Inviting The Devil To Dinner — Carter Conlon

Today's message is called, Inviting the Devil to Dinner. Put that family member out of your mind right now. I'm talking about the real devil. Inviting the devil to dinner. Now Father, I thank you with all my heart this morning.

God, I bless you and I praise you that you are calling us as your people to pray again in this hour. I thank you Lord that you're not calling us as a people who have it all together or who have done anything right.

And in some cases we've done hardly anything right. But yet we are still your bride. You still love us with an everlasting love and you have still interconnected the working of your hand with the sound of our voices.

And so Lord God, we accept the invitation to pray again in our generation. We ask you Lord for mercy, God, for this moment, this moment in our history, as a country, as a people. Lord, we ask, oh God, that you would stretch out your hand of power and deliver our children, our young students in school, our college grads, our families, oh God, our government.

We ask Lord that you deliver our churches from prayerlessness and powerlessness. Lord, we're completely at your mercy. But yet we understand that you are a merciful God, an all powerful God and you desire Lord to hear our voices again.

And so God help me to convey this message today, Lord. Take the frailty of this human vessel and multiply the thoughts that you have planted inside this heart and feed those that are hungry today. Give us the victory that is ours.

Give us an understanding of it. Give us the grace Lord to understand that you call us not in our strength, but in our weakness to make a difference in our world. I thank you with all of my heart in Jesus' name.

Esther’s Banquet and Haman’s Plot

Esther chapter five, inviting the devil to dinner. Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.

So it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court that she found favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the throne and the king said to her, what do you wish Queen Esther?

What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half the kingdom. So Esther answered, if it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him. Then the king said, bring Haman quickly that he may do as Esther has said.

So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. At the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom, it shall be done.

Then Esther answered and said, my petition and request is this. If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases my king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them.

And tomorrow I will do as the king has said. So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai.

Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sat and called for his friends and his wife, Zeresh. Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king.

Moreover, Haman said, besides Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared. And tomorrow I'm again invited by her along with the king. Yet all this avails me nothing so long as I see Mordecai, the Jew, sitting at the king's gate.

Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, let a gallows be made 50 cubits high. And in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it. Then go merrily with the king to the banquet.

And the thing pleased Haman. So he had the gallows made. Ephesians chapter six, verse 12, Paul the Apostle says these words. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The Devil’s Hatred for the Image of God

When people descend into godlessness, they often become open to demonic suggestion, which if it's left unchecked leads to moving in unison with the objectives of darkness, which is to steal, kill and destroy that which is most clearly represents the image of God in this world and is the dearest to his heart.

Make no mistake about it. The devil hates you. The devil hates all of humankind. He hates those created in the image of God and in the pride of his heart set out to destroy that which he knew was most important to the heart of God.

Jesus himself said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. So there is this conflict going on. This war in the heavenlies, may I call it such, that people unwittingly who live in godlessness become pawns of it.

Their hearts become open to darkness and in that suggestion of darkness, they begin to move their hand against that which they know is dearest to the heart of God. In this case, a man called Haman worked his way up in government to becoming virtually second in authority in the kingdom.

Yet he wanted everybody to bend and bow and tremble before him. Wanted everybody to bend to his view of what society should look like, bend to his view of what authority should look like, bend to his own reasonings, his own redefinitions, may I call it that, of everything that had existed up to that point, but there were a certain people group that would not bend, represented by this one man at the gate called Mordecai, a religious, devout follower of God of that time, who simply would not stand, would not bow, would not bend to ungodliness.

And this man, Haman, became inflamed against this man and not only this man, but all of the people that this man represented, all of the Jews in the kingdom of that time and persuaded the king to begin to pass laws to take away the strength of the people, to take away their possessions, their power, and their ability to stand against their enemies.

Ultimately, the intent of the law that was passed was to eradicate society of these people, of people that he deemed would never bend or bow or come into subjection to this new order as he saw it in the kingdom, of people who had another king and it was the only king that they would bend or bow to.

And so to get rid of their influence and get rid of their authority, he did what nations and leaders and rulers break back to the devil himself have always tried to do, to pass laws, to threaten the people of God of that time, to threaten them with harm, to marginalize them, to push them to the side, to say that we as a society with our new and wonderful order are better off without these people who will never bend their knee to our view of what society should look like today.

