For Such a Time as This | October 25th, 2026

Last week, as we began the book of Esther in chapter one, we saw that although the King of Persia had allowed God's people to return to Israel, many of God's people had decided to stay and live the life in Persia they had grown accustomed to while they were in exile. Persia was an empire of opulence and have incredible economic opportunity at the time. And to display that, the King had thrown an incredible feast for all of the people in the capital city of Susa, where they were given an edict to celebrate and drink with no compulsion. On the outside, it looked like everything anyone could want, wealth, freedom, and leisure, with no restraint. And yet underneath all the opulence, Persia was a culture of fear and control, as seen when the Queen of Persia, Queen Vashti, refused to come and entertain the King and his guests in their drunken state. The King was so enraged that he banished her from his presence and made a decree that he would find a new Queen, who would be more pleasing to him. And so it was, which is where we continue in our study of the Book of Esther today. [MUSIC] >> Well, good morning, Fellowship. Let's take a morning to the chapel and those who are joining us around the state, joining us around the country and somewhere, maybe even around the world. We're glad that you're here with us this morning. And as you can tell from our introduction that we are in this book of Esther, learning from her life and learning all that God did in her story and how he used her, used Mordecai to rescue his people. And so thankful for the scriptures and all that God has for us in the Book of Esther. So if you have your Bible, I encourage you to go to Esther chapter two. As we continue the story today, Esther chapter two, if you don't have a copy of God's word with you in some form or fashion, we will have that on the screen for you here in just a few moments when we read chapter two.

And we discover more of the story for such a time as this. And if we haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name is Brandon Bernard. I'm one of the teaching pastors here at Fellowship. I want to welcome you and so thankful that you would join us here on this Sunday. The Lord is doing some great things here at Fellowship, and I'm so thankful for just to be a part of a great church family. And so as a guest, we want to say you're always welcome here. Thankful to have you with us. And for those of you who've been around fellowship for a long time, I want to encourage you just to continue to invite others around you, people you work with, relationships that you're in, friendships that you have, people that you go to school with, work with in your neighborhood. I want to encourage you to invite, to invite them. We have seats available for people to come. And so I want to encourage you to invite people because they may just take you up on that offer. And so we love how God's working in this place called Fellowship. I want to pray for us today as we dive into God's word. We say this around fellowship a decent bit. But weeks and days are filled with tears and cheers around here. And even this week, just in my relationship circles, talked with several people where it was a moment of tears, something hard that happened. And then I talked with a few other people, moments of cheers, where something really encouraging happened. And we know that those moments can happen all in the same week, sometimes all in the same day, sometimes all in the same family. And so we just recognize that. So I just want to take a moment and pray for us this morning and ask God to meet us in this place.

And so let's pray together. Father God, thank you for this morning. Thank you for your love that never, ever ends. Your word says that your love is wide and it's deep. It's high, it's long. We just thank you so much for that amazing love. We thank you for your grace that is amazing. We thank you for your presence that's with us. Your word says that you will never leave us or forsake us and that you are with us wherever we go. Well, we thank you that you are not done with our story. Lord, that your grace covers our sins, that you forgive us, that you make us new, that you transform and change us. So Lord, thank you for that amazing grace. I want to pray for those who are here today that have had some tears this week. Lord, that you would meet them in their sadness, that you would meet them in their grief, that you would meet them in their difficulties and hardships. And Lord, that you would help them to know that you see them, that you're not absent or oblivious to their pain or to their plight, the things that are going on in their life. And so I just pray that you would comfort them this morning with your peace, with your peace. or that you would use us to be of some comfort to those around us. So what I pray for those that have had cheers this week, that they're so excited. It's the birth of a baby or a grand baby.

It's the new job. It's the raise. It's a new friendship. It's something that's happened in their life that's causing them to have some cheers. Lord, I just pray that you would meet them in that excitement and remind them that all good gifts come from you. And so Lord, we just, we need you every moment of every hour in our tears and in our tears. And we thank you that you are with us. Would you transform us today by the power of your word, through the power of your Holy Spirit, to in Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen. So God's powerful providence. That's the name of the message today as we look in this chapter two of Esther. And when you think about God's providence, it's God's sovereign rule, the fact that he's in control over all things. But it's that he is ruling, he is loving, he is leading us in wise and gracious and specific ways in our lives. And to give glory to God, our Father, to give glory to Jesus Christ, to for him to accomplish his purposes in us. And we think about God's providence and how he's always working, sometimes in ways that we can see, sometimes in ways that we cannot see. I love the memory verse that we're doing this month

