 We're in chapters 3 and 4. We're going to be looking tonight in Esther chapters 3 and 4 I chose to Entitle this particular installment of our study Esther's venture of faith and you're going to be seeing that in just a moment So beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 6 Esther chapter 3 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hamadotha the Agagite and Advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him and All the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman First so the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai would not bow or pay homage Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai. Why do you transgress the king's command? Now it happened When they spoke to him daily and he and he would not listen to them That they told it to Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand for Mordecai had told them That he was a Jew When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay a homage Haman was filled with wrath But he disdain to lay hands on Mordecai alone for they had told him of the people of Mordecai instead Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus the people of Mordecai Now last time we were together we closed with verses 21 through 23 of Chapter 2 where it says in those days while Mordecai sat within the king's gate two of the king's Unix big fun and teresh doorkeepers became furious and Sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus So the matter became known to Mordecai who told Queen Aster and Aster informed the king in Mordecai's name and When an inquiry was made into the matter It was confirmed and both were hanged on a gallows And it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king now That's important to see we're gonna be looking at something in just a moment But as we had seen this Esther's cousin Mordecai had heard of a plot to assassinate the king And what he did as we just read as he he had let Esther know and she had warned her husband The conspirators were caught and they were hanged on the gallows again. I mentioned this to you It was not necessarily being hanged by the neck. They were impaled They were impaled on posts on stakes is a terrible way to kill somebody was a horrible form of capital punishment But it was a common way of execution The king by the name of Darius. It's recorded in history once impaled 3,000 men and so it was a common way to To to kill people to execute them and so that's it what had happened And so he's speaking of after these things and how that King Ahasuerus as promoted Haman now after verse 2 after the thwarted assassination and the execution Haman had been promoted as a high-ranking official special respect was to be afforded him So all other nobles were to bow before him, but notice how we just read Mordecai refused persistently Why is that? Well as a Jew it was just something he would not do to do homage to a man Especially to a pagan was forbidden to a Jew now. This wasn't simple respect in Persia it was actually an act of worship and this kind of devotion is reserved for God alone And so Mordecai would not Give him the worship the homage that he desired well As he was not doing that as we see in verse 3 the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai Why do you transgress the king's command? Now it happened when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them Well that they told it to Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand for Mordecai had told them He was a Jew so they're watching this they see it daily people will watch it They will notice you they've noticed what's going on with him And they they saw that he refused to bow down and he refused to bow down every time Haman would walk by he did it daily it was consistent And so they wanted to know why he wasn't doing it and and he continued to refuse to do it And so after he persistently refuses as we just read They spoke to Haman about it So in verse 4 they reported this to Haman They wanted to see if he would continue to refuse to do homage Now Mordecai had revealed that he was a Jew. How will Haman handle this problem? You see they had to do homage and why would Mordecai have the right to refuse? Here's your question Do his religious convictions trump the customs of the land? Well when Haman saw that Mordecai wouldn't bow or pay a homage he became filled with wrath Which is very typical of petty government officials When you don't do what they say they get angry When you don't do what they have told you to do they take it very personally very often not all but many do Jesus spoke to us concerning power in the New Testament And he spoke to us concerning how those who are ungodly how they wield it Remember in Matthew's gospel in chapter 20 verses 25 through 27 How Matthew writes that Jesus called them together and he said you know that the rulers of the Gentiles Lorded over them and their high officials exercised authority over them Not so with you Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be your slave So the Christian way is an upside down Pyramid if you will and today's pyramid of Structures of authority the top of the pyramid is going to be the chief. It's going to be the CEO or whatever you may be called and Then everybody else is underneath them in Jesus's upside down kingdom The greatest in the kingdom is the servant of all and so the way that the pagan world looked at leadership was tyrannically and So he's upset as we just read because Mordecai will not pay him homage notice again in verse 5 And when he wouldn't Heyman was filled with wrath But verse 6 he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone For they had told him of the people of Mordecai So instead Heyman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of a hacererus the people of Mordecai It