1. Esther 2:7 (NKJV) 7 And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

2. Answering The Call Esther 2:7

3. Answering The Call It’s certainly easy to face discouragement in today’s world That’s often the case because all we hear about in our world is the bad news That is why it does our hearts good to go and read God’s word

4. Answering The Call We hear much today about the absence of many fathers in the home It certainly is true, and it does have an affect upon the home Rarely do we hear stories about good fathers, those who are trying to do right

5. Answering The Call This morning, we want to look at a man who is a father of a different sort This man is probably not often discussed when it comes to fathers However, there are some powerful lessons we can learn from Mordecai in the book of Esther

6. Answering The Call 1. Mordecai was an adoptive father The Bible reveals this about Mordecai in Esther 2:7 Esther’s parents had died, so her cousin Mordecai took her in as his own It’s one thing to raise your own child, but raising someone else’s is quite another

7. Answering The Call 1. Mordecai was an adoptive father From what we learn, Mordecai did an excellent job with Esther He is to be commended for stepping up to the challenge There are many who are fathers today because they too have had to step in where someone else couldn’t

8. Answering The Call 2. Mordecai taught obedience Even though he was not her biological father, Mordecai still taught obedience He taught Esther to obey and respect him That probably came easy to her because of the sacrifice Mordecai had made for her sake

9. Answering The Call 2. Mordecai taught obedience Verses 10 and 20 of chapter 2 show us the obedience she had She certainly had learned to trust Mordecai and his judgment We need fathers that teach their children to respect, honor and obey their parents

10. Answering The Call 3. Mordecai showed love and concern If the Bible had not revealed to us that Mordecai was not Esther’s biological father, it would have been hard to detect from his actions “And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court…to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her” (2:11)

11. Answering The Call 3. Mordecai showed love and concern How many of us as fathers have paced due to our children? When we love them we are concerned about them It reminds me of how our Heavenly Father feels about us (I Pet. 5:7)

12. Answering The Call 4. Mordecai was a man of integrity We see this when we look at his life there in the book of Esther We see an example of it in 2:21-23 He didn’t look the other way, nor did he pretend to know nothing He might have had reason to keep silent

13. Answering The Call 4. Mordecai was a man of integrity Mordecai was a man who was concerned with doing the right thing Think of the example he set for Esther in this as well That’s the kind of father we need to be, men of integrity that will do the right thing

14. Answering The Call 5. Mordecai was faithful to God Perhaps the most important quality of Mordecai was his faithfulness to God Despite what was popular or even what the law of the land said, he knew to serve God and not man 3:2-3

15. Answering The Call 5. Mordecai was faithful to God He was a man who stood firm on his convictions He was very aware of God, His will and His power Look at what he told Esther in 4:14…