to him who is able right to do far more funnily more than we think or ask, according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory and the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. I love that verse and it actually flows into the message that we're talking about today, because when you look at the story of Esther, 'cause today's chapter two, so we're introduced to Esther and we're introduced to her cousin who raised her like a daughter Mordecai, we meet him as well. And when you think about this phrase, this beautiful truth to him who is able to do more than we could think or ask, according to the power that works within us, that's exactly what's happening in the life of Esther and Mordecai that God is doing more than they could even think or even imagine, maybe more than they could ask, more than they even know that God's gonna use them. He's gonna work within them for the glory of his kingdom. And so it's a beautiful story that we find ourselves in today. And we're gonna go to Esther two, one through the end of the chapter. I'm actually gonna read the whole chapter, right? So sit back, but don't relax, all right? Chapter one and our chapter two, beginning in verse one, here's what it says. It says, "After these things, "when the anger of king, a hazardous had abated." Now, I just wanna stop for a second, okay?

I'm not gonna do that through the whole chapter, all right? I assure you, but I just wanna stop for just a second. It says that when the anger of king, a hazardous had abated. So what we know is that his incident with queen Vashti had happened almost four years ago at this point. That's called anger issues, all right? That's what that's called, right? Do you hear that? Like after his anger had abated, you read that and you're like, oh, this is like a few weeks later. No, oh, it's like a year later. No, it's like almost four years later that his anger had abated. And he remembered what happened to Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. We know what had been decreed against her. She had been banished from the king's presence forever. All right, that's what happened. It says, "And 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 "and all the provinces of his kingdom "together all the beautiful young virgins "to the harem and sousa of the citadel "under custody of Haggai, the king's unit, "who is in charge of the women. "Let their cosmetics be given them. "Let the young woman who pleases the king be queen "instead of Vashti, this pleased the king, and he did so." Now, there was a Jew in sousa, the citadel,

whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shema, son of Kish, a Benjaminite who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jekoniah, 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 she was lovely to look at, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So when the king's order and his edict was proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered, in sousa of the citadel and the custody of Haggai, Esther, she also was taken to the king's palace and put into custody of Haggai, who had charged the women. And the young woman pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with a 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 or her kindred. And every day, Burdekai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how extra was and what was happening to her. Now, when the term came for each young woman

to go into King Ahasris, after being 12 months under the regulations for the women, since this was a regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of mare and six months with spices and ointments for women, when the young woman into the king, this way she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. In the evening, she would go in and in the morning, she would return to the second harem in custody of Shazghaz, the king's unit. That's quite the name, Shazghaz, haven't meant too many Shazghazes these days, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go into the king again unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. When the term came for Esther, the daughter of Abigail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter to go into the king, she asked for nothing except what Haggai, the king's unit, who had charged the women, advised. Now, Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. And when Esther was taken to King Ahasaris into his royal palace in the 10th month, which is the month of Tibet in the seventh year of the 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 ahead

and he made her queen instead of Ashley. Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants. It was Esther's feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity. The people were like, we love Esther, like we love her. Let's celebrate her, great feast. Verse 19, now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. Esther had not made known her kindred or her people. That's the second time we hear that phrase. She had not made known her nationality, her kindred or her people. As Mordecai commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. Says a lot about their relationship doesn't it. Verse 21, in those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, big then and terish, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded at the threshold became angry and they sought to lay hands on King Ahasaris. This is an assassination plot is what this is. 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.

So, chapter two, we're introduced to Esther, we're introduced to Mordecai. We see the way the king is acting again. He's back kind of up to thinking about what he wants and having a new queen. And so as I was kind of thinking about this message, it really kind of took me to a place of, let's talk about in this story, a few things for us to see. And then this kind of wrap it up by talking about in your story, right, in my story. And so when we think about in this story, a few things that we point out, here's the first thing, we see one king's agenda versus another king's agenda. We see one king's agenda versus another king's agenda. I was preaching at Midtown campus last week and we talked about, and really all of our camps, we talked about this, that you have the story, and then you have the story behind the story, right. So what we know is, yeah, it's the story of Esther. And last week, we talked about king of hazardous and all of his wealth and opulence and his desire for pleasure and this idea of no compulsion on the drinking and the way that you're living your life in that moment of great feasts and all these things. And so we saw his kingship and we saw the way he was ruling, but we also see that behind that story, there is another king working.