wasn't enough to want to get even with this upstart this man who would not show him homage He was going to kill not only him, but his his household too He was upset. He disdained notice verse 6. He disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone He felt himself so important and the insults so great That it deserves great punishment. So my solution he's saying is to wipe out all the Jews And I'm gonna do it not just here where we're at We're gonna reach to wherever a hacererus rules, which would include Israel So we're gonna wipe out every one of the Jews annihilate destroy and kill we're gonna do that now if He would have succeeded with his plan He would have annihilated all of the Jews That's not a new thought by the way. We're seeing that now obviously That is what's taking place even as I'm speaking to you and you know this Hamas is making comments that they want to obliterate Israel they want to wipe it off the mat They want to go from the east and just push them out and kill them all I've been hearing these things So this is not a new thing. This is something that's ancient the hatred for the Jewish nation is not a new thing It is something that has been going on for many many years and you see it here So the psalmist in Psalm 83 verses 2 through 4 said it like this See how your enemies are a stirrer how your foes rear their heads with cunning they conspire against your people They plot against those you cherish come they say let us destroy them as a nation That the name of Israel be remembered no more your Bible is coming alive right now before your face It's coming alive. It's coming. It's just it's just this is not new the desire and Their plot to destroy Israel will never succeed Proverbs 16 verse 5 says it like this everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord Though they join forces none will go unpunished and so they're not going to succeed They're not going to succeed now and they didn't succeed back them. And so his desire is to wipe them all out He wants to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of a Hossuerus the people of Mordecai verse 7 in the first month, which is the month of Nisan in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus They cast purr that is the lot before Haman to determine the day and the month until it fell on the 12th Month, which is the month of Adar and so the first month Would be March or April the year was around 474 Now it would have been around four years since Esther had become queen So to determine when they're going to annihilate the Jews they cast a lot they call it purr So the Jews actually had almost a full year to prepare themselves for what was going to take place now By this Haman is revealing his superstitious Inclinations he's trusting fate and he's trusting chance. He's searching for a lucky day that would make his plan succeed Haman didn't know that the god of Israel would determine how he was to preserve his people It says in Proverbs 16 33 the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the lord And so they think that they're going to have a lucky day for them A lucky day is to begin the annihilation of every person of the nation of Israel Well in verse 8 Haman said to king Ahasuerus There's a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people In all the provinces of your kingdom Their laws are different from all other peoples And they do not keep the king's laws Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain If it pleases the king Let it decree be written that they may be destroyed And i'll pay 10 000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the king's treasury Now notice he says in verse 8 these people have different laws. They refuse to keep yours They refuse to keep his laws because they have a higher law That that's again something that that plays into us as Christians We are to be the the the ones who are most Law-keeping i'd say i believe every every christian should be a person who is Is is keeping the law obviously that you know we do that because Government has been established by the lord, but when the law violates the commands of god That's when we make a stand. That's when we stand in opposition. That's how it works And so they were refusing to keep the law because they're their law that they listen to that they obeyed was higher They're refusal to keep his laws came from a Love for and a courage that came because they kept a higher law And they're not going to give man the honor that is reserved for god alone And so moral courage Results from following a higher authority Where does your courage come from? It comes from a higher authority remember we've been going through the book of acts on sunday And in acts 529 it reads that peter and the apostles replied we must obey god rather than men We have a higher standard that we're to hold fast to In psalm 27 verse 1 it says the lord is my light of my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The lord is the strength of my life Of whom shall I be afraid? jesus said if you're gonna fear Don't fear man. He said Fear god who's able to kill And cast you into hell if you want to fear he said fear him And so whom shall I fear? I am to fear no no one except the lord Well notice how he says in verse 9 if it pleases the king let a decree be written that they'd be destroyed What is he saying? He's saying this this is terrible. I will pay To have them die now Let me show you something here verse 9. He says i'll pay 10 000 talents of silver Talents to say okay, what is that right? What is the talent? What this is speaking of is 750 000 pounds of silver 750 750 000 pounds of silver I I looked that up and I wanted to say okay. How much would that be worth right now? Because I just happened to have that in my in my wallet Uh as of yesterday that would