The Rev. Dr. Leroy Baker Title: The No-body who becomes a Some-body Special
“The Slave girl who became the Queen of the World”
By the Rev. Dr. Leroy Baker, former superintendent of the Texas (Bible Ministries) Conference, former assistant director of Evangelism for the IPHC, radio preacher for the National IPHC Radio Broadcast, and known a "Mr. Camp Meeting."
In a nut shell: “We have all been adopted into a Love Affair with the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Text: 2 Timothy 1:7-8, Esther 2:17, Esther 4:13-16
Timothy 1:6, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (KJV).
Esther 2:7. “And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter. For she had neither father and mother, and the young woman was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.”
Esther 2:17, “And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she rose in grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins. And he set the royal crown on her her head, and made her queen instread of Vashti” (NKIV).
Esther 4:13-16, “And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 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?"
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 "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; and if I perish, I perish!"
NKJV
This is a lesson on the Providence or God's love is on purpose. What does providence mean? “God's care and His preparation before-hand, His fore-sight and His divine direction.” I would like to put it this way, “Divine Providence is the love of God waiting on you. You will find God's love waiting on you, wherever you are going, if you feel for Him in faith. The Apostle Paul in his sermon on Mars Hill said it this way:
Acts 17:27-28,
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us:
28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.
KJV
God is waiting to be involved in your life, but you must invite Him in.
Introduction:
The story of the Hebrew orphaned girl (Hadassah or Esther; the name means Star) who because the Queen of Persia. This story is well-known in contemporary times in the children's stories Veggie Tails. This is truly a story of great influence and intrigue. The lesson is unrivaled, in my opinion, in the history of the Jews.
Like Joseph, who was sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers and then became the Prime Minister of all Egypt.
Like Moses, who was drawn out of the great Nile River and reared in the Palace of the King of Egypt and became the deliverer of the Hebrew nation.
This amazing story, “of Esther, the slave girl who became the Queen,” is truly an unbelievable event in world history—a true story of Life, Death and Romance.
The servant girl who became the queen of Persia. The orphan girl who saved her family with love and courage. The Jewish girl who saved her people from genocide with tough love. The story of the beautiful Queen who risked everything to make the King of Persia aware of a wicked plot to kill him and take his kingdom. The story of Esther is a love story that deserves to be told because it is a story of Tough Love and True Courage.
This historic event takes place around 480-470 B.C. About 100 years after the Babylonian captivity. About the time of Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city, and before Ezra's return to bring revival and government to the city of Jerusalem and the Nation of Israel. The Hebrew people still celebrate this great historic event every year (in the month of Adar). In the feast of Purim, the Jewish people remember when Queen Esther stood up for her family and saved her people.
I. Faith is Greater than Fear
A. Esther knew that God had to be at work in her life. She knew this time and opportunity had to be the work of God. A Jewish servant girl could never have such an opportunity as this without the love of God.
II. Love is Beyond Romance
A. Esther knew the King loved her, but she also knew there was a greater love than romance!
III. Love is Compassion with a Cause
A. Esther loved her family and people and her heart knew she must stand for the truth that gave her the courage to expose the evil plan of Haman.
B. Esther would rather die for right than to live in fea
IV. Divine Love will always find a way
A. No matter where you are going, God's love will always be there waiting for you.
B. Love releases faith and courage for victory.
C.S. Lewis said, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
In his book, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth tells of a college sociology class that was sent to the Baltimore slums to take case histories of 200 young boys. The students were required to write an evaluation of each boy's projected future, and in virtually every case, they wrote, “He hasn't got a chance.”
Some twenty-five years later another professor came across the earlier work and decided to do a follow-up study. With the exception of twenty-five boys who had died or moved, the study revealed that 176 of the remaining 180 boys had gone on to surprising success; with many becoming lawyers, doctors, and leading businessmen.
When the men were asked the reasons that contributed to their successes, they all pointed to one particular teacher who had influenced them. The teacher was still alive, so the professor went to visit her to ask her how she had influenced the boys seemingly destined for poverty and crime to become such success stories. “It's really very simple,” she responded, “I loved those boys.”
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
NKJV
Hebrews 13:5-6
Let your conduct be without covetousness (love of money), and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you (not at all will I leave you, nor at all will I forsake you, never!”)
6 So we may boldly say:
"The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?"
NKJV
Love is more than a feeling!
“Love is a lot easier to feel than it is to say.
But even when you say it with a lot of feeling,
it still does not say all you feel.
I will just say I sure do love you today and it feels especially good to say it to you.” E. L. Baker
Jude 21, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
NKJV
Some additional notes on Esther:
How the people of God are saved, taught, and restored is a story of how the plan of God works to give people the opportunity to allow God to work in their lives.
Paul shows us this work of grace often in his epistles, but perhaps not so clear as in Ephesians 2.
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved (are saved) through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
NKJV
“The Slave girl who became the Queen of the World”
By the Rev. Dr. Leroy Baker, former superintendent of the Texas (Bible Ministries) Conference, former assistant director of Evangelism for the IPHC, radio preacher for the National IPHC Radio Broadcast, and known a "Mr. Camp Meeting."
