Book of Esther - Part 17

Park Meadows Church

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Well good to have each of you with us today. I see a few visitors here today. It's good to have each of you and I see a few home folks.

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It's always good to have you as well Good to be back in the mode of school So that people are back from vacation because in our church like two three families go on vacation at once It's like the rapture came and we missed it.

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The rest of us missed it or something So we're really glad Glad to have a good crowd here today

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Let's see here. We have Charlotte's sister with us today Marsha Jones right over there by Charlotte and I think most of you know

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Marsha But good to have you visiting with us today as well so we're gonna be in the book of Esther today and We've had some folks that That came for a while Think it was

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Adam and Jenny Taylor came for a while We were we were in a bottle Memphis Esther, but we were in a book and they moved away

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Gone for about a year came back moved back in still in the same book. So That's kind of how it goes sometimes.

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So like when you're studying verse by verses, you don't really care how long it takes you just Just go till you're done and then you pick another one.

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So that's kind of how it's working here with Esther and We've gone all the way through Chapter 6

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Pretty recently, so we're going to be starting with right at chapter 7 verse 1 this morning. I want to Talk to you a little bit

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About you know case you case you're visiting you hadn't been with us Just bring you up to date on where our story is here in Esther But Esther is an interesting book because it's actually a book about the providence of God It's about it's a book about as we just finished a study

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Last Sunday on the eminence of God and the theologians have debated these two concepts forever you can go back for 2 ,000 years and read debates about it and one group believes

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God is transcendent and the other group believes he's imminent and Transcendent means that they believe that God is separate from sin and he's off outside of time and space and he doesn't touch any of this and so he it's almost as if he created everything and then he

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Just withdrew from it and he's just maybe observing from a safe distance. So he's transcendent

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The other group believes that he is imminent which means he's he's in everything and what's interesting is whichever group

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Like if you take it to that Full extent of the belief of that group there. They're off a little bit because they're not balanced and what's interesting about it

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Is that the only way that? Apparently, I mean it's the way it is so it must be the only way it could be that God could be both of those is

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If he existed in as a triune God, in other words, you've heard of the Father the Son the

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Holy Spirit That is how this is because God that you think of as the father is transcendent.

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He is totally separate from sin Sin will not come into his presence.

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He will not go into sins presence And he is also not bound by time or space.

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He is totally outside of it He's he's the I am he's not in time. He's always present tense if you can imagine that So he is transcendent

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But Jesus Christ when he came into this world one of his titles was

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Emmanuel which means God with us So God is also imminent and Jesus went so far as to say without me you can do how much

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That much nothing So he's imminent. He's right there with you.

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He's all around you, but he's also inside of you and He's part of everything you're doing

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He is the vine and you're the branch and all the branch does by the way, ladies and gentlemen is it holds fruit?

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It doesn't make the fruit. It just holds it the fruit comes from the root and from the branch and that's

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Jesus and So he has made us created us and chosen us to take part with him in all of his work

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But we don't do it on our own and the sad thing is modern theology today in the church among Baptist and everybody else

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They had a name for it years ago, they called it Armenian ism But most people don't even know what that means anymore

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But basically what it is is modern theology starts with man and moves out from man and that's wrong that's nothing more than the

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Atheist concept of secular humanism only it's theological and it's sad because it starts with man and moves out

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It's like how a baby is You know when you have a baby that's just born all the way up to around two years old

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They literally believe the whole universe Centers around them it lasts longer than two even doesn't it goes on up to like two or three or four or five years old

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They think you're there for them, right? The young child thinks you are there for them and it takes them a little bit longer

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Usually about the time you have the second babies when they start figuring out Well, there's some problems with that theory

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Because now part of it's about that one over there, too So how many of you were only children for at least a year or two

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Jenny, right so things change after that, right? And that's how the baby

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Christian believes the baby Christian believes he caused it all that he caused his own salvation by accepting

