For Such A Time as This | Made For This Moment | Nate Grella

Good morning, Coppins. Why don't you wake up with this? Your way is the only way for me It's a narrow road that leads to light And I wanna be on it It's a narrow road, but the mercy's wide It's a goodie promise I'll take you where I don't want to If you say that I believe it I see how good it was If you start it, you won't believe it I'll take you where I don't want to Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh You drove and the chaos fell in line I know, cause I've seen it in my eyes It's a narrow road that leads to light But I wanna be on it It's a narrow road, but the tide is high But you're on the water I'll take you where I don't want to If you say that I believe it I see how good it was If you start it, you won't believe it I'll take you where I don't want to If you say that I believe it I see how good it was If you start it, you won't believe it I'll take you where I don't want to Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh I'll take you where I don't want to

Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh You said your love will never give in You said your grace is always in her You said your heart will never forgive or forsake me Which way I stay, you call me yours You say my future's full of yours You never fail, so I know that you'll never fail me You said your love will never give in You said your grace is always in her You said your heart will never forgive or forsake me You said I'm dying, you call me yours You say my future's full of yours You never fail, so I know you'll never fail me I'll take you where I don't want to If you start it, I'll believe it I'll see how good it was If you start it, you won't believe it I'll take you where I don't want to If you start it, I'll believe it I'll see how good it was If you start it, you won't believe it I'll take you where I don't want to I'll take you where I don't want to I'll take you where I don't want to I'll take you where I don't want to Cause I know who you are Cause of salvation Was only the start Now I am chosen Free and forgiven

I have a future And it's worth the living Cause I was amazed to be Drenched in the grave I was born alive Born and raised Cast me aside And I was waiting So I will not pay I beg my shame without a place It's running my way I know I am And I was made for And I know who I am Cause I know who you are Cause of salvation Was only the start Now I am chosen Free and forgiven I have a future And it's worth the living Cause I was amazed to be Drenched in the grave I was born alive Born and raised Cast me aside And I was waiting So I will not pay I beg my shame without a place It's running my way

I know I am And I was made for Hallelujah You call out my name So I'll sing out your praise Hallelujah You buried my past I'm not going back Hallelujah You call out my name So I'll sing out your praise Hallelujah You buried my past I'm not going back Cause I was amazed to be Drenched in the grave I was born alive Born and raised Back to life again And I was made for more So I will not pay I beg my shame without a place It's running my way I know I am And I was made for Cause I was amazed to be Drenched in the grave I was born alive Born and raised Back to life again

And I was made for more So I will not pay I beg my shame without a place It's running my way I know I am And I was made for Hallelujah Hallelujah You call out my name So I'll sing out your praise Hallelujah You buried my past I'm not going back Hallelujah You call out my name So I'll sing out your praise Hallelujah ♪ Hallelujah, you buried my past ♪ ♪ I'm not going back ♪ ♪ I was made to be, attending the grave ♪ ♪ I was called by name ♪ ♪ I'm born and raised back to life again ♪ ♪ And I was made for more, thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ So why would I make a bed in my shame ♪ ♪ When this fountain of grace keeps running my way ♪ ♪ I know I am yours, and I was made for more ♪ Come on church, let's respond. The only way we know how, with praise. To this grace that we have seen. And so received, thank you Jesus.

♪ And blessed assurance, Jesus is mine ♪ ♪ And he's performing in the fire, time after time ♪ ♪ Time after time, I'm born of his spirit ♪ ♪ And I'm washed in his blood ♪ ♪ And what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough ♪ Come on church, let's respond. ♪ I trust in God, my Savior the one ♪ ♪ Who will never fail, he will never fail ♪ ♪ And I trust in God, my Savior the one ♪ ♪ Who will never fail, he will never fail ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Perfect submission, and all is at rest ♪ ♪ And I know the author of tomorrow has ordered my steps ♪ ♪ Oh, so this is my story, yeah, this is my story, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I'm praising my rising King and Savior, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I trust in God, my Savior the one ♪ ♪ Who will never fail, he will never fail, no, no ♪ ♪ Yeah, I trust in God, my Savior the one ♪ ♪ Who will never fail, he will never fail, yeah ♪ ♪ He will never fail, he will never fail, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust him, that's why I trust him ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ‪ That's why I trust him, that's why I trust him ♪

♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust him, that's why I trust him ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ That's why I trust in God. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. My Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. I trust in the Lord. And He heard, and He answered. I trust in the Lord. And He heard, and He answered. I trust in the Lord. And He heard, and He answered. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I've songs before. And He heard, and He answered. I've songs before. And He heard, and He answered. I've songs before. And He heard, and He answered. That's why I trust Him. I trust in God. And I say, you're the one

who will never fail. He will never fail. Thank you, Lord. That you are faithful to answer our prayers. That you are faithful to the promises throughout scripture that says that you inhabit the praises and the worship of your people that when two or more gather that you are here. And so, God, we acknowledge that. We acknowledge that you are in our midst right now. So, God, you have our attention. May you do a good work in us and through us. We love you. We worship you. We pray this song in your name. Amen. Amen. You guys can have a seat. Well, hey, Compass, thank you so much for your generosity. It is making a difference here, not only in North Fort Worth, but across the globe. And so, I'm grateful

for each of you who partners with us in generosity. And as Brandon said, just imagine what might happen if 100% of us who called Compass home, we engaged in generosity together. Man, we could do so much more for the kingdom of God. So, thank you for being a part of that. Well, welcome to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God. My name is Nate. I'm one of the pastors here. We are so glad that you are worshiping with us. Whether that's here in the room, I want to welcome those of you who are worshiping online as well. If you're a guest here, something that we say every single week is this. Give us six weeks. We believe God is moving and working in this place and we'd love for you to be a part

of this amazing community that we call Compass. Also, let's give a huge shout out to all our men at All Red who are joining us today. Guys, we're glad that you're here. Man, and I'm excited for what God is doing in your midst. Well, as Chanel just said, we are in week two of our three-part trilogy of the book of Esther. And last week, we left off on this story on this full-blown Marvel movie-level kind of cliffhanger. And Esther, she's standing in the palace. She's got the crown on her head, purpose in her future, and the screen, it kind of freezes. It goes black, and then the words

to be continued show up on the screen. Now, if you walked out of here or you tuned out last week thinking, man, I wish Pastor Nate would have kept going. I wish we could have just kind of gone through the whole book. Well, congratulations. You know exactly how every Avengers fan feels at the end of one of those movies, and you're waiting for the next one to come out later this year, right? But today, the lights come back on, the camera picks back up mid-scene, and the story introduces us to a villain whose ego could fill the entire palace. But before we get to part two of our trilogy, I want to give

a quick recap, maybe if you missed last week, of where we were and where we're headed. So as we've been talking about this, we said we're looking at this Old Testament book of Esther, and as I was looking at it, it felt like it read kind of like a movie script. And so we thought what would be fun to kind of portray each of the characters in the story with a modern-day actor or actress or a celebrity. And so last week, we got introduced to four characters in the book of Esther. The first person that we get introduced to is this king by the name of King Xerxes who I decided that we were going

to introduce John Belushi from Animal House for. I mean, because if you know the story from last week, King Xerxes is a guy who loved to throw a party. In fact, he throws a 180-day party and then at the end of the 180 days, he asks his buddies, what should we do to throw a party? to celebrate the party, and they're like, we should throw a party for the party. And he's like, party on, Wayne, party on, Garth, right? And so they throw another seven-day party for the 180-day party. They have a 187-day party, to which I know what some of you are thinking. You're like, I can't even last a two-hour party at Chuck E. Cheese that I have to go to, right? And then we get introduced to the queen at the time of Persia. Her name is Queen Vashi, who I cast Shakira for this role

because apparently, according to King Xerxes, her hips don't lie. And Queen Vashi, we don't know a lot about her, but this is what we know. She is beautiful, she's bold, she goes against the king's orders to dance for this room full of drunk frat boy friends of his, and because she refuses to do this, well, King Xerxes, he ends up banishing her from the kingdom. Then we get introduced to two other people. We get introduced to this guy named Mordecai, and I chose Pedro Pascal for this. I mean, he's this Jewish exile, raising his cousin Esther as his own daughter after her parents died, and Esther, we cast none other than Carrie Underwood for that role. And last week, Esther, she gets entered into the ancient version of the bachelorette. She ends up winning the final rose ceremony. She becomes queen despite all these strikes that are against her. But nobody, not the king, not his advisors, nobody in the kingdom actually knows Esther's actual nationality, that she's Jewish. Like, nobody knows that she has this faith in the one true God. And that secret is about to become the hinge of the entire rest of the story,