So you have one king's agenda versus another king's agenda. And we know that one king is looking at outward appearance, one king is definitely looking at the heart. So let's kind of look at this, one king serves an earthly pursuit, right. This would be king hazardous, also named King Xerxes. He has an earthly pursuit. Now let me be real clear, it's not wrong for him to want another wife, like that's not a wrong thing. But it is an earthly pursuit and we do know that by his standards, the way he operates, he is full of pride, selfishness, he's got wealth, he's got opulence, he wants to make a name for himself, he wants to be recognized, he wants people to see how great he is, he is gonna have all these women, these virgins that come in from all the kingdom, so he can choose from their beauty and he can exercise his power over them and show what kind of man he is. So you see his earthly pursuit. And it reminds me a little bit of 1 John 2.15 that says, or 2.15 says this, do not love the world or the things in the world. For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life, it's not from the Father, it's not from God, it's from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Let me just say that if you want to look at a picture of the world, just put up King Ahasuer's face. Like it's, he defines the world in those moments.

Like you look at his desires, you look at his love for pleasure and his desire for himself, it's the desire of the eyes, it's the desire of the flesh, it's the pride of life. Like this is describing him, his kingdom, his rule, the way he goes about things. It's one king who has an earthly pursuit. Second king though, he has a sovereign purpose, right? He serves a sovereign purpose. And when we talk about God's sovereignty, like it's a church where I understand it's a big word, like sovereignty, like God's sovereignty, he's in control over all things. Nothing takes him by surprise. He is ruling over all things. Things are not chaotic to him, so to speak, because he sees all, knows all, has all power. So he's serving a sovereign purpose, and we see that unfold in Esther's life, in Mordecai's life, in the rescuing of his people throughout this story. God is working in ways that can be seen, in ways that cannot be seen. Job 42, 1-2 reminds us of God's sovereign purpose. Job answered the Lord, he said, "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Job said through all of his suffering, through all the things that were taking place, he said, "Here's what I know. I know that you, God, you can do all things, and nobody, no one can stop your plans, your purposes, what you want to do." Just an acknowledgement of God's sovereign purpose. John 13, 7, this is actually in the context of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. So this is where he's headed to the cross, there in that room, and he takes out a towel and a basin of water, and he, the rabbi, the master, is going to wash his disciples' feet. It's totally unheard of that he's going to serve them in this way. They should be serving him in that way, but he reverses it. It's the upside down kingdom. He's going to serve these guys. They don't want to be served that way. Peter, the most outspoken, was like, "Well, no, he can't do this." And Jesus is like, "I'm pretty sure I can. I can do this." Right? Listen to what it says, John 13, 7, Jesus answered him talking to Peter, said, "What I'm doing, you don't understand now." But afterward, you will understand. So this is, I know the context of this, but I wanted you to look at the bigger truth of God's sovereign purpose. He might be saying, "You don't understand what's going on right now, but you will. You will." That's a tip of the hat. That's a nod to God's sovereignty that he's in control. You may not see it. He does. He knows. He's the one that told the sun to get up this morning.

He's the one that'll tell it to set tonight. He controls all things. And you're not breathing right now because he gives us life and breath. So we see the two kings, right? What's going on in that way? Let's look at the second point. We see God's sovereign power is able to help us serve his purposes, no matter who we are, where we've been or where we are. This is a great truth for us today. And it comes from this story, Esther. Like it comes from the Scriptures, but we see it highlighted in Esther. We see God's sovereign power is able to help us serve his purposes, not our purposes, not our agenda, but his purposes, no matter who we are, no matter if we think that we're sufficient or insufficient of such things, no matter if we feel like our story is relevant or it's not relevant or how could God use someone like me? No matter who you are, no matter where you've been, no matter where you are. God's sovereign power is able to use us to serve his purposes. And this chapter begins to introduce that to us in a lot of ways because we meet Esther and we meet Mordecai. And here's what we know about Esther. Let's consider her for a second. She's a Jewish woman in a pagan, gentile, male-dominated culture. Let's just think about that for a second. She is a Jewish woman in a pagan, male-dominated culture. This is a place filled with all kinds of tension. She has two names, Hadassah and Esther. So we get the fact that she's living in two worlds, so to speak. And even for a moment, for a little while, she doesn't even make known her heritage, her nationality, because of what her cousin, Mordecai, who was her father figure, who said, "Don't tell them who you really are." Like, "Don't tell them where you really come from yet. Don't do that yet." So we see the tension that's going on and we see her background. She was... he takes Esther in, which I'll get to him in a few moments, but what kind of guy is he? He sees the knee, he steps up and says, "I'm going to sacrificially love this little girl as my own. I'm going to take her in and I'm going to take care of her and I'm going to raise her." It's likely to fear God, to follow his ways. You see a loyalty in Esther, and I just want to highlight for you that one of the reasons that we're preaching the Book of Esther is because when God highlights women in the word, it's meant to be counter-cultural in a good way and it's very powerful. And I'm going to tell you right now, I'm thankful for the godly women in my life, the godly women in my life, and here at Fellowship I want you to understand this, that we value the women

