When opportunity knocks…
Read aloud Esther 1:1-9
Prayer:
Will be thank you so much for what you were doing In our community and in our church. Today Lord I pray that we see Jesus in a fresh new way. That we learn from your word how to respond when opportunity knocks. Lord I surrender my will over to yours. Lord speak clearly to me and to this household of faith this morning. We love you and lift you up. In the name of Jesus amen.
In the book of Esther, you will not find God directly speaking to anyone, but you will find his fingerprints all over the story. Just like in our lives you can feel his presence and know that he is there. We feel his love and his kindness, and he is always in the mess of our circumstances.
I believe the book of Esther is in the Bible, because there will be times in our faith journey that we will have to learn to be patient and trust God. In chapter 1 there is 127 different providences that King rules over.
This word Providence has a theological meaning and it is something a little bit different than government control. God‘s providence is his faithful activity with his creation to accomplish his will.
Therefore providence is how God makes things happen.
God is often found in the background while controlling the current situation. Often I find myself looking back into my situation and seeing the hand of God move while totally missing him in the present. Anyone else been there?
Christian, there will be times in our lives that God does not seem to be around, but we must trust that he is in control.
Sometimes it will be difficult to trace God, but we must have faith that God is controlling the scene.
Oh God help us have the faith to trust you more.
Oh God let us have the faith to be obeying Christians.
Oh let us have the faith to react when you command.
Oh let a step out in faith and make a difference today.
Here in Esther chapter 1 the king threw a party for 180 day! This king was the major world power in that time period. He was throwing this major party where every official had a different golden chalice. Each person could drink as much wine and liquor as they could hold.
and then demanded the presence of the queen. The queen was throwing her own party and refused.
Now, we see here there are two separate parties going on and I don’t know about you but this speaks to me about relationships problems. For example, I came from a divorced family; where, I would’ve had two different Christmas parties to attend and everything was totally separated.
So, what usually happens when you have a problem? You go tell all your buddies. In this case it was the kings advisers. All the men at the party were angered and they worried that if Queen Esther didn’t have to pay her husband that their wives would not obey them.
Before we move on, let’s talk about commitment for a minute. The queen is committed to her husband. If I was asked to do something but my husband I would try my best to do it. And here we see queen Vashti saying, “no! I’m not going to do that.”Now, she may have had great motives, but yet she disobeyed the king. God is our king this morning. Through Jesus Christ you are all kings and queens. I see royalty sitting in front of me this morning. If we are totally committed to God; should we not be obeying his statutes? Today we live in this culture, that says: “I just don’t feel like showing up!” What if Christ had said that at Calvary? today, I hear so many excuses we’re not coming to church. For example, Pastor Jessica, I had a stomach ache. Pastor Jessica, it’s too hot outside. Some others, I don’t feel like studying today, I don’t feel like doing homework today I don’t feel like getting dressed today.
God is looking for people who will say, whether I feel like it or not I will show up.
I will honor people whether I feel like it or not. We never go wrong when we honor people and honor God‘s church.
What I like about Queen Esther is that she override her feelings with her faith. So I have a question for you today, who is setting behind the steering wheel today? Is it your feelings or your face? For queen Bastille it was her feelings, but for Queen Esther it was her faith. Faith makes all the difference in the world.
The decree was sent out that she had been banished from the kingdom and stripped of all her royalties.
Then another decree was sent out to collect all the virgins in the Providences. This would’ve been a Persian beauty pageant to say the least. This is whereQueen Esther comes in. God delivers her a golden opportunity. Jews were the least in the kingdom and God was about to place her as the power. -Yes, here we see you God placing a woman in the government.
Here in 2021 I want you to know that God can open then opportunities for you. He can give you favor with people that you would not normally find favor with. If God calls you he will make away for his will to be done.
Mordecai her cousin; which raised her would’ve been seeking a mate for her, but this did not happen, because God had other plans for her. Once Esther came to the palace she found favor in the eyes of the king.
When you are a child of the king you must be able to distinguish between God opportunities and your own ambitions. Mordecai recognized a God opportunity when the decree was sent out to have all of the Jews healed. He realized that God set up this marriage.
Today, I want you to be aware that many doors of opportunity open. But not every door is available for God‘s child to walk through. Our choices have a dramatic affect futures. We want to make sure that our future lines up with the word of God and is an obedience to God once for our life.
I want you to know that there are a lot of opportunities for this church. But we must be connected with God in order to walk through those doors of opportunity. So I want to give you for ways to distinguish a godly opportunity.
One, this opportunity that is in front of you has several obstacles. Let’s consider Queen Esther. Hadassah was an orphan. Her father and her mother dad. Mordecai was her uncle who adopted her, but she had to move from her home and become a slave in another country called Persia.b she was a woman of God who was living and functioning in a Hedron country. These are just a couple of obstacles that started her life, but she did not let these obstacles define her. I’m afraid to many people today let their situation control their outcomes. Their situation fix every part of the rain. They forget to focus on God and follow his instructions. However Esther was a godly woman who overcame, because she was willing to pursue holiness.
The Second way to recognize a God opportunity is to realize that opportunities come through people. God did not create us to live and dwell in isolation. He created us to commune with one another. Our Christian community is very important. The book of James tells us that God is the sender of good and perfect gifts—- in this case we are discussing good opportunities.
He uses people to deliver the . Sometimes, the problem is that we’re not ready to receive the gift. The gift comes in the form of a pair of bib overalls. The opportunity is work. But we have to put our big boy clothes on and our big girl clothes and get to work.
With Queen Esther we see her as an orphan child, but Mordecai gave her the gift of family. Through his teachings hadassah learns to follow God. Then, we seen the king find favor with her and gave her the opportunity to be the queen. To be the ruler. All because this was God‘s plan and God‘s creation. He wanted his people to know that he was always in control and that he works through their circumstances.
The next way to know that I God has given you an opportunity is that you must wait for him to bring it to completion. For example, looking at the book of Esther in chapter 1 we are in the third year of the king drain. But if you look in chapter 2 we are in the seventh year of his reign. Queen Esther was picked up in his six year. That means Esther had one year of beauty treatments before she even got to meet the king. This Persian beauty pageant lasted for long years. But, what I like about Esther is that she was living the promise before hit came to volition. Friend, we need to live today Like God has already done waiting for. I love Esther, because she was living like a queen before she even became the queen. She did not need a crown placed on her head to know that she was a child of God. Astor realized that she needed to patiently prepare to live for such as a time as this.
The last point, for this lesson, is that God opportunities differ from good opportunities, because they are always bigger than you. They always seem humanly impossible. God does not bless us so we can be blessed. God blesses us so that we can bless others. God does not promote us just to give us a pat on the back.God promote us so that we can bring others to the top of the mountain. God gives each one of us a mouthpiece. This mouthpiece was not given to us to say what we want to say. No, this is to spread the news of the gospel so that we can bring others into the fold. Before it is everlasting too late.
Today is the day of salvation. It’s not too late to get right with God. It is too late to get right with God when you take your last breath. Now that now so now God Tate now God savesOn your deathbed, but you do forfeit an abundant life. You may perish before you have time to ask God to come into your heart. Don’t wait my friend. Get it right with God today.