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Jesus and That he was looking for God and as he begins to study the scriptures and himself and learn more about God He learns more and more that it just simply didn't happen that way

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You take the Apostle Paul when his name was still Saul Going down the road to Damascus hating

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Christians killing Christians Imprisoning Christians. He was not looking for Jesus Christ He thought he was doing

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God a favor by killing Christians. He would have killed Jesus Christ if he could have and all the sudden

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Jesus flips a switch and Saul becomes Paul He just flips a switch and causes

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Paul to look up at him and Paul sees him for who he is for the first time in his life and finds him irresistible and Receives him as his personal

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Lord and Savior. His whole life has changed Right on that road. He was not looking for it

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Jesus was looking for him if you want to put it that way Jesus was tracking him. Jesus was wooing him to himself

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And that's what we see the more we read now Esther is A book that has to do with the eminence of God the fact that God is involved in every little

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Detail we get taught the idea that God takes care of the big stuff and we're supposed to do the little stuff

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It's not that way For without me you can do how much the little things but for without me you can do a lot of little things

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But when the big thing comes up you need me. Is that what he said? No, it's not what he said.

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He said without me you can do how much nothing and so Jesus Christ is a part of every detail of our lives

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Things we call little things we call big things we call normal the things we call

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Problems every bit of it. He's part of that and Esther teaches it again and again So in Esther, it's kind of interesting when we were in chapter 6 we

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We came we began to see God Working behind the scenes in this thing in orchestrating some things that literally almost came out

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Humorous, I think some of it was humorous, but I mean it was serious nature as well

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But you had you also see Satan working here because you have this man named

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Mordecai who was a Jew and he was raising Esther because Esther's parents had been killed they had all the

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Jews have been taken captive and brought into Babylon and then you have the king of Babylon who chooses

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Esther to be his next wife and She becomes the wife of the king The king doesn't know she's a

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Jew because her the man I'll just call him her dad It wasn't really her dad, but he raised her in and Mordecai said don't tell them you're

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Jewish and she obeyed her dad So she didn't and here the Kings married to a Jew and then the king has a right -hand man that he loves named

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Haman Haman's people go all the way back to Esau In the time of Esau and Jacob and Esau and Jacob Have always hated each other the descendants of Esau also always hated

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Israel and still do to this day and So Haman hated the Jews and the king made a proper

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Proclamation that said everybody will bow down and worship when Haman walks by and so everybody did that except for guess who?

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The Jew Mordecai he couldn't do it because he had been taught not to worship anything But the true God so Haman walked by and Mordecai just kind of stood there like this

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Made Haman angry because Haman was full of pride. And so Haman got in his mind.

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He said I'll not only kill Mordecai I'm gonna kill all of his family the whole Jew the entire nation of the

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Jews I'm gonna kill them all so he went in before the king the most powerful king of the days named in secular histories called

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Arctic Xerxes Powerful man ruled the entire known world of that day He goes in before that king and his right -hand man and convincing that it would be good and right and smart for him to exterminate the

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Jews and so he got the king to pass a law that even Provided the money it even financed it.

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That's better than President Obama ever does. I mean he comes over these great plans He just can't finance them but this king could

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This king financed it He put out the money and said anyone who will kill Jews will pay you to do it

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So the whole plan was made and finance and everything and Haman was so happy Remember how he went home and he told his wife and all of his buddies how rich he was and how smart he was

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How handsome he was how strong he was and and at the same time all this was going on Mordecai had told

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Esther you better use your influence with the king or we're all gonna be killed including you

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So she said well you pray about you pray for me and I'll have my girls over here pray for me now

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I'll pray and she couldn't even sleep that night. I'm sure and So while Haman is over there bragging

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Esther is making up a plan that God's putting in her heart and mind an interesting plan and She goes before the king and the king loves her.

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He says well, I know you came in here because you want something That's how most husbands think Are you awake ladies?