who serve in leadership here, who serve in so many different ways, so many different capacities. Their role, their insight, their love for Jesus, their love for his word, their love for people. We are so thankful for how God uses the women on our staff, in our church body. Her role is very crucial to the work that God is doing in this place called fellowship. And we see that as God highlights the story of Esther honoring her as a woman and saying, "I want to use her," because in a male-dominated culture, we're almost like, "You can't say anything. You can't do anything. We're not going to listen to you." And yet God says, "You know what, yeah you are, yes you are." And so we just want to acknowledge that and you look at Esther's story kind of going, "No matter who you are," here's this Jewish woman in a pagan culture, male-dominated. She was orphaned, her parents died, Mordecot took her in, and you kind of begin to see her story kind of unfold and go, "God's going to use you no matter who you are, or where you've been, or where you are." And that's great truth because there's some of you who thought, "Man I don't know if God can use me." And the answer is, "He absolutely can use you as He transforms you by His grace." That's what God does. Because if you keep looking at your notes, in messy, broken circumstances, God gives Esther favor and grace for such a time as this. This is what God does in His sovereign purposes. In a messy, broken circumstance, God gives Esther favor and grace for such a time as this. Because Esther's story is unique. She's drawn into this process. She didn't ask for this. God made her beautiful. She happened to be a beautiful young woman, and God's sovereign power. The king says, "We're going to gather up all these beautiful virgins all over the empire, and we're going to bring them so I can choose for myself a queen."

He thinks this is something He's doing. In fact, God's doing this. He's working behind the scenes to make this happen. He's orchestrating this. And we can talk about all the details of, "Well man, how did this happen? What does that look like?" Because Esther probably had to violate many of God's laws to follow this path. Like she's having to eat like the food, because if you look at Daniel, when he was in exile and we see that what did Daniel do, Daniel was like, "Hey, I'm not eating the king's food. I'm not going to do this because I want to stay true to the Lord and I want to follow this path." And so we see Daniel take a different path, so to speak. So sometimes people are like, "Well, what does that mean for Esther? Was she being disobedient? What was she really doing?" And there are people that have different views on that. But what we know is this, that God is patiently working through Esther to accomplish His purposes. To glorify His name. And what we see is that Esther receives favor in the courts. I mean the unit who's taken care of the women, in particular Esther and her seven women, we find out that he thinks a lot of Esther. She gained favor in his eyes. And then there's a little verse that's tucked away in it. Maybe you heard it, but it says, "And she had favor in the eyes of all who saw her." So in this year-long process, everybody in the kingdom is like, "Man, that girl, there's something about that girl. There's something different about her." And they recognize it. She has the favor of God upon her.

And she ends up getting the favor of the king and the favor of the people around her. And it's all because of God's grace that's actually working in this moment. She appears to be humble and winsome and her beauty is deeper than just the outside appearance. And we see God working in her life. The second thing is this, in hidden circumstances, God gives Mordecai obedience and faithfulness for such a time as this. So we talk about Mordecai, we're introduced. So Esther is going through this whole process. And again, sometimes people are like, "Well, man, this just feels so like the harem and the concubines." And it's like, "Man, this is just, I don't know if I understand all that." Yeah, it's called a pagan culture. And God chooses to work in the midst of a pagan culture. Like he does remarkable work in the midst of broken circumstances. But then you also see Mordecai reintroducing him and the kind of man he is that he would take in his uncle and aunt's daughter and say, you know what, I'm gonna raise her as my own. That kind of sacrificial, unconditional, beautiful kind of love that Mordecai would pour upon Esther and that he would care about her and guide her and wanna be with her and wanna take care of her and pray for her and care for her in those ways. And in the hidden circumstances, the guy gives Mordecai obedience and faithfulness for such a time as this. Did you see the little, I love the little verses kind of tucked away there.