which is gonna be really important for you to remember these next two weeks, but you gotta be here both weeks, all right? So that's kind of the recap. This week, we turn to Esther chapter three. If you've got your Bible or Bible app on your phone, you can go ahead and turn there. Esther chapter three is where we begin part two of this three-part trilogy. And it is here that we get cast a new character. In part two, we get introduced to a man by the name of Haman. And Haman is the villain of the story. He's the guy that everybody loves to hate. And so as I was trying to think, like, who could we cast for Haman, immediately who came to my mind is Tom Hiddleston, right? AKA Loki, because he's kind of that quirky character who wants to stir things up. And Esther three, if you've got your Bible, it introduces him like this. We're gonna start looking in verse one here. It says this, sometime later, King Xerxes promoted Haman over all the other nobles, making him the most powerful official in the empire. All the king's officials would bow down before Haman to show him respect wherever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect. So we find out here that Xerxes,

he promotes Haman to second in command in the country. But Haman is kind of that narcissistic, egomaniac kind of person. And when someone doesn't bow down to him, well, he can't handle it. And our guy Mordecai, AKA Pedro Pascal, he is the guy refuses to bow down to Haman. And remember, this is Esther's cousin, the one who has been raising her as his own daughter after her parents had died. And so Haman doesn't know that he's about to pick a fight with the queen's family. And Haman is furious. And so we keep reading here, verses five and six, we pick back up. It says this, when Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him respect, he was filled with rage. He had learned of Mordecai's nationality, and so he decided it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire of Xerxes. Now, as I was reading this, I was thinking to myself, well, I'm pretty sure that we could call Haman a racist. Like he hates not just Mordecai for not bowing down. It says that he hates the entire Jewish nationality. And so instead of just killing Mordecai for not being the one to bow down, he's like, you know what, this is my plan.

I can kill all of the Jews. And so he decides to go to King Xerxes and get the stamp of approval. And notice how he spins this to the king in verse nine. It says, if it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited into the royal treasury. Now, as I was reading this, I was thinking, okay, so basically this is the ancient script for the movie, The Purge, Persian edition, right? Because literally what's happening here is Haman proposes a holiday where anyone can kill a Jew without any repercussions. And then they can go into their house, they can raid the house, they can bring all of the goods to the king. the royal treasury to fund this new empire that's happening here. And Xerxes, he hears this, and he signs it in the wall. Now, I want you to imagine for a moment, you're one of the Jewish people living at this time, and you're hearing this. You'd be terrified, wouldn't you? But I think you might also be confused, is these are God's chosen people. They worship the one true God, and now it feels like God is allowing the exact opposite of what they've been praying for.

They've been begging for freedom, and instead, it looks like God is about to allow them to get wiped out. It just doesn't feel like God has gone silent in this moment. It feels like he's doing the opposite, that he's completely abandoned them. Now, let me ask you this. Have you ever felt that way with God before? Like, it's one thing when God says no to you. It's another thing when he's allowing something that makes no sense. And maybe he even said something like this. Hey, God, I've been following you now for all these years, and I've been asking you for these things, and it would be nice if what I'm asking you for actually once in a while, maybe it just lined up. Like, maybe you can make good on these requests for me, God. And that's how the Jews had to be feeling, too. Like, hey, God, we're supposed to be your chosen people. Like, you're supposed to be taking care of us, but here you are. You're like, feels like you're trying to cut us out, because you're like, help your people out a little bit. Like I said last week, what we have to remember is even though we don't read the name of God at all throughout the book of Esther, there's no cameo appearances to God. He doesn't show his presence directly the entire time. What we are gonna continue to see

as we keep pouring into the book of Esther these next couple of weeks is that God is working behind the scenes to accomplish his purpose even when we can't see it. And look, I know that's hard to believe in the moment, because we hear no, and it's easy to assume when we hear no that God doesn't care. Imagine it this way. Imagine you are a young kid, and you ask your parents for something, and every time you ask, they say no. Like, it's summertime, and school's out, and you're like, can we go to NRH2O? No. Can we go to the movie theater, the new Toy Story 5 is coming out in theaters soon. Can we go watch the movie? No. Can we get pizza tonight for dinner? No. And so every time you ask, it feels like they shut you down, and so from your perspective, it feels unfair. You're like, mom and dad are just mean. It feels like they're being difficult. It feels like they're just saying no because that's the only word they have in their vocabulary. But what you don't know is that behind the scenes, they've been preparing and planning for this surprise trip to Disney. They're saving, they're working on something bigger