have been around 240 million dollars Now he may be extremely rich more than likely is But he also may have wanted to draw money from the spoils because when all the people are killed The spoil is left behind And he can make claim to that So he would have put the money into the king king's treasuries and in doing so he would have repaid Himself and that's his plot. Well when he says it verse 10 The king took his signet ring from his hand gave it to haim and the son of hamedetha hamedatha the agate agate What a name haga The guy from ontario the enemy of the jews And And the king said to haim and the money and the people are given to you To do with them as seems good to you The ring that he's speaking about is a symbol By giving him the ring that's a symbol of the king's authority haim and now is wielding the king's authority And as you see this in verses 10 and 11 the king grants permission and he's also going to sponsor this Once again Typical of a petty monarch when when haim and said your laws are being disregarded Ahasuerus responded because his honor had been impugned Verse 12 then the king's scribes were called on the 13th day of the First month and a decree was written according to all that haim and commanded To the king's say traps to the governors who were Over each province to the officials of all the people to every province according to its script And to every people in their language in the name of king ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king's signet ring And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces to destroy to kill and to annihilate All the jews both young and old little children and women in one day On the 13th day of the 12th month Which is the month of adar and to plunder their position their oppositions a copy of the document Was to be issued as law in every province being published for all people that they should be ready for that day The couriers went out hastened by the king's command And the decree was proclaimed in shushan the citadel Citadel so the king and haim and sat down to drink But the city of shushan was perplexed Again, we're reading the newspaper To destroy to kill to annihilate Both young and old little children and women Um, i'll say this briefly. It's not part of my study. It just comes to mind I think it important that we as christians remember our biblical history and and reading portions of scripture like this help us understand what's going on today There is very definitely a great brainwashing taking place. I think in colleges and high school campuses There's a tremendous brainwashing The things that we saw on the news and they're they're censoring The pictures because they're just too bad And I don't even really want to go into the things perhaps some of you haven't been following what took place on that day when When israel was attacked in the way it was But it is beyond description the horror of it is something beyond a human being's imagination What has taken place and I can't say it. I'm thinking of things. Can I say this? No, I can't say this I will say this and this is this is Horrible by itself when it says here Um to annihilate both young old little children and women That's what went on. That's what went on Little children over 40 of them were beheaded Children were burned to death while alive Women were raped so severely that it broke their pelvis There are things you're not hearing perhaps or things you're not watching them And I can understand if you don't want to know I do understand that But that's what's taking place And so what we have people now are people who are marching and saying, you know, uh, ceasefire, etc I don't I don't see that israel's going to do a ceasefire. I don't Because this was the greatest slaughter of jews since the holocaust And so that's that's not going to happen. And so when people say, oh, no, there is no anti-semitism The fact is this is increasing. It's voluminously increasing even is as I'm speaking There are quite a number of people who Who are turning their hearts against the the jewish people and it's just a horrible thing It's it's it's almost surprising to see how it's taking place, but it is it's happening in our day And so the king Or orders a total annihilation And this is leaving the city in confusion Some are rejoicing But others are thinking Are we next The jews were living in shushan And they would have been terrified when this order goes out Because they are going to be killed. And so the whole city is in confusion So chapter four verse one when mordecai learned all that had happened He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the city He cried out with a loud and bitter cry He went as far as the front of the king's gate for for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived There was a great mourning among the jews fasting weeping wailing Many lay in sackcloth and ashes So they're all under the death penalty And they're under the rule of a pagan government. What are they able to do? They're powerless. They can't save themselves So mordecai and the jews begin to mourn they begin to fast they begin to weep and they're wailing wearing sackcloth and ashes Which are symbols of grief and mourning It's how they show fear and pain in the old testament book of joel chapter one verse 13 It says put on sackcloth old priest and mourn Wail you who minister before the altar come spend the night in sackcloth you who minister before my god For the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your god So it was a common way to show fear and pain Now it took him according to verse one courage to do this openly. He's there in the midst of the city Now a jewish commentary that i i read on excerpt from Said that he read scripture In deuteronomy 4 verses 30 and 31 when you are in distress and all these