Last Sunday at my home church the message was about the story of Esther. You can find the sermon notes at the bottom of this post.
Esther 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther the Ordinary girl who became Queen
The Biblical account of the story of Esther is a favorite to people of all ages. An ordinary girl who becomes a royal queen and heroically saves her people ( that is the Jews.) King Ahasuerus has a royal feast for his male friends which lasts many days. One day Ahasuerus in his drunken condition decides that his royal Queen Vashti should be brought out so all his male friends can see how beautiful she is. Vashti refuses to be put on display like this and that is why she gets dismissed and King Ahasuerus begins to look for a new queen to replace her. This is where Esther comes in. We will continue by reading a condensed account of this story from the Veggie Tales website. I am a Veggie Tales fan and always enjoy their Dvds. You can link to the Veggie Tales page HERE
( You will notice that King Ahauserus is referred to as King Xerxes here. Ahasuerus is the Hebrew name while Xerxes is the Greek name of the same King.)
So we continue the story now from Veggie Tales -
King Xerxes of Persia was searching the entire kingdom for a beautiful
woman to become his new queen. Esther was a very beautiful Jewish girl
and was one of the women brought to the palace as a possible queen successor. Esther did
not tell anyone about her Jewish family. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin who took care of her
because she had no parents, worked for the king and was able to check on her daily. When
it was time for Esther to go before King Xerxes, he was very pleased and crowned her as his
new queen.
Two of the king’s officers became angry at King Xerxes and were planning to kill him.
Mordecai overheard their plans and told them to Queen Esther. Esther reported the plot
to the king and gave Mordecai the credit for saving the king’s life. After all of these things
happened, King Xerxes promoted another of his officers, Haman, to a higher rank, and all of
the other officers had to bow down and kneel to him. Mordecai was a Jew and refused to
bow down or kneel to anyone but God, so Haman became very angry and convinced the king
to sign an order that all of the Jews in the land were to be killed. Mordecai told Esther that
she must tell the king of Haman’s plot, but Esther knew it was against the law to approach
the king unless she was invited. But Esther was courageous… her people were depending
on her. When she approached the king, he was pleased and held out his scepter for her to
come forward. Esther told King Xerxes of Haman’s plan to destroy her people. The king was
so angry with Haman that he had him killed, and Mordecai was promoted to his position.
Because of Esther’s courage, all of the Jewish people in the kingdom were saved.
Sermon Notes
My home church is doing a summer series on Heroes of the Bible. So this past Sunday we covered the story of Esther. So what can we learn from Esther?
Here are a few points from the sermon from Pastor Ben:
The Name of God is never mentioned in the book of Esther. So why is it in the Bible?
The Bible is not primarily written to record history, nor to tell amazing stories.
The primary purpose is to reveal the character of God. To give us an understanding of the God of Israel and the Lord Jesus Christ.
How can the book of Esther teach us about God?
* Just because God is not mentioned does not mean He is not there.
* We see God's hand throughout the story.
* God is in every situation.
* God works in the background in behind the scenes in the circumstances making things happen.
Most of our lives are that way - God working in the background, working though our circumstances.
We see God working in our world, we have to pay attention to figure out what God is doing.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God is working in your life. He is forming you - making you the person He wants you to become. He is working on your character.
God wants you to do good works.
Just as Esther stood up and risked her life so must we.
God is working in you not just so you can sit there.
God has prepared good works in advance for you to do.
He is getting things ready for you to do.
See God's work around you.
Esther 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther the Ordinary girl who became Queen
The Biblical account of the story of Esther is a favorite to people of all ages. An ordinary girl who becomes a royal queen and heroically saves her people ( that is the Jews.) King Ahasuerus has a royal feast for his male friends which lasts many days. One day Ahasuerus in his drunken condition decides that his royal Queen Vashti should be brought out so all his male friends can see how beautiful she is. Vashti refuses to be put on display like this and that is why she gets dismissed and King Ahasuerus begins to look for a new queen to replace her. This is where Esther comes in. We will continue by reading a condensed account of this story from the Veggie Tales website. I am a Veggie Tales fan and always enjoy their Dvds. You can link to the Veggie Tales page HERE
( You will notice that King Ahauserus is referred to as King Xerxes here. Ahasuerus is the Hebrew name while Xerxes is the Greek name of the same King.)
So we continue the story now from Veggie Tales -
 |
| King Aheruerus and Esther ( veggietalesitsforthekids.wikia.com ) |
woman to become his new queen. Esther was a very beautiful Jewish girl
and was one of the women brought to the palace as a possible queen successor. Esther did
not tell anyone about her Jewish family. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin who took care of her
because she had no parents, worked for the king and was able to check on her daily. When
it was time for Esther to go before King Xerxes, he was very pleased and crowned her as his
new queen.
Two of the king’s officers became angry at King Xerxes and were planning to kill him.
Mordecai overheard their plans and told them to Queen Esther. Esther reported the plot
to the king and gave Mordecai the credit for saving the king’s life. After all of these things
happened, King Xerxes promoted another of his officers, Haman, to a higher rank, and all of
the other officers had to bow down and kneel to him. Mordecai was a Jew and refused to
bow down or kneel to anyone but God, so Haman became very angry and convinced the king
to sign an order that all of the Jews in the land were to be killed. Mordecai told Esther that
she must tell the king of Haman’s plot, but Esther knew it was against the law to approach
the king unless she was invited. But Esther was courageous… her people were depending
on her. When she approached the king, he was pleased and held out his scepter for her to
come forward. Esther told King Xerxes of Haman’s plan to destroy her people. The king was
so angry with Haman that he had him killed, and Mordecai was promoted to his position.
Because of Esther’s courage, all of the Jewish people in the kingdom were saved.
 |
| appshopper.com |
Sermon Notes
My home church is doing a summer series on Heroes of the Bible. So this past Sunday we covered the story of Esther. So what can we learn from Esther?
Here are a few points from the sermon from Pastor Ben:
The Name of God is never mentioned in the book of Esther. So why is it in the Bible?
The Bible is not primarily written to record history, nor to tell amazing stories.
The primary purpose is to reveal the character of God. To give us an understanding of the God of Israel and the Lord Jesus Christ.
How can the book of Esther teach us about God?
* Just because God is not mentioned does not mean He is not there.
* We see God's hand throughout the story.
* God is in every situation.
* God works in the background in behind the scenes in the circumstances making things happen.
Most of our lives are that way - God working in the background, working though our circumstances.
We see God working in our world, we have to pay attention to figure out what God is doing.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God is working in your life. He is forming you - making you the person He wants you to become. He is working on your character.
God wants you to do good works.
Just as Esther stood up and risked her life so must we.
God is working in you not just so you can sit there.
God has prepared good works in advance for you to do.
He is getting things ready for you to do.
See God's work around you.
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