself on a cross? Why would he touch the leper? Couldn't he call that in from heaven? Couldn't he have healed the leper? Why did he put his hands on a leper?

Why does God get involved in my message? I don't know.

Because he loves us. So it's a mess. But in the midst of it, here's God creates a vacancy, and he moves this little teenage girl and he makes her a star.

He puts her in this position that becomes a hinge position that ultimately, as we study this book, she becomes one who rescues. That God uses her to rescue and be a deliverer of her people throughout the Persian Empire. What? Yeah. Where's God put you?

Where are you at in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your school classroom, in your situation? Are you just an accident? Does God have a purpose for you? Does he have a plan for your life? How do you fit into his overall purpose?

You're not an accident.

There are no coincidences. There are only God incidents. God's in charge. Sin's here. Sinful things are happening.

It's a mess. But God's weaving his plan through it all. When we see this from Stephen, as he's being tried right before he was executed, he's preaching this sermon and he talks. In Acts 13, he says, now, when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He's talking about how David came to be king during the perfect time to serve God's purpose.

We look at the story of Joseph, we see that Joseph was thrown in a pit by his brother, sold into slavery by his brothers. And then when he goes to work for another master, the master's wife lies on him, he gets thrown into prison. You don't think Joseph didn't say something like, I didn't ask to be thrown in a pit. I didn't ask to be sold into slavery. I didn't ask to be thrown in jail, in prison.

Sure he asked. But he never stopped believing in God. And then God strategically pulled him out of that prison where he strategically met someone who was in the know with the Pharaoh, the cupbearer. And he was able to remind Pharaoh, hey, I met a guy who was able to discern my dream, to interpret my dream, and it came true, and I forgot about it. But now that you've got a dream, where is he at?

He's in prison. God's got him in place now. Wherever he went, God gave him favor. Like everywhere he Went. So now he's in jail and he's the guy carrying the keys.

He's risen to the top position other than the guy who runs the jail. Everywhere he goes, he ends up being second in command. See a pattern? I do. God is at work behind the scenes.

He puts his people in strategic positions so that his purposes may be carried out. And so that when we get to Genesis chapter 50 and his brothers were afraid that he was going to show vengeance towards them because they had sold him into slavery. He says in Genesis 50, 20, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. He recognized that God was at work in his life even when you can't see it.

God is working now. Some years ago, I was born and raised in Virginia. Born in Tennessee, actually Bristol, Tennessee, but across the state line, same city, Bristol, Virginia. Grew up on the Virginia side. Moved to Roanoke when I was running drug stores for a large corporation.

And I ran most of the state of Virginia in my 20s. God really showed me a lot of favor. I kept getting promoted, but I wasn't happy. I kept going, mmm, I don't know what's going on in my life. Bought a big house in Roanoke.

God gave me the ability to buy lakefront property at Smith Mountain Lake. And I had dreams. Didn't include Wilson, North Carolina. Did not include Wilson, North Carolina. Didn't even know you existed.

Lived in the mountains, in the Blue Ridge. I had plans. And then they sold all those stores I was working for and transferred me, or offered to transfer me to eastern North Carolina. I was going to run Raleigh district to the coast. And I got with my pastor because I knew I was very active in my church and I knew my pastor did not want me to leave.

You know, help me pray that I can stay in Roanoke. I'm happy here. I've got a big house, I've got a lake house. I got a house in the city. I got a wife, three kids and a golden retriever in a fenced in backyard.

Help me stay here.

And he said, have you prayed about whether God wants you to go? I was like, you traitor.

And the more we prayed, the more we thought it through. I felt like God was calling me here. Little did I know only a few years later, God would call me to the ministry. I got off the corporate ladder and stepped on a different ladder. I quit climbing and started descending.

And I started a little church in my living room in 1991, November of 91, with seven people, and that's counting me and Robin. And I was in seminary at Southeastern, just a little drive down the road in Wake Forest. And we started very humbly. And God put me here. I believe that now.

At the time, I thought I was being punished or something. I didn't know anybody here. But now I know you. And now God has grown our church to two campuses and two cities, and he's still growing us. And we've seen hundreds come to faith in Jesus and be baptized.

We've seen marriages healed. I wouldn't have seen any of this if I'd have had my way.

God puts us in strategic positions, and he moves us where he will if we'll let Him. And he puts us in places where we are to influence those around us. He takes little people, and if you think you're a big person, he breaks you down and makes you little people so then he can use you, which I think was the plan he put me on. That leads us to the third, and we've got a little bit more to read in chapter two.

It seems like it doesn't fit. It's like watching one of those TV series where you hit a section right before it says, next edition, you know? But here it is. Verse 19, chapter 2. Now, when the virgins were gathered together to the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate.

Esther had not made known her kindred or her people as Mordecai had commanded her. For Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. That's a trait of Esther's. She's teachable and obedient. In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Big Than and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. End of chapter two. That's random.