It says in every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her. I love that man. Like Mordecai, he's walking in front of it. Like this is before our cell phones. This is before, hey, text me Esther what's going on. I need to know. Like he's literally walking outside the gates and he's just kind of, I don't know if he can see her. She looks out of the window and he's like, you know, waving at her or something like that. Like he's the dad, he's the granddad. He's the person that's like, man, I just wanna be there, I wanna know what's going on. I'm worried about them. I know there's some parents in here, some grandparents here. You have that same worry. You try to write it off as concern. You think worry is like a spiritual gift or something, but it's not. And so it's like, you know, the concern. And so he's like, he's really kind of wanting to make sure she's okay. I love that about him. He told her, hey, don't don't reveal your identity yet. I mean, what a sweet relationship. What it says about his Mordecai's character. And he ends up working for the king.

Like Esther basically gets him a job. So he's like working at the king's gate. And so we see faithfulness and obedience and Mordecai's life because he's working at the king's gate and he hears about an assassination plot. I mean, talk about God putting you in the right position. Talk about God putting you in a place for his purposes. Talk about God's sovereign power. He places people no matter who they are, where they've been, where they are, he places people for his sovereign purposes. And Mordecai's there and he hears the assassination plot. Tells Esther, Esther tells the king in the name of Mordecai. Don't you love that about her? She's given her her cousin credits. Like, man, Mordecai found this out. And then what we find out is that, man, they do investigation. These guys found out guilty, they're hanged. And they write Mordecai's name in a book. He doesn't get any recognition, no reward, no nothing. Like, hey, appreciate you. Thanks for having my back, you know. Like, there's none of that. It's just like, it was written down in the Chronicles that Mordecai saved the king, little asterisk underline. We like this guy. Like, he saved the king, right? Such a beautiful thing that in these hidden circumstances, because, you know, like all of us want a little credit, don't we?

All of us want a little credit for doing something good. You know, it's like when my wife walks in or whatever, and I jump up and I'm washing dishes in the sink, you know, hey, there's a little credit, little credit here, you know, you hear the garage door open and you grab the vacuum cleaner. Like, hey, well, it's just working, just doing it, getting on, everything clean, good to see you. Good to see you, just helping out, doing my part. You know, we all have this, we want to be seen. We want to be recognized for doing something good. And here you see a humble man named Mordecai, who's like, he's just being right, he writes us, he's just been faithful, he's just been obedient. He's just being where God has him. I love that. All right, I need to kind of move us toward the second part, because you see how this story kind of breaks down and we're introduced to these wonderful characters that God is working in their life, and they're not perfect, God's working through them. But God sets it up to where he actually puts Esther in place as the queen. And we just need to know that God's working in sovereign ways to put us in places to accomplish his purposes. That's what he's doing, he's doing that. And we want to be faithful in that. So let's kind of talk about in your story, in my story, let's talk about that. You see the first question there, in your story,

where has God placed you for a purpose? Where has God placed you for a purpose? When you think about your relationships, when you think about your job, when you think about your neighborhood, when you think about your circles of influence, when you think about your kids ball team, the dance team, the chess team, whatever team they're on, like when you think about their activities and you're like, where has God placed you? Where has he placed you for a purpose? And I'm speaking to the believers in the room, and I know that we have some people probably who are here, listening online, who are not believers in Jesus Christ. And we're glad you're here, we're really glad you're here. And we hope and pray that you'll see that God's purpose for you. There's nothing that can really give you comfort There's nothing that can give you the joy that you're longing for that you were made for you can't do it on your own No one else can give it to you, but God alone through his son Jesus Christ And it takes you coming to the end of yourself and realizing that there is a Savior. There is a God and you're not him And his son Jesus Christ came and died all across for your sins and for my sins and God raised him from the dead And if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, he will save you Maybe that's your story today for the rest of us who are believers Where has God placed you for his purpose? Act 17 24 to 28 says this the God who made the world and everything in it being the Lord of heaven and earth Does not live in temples made by man nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything I love this God doesn't need anything He doesn't need you and he doesn't need me People like I'm offended at that. Well be offended God doesn't need us