things have come upon you In the latter days you will return to the lord your god and listen to his voice For the lord your god is a compassionate god He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them And so they're coming before the lord and they're asking god to to save them And as this is taking place verse 4 Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her and the queen was deeply distressed And then she sent garments to clothe mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them Esther had not been aware it would seem of the news of impending annihilation She was told mordecai is crying. He's wearing sackcloth It would seem that the maid servants had been made aware that she's jewish And so when she heard this she wanted to clothe them It may be she was a bit embarrassed on his behalf So she wants to clothe them, but he refuses to accept those clothing that clothing Now she doesn't associate his behavior and this is interesting with spiritual mourning It seems to indicate a bit at least of ignorance on her part It makes you wonder if she was taught any of the law of god So as this is taking place verse 5 Esther called Oh, here we go again Jerry a thought One of the king's eunuchs Whom he had appointed to attend her and she gave him a command concerning mordecai to learn what and why This was Now this man is A trusted servant and he went to discover what was wrong It would seem that at this point her jewishness is now being awakened She can no longer afford to blend in And as I was thinking about that I wrote to myself in my notes There comes a time when we must choose whom we shall serve There comes a time When something happens perhaps a crisis Some situation Comes and we need to know that we need to stand up and trust the lord I think a lot of people today have forgotten that god is the god of the miracles. He's a god who delivers I think we forget these things sometimes And so it appears and some commentators think that Esther had buried her jewishness for a while And may not be aware of what's taking place But now this crisis has arisen and she's going to have to respond so verse 6 So hathak went went out to mordecai in the city square That was in front of the king's gate and mordecai told him All that had happened to him and the sum of money that heman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the jews He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction Which was given a shushan that he might show it to ester and explain it to her And that he might command her to go into the king To make supplication for him and plead before him for her people and so Mordecai fills him in on what's taking place He gives a copy of the decree for the destruction and he says you need to go and let her know Immediately and so he does he returns and he tells ester the words of mordecai Well verse 10 ester spoke to hathak And gave him a command for mordecai All the king's servants And people of the king's provinces Know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king Who has not been called? He has but one law Put all to death Except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live Yet I myself have not been called to go into the king these 30 days So they told mordecai esters words I haven't been summoned I cannot go Into the king's presence Without him making a request for me to be there And if I go without his summons I may be put to death you don't seem to understand That this can cost me my life Everyone in the kingdom knows that this is his one unwaivering law Now putting this into some kind of context remember ester has been living in luxury For the last four years She she has She has things that That we could only imagine I mean I I don't understand here we go. I have to be careful how I say this because it sounds stupid even when I'm thinking it But I'll say it anyway I don't get it I don't I don't understand. I thank god for my for my personal upbringing I thank god that I had a father who drove a truck who taught me to keep both feet planted on the earth So I don't have a an understanding of what it's like to live with such opulence that there's not a single thing Anywhere that you can't buy That's how she was She ate banquets. She had banquets every day basically if she wanted she wore the the most beautiful gowns That could be made possible from the from the far corners of the kingdom. She she lived in such luxury That she could have possibly gotten a bit soft Now mordecai had said to her do not disclose that you're jewish So she's been undercover for a long time and being undercover and And living in this way in this fashion To have people treating her in the way that they did He had a lot of concubines. He had a lot of extra wives But she was the queen she was above all the rest. She was treated in an entirely different way But notice she hasn't been summoned for a month So she's saying I can't go to him if I go in there I could die if I go before him without him summoning me This may cost me my life. You don't know what you're asking of me You don't know But you have to he's saying You've been hiding that you're jewish, but now you need to reveal it to the king He's saying don't be held captive to fear Because fear is going to paralyze you It's been said that courage is revealed when though you're afraid you still do what is needed Courageous people and fear-filled people encounter the same obstacles But how you respond to the hour and deal with your fears Reveals who you are It's been said heroes run towards danger While others run away from it So you need to understand Mordecai is saying You're already dead You're jewish Don't think that you're gonna be surviving Don't think that verse 13 mordecai told them to answer ester Do not think in your heart that you'll escape the king's