than you can see, and the only way that they can pull it off is to say no to some lesser things so that you can experience something better. See, a lot of times, our perspective is limited. All we can see is the no that is right in front of us. What we can't see is the bigger yes that is coming, and that's what childlike faith looks like. Because sometimes God says no to things that seem so obvious to us. They feel like, God, why wouldn't you give this to me? Why wouldn't you answer this request? Why wouldn't you say yes? But the thing is, we don't see the whole picture. God sees the whole picture. We only tend to see the moment, and so what happens is we don't see, sometimes, the things that are bigger, even here on this earth. We won't see them until the other side when we're in heaven. But here's what we can trust. Even when it feels like God is doing the opposite of what you've been praying for, listen, he's not absent, he's not indifferent, he's not even ignoring you. He's in the shadows. He's working, he's preparing, he's positioning, he's keeping watch over his own. I was actually reminded of this just a few weeks ago at our last Decision Weekend.

There were several stories that I got to hear of families who had been praying for their adult kids to come to faith in Jesus. They had actually been praying for him since they were teenagers, and now they're in their late 30s or early 40s, and they had still been praying for that decision. And on that Sunday, I watched as these adult children got into the baptistry, and their parents stood outside of the baptistry right here on the floor, and they watched as their children made that decision and accepted Jesus. And those prayers that they had been answered, they've been praying, they were answered. What I was reminded is that even though we can't see it, God, he's working behind the scenes. That God wasn't. Boring those prayers, he was working in the shadows. Listen, even when it doesn't feel like there's movement in what you've been praying for, he's working in your shadows too. Now with that in mind, let's go back to the story. Here the scene changes again. This time it opens to good old Pedro Pascal, I mean Mordecai, throwing a fit. And look at what it says, Esther chapter four, verse one. It says, when Mordecai learned about all that had been done, he tore his clothes, he put on burlap and ashes, and he went out into the city,

crying with a loud and bitter wail. So the news of the Jews being eliminated and being targeted by Haman, it has Mordecai beside himself. But even in his grief, something clicks. Like he's thinking, maybe, maybe, just maybe, Esther, she was put into the position of queen over Persia, not as an accident. Maybe she was brought to this place for this exact moment. Like maybe she can get word to the king and speak for these people who can't speak for themself. But then here's one problem, maybe you remember this from last week. Nobody in the kingdom knows that Esther is Jewish, not the king, not his officials. Like she'd hid that part. So Xerxes, he has no idea that he has married a Jewish woman but still Mordecai is thinking, Esther might be our only hope. I gotta try and convince her that she needs to go to the king and beg for some mercy. Now, if this were the movie version, I think what would happen in this moment is Esther, she would hear this news, she would storm into the palace, she would go into the throne room and she would demand that the king let her people go free, she'd reverse the law. But that's not as simple in this moment, it's not in the script. Because even as queen,

Esther was forbidden to approach the king unless she was summoned for. And see, going in uninvited, it wasn't just rude, it was illegal. It could cost her her life or at the very least, it could make her end up just like her predecessor, Shakira, I mean Vashti, right? She'd be banished from the kingdom forever. And so she sends word back to Mordecai, I hear what you're saying, but I can't do it. You're asking me to do something that I'm not allowed to do. And I know that from the position that I sit in and where I'm at right now, it looks as though I have power, but I don't really have any power at all. I can't go before the king unless he calls for me. If you think about it from her perspective, it makes sense. I mean, here she is, she's an orphan, she's a foreigner, she's an outsider, she's been hiding her Jewish identity. If the king finds out that he's been deceived in who she really is, I mean, everything that she has would collapse, but things could end up worse for her than they were before she became queen. And so she tells Mordecai, no, this is not happening. And it feels like at this moment in the movie, the air gets sucked out of the story. It feels like it's the moment that hope is lost, but Mordecai doesn't let it in there. Verses 13 and 14, it says this, Mordecai sent this reply to Esther.