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You're supposed to go. Oh me All right, but she like they she walks in there and he's thinking well

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I know you came in here you want something and he's so happy that day and he loves her so much He just looks at her.

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He looks at her and he says I'll give you anything you want up to half my kingdom That's kind of how it is in Texas, isn't it?

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But anyway, so I told you the bot King James is written in Texan most of it So so she's happy because he could have killed her because he didn't invite her in and she went in anyway

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And that was part of the law of that day, too. So he loved her. He didn't kill her He offered anything that she wanted basically, so she said well all

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I want is I want to have a banquet I'm gonna invite two people you and Haman Well Haman couldn't believe that he goes home.

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He starts bragging. He says look not only am I rich handsome famous King loves me I'm his right -hand man

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But Esther the Queen is throwing a banquet with all the servants all the food

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Guess who got invited two people King and me and he was so happy Well that night

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The Lord woke up the King Wouldn't let him sleep and this is like the eminence of God.

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I mean God God is so involved in the details of everything that he actually

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Woke that King up King couldn't sleep. So he had his servants come in and say he said read me from the

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Chronicles Tell me what's going on in my kingdom. I need to stay up with that Anyway, so they read him a story about how some assassins were gonna kill him in this man

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Saved his life by telling Esther who told him and he had the assassins kill and they said well Who was that man's name?

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And they said his name was Mordecai and He said what great thing did you do for this man who saved the king's life?

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They said we didn't do anything for him and So, you know the story

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He says who's in the palace tonight. Well Haman was there because he had come by to Try to get the king to let him kill

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Mordecai. He'd already built gallows He was gonna hang Mordecai and he was gonna get permission from the king So he was there to do that and the king brought him in before he could say a single word

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He said hey Haman What would you do if if? You were the king and you had a man that you loved more than any other man in the kingdom who had had just you

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Just wanted to give this man everything you could and raise him up above all the kingdom.

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What would you do Mordecai? I mean Haman thought he's talking about him. So he told him what he would want

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So he said go get your white horse Go get some of your old kingly clothes and let this man wear the kingly clothes and then have someone else

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Lead him around on the horse and and all through the city and say this is what the king does to people

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He loves and just have him paraded around King said that's exactly what we'll do and that man's name is Mordecai And you're the man that's gonna lead the horse.

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Is that not funny? So now he goes home the next night. He's not bragging

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He goes to his wife and he's whining. He says oh my soul. Let me tell you what happened he tells the whole story and she with all these friends of his said oh my soul if that's true and That man's a

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Jew and you already told the king to kill all the Jews and fund it and all that Your power just fell you're falling at the hand of Mordecai.

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You will have no more power And he was so worried while they were telling him the door starts not knocking on the door

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And it was the king's servants coming to get him and take him to the banquet That King Esther was throwing for the king and for him so that's where we pick that's where we pick this up Now there actually was two there were two banquets.

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He'd already been to one and then he came home bragging this one He's going in trepidation and fear

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Because he knows something has changed. So let's pick this up in Esther 7 1 so the king and Haman came to the banquet with Esther the

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Queen and The king said again and to Esther now he has said this what four or five times now by this point and Remember Esther thought he was she might walk in there and he would have her killed because She was not invited to come in by the king and that was part of the law

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She told her dad when her dad said you can even go in there that King and use your influence He said daddy has not invited me in in 30 days if I go in there, he'll kill me

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She lost sleep that night and that's a great lesson about our imaginations we always blow think make mountains out of molehills we always blow our things bigger than they are in our mind and She goes in there and on the contrary this

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King just was in love with her and said you can have half my kingdom Well here he says it again and the king said again and to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine

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What is your petition Queen Esther? I know you're wanting something. You've already fed me last night

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Now you're doing another banquet tonight. Go ahead. Tell me what you want. You can have up to half my kingdom

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He says it should be granted to you. What is your request? It should be performed even to half of the kingdom ask

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Well, there are a lot of types in the story. You know what a type is like a symbol a

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Type or a symbol it's like an object lesson that teaches us spiritual things One thing that teaches us is that God is that way with us?