palace anymore than all the other jews For if you remain completely silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the jews from another place But you and your father's house will perish Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom For such a time as this What makes you think That you will not become a victim to the order Listen ester you need to know something about the god that we serve You need to understand that relief and deliverance will arise for the jews God is not going to allow his people to be completely annihilated There is a way that deliverance will occur and there is a deliverer Have you not considered that your being in the palace was part of a plan by god all along remember When we're in chapter two How it had said in verse eight that the young women gathered at shushan, but she was taken And I had mentioned to you that the word taken speaks about her being taken when the others voluntarily went She went not wanting to she didn't want to go there. She was taken And so that was something she didn't plan for herself and in uh chapter two verse 15 Remember how when they had the beauty contest she didn't beautify herself before she went to see him She didn't ask for anything extra no special lip gloss or eyeliner She just went in She didn't try to win his affection He gave it to her So these things he's saying aren't simply a coincidence and this isn't by chance You need to know god is at work So here's the thing God will deliver his people Why not through you have you ever asked the lord that for yourself When you look out and you see there's a need and you say to yourself Man somebody ought to step up and do something about this Have you ever thought that maybe you're the one you're supposed to stand up and step out? It's easy for for me to say You know lord you have a need there. He is send him But it was isaiah who said here my lord send me Have you ever thought that perhaps there are things god wants you to step into? That you're expecting somebody else to do because you see it's too hard or perhaps It's going to cost too much for you that is going to require sacrifice Everything worth having is worth sacrificing for Anything worth having is worth sacrificing for So he's telling her listen God is going to deliver us He's not going to allow his children to be destroyed. He will not allow the annihilation of his people So deliverance is going to arise It will come but ester Why not through you? Why can't you be used Why can't you start a christian's club in a school? Why can't you? Share the gospel with kids standing on the street corner. Why can't you Lead worship? Why can't you do the things that that you see and you wish that you could be part of or needs to be done? That's how that's how I entered into ministry. It wasn't like oh, I want some glory and glamour It was that something needs to be done attitude and and god here am I send me and that's how I entered into ministry So you need to know who you are God is going to deliver his people. Why not through you? And then he says verse 14. Who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this You're not an accident in history ester God has orchestrated these events And i'm telling you you have a purpose that god designed especially for you How do you know? That that god didn't orchestrate all of this for this one moment for you to stand up and be used by god And so this word that it sent is something that speaks to her heart and so in verse 15 ester told them to reply to mordecai Go gather all the jews who are present in shushan and fast for me Neither eat nor drink for three days night or day My maids and I will fast likewise And so I will go to the king which is against the law enough. I perish I'll blame you know if I perish I perish notice how she says Fast for me as I've shared with you fasting Represents mourning it speaks of turning to god so I'm telling you to fast along with fasting. There's a is normally fasting in prayer, but As you're fasting This is a way you turn to god and verse 16 my maids and I will fast also And then I'll go to the king now her maids were either jewish or they had been converted and then she says And this I think is just an amazing thing If I perish I perish If I perish I perish How hard was it for the king to get rid of vashti his other wife? It wasn't hard at all She got a mad And so let's just get rid of her Let's have a beauty contest And I'll get the foxiest lady In persia I don't need you This isn't in my notes. Let me share something very briefly with you. One of the things about love In relationship Is the one who loves least has the most power And I think we all understand that What do I mean by that? I mean that She could have loved him greatly, but she doesn't know that he loves her greatly And when you're young you learn this in your dating relationships You know that if you care for somebody and I'll speak from a male perspective and Speak as a young man dating a girl, you know that If you reveal your love for her You know that if she doesn't have the same kind of love for you That she will control you Because that's what happened If you love her more than she loves you she will control you and every man is aware of that and it's true for women too If she loves a man more than he loves her he will control her So he'll say i'll be over in an hour and doesn't show up and then she's mad and hurt and he says Oh, I had other things to do. She says, oh, you're so lovely I'll still forgive you because I love you and he says yeah, I knew you would why because she loves him more Than he loves her In the case with ester There has to be some sense of I don't know how deep his affection really runs to me because Vashti was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom And he got rid of her and got a new