Don't think for a moment that because you're in the palace, you will escape when all the other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this. So Mordecai, he challenges Esther to see her life through a different lens. He basically says, Esther, listen, God is going to accomplish his purpose whether or not you're a part of it. Like his plan doesn't fail, Esther, if you say no, but you might miss the very thing that you were created for by saying no. See, it's a reminder that God's plans, they don't hinge on any one person helping him out, but that he does invite us in to the moments that matter. You know, one of the challenges that we face, I think, when we read a story like this, and we think God is writing a story that we tend to cast ourselves as the main character, thinking that God needs our help to accomplish his purpose. But I got news for you, he doesn't need your help. He'd love for you to help, but he doesn't need it. He could do it with or without you. And the question that we tend to wrestle with is this, God, am I missing? Your plan for my life, and the truth is this,

it's possible to miss God's plan. Like people miss God's plan all the time. Usually it's because of apathy or arrogance or ignorance or even sometimes just straight up rebellion. But here's the good news. Even if you've missed God's plan up until this moment, He can meet you where you are. You can step into it today. Now I wanna talk about a few reasons why we tend to miss God's plan for our lives. The first one is just because of resentment. It's probably one of the biggest reasons. I think Esther, she might have felt some of that. I mean, from her perspective, she had to be thinking, God, why in the world are you allowing this to happen? Like, why are you allowing your chosen people to be executed? Like, God, you're a God who is all powerful and almighty. Like, why don't you just take care of this? Like, you could've stopped this from even happening. And I think some of you, you walked in here today and you know exactly what this feels like. Some of you, you tuned in online, you know exactly what this feels like. Like, you're frustrated with God. You're carrying bitterness. Maybe it's because of something that someone did to you. Maybe because of your own choices that you made and instead of drawing close to the one who can heal you, you said, you know what, God, I'm pushing you away.

Another reason we miss God's plan is because of distraction. I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but our world, it tries its best to keep us distracted at all times now, right? Like, our phone is constantly buzzing. Our watch, every 12 minutes, it shakes to make sure that we know we're still alive. The autoplay on everything. Esther, she has her own version of this. Like, she went from being an ordinary Jewish orphan living in exile in this foreign land to a place where she is now in luxury. She's got these servants who are taking care of her. She's getting gourmet meals every single day and she gets spa treatments whenever she wants them. And so now she might be faced with what God's plan for her life is, but saying yes to that could cost her all the comforts that she's so grown accustomed to. I think a lot of us are in the same place. We want God's plan, but honestly, we are nervous what it might cost us. We want God's purposes, but we also wanna keep our plans intact. Proverbs 19, three says, people ruin their lives by their own foolishness. And then they're angry at who? The Lord. Well, maybe that's your story. Instead of taking responsibility, you've blamed God, you've shut him out.

You've allowed distraction to keep you from God's plan that he has for your life. Now, another reason that we miss God's plan is honestly, it's a fear of commitment. We wanna be a part of something significant without actually committing to anything significant. We want God's plan as long as it doesn't disrupt our comfort, our schedule, our preferences. I know I'm stepping on some toes right now. But following God always requires surrender. You know, a lot of us ask this question to God, God, what's your plan for my life? But I think the question that we should ask God is simply this, God, what's not your plan for my life? I mean, think about it like the beginning of a new year, right? Right before January 1st, some of us, we make resolutions. This is the year I'm getting in shape. This is the year I'm gonna eat healthier. And so those couple of weeks leading up to a new year, we start researching what is the best diet plan all the while eating Blue Bell ice cream every night and calling that protein intake, right? And we think that's it, right? Now, I don't know what the best nutrition plan for you, but I can tell what it isn't. It isn't eating Blue Bell ice cream every single night. I tried that, it didn't work, right? And look, I'm getting shushed in the front, all right? Listen, spiritually, it's the same thing.

We say, God, show me your plan, while still holding onto these things that clearly aren't his plan for our lives. It's like praying for that godly spouse while being in a dating relationship with someone who doesn't care about your faith. It's asking God to reveal your purpose while having zero interest in actually serving anyone else. It's begging God to speak while spending six hours a day on social media and zero minutes a day in prayer to God. It's asking God to help you be a light in the world while being the biggest active member of your gossip group chat. And every time someone throws up a new rumor, you just throw the prayer hands emojis with it, right? See, maybe the first step isn't asking God to help you. asking God to reveal his plan. I think the first step is clearing out what clearly isn't his plan. Like that's where we start. In our story, Mordecai says to Esther, maybe everything that has happened to you to this moment has happened for such a time as this, so that you could speak up for those who can't speak for yourselves. And this call out by Mordecai is exactly what Esther needed. Like she realizes that the Jewish people, they're powerless, they're voiceless, and they're vulnerable. She's the only one that is in any kind of position