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I mean sometimes a king can picture Jesus Christ the king but at my point is God is that way with us?

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We do not realize that God is in the mode of saying what can

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I do for you? What can I do for you and we just don't ask? We don't ask in fact the scripture says you have not for you ask not

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So anyway, so verse 3 then Esther the Queen answered and said and she already had this formulated in her mind

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She had this whole plan If I have found favor in your sight O King and now she already knows she has right you flat knows she has

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If I have found favor in your sight O King and if it pleased the king Let my life be given me at my petition in other words

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Just by me asking My life will be given to me. It won't be taken and the life of my people at my request as well

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Meaning the Jews now, I'm sure the king thought that was a strange request because he still does not know

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She's a Jew. Remember dad told her don't tell him and then verse 4

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She goes on and just think about this brilliant king It's brilliant mind as King has runs the entire world

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You can imagine what kind of madness must have been and he's starting to think what is she getting that? I figured she'd want that part of land over there just to put her house on or something and here

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She's just asking for her life and she knows I love her Why is she asking for her life to be spared?

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Why is she asking for her family? I love her family They're part of my family

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She goes on she says for we are sold I and my people and not only that we're sold to be destroyed to be slain and to perish that's

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Three times as bad as just dying in it, right? Yeah, I mean we're got a lot.

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We're first. We're not even gonna be destroyed after that. They're gonna slay us And after that we're gonna perish.

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I mean she was using the strongest language she could use to make her point But if we had been that then she says this and she's a brilliant woman as well

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It wasn't just her looks that made her where she could be Queen It was her mind her brain she was witty she was brilliant and So she says we've been sold as bondman

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And if that were all it was to it if we had been sold as bondman and bond women

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Then I would have held my tongue I would not have even asked you for my life and for the life of my people

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I wouldn't said anything if all that happens we've been sold as slaves because we want to serve the king. Anyway, that's her point

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Although the enemy could not countervail the King's damage

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Now that language is a little difficult Would you agree with that who wants to hop up and raise hand volunteer tell me what that means?

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Come on, it's like bill does to us in Sunday school. Tell us what that means It's not always easy because I read the passage and got a head start on you didn't

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I? But it's it's kind of cumbersome language. So let's now let's look at this just a minute

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What she is saying here is that if we just been sold as bondman and bond women, that'd be all right

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I wouldn't even say anything because we want to serve you Anyway, it doesn't even matter but we've been sold in order to be slain

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We've been sold so that someone can kill us and this person is the enemy and she starts to Place that down as part of her argument in places in the king's mind now

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Look how subtle this is ladies. You can learn some stuff some stuff from this woman Look how subtle she is.

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She is not just telling that King Here's what I want. Don't do this and don't do that. She didn't handle it that way

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She's more subtle than that and she lets the king think it's his decision How many ladies think that's smart?

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Okay Let's the king think it's his decision Wipe that smile off your face

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Charlotte. All right now She says she says now

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I would have held my tongue Because it'd been all right if we were just bondman But you're going this enemy now now she places the thought in the king's mind that whoever this person is

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Whoever this person is that has paid the money to have all these people slain is the enemy

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You see how she placed that in his mind. She hadn't named his name yet And then she says not only that but that enemy does not have the ability to countervail

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The damage this would cause to the king She's saying look if the king does this because the enemy said to do this

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He will have a great loss and that person won't be able to restore that loss He will lose from this the king will his his entire nation will suffer and no one will be able to make it, right?