model Why What I make myself think that I'm more important than she What makes me think that he'll be more faithful to me than he was to her And if I go to him and he doesn't Uh place his Hold out his scepter to me. I'm as good as dead And so she knows that I haven't been summoned. I haven't seen him in a month You're telling me to go. Don't you understand what's going to take place if I do Don't you understand my my head is going to be taken from I don't you understand what can He says, you know, God isn't going to let his people die Deliverance is going to rise Why can't it be you? Why can't you take a step of faith and see what God can do with you? Why don't you take a step of faith? And that's what she's doing. She says if I perish Then I perish I'm afraid I know what could happen I have no guarantee my effort will succeed But I've made up my mind I'm going to do that which is right Even if it is costly I'm going to yield my life For my people If that will result in their deliverance If God protects her she's going to be glad But if he doesn't She'll die knowing she did the right thing And what she does is she resigns herself to the will of God That God may deliver his people it's interesting that She was spared and God delivered But there was one Who came later Who did deliver his people Jesus Christ and he wasn't spared He laid his life down Esther was willing to But Jesus did I wonder If anybody listening to this right now I wonder if the Lord has laid something on your heart Something he wants you to do Something that you think somebody else can do But the Lord has been laid it on your heart and he said no Oh, I could use somebody else But why not you? Why not you? You see when I got saved I didn't know anything about evangelism. What do you know when you're first saved about sharing your faith? You just told tell somebody that Jesus saved you. I mean, what does a brand-new Christian really know? What do you really know? I was lost now. I found that's basically it I got saved. How'd you get saved? Do you know what? I can't even explain it. I gave my heart to Christ That's what I did But I was also told That Jesus died for the whole world And all I did is I began to share with those who were in my personal world And the most immediate would have been my family He just made sense to me You know, yeah, they were evangelists and they're a great evangelist Billy Graham was still Busy in reaching lots of people and there are others like him who were reaching people throughout the world I could have said well, maybe I can take my dad and mom some day to see one of these great evangelists But I didn't do that what I did was I thought well, perhaps this is my opportunity. Maybe it's something I'm supposed to do Maybe well, as a matter of fact, it is seeing that I know them best and I love them the most Why would some stranger love my dad and mom more than I do? Why? So it just made sense to me Tell them about Jesus Because if I don't who's going to Can I expect Billy Graham to knock on the door and say excuse me? Mr. Rosales, can I speak to you about Jesus? No, he's not going to do that Can I expect some Some person on TV or a radio person to come to my house and do that? No, of course not So I learned a long time ago That an evangelist already was in the house and that was that was me A believer in Christ who wanted my parents to know Jesus Christ And my dad I mean my dad was my dad was a man who he was You know those who knew my dad some in this church still remember him They know him as a sweet and loving man and he became that but he wasn't always that My dad told me he said when you told me I was going to go to hell because that's what I told him I said daddy, you're a good man You'll be the best man in hell if you don't give your heart to Jesus Christ He said when you told me I was going to go to hell. He said I wanted to get up and hit you That was my dad That was my dad He said but when you told me you loved me He said that made the difference Because in my house, we never said I love you The only person who ever said that kind of thing was my mom my dad in my entire life only told me I love you one time In all my life one time He didn't have to I knew he did but he wasn't a man who could do that So when I told him daddy, I love you and I don't want to go to heaven without you Bow your head. You're going to receive christ right now That's why he got saved god Had placed me in that family for that reason For such a time as that How about you How about you? Why not you? Why somebody else? Why does somebody else have to do the work that god could use you to do? Why don't we step out in faith? Why don't we tell our friends tell our neighbors Tell whomever In whatever we god gives us the ability to god loves you Jesus died for you And I care about you Why not Somebody's got to do it Instead of saying there he is lord use him I just started saying here am I lord Send me I want to be used by you I want to see people's lives changed I want them to go to heaven I want them to know peace and joy. I want them to know love. I want them to have those things And maybe it's just one of those moments for us as a church for such a time as this that god would use us to reach out And tell people we know how much god loves him And what god can do in somebody's life He can transform you if you look around and I'm not asking you to But I'm standing here looking out here I see a lot of rugged people that I wouldn't have wanted to encounter On the street Before you came to know jesus You'd have scared me If some of you knew who's sitting next to you right now you'd move But god changes lives doesn't he God forgives sin doesn't he God delivers doesn't he does For such a time as this She's going to take a venture of faith and watch what the lord is going to do