But he loves us and he invites us into his family. He invites us into what he's doing He doesn't need anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything and he made from one man Every nation of mankind to live on all the face there having determined a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place God put you in your zip code for a reason And so we look at God's sovereign plan he has placed us where we are for a purpose You're like well, I bought the house I chose the house. I did we determined that we were gonna move from here to here and here Okay, you keep that you keep thinking that all right God is working in sovereign ways and purposes. Yes, there is an effort on our part Yes, there is faith on our part. There's no doubt about that But God is working in his sovereign ways and where has God placed you for a purpose? Let's go to that second question. How how are you being faithful to God where you are? How are you being faithful to God where you are? So look at your season of life. You're single You're in high school. You're young adult. You're you're empty nesters now You got grandkids whatever season of life you find yourself in you're a single parent Well, we can go through the different scenarios. Maybe you're a widow We can find all the different avenues that people are living in right now and let me just tell you this Everyone has their own journey. Do you understand that? So whether you're married whether you're single single parents whether you're a student student in college Like you have your journey that God has you on you have the race that you're running God's place you there for a purpose. How are you being faithful? To God where you are That's a big question. I'll give you a few examples Daniel 3 16 through 18 Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego answered and said to the king O Nebuchadnezzar We have no need to answer you in this matter If this be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your Hando King But if not be it known to you, okay, we'll serve we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you set up Right, so basically these three guys were told you got a bow before the king or you're gonna burn in the furnace And they're kind of like listen no disrespect but we're not bound before you we bow before one God and you're not him Like we're not bowing before you we're not doing it

Well, you're gonna be throwing the fire well great Throw us in the fire because our God is strong enough to deliver us if he wants to and even if he doesn't still not bound down to you Still not gonna do that Look, there are places to stand up for God's truth There's places to stand up for God's name to be able to glorify him in that way To be faithful in that journey and you see these three guys in that moment going we're standing up We're not bound down to the idols. We're not bound down to you. We only bow down to God We only worship him alone No other idols So they're being faithful where they are in that moment, but let's look at other ways. You can be faithful Matthew 25 35 Matthew I speak for a living here. We go Matthew 25 34 through 40 Then the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed by my father Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me food I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcome in. I Was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me Then the righteous will answer him saying Lord When do we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? And when do we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when do we see you sick or in prison and visit you like we're not even sure what that happened and The king will answer them truly. I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you did it to me How are you being faithful to God where you are? Are you feeding those who are hungry caring for those who are in prison or caring for the sick? Are you are you helping clothe those that need it like how is God using you where you are? How are you being faithful where you are? If you've been around fellowship for a moment, if you've been around me for a moment, Romans 12 is one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible. If you're gonna memorize a chapter, I'm gonna put that in one of my top five, okay? Top five.

Romans chapter five, it's so practical, and it shows us how we can be faithful. How we can be faithful to God, where we are. Listen to what it says in verse nine through 21. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. I love that. Outdo one another. I used to think about that word with my brother when I was growing up, you try to outdo someone like, oh yeah, I'm better than you. Yeah, I can beat you. Like we outdo people, you know? And this says, outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful and zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless, do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. That's a tough one, quite honestly. You think it would be happy to be happy for other people, but we got way of a lot of envy running around and people can't rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Never be wise in your own sight. Never repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what's honorable in the side of all. And if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. It's written, vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord. And to the contrary, if your enemy's hungry, feed him. And if he's thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing, you'll keep burning coals on his head. He just won't even know what to do with that. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Man. How are you being faithful to God where you are? And you're saying, I just don't know how to do it. No, you do. I just can't find it anywhere. Yes, you can. Go spend some time in Romans 12, 9 through 21. It's all done by God's grace, but there's an effort on your part. You say, well, how am I being faithful to God? Where am I? Are you showing hospitality? Are you contributing to the needs of the saints? Are you being constant prayer? Are you rejoicing in hope? Are you weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice?