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That's what he's saying So that's when he says talk about countervail To countervail something just means to offset it to set like if something's pushing against you push against it with the same

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Pressure you're offsetting something and where it says the King's damage. It means the King's loss. So what she is saying is that Whatever this enemy wants to be done

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If it is done the king will lose from this and that person won't be able to restore that to it to the kingdom

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So now she's placed that in the king's mind So the king now thinks there's an enemy and he knows the enemy is about to cause him a loss that can't be fixed

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And that interesting and she hadn't even said much yet. Just a few few words So look at verse 5 then

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The king Ahasuerus now remember that's the same as arctic Xerxes if you look at it in secular history

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Answered and said unto Esther the Queen Who is he? Where is he?

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He's starting to get angry Who is he and where is he that presumes in his heart to destroy you?

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Now you gotta you gotta remember this man loves this woman And your family and Esther said the adversary now

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I want you I want to just stop right there a minute the adversary and enemy Like I said, there are many types many symbols in this book that are object lessons that teach us spiritual truths

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This is going to begin to launch into a little area of study About the one that the

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Bible calls the adversary. Can anyone tell me who that is? Who is the who is our adversary?

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Satan So now all of a sudden Haman becomes a type or a symbol of Satan himself

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So now we can learn some spiritual truths and lessons for us in how we deal with Satan In fact

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Esther's already been begun to teach us some spiritual truths about how we deal with the enemy But let's look at this

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Esther said the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman And he points at him and he's sitting right there at the table

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And I'm sure he choked on his food right there and knocked his glass over Because he thought he was there to be honored

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Do you do you think that he began to sweat though when she started the story? Yeah then she names his name and points at him then

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Haman was afraid before the king and The queen now look at verse 7 and the king was so angry now

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I can picture my dad I got a story about my dad here It's because it helps me picture this but this king was so angry in verse 7

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It says and the king arising from the banquet table the banquet of wine in his wrath

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Went into the palace garden. He just walked out because he's so angry He didn't want to do anything without thinking for a minute because he was so angry and he was angry at guess who?

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Who's the angry at? Haman his right -hand man who he had trusted one time when

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Jenny was a baby She was just old enough to to Disobey me the first time

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And you've heard the story a million times. That's why I like to tell it. It's not for you It's because I like the story. I'm telling it because I like to hear it

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And she's sitting there in her high chair. And by the way, if you're a young parent, just remember time They get to the high chair. It's just about time to start whooping them

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They're not too little All right So she had to juice there and she looked at me and smiling she and I just been best buddies up to that point in Her life

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I had been nothing to her but a buddy and She knocks that across the table that juice glass and just looks at me and smiling.

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I said no And I grabbed it and it had a lid on it. I stuck it back on there and I looked at her

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I said no Jenny do not do that Boom knocked it off again

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So she got her first spat And I slapped the back of her hand like don't do that And then

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I cried She but she did too. She looked up at me like You've only inflicted joy in my life and you just inflicted pain.

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What's that about? That was the look she had in her little eyes I'll never forget it. And So that was her first one.

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Well not long after that We were up at my dad's house having lunch around his table in Jenny's high chair was there amount of my dad

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That's his first grandbaby. So, you know what? He's thinking like she's more important than David or anybody in the kingdom

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That's Jenny my first grandbaby. So she tries it and they're thinking maybe I won't do anything. I guess

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I don't know So I told her no she did it again. So I picked her up out of that chair and I think

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I took her gonna take her not did I just spat her just spat her hand again Same as at home and she cried

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And my dad started going like this Well when he cleared his throat that meant he was not happy.

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He did that my whole life when I heard it If there's at least two of them, I'm running for the cave so he did that twice and he got up out of that chair as Quick as light and walked out that garage door and slammed the door and went out in the garage

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That's what this King was doing. Okay, he went out in that garage and I'm sitting there. What was that all about?

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I mean all I did was just like that And man, he was gone. I bet you remember it

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He was gone out there for you know, three or four minutes and then he comes back and sits down he goes

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And I'm wait to see if he's gonna say anything said son Don't you ever spank her in front of me again

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And I said dad and I'd never say anything like this to him in my life that before or since this time

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But I looked at him. I said dad She's my child. Don't you ever correct me in front of her again?