to advocate for them. And listen, as Christ followers in the church, I think this is our calling too. It's to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. It's to care for the vulnerable around us. It's to support the single mom. It's to walk with foster and adoptive families. It's fighting to rescue victims of trafficking. It's feeding the hungry in our community. It's caring for the refugees around us. Those are all ways that we live out God's mission of navigating people to God for such a time as this. But stepping into that calling, listen, it isn't always comfortable. It oftentimes puts us in challenging, risky, and even inconvenient places just like it did for Esther. And just like Mordecai's words to Esther, maybe what God is trying to say to you in this very moment, in this space right now is this. It's not by accident that you're here. Maybe the reason you were born into this generation, into the family that you're in, into the city that you live, into this moment, maybe God has been working behind the scenes, in the shadows to position you for something bigger than you even realized for such a time as this. And Esther, she's terrified, but she knows it's the right thing to do. And so she agrees to go before the king and risk her life and her crown.

Verses 15 to 17 in chapter four, it says this. Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai. Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then though it is against the law, I will go to see the king. If I must die, I must die. So Mordecai went away, did everything as Esther had ordered him. So here the plan is being put into place. Esther is ready to do what she has been called to do. And Mordecai, he goes to work getting the preparations in motion. And this moment in the story, it shows us a few things that we learn about Esther's obedience. The first thing that we see here is that Esther, she asked as many people as she could to fast and to pray for her. Like she knows this is not just checking a box. She knows that she needs God's supernatural help and his favor. And so she tells Mordecai, get everyone together and have them fast and pray for me. Not for just a few hours, three days, no food, no water. I wanna be honest with you. People ask me all the time,

they'll come up to me in the lobby and they'll say, Pastor Nate, how can I pray for you? And I'm grateful for those questions. And I'll tell them usually something that's going on in my life. But if I'm being honest, I don't think I've ever said, hey, you know what? Here's what I need you to pray for. Could you fast and pray for me for three days? Like that's a big request. And honestly, sometimes I actually feel weird asking for prayer at all, which probably says something about my pride or my tendency to think that I can just do it on my own. But when Esther makes this request, she's saying, I realized that what I'm gonna step into, I cannot do this alone. I'm gonna need God's power and his presence in my life. And I wanna challenge you to invite someone into your life to fast and to pray for you and see what God does in your life. Maybe it's for that wayward child. Maybe it's for your marriage. Maybe it's for your job situation. Maybe it's for that baby that you've been praying for. Whatever it is, I wanna challenge you to do something that takes humility, but might be the very thing that God uses to breathe life back into that which feels dead in your situation.

Now, the second thing that Esther does is she puts others ahead of herself. You know, I think when we think about God's plan, we tend to assume. I'm like, we're the main beneficiary. And so we ask God, hey God, what's your plan for my life? What's your plan for me? I'm sure it includes a promotion. Oh, and a vacation, God, that'd be really great. And a little extra comfort. Yeah, I could use that. But one of the clearest signs you're not living out God's plan is when God's plan always happens to line up perfectly with what you want. I think about what Jesus prayed right before he went to the cross. He said, not my will, God, but yours be done. And Esther says much the same thing. She says, if I perish, I perish. See, God's plan wasn't about her comfort. It was about what she was called to. And the same needs to be true of us. Now, the third thing that Esther does is she develops a strategy. We're gonna see more of this next week, but Esther is brilliant. Like she doesn't just walk into the throne room and go, you know what?

Some people prayed and fasted for me. I think I'm gonna be okay. I'm sure it's all gonna work out. No, she had a plan. And ultimately, we need one too. Actually, a question I wanna challenge you to think about this week is this. What's your plan to live out God's plan? You wanna grow spiritually? What's your plan? You wanna make a significant difference in this world? What's your plan? Esther had a plan. If you're following along, look at chapter five, starting in verse one. It says, on the third day of the fast, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance. And when he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her. He held out the gold scepter to her. And so Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter. Then the king asked her, what do you want, Queen Esther? What's your request? Now, if you wanna know the request and the rest of the story,

