Hechos de forma distinta | De lo escondido a lo visible | Pastores Eddie Nesby y Caden DeWeerdt

Hello, well, we have a surprise for you this morning, Chocolate Thunder, right? Here I am, I am the shepherd of the young. And today, well, it's my turn to be here, to serve this generation. And Pastor Kaden and I are going to talk about the word of God. But before that, well, we serve the young, and we couldn't do it without you. Thank you for serving, for helping us. I want you to give a big round of applause because our church stands up for you. It knows the new generation, it gives to the young generation, adults, children. Thank you for that. But this morning, I have to start, let's say, everyone say, evangelize, evangelize. We prepared this message, and it's called, I'll put it this way, from hidden to shown. Well, imagine, I like, you're going to have to talk, because I like it when people talk to me back. From hidden to shown. Of course. If we're honest, we can admit that being comfortable is better than being brave, right? Well, following Jesus has not been about hiding. He doesn't want people to camouflage in the culture. He calls us to stand out, to be visible, with conviction.

Amen. And well, let's read the scripture, and let's meet a young lady, a young woman in the Bible. God has something in mind for her, in Esther chapter 4. And before I read this, before I talk about the scripture, I think it's going to help us understand the story of Esther's book. Because this happens 500 years before Jesus. The Jews are living in the Persian Empire. And well, imagine, they're trying to be faithful to a god in a culture that doesn't follow him. And then there's a moment that changes, that changes everything for him. There's an officer named Mun, or Haman, and this guy from Mordecai, right? Mordecai. And this guy doesn't want to let go of power, and they begin to attack each other. And the king, imagine, he wants to get rid of all the Jewish men and women. And as chapter 4 begins, the people of God begin to pray and fast, and it feels like there's no hope. But there's a position, with a person that can help. It's Queen Esther. What nobody knows is that she's Jewish. And according to the law, the law of that time could be executed,

unless the king didn't want to, the king didn't want to forgive life. And that's the dilemma. This is the moment that we are going to talk about this. Esther has decided that if she stays quiet, she's going to put everything on the line for the people of God. We're going to read, this is chapter 4, verse 11 to 17. And she's sitting there, and she says, all the officials of the king, and even the people of the provinces, know that anyone who presents themselves before the king in the inner courtyard without being invited, is condemned to die, unless the king extends his golden scepter. And the king says, I haven't been called to his presence in the last 30 days. So Attack gave Esther the message to Mordecai. Mordecai sent back his answer, Esther, don't think that by being in the palace you will escape when all the other Jews have been murdered. If you stay quiet in a moment like this, the relief and the liberation for all the Jews

will arise from one side to the other. But you and your relatives will die. Who knows if you didn't become queen precisely for a moment like this. So Esther sent the following response to Mordecai. To Mordecai, go and gather all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, or night or day. My maids and I will do the same. So even if you find the law, I will find the law. I will enter to see the law. If I have to die, I will die. So Mordecai set out and did everything as Esther had ordered. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that your word challenges the hearts and brings life and that we can speak for your glory. and for your own good, and we all say, amen. Family, I want to ask you a question. Do you realize that we are in a place, culturally, where people don't care about Christians anymore? Where, well, as long as they stay quiet. You can believe whatever you want, just don't let it affect me, and how I live, and don't try to tell me.

It says, keep your faith private, don't make me feel uncomfortable, and that's not a problem if you're a Christian. And there's a life, and you know what? A dark light is not going to change a dark room. A hidden light. And we become so comfortable, that we were hiding, when God tells us that we have to stand out, and we have to stand out, and we have to shine for him. There's a culture that wants to separate us, and this is, we open the book of Esther, we open the book of Esther chapter three, and before we go to chapter three, there's a conversation that begins, the answer to chapter four, the conversation of the people of God, that changes everything. Because at this point, Attack has to convince the king of something. And Esther says, says the following, Esther 3.8, it says, Then Amman came to King Herges and said to him, There is a certain race dispersed throughout the provinces of the empire that remains isolated from all the others. They have different laws from the other peoples, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. Therefore, it is not convenient for the king's interests that the people continue to live. Well, and this is sometimes impossible to ignore.

Let's see, family, I want to ask you today. Someone today in your school, in your workplace, in that team, in that circle of friends, would you say the same about you? That there is something so different about you? It's not weird, it's not loud, but it's different. Our series is called Building the Different, and it's not just to say it, but as followers of Christ, it starts to be a point of identity, that we don't just create different things. We create different things because someone different lives inside of us. In 1 Peter, it says, You are a generation, a chosen generation. You are special, says King Hymen. Right? What does it say next? It says, You are the chosen people. You are the priests of the king, a holy nation. 2 Corinthians 5.20 says, We are ambassadors of Christ. We have to get out of the darkness and enter into the light. We are different. We have a different culture. We have a different spirit because he is inside of us. But here is the obstacle that I see. Many of us have become experts at hiding what God wants to be visible.