God Uses the Weak and Forgotten

And so what is God's response to this? All throughout history, we see God responding to these moments when leaders rise up, leaders like Pharaoh in Egypt and start throwing the children of Israel into the river.

We see it all throughout history. What is the response of God? Now Paul speaks about it in the book of Corinthians and he talks about the Lord one more time takes the weak and the foolish and the nobodies and the nothings and things that are not to bring to nothing the things that stand in their own wisdom and in their own strength.

He had providentially at this time in history placed a young girl in the king's palace. It's amazing. Now at the time that he calls her to go in and make intercession for her own people, she was a Jew.

At the time that God calls her, it's the worst possible time in her life. The passion of that first love romance with the king has somewhat faded. She hasn't even been called into his presence for 30 days.

She doesn't feel lovely. She doesn't feel loved. She doesn't feel wanted. She probably feels that she has been largely somewhat unfaithful in the way that she should have been faithful to the king and he's now displeased with her.

And it's at this point where she really is not a day-to-day kind of presence in the king's court that God calls her. Don't you love that? I mean, we as a church age in America today, who among us can say we've been all that we should be?

We've been faithful. We've been at every prayer meeting. We look across the nation. Our churches are virtually prayerless today. Our gospel is light and somewhat treacherous and when it's not light, it's heavy-fisted and condemning the righteous.

And we look and say, oh God, this is the worst possible time that we could be experiencing this onslaught of evil that we're experiencing in the nation because we're not strong. We feel unlovely. We feel like we've not been in the presence of the king.

We don't feel desired. We are completely aware of our failings and our inability to do what we feel that you're calling us to do. But somehow God has tied the moving of his hand in with our voices. All the mercy of God, the kindness of our God, the goodness of our God that he waits to hear us in our frailty, in our imperfection, in our struggles, in our trials.

And what I spoke on on Tuesday night, there's one thing that we must rediscover that Esther had to know. In spite of how she felt about herself, she was still the bride of the king. No matter how you feel about yourself, even if you've been away from God for years, it doesn't matter.

He has engraved you on the palm of his hands. And quite often he doesn't call us in our strength. He lets us like Moses spend 40 years in the wilderness. And when we no longer have a sword, we no longer have influence.

We have nothing left but him. It's in that weakness that he calls us to do now a great work for the kingdom of God. Oh, thank God for his mercy. Thank God that his ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Thank God that he is who he is. He waits sometimes until we're weak. He waited as a matter of fact, till Lazarus was dead to do the miracle because there was no sharing that miracle, was there at the table when Lazarus sat with the Lord.

All he could say was I was dead and I heard a voice and I got up and I headed towards it. It wasn't me and Jesus doing anything. It was Jesus did this and I rose up from the dead. This man Haman got into power and decided to use his influence to diminish and eradicate all that would not bow down to him.

And when people will not bow down before the true image and the ways of God, they will eventually try to destroy it. And you see this pattern repeating itself over and over again in history. John chapter 13 verse 27, Jesus one last time reaches out.

Now Jesus is the express image and glory of God. He reaches out at the last table, dips bread in the wine and offers one last gesture of fellowship to Judas. When Judas refused to really receive, he made a feigned pretense of accepting the bread.

Let's put it that way. But in his heart, he refused to fully embrace what was before him. And it was at that point, the Bible tells us that Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, what you do, do it quickly.

Prayer, Fasting, and Dependence on God

Esther is the type of a praying people that God looks to to show his power again in a time of trouble. She turned in her own frailty to a complete dependence upon God. She called together her friends and she said, let's pray and let's fast for three days.

Let's get back to prayer. It's time to pray again. Let's recognize that unless God builds this house, we labor in vain. This will not be accomplished through petition, through activism, through the courts or anything else.

What needs to be done in the nation now is only going to happen by the hand of God. And we, as the people of God, she recognized need to humble ourselves in the sight of a holy and all powerful God and recognize again our dependence on him.

Unless he built the house, our labors are in vain. And she said, not only will we fast, but I'm going to throw myself in with my prayer. And I'm going to go into the king and whatever it costs me, that's what it costs me.

It's not a casual type of prayer that the Lord is looking for in this generation. It's the prayer of a people that say, God, whatever you have for my future, I accept that. Wherever you lead me, I will go.

What you ask me to do, I will do. What you ask me to speak, I will speak. I will do this, oh God. And if I perish, I perish. I remember in my younger years as a police officer, I got so tired of the duplicity in my life.