In a nut shell: “We have all been adopted into a Love Affair with the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Text: 2 Timothy 1:7-8, Esther 2:17, Esther 4:13-16
Timothy 1:6, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (KJV).
Esther 2:7. “And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter. For she had neither father and mother, and the young woman was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.”
Esther 2:17, “And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she rose in grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins. And he set the royal crown on her her head, and made her queen instread of Vashti” (NKIV).
Esther 4:13-16, “And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 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?"
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 "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; and if I perish, I perish!"
NKJV
This is a lesson on the Providence or God's love is on purpose. What does providence mean? “God's care and His preparation before-hand, His fore-sight and His divine direction.” I would like to put it this way, “Divine Providence is the love of God waiting on you. You will find God's love waiting on you, wherever you are going, if you feel for Him in faith. The Apostle Paul in his sermon on Mars Hill said it this way:
Acts 17:27-28,
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us:
28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.
KJV
God is waiting to be involved in your life, but you must invite Him in.
Introduction:
The story of the Hebrew orphaned girl (Hadassah or Esther; the name means Star) who because the Queen of Persia. This story is well-known in contemporary times in the children's stories Veggie Tails. This is truly a story of great influence and intrigue. The lesson is unrivaled, in my opinion, in the history of the Jews.
Like Joseph, who was sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers and then became the Prime Minister of all Egypt.
Like Moses, who was drawn out of the great Nile River and reared in the Palace of the King of Egypt and became the deliverer of the Hebrew nation.
This amazing story, “of Esther, the slave girl who became the Queen,” is truly an unbelievable event in world history—a true story of Life, Death and Romance.
The servant girl who became the queen of Persia. The orphan girl who saved her family with love and courage. The Jewish girl who saved her people from genocide with tough love. The story of the beautiful Queen who risked everything to make the King of Persia aware of a wicked plot to kill him and take his kingdom. The story of Esther is a love story that deserves to be told because it is a story of Tough Love and True Courage.
This historic event takes place around 480-470 B.C. About 100 years after the Babylonian captivity. About the time of Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city, and before Ezra's return to bring revival and government to the city of Jerusalem and the Nation of Israel. The Hebrew people still celebrate this great historic event every year (in the month of Adar). In the feast of Purim, the Jewish people remember when Queen Esther stood up for her family and saved her people.
I. Faith is Greater than Fear
A. Esther knew that God had to be at work in her life. She knew this time and opportunity had to be the work of God. A Jewish servant girl could never have such an opportunity as this without the love of God.
II. Love is Beyond Romance
A. Esther knew the King loved her, but she also knew there was a greater love than romance!
III. Love is Compassion with a Cause
A. Esther loved her family and people and her heart knew she must stand for the truth that gave her the courage to expose the evil plan of Haman.
B. Esther would rather die for right than to live in fea
IV. Divine Love will always find a way
A. No matter where you are going, God's love will always be there waiting for you.
B. Love releases faith and courage for victory.
C.S. Lewis said, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
In his book, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth tells of a college sociology class that was sent to the Baltimore slums to take case histories of 200 young boys. The students were required to write an evaluation of each boy's projected future, and in virtually every case, they wrote, “He hasn't got a chance.”
Some twenty-five years later another professor came across the earlier work and decided to do a follow-up study. With the exception of twenty-five boys who had died or moved, the study revealed that 176 of the remaining 180 boys had gone on to surprising success; with many becoming lawyers, doctors, and leading businessmen.
When the men were asked the reasons that contributed to their successes, they all pointed to one particular teacher who had influenced them. The teacher was still alive, so the professor went to visit her to ask her how she had influenced the boys seemingly destined for poverty and crime to become such success stories. “It's really very simple,” she responded, “I loved those boys.”
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
NKJV
Hebrews 13:5-6
Let your conduct be without covetousness (love of money), and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you (not at all will I leave you, nor at all will I forsake you, never!”)
6 So we may boldly say:
"The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?"
NKJV
Love is more than a feeling!
“Love is a lot easier to feel than it is to say.
But even when you say it with a lot of feeling,
it still does not say all you feel.
I will just say I sure do love you today and it feels especially good to say it to you.” E. L. Baker
Jude 21, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
NKJV
Some additional notes on Esther:
- How God works behind the scenes
- The meaning of God's presence in Providence
- The favorite teaching method of Jesus was story telling
- The banquet, party or celebration of King Xerxes. This celebration lasted for 180 days and ended when the King ordered queen Vashti to show her beauty and made the King furious and he ordered her dethroned and banished for ever. The law of the Medes and Persians was written and the decree went forth that “Wives must allways obey their husbands or else.”
- The King did not know that Esther was a Jew
- The locals hated the Jews and jealousy caused a plot of death to develop
- God is not mentioned in the entire Book of Esther. We know God is at work behind the scenes to get His work done. God often does not get any credit for His work of grace and love
How the people of God are saved, taught, and restored is a story of how the plan of God works to give people the opportunity to allow God to work in their lives.
Paul shows us this work of grace often in his epistles, but perhaps not so clear as in Ephesians 2.
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved (are saved) through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
NKJV