The pastor at the church we are staying at in Lago Agrio, Ecuador asked me to preach to the women at the church today. This is my sermon:
People at the church after we passed out Christian tracts. Nice and sweaty!
One of the most powerful women in the Bible, I think, is Esther. She was a commoner and her world changed very quickly. The Queen of that land disobeyed her husband, the King. Furious that she disobeyed, he consulted with his group of wise men and this is what they decided (Esther 1:19-20).
After all of these women were gathered, they had to undergo beauty treatments before they entered the presence of the King. (Esther 2:12) Once their time was ready, each spent a night with the King. (Esther 2:14)
Now Esther was a Christian, but her uncle forbade her to reveal her nationality and family background (Esther 2:10) because that might hinder her chances of getting into the kingdom.
Esther 2:15&17
Just as everything in our lives, God has perfect timing throughout it all. So something that may happen in our lives today is simply preparing the way for us to handle what it to come. Because Esther obeyed her uncle, she was accepted as Queen for a purpose.
In the third chapter of Esther, the royals saw Esther’s uncle not obeying the commands of the King. Haman, a noble man in the kingdom, observed and didn’t like what he saw. Esther 3:8
Esther 5:12-17
During this time, Esther stepped out in her faith and invited her people to fast along side of her. When the fasting time was over, she committed to approaching the King on her people’s behalf. She knew that entering the King’s presence without being invited would result in perishing, but she was willing to fight for her people.
In the same way, when we pray for God to do something in our lives, sometimes we are afraid to actually move forward and take action with what God reveals to us. Esther took action upon her prayer!
Paul writes to Timothy in the second book, first chapter, seventh verse, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” Therefore, since that spirit is from God, we should not be afraid to practice that.
Because of Esther’s brave action, Mordecai was honored by the King, the bad guy was killed, and her people triumphed over evil.
I love this story because it shows the strength of this one woman using the power that was given to her. She took action and was rewarded because of that. The greatest action in the Bible is love and it is spoken of many times throughout the Bible. Love can be expressed in many different ways. We don’t have to be a Queen of our land in order to love on those who deserve love.
God displayed the ultimate love upon us when He sacrificed His Son (I John 4:8).
And our love in return doesn’t have to be extravagant (I John 5:3).
The good news is: we can never escape God’s love (Rom. 8:35-39).
Just as Pastor Ignacio preached last night that we are unified as one body of the church; love binds us together as one. Because we are God’s people, we are to treat one another as such (Col. 3:12-14)
Love is the most powerful action that the Spirit of the Lord has instilled in us, and we are commanded to show this to all of God’s people!
Pray for my sermon today at 4:00 (Eastern Standard Time).
