Moment of Truth (5 of 10)
Series: The Gospel in Esther
Steve Jones
Esther 4
SUMMARY: In this message we see that Esther's ''moment of truth'' is comprised of 1) A moment of crises, 2) A moment of spiritual challenge, 3) A moment of transformation.
INTRO: II Maccabees records events in the time period between the Old and New Testaments (Intertestamental period), including this account of a Jewish woman with seven sons who were being persecuted by the Greek King Antiochus Epiphanes. He was having the seven brothers beaten to force them to eat pork. He cut out the tongue and then cut off the feet and hands of the older six brothers, one by one before killing them. All in front of their mother and the youngest brother. When he came to the youngest of the seven brothers, Antiochus tried to persuade the boy's mother to talk him into saving his life. After much persuasion, she agreed to speak to him. Leaning over her son, she spoke to him in his native language. I will tell you what she said and what happened next at the end of the message today.
When we last left Esther, Haman's devilish edict had been sent to all the provinces of the empire. In eleven months, the Jews were to be slaughtered en masse and their goods would be plundered. All of this is going to bring Esther to her moment of truth. The moment when she must decide who she is and what she stands for. That ''moment of truth,'' both for her and for us, is comprised of three parts.
I. A MOMENT OF CRISES
Esther 4:1-3 ''When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king's gate because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.''
As a sign of his distress, Mordecai t ...
Series: The Gospel in Esther
Steve Jones
Esther 4
SUMMARY: In this message we see that Esther's ''moment of truth'' is comprised of 1) A moment of crises, 2) A moment of spiritual challenge, 3) A moment of transformation.
INTRO: II Maccabees records events in the time period between the Old and New Testaments (Intertestamental period), including this account of a Jewish woman with seven sons who were being persecuted by the Greek King Antiochus Epiphanes. He was having the seven brothers beaten to force them to eat pork. He cut out the tongue and then cut off the feet and hands of the older six brothers, one by one before killing them. All in front of their mother and the youngest brother. When he came to the youngest of the seven brothers, Antiochus tried to persuade the boy's mother to talk him into saving his life. After much persuasion, she agreed to speak to him. Leaning over her son, she spoke to him in his native language. I will tell you what she said and what happened next at the end of the message today.
When we last left Esther, Haman's devilish edict had been sent to all the provinces of the empire. In eleven months, the Jews were to be slaughtered en masse and their goods would be plundered. All of this is going to bring Esther to her moment of truth. The moment when she must decide who she is and what she stands for. That ''moment of truth,'' both for her and for us, is comprised of three parts.
I. A MOMENT OF CRISES
Esther 4:1-3 ''When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king's gate because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.''
As a sign of his distress, Mordecai t ...
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