This is what happened with Esther. In Esther, in the verse, it says, well, when Mark Deo, it says the following, when he realized everything that was going on, it says the following, right? It says, when Mark Deo found out everything that had happened, he tore his clothes, he put on his clothes, he threw his ashes, and he went out into the city crying with cries of bitter regret. He came to the door of the palace because no one was allowed to enter through the door of the palace. As the news of the royal decree came to all the provinces, there was more pain among the Jews. They fasted, they cried, they lamented, and many were dressed in aspera cloth and lay down on ashes. And well, in other words, Esther started saying, he sent her the clothes to replace the aspera cloth, but he rejected it. She wants to change. How does the problem look? And you know, they were so comfortable that she saw that the crisis was a problem instead of being spiritual. How easy it is that you and I, instead of confronting the darkness, we'd rather make these look okay. We'd rather make things look okay

if our marriage, our relationships, our friendships are falling apart. And we start to smile as if everything is okay. But there's someone in our lives who's asking about faith, or a friend who's crying, and God's saying, talk about him. But he's talking about life, about him. He's praying about them. Sometimes we want to cover the symptoms. And sometimes we want to do other things instead of pursuing God's mission. And instead of the truth, we want to do other things. We can avoid different conversations if we stay quiet because silence feels safer. Jesus says that it's our lamp. He didn't say, you're a lamp, go and hide. No, he said, you're a lamp. A city in a mountain can't be hidden. You can't be hidden. And Mardokeo has to speak and he responds with the following. He says, don't think that because you're in the king's house, you, of all the Jews, you're going to escape in a few words. You don't have it now, but maybe later you're not going to survive. God says, if you remain silent, you know what? Listen, silence is the greatest danger. The biggest danger is silence because you feel safe, right? But Mardokeo said, your position was never for your comfort, it was for God's purpose, for this moment, like now. As this, this verse is not from your greatness. And well, we're telling you, right?

You and I believe that, yes, yes, we were born to be great, but what Mardokeo is saying here is that in God's all-powerful, the question is not if God has a purpose and plan for your life, the question is, are you going to participate in the plan that he has for you? God's mission, he doesn't just participate with Steph, but you know what? God doesn't need us, but he still invites us to that school, to that team, to that office, to that neighborhood, those places are not accidents for you. Those places are assigned to you, where God has called you to live there boldly with that task God gave you. And you know what? And being bold is hard, but the cost is worth it. And that's what I love about this verse six. Mardokeo says, Mordecai says, gather together all the Jews and say, and have a fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days. I say, although I am against the law, I will enter to see the law. If I have to die, I will die. She was not afraid. She knows the cost is big, she knows she could die, but the value of the Bible has never been that she is not afraid. But it is obedience despite the fear. This is what we can do, right? This being brave and bold is the confidence in who God is. We don't have it alone. That's what boldness is. Imagine how willing to step out of the box, let me hide, and said, if I die, I die.

And so she moves, she is hidden, she is visible from call to call, from silence to boldness. Because that's what boldness does, the strength, the boldness, it doesn't take away the risk. It just reminds us that obedience is more valuable than comfort. Take a moment in this moment, and we're going to see this story that this man has changed here being part of, being part of the Ministry of Adults. Let's watch his video. Hi, I'm Adan. My first name, or my last name? I'm 19 years old. I've been coming to City First for almost two years. My life changed on October 19th when I got baptized. Well, I went to the Travel Conference. I sat by myself, and one of my good friends, Junior, he connected me with Devon, and we went to the Life Group, and that's how I started coming, and I loved it. I feel like the community was what I was searching for. They're not bad friends, they're really good friends, but not the right friends for me and for my faith, the ones I had before. It's an incredible place, right? Where they're trying to grow here, they're trying to grow in their faith. We read the Bible, we challenge each other. We come two Wednesdays at night, and we learn more about who God is. And you know what? We surround ourselves with people who want the same thing.

It's an experience of knowing, of knowing who Jesus is, of knowing more about Him. One of the main reasons I wanted to serve in the first impressions in the church, when you don't know anyone, you know? It's exciting for me, because... I didn't know anyone, but I was trying to smile and recognize people, and I was also going through problems. But at the end of the day, I felt that the joy of God took over me, and it was just incredible. Hi, how are you? Welcome. Today, we are here at the Ellis School. We are 30 young adults. We are feeding people who need it. For me, serving is a way of showing the love of Jesus. If I can do that for other people, to show them that love, and to teach them about Jesus, if they don't know about Him. That's my purpose. That fills me up. It's like evangelizing. That's my definition of serving. Thank you for coming. Have a good day. We are going to wait for everyone to finish, and then you can go. Thank you. If I could shine that light that God shines for us, it's important for me, because I was there when I felt dark. When you really love the love of Jesus, and you really accept His love, it really changes me. Church, let's give a big round of applause for this story of Adam. Wow, we love Adam. We love that he's part of the young people. My name is Pastor Kayden. I have the privilege of being a young people's pastor, and I'm so excited to be a young people's pastor.