I got so tired of weeping when I sang the hymns in church and yet dry and ashamed of his name the rest of the week. And I remember driving down a certain street and I was so frustrated, I punched the steering wheel of the car and I said out loud, I was alone in the car.

And I said, Jesus, I'm going to follow you if it kills me. Now that didn't seem like a prayer, but it was. It was, and look where it's led. All over the world, it's been an amazing journey. Where you lead me, what doors you open, what you ask of me, where you call me to go, I will go there.

But there was one thing I knew in my heart, I don't have the strength to do this. I don't have the speech to accomplish it. I don't have the heart to want it. But I want your presence and power and purpose and pathway for my life.

I want what you have for my life. And where it leads me, that's where I want to go, even when I don't understand it. Esther turned in complete dependence. Now in this place of intercession, where we began, she shows up now in the king's court.

It happened the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house facing the entrance of the house.

And so it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

Entering the King’s Presence by Grace

You'll be amazed. You see, it's not about how you feel about yourself this morning. Understand my brother and my sister, it's about how the king feels about you that matters. You can walk into that court of prayer and you feel like such a failure.

You feel so unlovely. You feel so unloved even at times, only to discover that the king has been waiting for you. He has longed to hear your voice. He's not ashamed of you. He bought you with his own blood.

He declared you to be clean from your sin. He gave you a righteousness that is not your own. It belongs to him and he gave it to you. You are the bride of the king. Praise be to God. And when she touched the top of his scepter, she was recognizing now his power, his mercy and her position in that court.

And you and I need to recognize again, the power of our savior, the power of the one who said, whatever you ask in my name, believing you shall receive. You and I need to recognize that his heart is towards us and that he's in the place of all power, all authority.

Every name that is named in this world and in the world to come is in subjection to him. You need to recognize again that in him, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. You need to recognize again that there is no principality, there's no power, there's no angel, there's no being, no wall, no valley, no mountain.

There's nothing that can separate you and I from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus. And so at some point in prayer, we need to look away from ourselves. We need to stop looking within for something good because apart from Christ, Paul said there is nothing good inside of me apart from Jesus Christ.

Praise be to God. Everything is his. Our cleanness, our hope, our future, the cleansing of our past. Everything that God will do through even the feebleness of the offering of our prayers to him is all about him, all about his mercy, all about his goodness.

And the king says to her, what do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half the kingdom. She hasn't even opened her mouth and he's offering her half of his kingdom.

Everything in this Bible is a type of Christ. Do you understand that? God inspired the writers of this book to show you and I his character, his heart, so that we could know him. We could understand how he thinks, how he moves.

Every word is inspired. Every word is profitable for teaching, for doctrine, for instruction in righteousness. And Esther answered an unusual answer. If it was you and me, I think I would have gone just, I would have just gone for the throat of the matter, wouldn't you?

This wicked man Haman is trying to kill my people. But she speaks now with wisdom. It's amazing. She says, if it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.

That I find very interesting because she's inviting two people, but she's intimating the banquet is only for one. Let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I have prepared for him. Now, if it's the king she's speaking about, which most likely it is, it speaks to me about the, in a sense, our first ministry is to him, to the king.

Ministering to God Before Presenting Requests

Our first ministry is not just to be always just coming to him with our list. You know, my son, my dog, my cat, my canary, my rent, my electric bill. You know, that list we bring to God. Our first ministry is to him.

Our first ministry is to minister to him. Esther's preparing a banquet, that's true. But isn't it true that everything in the kingdom has, everything that she has access to has been brought there because of the king.

She's bringing back to him what is his. And isn't it true that we should bring back to him in prayer what is his? Bring back to him a grateful heart, bring back to him our salvation, bring back to him our love, bring back to him, thank you for what you did for me on the cross.

Thank you, God, for being who you are. Thank you for your incredible mercy. In essence, that's most likely who the hymn was. It's the first ministry of the believer is to Christ. We quite often come to him in our prayers and it's just all about request, request, request, request, request, request.

And we don't just really take time to just love him, to thank him, to minister to him. It's truly amazing. But if the hymn was Haman, I believe that her dependence on God has brought her to a place where wisdom and the power of God is now flowing through her.

You see, when we begin to fast and we begin to pray, we tap in to the supernatural again, where the spirit of God begins to speak through us. God's life intertwined with ours, our thoughts start to become one and we start to speak as God speaks.

