LOGO LIVING IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS Esther 3:1-15

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles LIVING IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS……….. MAN/FLESHDEVIL/EVILGOD’SPEOPLE/SPIRIT KING AHASUERUS HAMANMORDECAI

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles KING AHASUERUS………… MAN’S VOICE / THOUGHT MAN’S LUST / GREED MAN’S DECEPTION MANFLESH

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles MAN’S VOICE AND THOUGHT  Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times-for this was the king’s procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment. (1:13)  After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. (3:1)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles MAN’S LUST AND GREED  If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries. So the king took his signet from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews (3:9,10)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles MAN’S DECEPTION  The couriers went in haste by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the capital. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed. (3:15)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles HAMAN, DEVIL, EVIL…….. ARCH ENEMY OF GOD ARCH ENEMY OF GOD PRIDE & DEMANDS OBEISANCE PRIDE & DEMANDS OBEISANCE WORKS BY DECEIT WORKS BY DECEIT

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles ARCH ENEMY OF GOD  Haman is called the Agagite, a descendant of Agag the Amalekite.  Ex. 17:14, Deut. 25:17, 1 Sam.15:8-34

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles PRIDE AND DEMANDS OBEISANCE  And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance to him, Haman was filled with fury. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus (3:5,6)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles WORKS BY DECEIT  Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not for the king’s profit to tolerate them.” (3:8)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles MODECAI…………….. GOD’S PEOPLE / SPIRIT SECOND CLASS PEOPLE SECOND HAND FAITH SECOND IN COMMAND

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles SECOND CLASS PEOPLE  Now there was a Jew in Susa the capital whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair……..who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives…. (2:5,6)  And in those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate…….(2:21)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles SECOND HAND FAITH  And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would avail; for he had told them that he was a Jew. (3:4)  Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to make it known. (2:10)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles SECOND IN COMMAND  But Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance. Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “why do you transgress the king’s command?” (3:3)

LOGO LIVING IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS What would you do, and how would you respond in such a situation?

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles LIVING IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS…. COMBINATION COHABITATIONCORRUPTION COERCION CONTRADICTION CONFUSION CONFRONTATION

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles DO AND RESPOND TIME GOD COMMAND

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles JOEL 2:12-14 ( RSV)  “Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”  Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repent of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God?

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles JOEL 2:12-14 (AMPLIFIED BIBLE)  Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn and keep on coming to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning (until every hindrance is removed and the broken fellowship is restored). (V12)  Rend your hearts and not your garments and return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness; and He revokes His sentence of evil ( when His conditions are met). (V13)

LOGO Click to edit Master text styles JOEL 2:12-14 (AMPLIFIED BIBLE)  Who knows but what He will turn, revoke your sentence (of evil), and leave a blessing behind Him (giving you the means with which to serve Him), even a cereal or meal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? (V14)

LOGO LIVING IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS “YET EVEN NOW” SAYS THE LORD… TIME IS THE ESSENCE CONCLUSION 1

LOGO LIVING IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS “YET EVEN NOW” SAYS THE LORD… REND YOUR HEARTS, NOT YOUR GARMENTS REND YOUR HEARTS, NOT YOUR GARMENTS CONCLUSION 2