you gotta come back next week, all right? Or like I said last week, I mean, you can always read your Bible. That's always an option, right? Here's what I hope that you'll do. I hope you'll come back next week. I hope you'll read your Bible. And I hope you'll bring someone with you. I hope you'll share these messages with someone you know who's going through a hard season right now. And you'll invite them to come sit in this room. Because imagine what God could do if this room was just filled with people who are looking for hope. And they could find it right here in this book, in a story like that of Esther. So I know you know somebody. I wanna challenge you to be bold and make that invitation. Now, I wanna leave you with this today. As you go through this week, I want you to remind yourself that there are moments that you're gonna experience in your life, even this week, that they're not accidents. That God is working behind the scenes to put you in a position to live out this calling for your life and to impact those around you. And listen, maybe things haven't unfolded the way you hoped. Maybe you got passed over for a promotion again,

and you're wondering what, God, is your plan for my life? But maybe your workplace, where you're at right now, that's your palace. It's the place that God has perfectly positioned you for influence. Students, maybe you feel out of place at school. And you're like Esther, who felt out of place in Persia, and you're just like, God, why am I here? But maybe God put you in that place to be a voice for someone who needs to hear it. Maybe you're transitioning into a new season. And that's kind of where I find myself. My son just got married a couple of months ago. My daughter just graduated high school on Friday. And I find myself in this new season where there's gonna be no kids in the house. And honestly, there was a season where everything we did was around kids, sports, and teams, and I had connections with community and things like that. And it was really easy for me to make connections with people. But those are kind of like, they've disappeared. And so I've recently been praying, God, help me to find a place where I can connect with people and be a light in wherever that is. And I really didn't know where it was and what it was gonna look like. And then God kind of just revealed it to me just a few weeks ago.

I started going to the gym on Monday afternoons. Sunday's a long day, and I realized I can't get up. I'm not as young as I used to be. Get up in the morning and go work out before work. So I decided to do it in the afternoons. Well, the last few weeks I've walked into the gym and I just go in, I got my headphones on, I'm trying to get done, try to beat the afternoon rush. But it seems like every day. on these last few weeks as I've walked out on a Monday. I'll be walking out and someone will be standing at the counter and they'll look at me and usually they're jaw drops and they're like, Pastor Nate, what are you doing here? And I'm like, I'm working out. And then they'll be like, somebody will be there talking to them, they're like, this is my pastor. And they'll be like, oh, what church are you at? You got tattoos, are you a pastor? Like, really, I wouldn't expect you to be a pastor. That's usually how it goes, right? And I'm like, well, I'm at Compass Church, you should come check it out. And so it's become this opportunity for me to connect with people in this new season I find myself in. Maybe you're transitioning into retirement, you're wondering if your best days are behind you. But maybe all of it is leading up to a moment, your moment, for such a time as this. So I wanna give you two quick things to do this week.

The first thing, I want you to identify one person in your world who needs an advocate. Someone who needs a voice, someone who needs someone to care identify one person and consider that God puts you in their path for such a time as this. The second thing is I wanna invite, I wanna challenge you to invite one person to pray for you, just one. It takes humility, but I promise you, it aligns your heart with God's plan. And maybe some of you, you already know immediately who you're gonna ask. Others of you are thinking, I don't know who that might be, but I wanna ask you just as you go through the day-to-day to think about who that is and then make that request. And if you'd be willing to do that, to ask someone to pray for you, would you just be bold right now, raise your hand, and say, I'm gonna do that this week, right? Man, I love seeing those hands up in the room here. Look, if you raise your hands, I wanna challenge you, like follow through with that. Don't just do it in the moment because like others are doing it, but actually do that. Because it's important, we need the people to pray with and for us. And so as we close today, I'm just gonna pray for all of you. And for those of you who raised your hands, listen, that doesn't count, all right?

I don't, I'm not your guy, all right? I'm praying for you, but it doesn't count. You gotta ask somebody else, all right? So let me pray for you. And then I'm gonna challenge you, make sure you're here next week. You're not gonna wanna miss the end of this series. So God, we come right now. We thank you for who you are. We thank you, you're a God who is always working behind the scenes, even when we can't see it, God, that you were there and you're working. And God, I pray for those who are going through a difficult season where they're not sure what's next. God, would you begin to reveal things even this week? And God, help us to be people who are bold, to ask for prayer for the things that are going on in our lives. God, may we humble ourselves and invite you to work in our story. And Father, I just pray for those here today who are going through a hard season that you would just be with them, that you would guide them, you would direct them, you would just show up in their life so clearly that they would go, oh God, you were working behind the scenes the whole time, I just didn't see it.

So Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for the promises that you remind us of in a story like Esther's. And God, we look forward to what you're gonna do in our future. And we pray this in the powerful and the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, amen.