For example, in 1 Samuel chapter 17, let me share it with you. The Philistine came to David and said, am I a dog, you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, with a spear, with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

Now he's standing up in faith, but listen to who's now speaking. David did not have the power to do what's about to be said. Only the spirit of God in him had this power. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you and take your head from you.

This day, I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel. That all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear.

For the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. So David is standing, just a young boy, but the spirit of God is now upon him. You understand what I'm saying? He's a young man given to relationship with God.

Now he's walking in unison with God and he and God are beginning to speak with one voice. Praise be to God. There had to be such authority in that 13 or 14 year old voice. I can just see the Philistines starting to tremble and they're starting to reason, why are we shaking?

Why are we so afraid? This kid coming down with a stick and a stone. We've got a nine foot giant, a man of war facing him. Why do we suddenly feel this trepidation? Because David is not speaking in the flesh, he's speaking in the spirit because he has a relationship with God.

I suggest to you again, that we need to learn to walk in the spirit and you can't learn to walk in the spirit until you have an intimate relationship with God, recognizing not only our frailty, but his love, his power, his mercy, his willingness to walk with us, not when we're strong, but when we're weak.

Jesus himself said in Mark chapter 13, verses nine to 11, watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils and you'll be beaten in synagogues. You'll be brought before rulers and kings for my sake for a testimony to them.

And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

Not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. So I believe that at this point, Esther and God are speaking with one voice. God has given her a wisdom. Now, a time of a second request comes, a second banquet.

And at the banquet, chapter five of Esther in verse six, the king said to Esther, what is your petition? It shall be granted you. I see a passion now in the king's heart. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom?

And then he says, it shall be done. What is your request? What is it you're asking of me? I want to know. I want to know. And whatever you ask of me, it shall be done. This is a banquet, she says. The first banquet, she says, is for him.

And it's incredible, because at that banquet, he says, what's your petition? It would be granted. Esther said, my petition is, if I've found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet, which I will prepare for them.

For tomorrow I will do as the king. Now remember, the first banquet was for him, and the second banquet is for them. It's quite, it's interesting when you look at it, because I believe, I believe, having been married for 40 years, I know I have to listen to every word.

Because sometimes everything, my whole future hinges on a word that I didn't understand. Sometimes it's a word like yet, or it's a small word. But it comes back to haunt me, because I said, why weren't you there?

Well, I said, not yet, you know? It's just one word. And so I've learned over the years to listen. And I read this, and I say, God, you had her say it was a banquet for one, basically, but the second day it was a banquet for two, for them.

The Bride Prepared to Rule With the King

This is where the Song of Solomon, chapter two and verse four says, he brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. When she fully knew that the king's heart was engaged with her voice, when she fully knew, when she fully felt that that relationship was not going back to where it used to be, but it was going deeper than it ever had been.

In the beginning of her relationship with the king, she was, it was a love relationship. I have no doubt about that. He was enamored with her, she was enamored with him, and very often in our first love relationship with Christ, that's the way it is.

And then, of course, a distance came after a certain time. And the king was looking for something more. And, of course, history tells us that she became a co-regent with her husband. He was looking for something more than just sweet nothings at a table, looking into each other's eyes.

He was looking for somebody who would rule and reign with him, somebody who would come into the court, somebody that he could trust with certain things of the kingdom. Because don't forget, at the end of the story, we'll talk about it probably on Tuesday, but God gave, through the king, Esther, the power to rewrite the law of death into a law of life.

She literally became a co-regent, writing law with her husband, the king. And so now you see this incredible love that starts pouring out of the king's heart. What is it? Again, in chapter seven, verse two, on the second day, the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, what is your petition, Queen Esther?

It shall be granted to you. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom, it shall be done. You can see, like, there's a longing in his heart. What do you want me to do for you? Can you understand how much Jesus is waiting in our time for this moment?

How much he's waiting that we, as the people of God, cease all of our foolish activity and come back into his presence, to love him, to minister to him, to recognize what his calling is on the earth and how we fit into that calling.

Now she stands and says, what do you want? It will be done for you up to half of the kingdom. I would never say that to my daughter because she would have asked for half of the kingdom. And he says, it shall be done.

Then Queen Esther answered and said, if I've found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request. For we've been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated.

Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss. So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, who is he and where is he who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?