Are you living in harmony? Are you trying to be at peace with everyone who's around you? That's how you be faithful where God has you. It's not just singing a song, just living a life and it's following scriptures in that way. How are you doing that? Here's the third question. Do you trust that God is sovereignly working in your life for your goodness, glory? You trust that? 'Cause there are a lot of people who hear that and they're like, yes. But man, it's one thing to say something, if I could say yes, but then to functionally live it out. Because when you begin to go through dark circumstances, I mean, Esther was in a risky place. She's becoming the queen of a Persian empire and nobody knows she's a Jew. Like they don't even know that. So risky, Mordecai, working in the king's gate, as a Jew he's so risky in this moment. Do you trust that God is sovereignly working in your life for your good and for his glory? 'Cause some of you are going through some really hard things. And if you're honest, you're like, I just don't know, I don't know. And today the call to you is from the Scriptures and from God's Spirit saying, yes, believe, trust that he is doing this. Corey Timboum was a lady who had,

she hid Jews in her house. She was from the Netherlands. She ended up getting caught. She went to a concentration camp with her sister, her dad. Her dad passed away. Her sister passed away at the concentration camp. Corey survived. She would spend the rest of her life talking about the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. She had an amazing ministry. At some point, I don't know if it was towards the end of her life, at some point in her ministry in her life, she wrote a poem about this weaving that she was familiar with. I wanna show it to you on the screen. Some of you have seen this, but it's a crown. And one picture is the back side of it, and the front side of it, the crown. And she wrote a poem, and it says this, my life is but a weaving between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors. He weave a steadily. Oftentimes, he weave a sorrow, and I am foolish pride. Forget that he sees the upper and I, the underside. Will God unroll the canvas and reveal the reason why? The dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hand as the threads of golden silver in the pattern he has planned. He knows, he loves, he cares. Nothing this truth can dim. He gives the very best of those who leave the choice to him.

You know, in our lives, we're going through things and you just see the gnarly side of that, the messed up chaotic side, that's all we see. Yet God is seeing the other side. Like he sees, he knows, he's sovereignly working. It's his powerful providence. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God's sovereignly working in your life for your good and for his glory? I just want to close the message by pointing you to a gospel moment in this story. They're all over it, but I just want to give you something that I thought was really powerful in this moment about this gospel, truth. The story says that these women come from all over the kingdom and for a year, six months of this, six months of this, they're going through all these beauty treatments. It's like the biblical Sephora. Like it's like there's all these beautiful treatments that they're going through, right? And it's all in hopes that they can make themselves so beautiful and perform so well that the king will choose them. Do you hear that? That they can make themselves so beautiful and they can perform so well that the king would choose them. Let me tell you about a different king and a different kingdom. Let me read this verse to you from Ephesians chapter 5, because here's what it says.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the words so that he might present the church to himself and splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. Let me tell you about a different king with a different kingdom. Because King of Hasbro says what he said, get yourself beautiful, come before me. And if you perform well enough, I'll choose you. We have a king that says this, you know what? You come as you are just as wicked and rebellious as you are and I will make you beautiful and I will invite you into my kingdom and you will be a part of my family. You hear that? That is the gospel. That's the gospel. That the king of kings, that he would set his heart on you, not because of what you've done or how beautiful you are, but because of what he's done and how beautiful he is, that he would set his heart on us and he would invite us into his kingdom, not that we are work to earn his approval by that he gives his grace and his favor to us. And that's available to anyone who would put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ this morning. If you haven't done that, I plead with you. I plead with you to know the king of kings, the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, the one who loves you

and is sovereignly working in your life for your good and for his glory. For the rest of us are believers leaning into that truth this morning, these questions let God work his truth in your heart. Let's pray together. Father God, thank you so much for this morning and thank you for your great love to us, that we would have a king who sets his heart and is affection on us, who washes us and makes us clean and makes us beautiful through the power of the blood of Jesus that makes us wide as snow, that makes us beautiful and makes us acceptable, that you would love us in that way, would you give us hearts to respond to you and worship? Thank you, Jesus, that you're willing to work in our stories no matter where we've come from and what we've been through and where we are, that your grace is able to transform us and use us or help us to be faithful in the hidden things of life, Lord, that we bless you when nobody else is watching or would you make us those kind of people or thank you that you call us by name, thank you that you hold all things together. We love you, it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks again for listening to the Word of God. We are blessed to reach you throughout the week, through whatever platform you're listening on. If you're needing prayer or you want to talk to someone about your walk with Jesus, reach out to us (upbeat music)