I also have the privilege of being a young people's pastor. And Pastor Eddie's name is Chocolate Thunder, and he calls me White Lightning, so we make a pretty good team, the chocolate team and the white team. No, he doesn't call me that. I'm just playing. But really, I really like the story of Adam, because it talks about the truth, about following Jesus, and being bolder. And some of you guys may be like, well, Adam, yeah, he's a brave person. He lives how he lives, because he was born that way. And sometimes we think that brave people feel something that we don't feel. But what we have to understand and realize is that bravery is not a generation thing. It's not given to us by our parents. We weren't born with the bravery. There are people who are more extroverted, or more direct, but that is not the definition of a biblical bravery. The Hebrew word for it is bata, which means to put your faith, your trust and confidence in something. And I saw that as Christians, we put our hope in things, and sometimes we feel that this is a bravery that is maybe a little deep.

And many people want to be successful, but when failure comes, our identity collapses. People sometimes put their value in the economy, and when there's a financial problem, they fall, or when politics change, the value goes, right? And it's possible, City First, that you put your things in something that is not of God, and receive some level of bravery, but here's the catch. Boldness is going to be as resilient as the thing that you trust, and you put your trust in that. If I put my bravery in my own strength, I'm going to be brave with my own strength, or in my comfort, I'm only going to be brave when I'm comfortable, and it's all butterflies in the stomach. But you know what? Well, then I'm only going to be brave when I'm older. But we, as followers of Christ, we have to have another kind of bravery, beyond the world. Well, bravery is not something that we have to grab, or find with our hands. The biblical strength is what naturally comes out of us when our confidence is totally planted in God. It's when our confidence is placed in God. Boldness is a by-product of a deep understanding of who God is, and who created us to be.

Here's the question that I want us to answer for the rest of the time together. How can I be brave? How can I be bolder as a follower of Christ, and put our trust in the right things, not in the temporary things like the world does? We were called to be different. And I want to give you three ways of how we can bring together courage that we can talk about in Esther's book. And the next one is this, remember that those who were brave before us. Esther did not become brave by focusing on a present circumstance. She became strong and brave because she knew she was part of a history, of people with history, the Jews. They were freed from slavery in Egypt, the same people who were sent by the Red Sea, who gave them victory to give them the Promised Land. Esther was able to recognize that God has been faithful to his people before and he is going to be faithful to his people again. And you know, the courage goes up when we realize that what God has done in writing and how people have responded to what God has done. And that's why God's word is so important. As Charles said last week, the Bible is full of people who were not perfect. They were not more brave than others.

They were the people that maybe you and I would never vote that God would use them to do something big, but God used them anyway. And in Hebrews chapter 12, verse one, he says, you know, because we have so many witnesses, he says, we're going to throw everything. He says, throw everything that throws us, everything that hurts us. He says, we're in a multitude of witnesses. Let's remove all the weight that prevents us from running, especially the sin that so easily makes us stumble. And let's run with perseverance the race that God has put us on. This is Hebrews 12, right? And sometimes we feel that in these generations, we have to, we have a line of people, as it says here in Hebrews, a multitude of witnesses, who lived in those times with courage, because they knew that God was faithful. So City First, my question to you guys is this, you know, you know your spiritual inheritance. You know, there's this same God who possesses you and it's within you. It's within you. It's within you. It's within you. It's within you. It's within you. The Holy Spirit is within you, too. Or do you need something bigger?

It's an inheritance that you have. Do you need a greater and deeper revelation? And then, well, this, do you need this for life? The second thing that gives us courage in life is being close to a community that has courage, and Esther didn't get brave in isolation. She didn't get brave in isolation. She didn't get brave in isolation. You are this, you are this. And she reminded her of the problem, what she had to solve, and she said, for this moment, you have come. And this here is proof that with whom you get together in this life, it speaks of the courage that you're going to have on this journey. You can't continually be surrounded by people who have their confidence in temporary things, and then feel, why do you feel fragile in your faith? People who want popularity, politics, money, relationships, or even themselves, they are ignored. And you know, that little depth will start to align you to that. And Hebrews speaks of the following here. It says, help us, it says in Hebrews 10, notice how it says this. It says in Hebrews 10, it says, let us think of how to motivate ourselves to perform acts of love and good actions, and let us not stop congregating, as some people do, but encourage each other,