Hallelujah. Let me just read something to you. Psalm 18. The pangs of death surrounded me. This is King David. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. And he heard my voice from his temple. And my cry came before him, even to his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills quaked and were shaken because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils and a devouring fire from his mouth. Hallelujah. He bowed the heavens and put darkness under his feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew on the wings of the wind. The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice.

Hailstones, coals of fire, he sent out his arrows and scattered the foe. Lightnings in abundance and he vanquished them. Who is he? And where is he? Can you just imagine Haman at this point as fire comes into the king's eyes?

God’s People Must Return to the Throne

You see, because his bride has come back. His bride is ministering to him. His bride is at the banqueting table. That table that David said that God prepares for us even in the midst of our enemies. And who would dare?

Can you imagine when we start coming back to the throne of God in America? And who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing? Who would dare to think that he could raise his hand against my bride and get away with it?

Who would dare to think that he can curse and eradicate the people that I've already proclaimed are to be blessed? In the earth and be a blessing everywhere they go. Who would dare to raise his hand against these people?

My bride, the testimony of who I am in the earth, my family, related to me by blood. Who would dare do such a thing? And Esther said, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet. And when he walked back in, somebody said, it was actually one of the eunuchs said to the king, look, the gallows 50 cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai is standing in the house of Haman.

And then the king said, hang him on it. So they hanged Haman on the gallows. You might say that Haman just hung out for a while after dinner, that he had prepared for Mordecai and the king's wrath was subsided.

God will turn everything around for good. God, God will. God will give you the power to invite the devil to dinner. If you will pray and seek to become one with the will and the way and the person of Jesus Christ.

It's time for you to pray for your home. It's time to pray for your family. It's time that we gathered to pray for our people. It's time that we lifted up our nation before God. Realistically folks, it's time to invite the devil to dinner and you watch what God will do.

You watch what God will do. Praise be to God. Father, we ask you Lord for a spiritual understanding in our time. We ask you Lord for the grace, oh God, the grace to pray again, the grace to fast, the grace to come into your inner court, the grace to pray, to believe the promises that you have made to us.

We ask you for the grace, oh God, to look away from ourselves, whether we've been faithful or unfaithful, Lord God, it makes no difference. We ask you for the grace to come into your courts one more time to expose the works of hell and see the darkness of our time pushed back to see our children set free.

God Almighty, to see this evil agenda in our time pushed back into darkness where it belongs. Oh Lord Jesus Christ, would you forgive us for not having prayed the way we should for not caring the way we should care for seeking to preserve ourselves when others are perishing all around us?

Do you give us the grace Lord to be thrown into the midst of the struggle of our time, believing somehow that our feeble efforts can produce a supernatural result. Help us Lord to come back into the battle if we're old like Moses, or to get into it if you're young like David, or to go to the throne if we feel unlovely like Esther.

You've shown us Lord conclusively throughout history who it is that you use in times of crisis. Oh God, for your holy namesake Jesus, I'm asking you, we're asking you as a people today to awaken this nation one more time.

Awaken our city one more time. Send a wave of mercy, oh God, and push back the darkness that would try to eradicate and marginalize your people and the testimony of who you are. Give us victory Lord Jesus Christ from the evil laws that would be passed.

God almighty help us as your people. Give us the grace to pray again. And Father, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you with all of our heart in Jesus' name. I wanna just give an altar invitation this morning.

The Altar Call: Returning to Prayer and Intercession

By that, for those who don't understand that, you feel that God's speaking something to your heart and you just want to just move forward in agreement. That's all it means. It's to come to the front of this auditorium or between the screens in North Jersey and also in the annex or to stand up in your living room at home and to say enough, enough of the death in my home, my family, my community, my nation.

Maybe it just starts with something that is in your life that needs to be changed, some enemy that needs to be vanquished. And then beyond yourself, it might be something in relationships, your marriage, your home, regret of your past, whatever it is.

And it goes beyond that to people that you meet and know and associate with every day and then beyond that to your community, beyond that to your town, your city and even your nation. It's time for you and I to invite the devil to dinner one more time and trust that the king will do what the king needs to do when we present our petitions before him for everything that's being decreed to push us to the side and destroy our families and our homes.

And if that's the cry of your heart today, you want to get back into a place of prayer, prayer that believes, prayer that trusts, prayer that knows that I don't have to be strong for God to use me and I don't have to have had, I don't have to have been faithful for years.