I wanted to hear more about what's going on with Esther. And all of a sudden, Mordecai's back on the scene. He's at the city gates, and he hears about a conspiracy. And what credit does he get? They put it in the Chronicles.

Nobody reads the Chronicles. You know who reads the Chronicles? Well, people who want to go to sleep, that's who. Read the chronicles when they've been staying up too late. We're going to find that out about later.

You know, that's like reading the section in the back of the newspaper where they've got all the classifieds and right after that where the government puts in a list of people's names who owe back taxes. It's like you went through there to see if any of your neighbors are in trouble.

That's who reads that. You ever feel like what you've done goes unnoticed? You ever feel underappreciated by your spouse or by your children, like you've done something? It goes unnoticed. You ever feel like nobody sees what's going on?

Well, that leads us to the third way that we can see God at work behind the scenes. It's by trusting his providence in the smallest details that he notices the smallest details. And he'll even put them in his word, the smallest details. He's a God who's a great God, but he's also a God who noticed the notices, the smallest details.

It just feels like the plot stumbled here. But it's one of those kind of great ways of telling a story where you're going to need to know this later. It's going to come back.

Few details here. She doesn't tell them she's Jewish. That's going to come out. It's in the Chronicles. That's going to come out.

These kind of details. What does God's word say about God's awareness of details? For those who feel unappreciated, for those who feel. No one sees me. What does God's word say about that?

Well, Jesus himself speaking In Matthew, chapter 10, says, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered, boy. God keeps up with some random details. God's omniscient. He's all knowing God. Do you see me?

You ever say that?

I'm a firstborn son, first of four, two brothers and a sister. One of my brothers is in heaven. Both of my parents are in heaven. My earliest memory. I'm that kid.

Firstborn kid. Do you see me? Watch this. Like, especially my dad. Like, dad, Watch this.

My dad was great about. That's great, Gary. You know, whatever it was, watch how fast I can run. I got new tennis shoes, you know, whatever it was, Chubby Checker was on the scene back there, so I could do the twist, man. Every time my dad would get out that 8 millimeter silent projector that you hold on your shoulder that had two headlights on it that would give you a tan.

When he turned that thing on first time, he whipped it out when he just had bought it from Sears and Roebuck, Bell and Howell on his shoulder. Me and my brother Barry were just standing there, because that's what you do. And he goes, no, it's a movie camera move. Chubby Checker, baby. Do you see me?

Do you see me?

When my father died, when I was eight years old, they brought the preacher over to talk to me because I was asking hard questions. And one of my questions was, can my daddy see me now?

And he said, gary, I'm not sure. But there is a story in the book of Hebrews where it says there's a great cloud of witnesses, Hebrews chapter 12. And that we're running life's race. There's a great crowd of witnesses. It might just be that your daddy sees some of what's going on down here.

I don't know. I kind of clung to that with my little eight year old mind. But I came to realize that desire was only a shadow of what I really desired. And I wanted my Father in heaven to see me. And then I read in His Word, he sees everything I do.

That's a little scary after all, because I'm not sure I want him to see everything I do. But I do want him to see me.

It says in Romans chapter 8. And we know that those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to, to his purpose. He's at work. In all your circumstances, he's been at work.

He's at work even now.

There's no detail too small that you can't trust to him even when you can't see it. What? God is working.

This is a great story. It's a great story. And we're going to find out that this Queen Esther, this little nobody, becomes a somebody who helps rescue our people Israel from Persia. But there's a greater story. And it looked like chaos.

It looked like confusion, it looked like defeat. It looked like God was absent and his son hung on a cross. But God was at work. He was at work right in the middle of that. And when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

God was at work. His Son took all our sins upon his shoulders. And when he cried out, it is finished. God was at work because he paid it all. The greatest rescue is the rescue of Jesus.

It looked like chaos, it looked like confusion. It looked like failure. But he took his one and only son. He entered into our message, took our sin and our death and our separation so that we might have his righteousness, his sonship, his relationship with the Father and his eternal life.

God is at work even when I can't see him. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that even when your name isn't mentioned, we can see your hand at work.

I pray for that person that's here today, that you came in looking for something. And I pray today you would say yes to Jesus. Would you admit that you have that need? Would you admit that you're a sinner and say, dear Lord Jesus, pray with me right where you're at, Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I need a savior.

I believe you died on the cross for me, died for my sins, were raised on the third day and that you live today. I believe that. Come and live in me by your Holy Spirit. Come and live in me. Adopt me into your family.

I want to be a child of God. I want to follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing the Bible says if you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Others are here today and you're a believer, but you've been going through a dry spell. And even as we thank you, Lord, for this rain today, I ask for rain upon those dry hearts today. Lord, would you touch dry hearts, anxious minds, with peace? Would you touch us now and help us to know that you're at work even.

Even at seasons like this? Lord, we love you and we thank you most of all for Jesus, for it's in his name we pray. Amen.