especially now that their return is near. You have to live with people who help you wash away during the difficulty, who remain faithful when obedience is very difficult. Something is going to enter inside of you. That is courage. And you start to see how God is working in people, not just those who lived thousands of years ago, but you start to see how God is working in the person who is next to you, in your group of life, the one you invited to the church, and you say, well, maybe I can trust God too. Maybe that courage in their walk with God, I can too. And this is one of the reasons why the church matters, because we need to listen. We need to listen to testimonies. We need people to wash with us, and we need people who have come in, who have had problems in life, from hell to heaven, but they continue to praise God. And people place themselves in. Because if you're having a problem with how you did it, it's up to you to learn how to work with God. No, I mean, there's a brave community that's with you that wants a deep relationship with you, right? Not one that's shallow. If you find an important community, sign up for a growth track class, people who are also on the same path as you,

who are desperate to understand God. And then if you're a young adult and you're not coming on Wednesdays, you need to, because we've created a ministry, an atmosphere of people who are living with faith and with courage and who can be with you in life to not be alone. There's a place for you here. And here's this in life. And we understand that our future is held by God. We understand this. Give me a big round of applause, because it is. Because it is planted in God. There's something so fascinating about Esther. I love theology. I love to talk here about all of this. And you know, you don't read this, what she said to Esther, you haven't seen a miracle like that. Yeah, there's no fire. There's no voice from heaven. And there's no prophet. Yeah, there's only two books. Esther is one of those books. But even though this is the case, when you read Esther's story, you can see the greatness of God. I want to motivate you today to read this. After hundreds of women, Esther becomes the queen. And well, before the crisis begins,

the king of Egypt, the scepter, would approach her for life. He came and built a structure to kill Amardokeo, but he fell on his own. And what he did was he tried to destroy this. And the people survived. And someone could see these events and say, oh, it's a coincidence. But when you take a step back, you can see that a god that you don't see, he was authoring the whole story. He narrated the whole story. And the same is true for you. Esther teaches us that even when it's not obvious that it's in our lives, it's active in our lives. Esther didn't know what was going to happen when she entered the throne. She says, if I die, I die. I perish. Her future wasn't there, but her future was secure in God. She didn't know it would be painful. She didn't know that this was the outcome. Her future was in the hands of God. So City First, how would you live today? How would you live if you knew that your life was really in the hands of God? How much more would you speak? How much more would you say? What kind of disobedience would you stop postponing?

Because all of us have some of this. Because all of us have some of this. But I'm afraid that God is not going to give you the courage, but he's going to give it to you. And I know that God is calling us all, not just the younger generation, but all generations today, without exception. What God wants us to do is to be witnesses, in Revelation 12, it says, and they have conquered him, the enemy, through the blood of the lamb and the word of testimony. Do you know how we fight the battles of our lives? Not in the comments on Facebook, not standing inside the cafeteria and shouting, but with courage, telling the people around us that God's work on the cross is important and he's working on us as well. The blood of the lamb and the word of testimony. And there's a world, church, there's a world out there that doesn't know the message you're receiving right now, that's desperate to know that, that you've been entrusted with evangelism. You have been entrusted with the most important revelation, the best news that's ever been given to the world. What are you going to do with this? So church, are you just going to keep it dark, long hidden, hidden,

or would you keep it hidden? Well you're going to keep it hidden because God calls you the light of the world. My prayer is that you notjacet into a quiet place that you tell this story as God has worked with you, with courage. and not TV, and watch it from recorded data. Here, church, is this. What is it that God is asking you to do? It's going to be connected. That you feel is too much, too big, that you are afraid, or that it is too big. What is it that God is asking you to do and that you are afraid to do? I tell you how it is, pray, seek, seek this. Seek Godly advice about God, and then hand it over to God. And just keep it to yourself, knowing that God of the universe, with that courage that God has given you, and He has good plans for you, you don't have to know how the story ends. You do not have to know that He has good plans. God has this, a plan to give you future and hope. And today, church, I want to tell you that God of the universe gives you this courage, this situation, and you say, I have to be brave in this situation. Never, never, never underestimate what God can do with a small act of faith. He is with you, so let's pray today. God Almighty Father, we come to you. Heavenly Father, we come to you today for the people who are watching today. You know, you know in what area of our lives we need to be brave, in the joy that you have given us, Lord. But we are afraid, we are afraid. You know, you promise us that you go forward, back, and to our side. And you are there, and you give us this strength that never leaves us. I ask you, Lord, where there is conviction, help us.

Help us to know how we can be brave. Help us to teach generations in this world that we are chosen by you, that we are different, that we are peculiar, because it is better for us to lose our lives, but to obtain the plans that you have for us. It is more important to live the way we want to live, and the idea that we have for ourselves. Let us live with courage, let us be brave for you, for you. And do only what you can do in our circumstances and situations. In the name of Jesus, and we all say, Amen, Amen, Amen. In the name of Jesus, Amen.