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And he went well, you're right. I'm sorry That's the only time I ever said anything like that to my dad

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But I never had to say that again and you know what later he gave her a whooping one time

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Well, maybe not you but certainly Paul at least never gave you one But Paul got one.

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So here you you know, you see this King so angry that he has to leave the table

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Heyman is worried All right. Now now he goes on here and You know you you talk about Goes outside Heyman stood up to make a request for his life to Esther the

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Queen now imagine this the King goes out into the garden Esther and the King are sitting there now you picture in this like an

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American table Aren't you like a dinner table King? That's not how it was in the East They used to lounge when they ate

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They had sometimes if you were rich, you know If you were a king you actually had like a little lounge chairs that you could lay on And sit there and eat and that's how you ate.

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I think that should come back Don't you I mean you how many you guys especially all of us think does they lounge around?

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That's the best way to eat. Maybe put a big spring screen TV out there, too They didn't have that but be nice and so that's they were lounging there

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So he goes out now, so you got the Queen laying there on her couch Esther stands up and makes a request for his life says you can save me

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Please save me. Please. Tell the king not to kill me. That's exactly what he's telling her and He saw that there was evil determined against him by the king now watch this.

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Tell me this is not This is not amazing and humorous and God has a sense of humor then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine and Haman by that time had fallen down.

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He was like he wasn't even thinking what he was doing He stood up and he said Save my life and he just fell over onto the her couch and was pleading with her on Her couch to save his life when the king walks in and Haman was falling upon the bed.

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They call it a bed It was just a couch where they were eating Wearing Esther was and then look what the king says.

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He's he went out there in the garden to figure out Okay. Now I passed a law that let this dude do this and you can't break the laws of the

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Medes and the Persians So what am I doing? So he had to have a way he had to have another law that would make it where he could

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Get around his own law. You see he's out there. He's worried about this, but he's also angry So he figured one out he figured out a law that would counterman this other law because he walks in He sees him over there laying on the couch with the

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Queen begging for his life. And the king says, oh Will he force the Queen also before me in the house?

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Now you adults probably figure out what the King James language means there force the

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Queen the king accused him of that and As the word went out of the king's mouth the other servants ran over and covered

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Haman's face with a hood When they ran in and heard the king saying oh he forced my wife

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Now now there's a law that they had in the kingdom you touch the Queen you're dead right wouldn't you think that's pretty smart law and Harbona one of the

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Chamberlain's said before the king behold also Haman just got through building some gallows 50 feet high which

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Haman had made for Mordecai the man you love the most in the kingdom who saved your life from the assassins

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Who had spoken good for the king and the king said hang him on it

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That's the end of that part of the story. Now, isn't that fascinating? Verse 10 says so they hanged

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Haman on the gallows that had been had been prepared for Mordecai Then was the king's wrath pacified

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Now there is so much in there right there like we can read that this morning, but we can't preach on that this morning

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There's like so much in there that has to a spiritual warfare Let me just say this

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Haman is a picture of Satan. Let me read this to you He's called the adversary. Listen to this first Peter 5 8 be sober be vigilant because your

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Adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour

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Whom resist you are told to resist him? Steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren

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You're not the only one the devil's after he's after all of your brothers is what that's saying That are in the world

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But the God of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus After that you have suffered a while it is true.

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We will have some suffering in this life make you perfect established Strengthen and settle you to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

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Amen You see here that this is all being pictured in this little story.

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The king is a picture of God Esther is a picture of you the bride okay,

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Haman is a picture of the adversary the devil and And God tells us in first Peter that our adversary the devil is roaming about all the time

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Seeking whom he may devour among whom the sheep He could care less about the lost world

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There, you know, he's got them the ones he hates are the ones that love Jesus because that's who he really hates and We could talk more about that, but we want this time but my point is that's who he hates

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So he's walking around looking at you gentlemen. Number one. He'll look at the man in the household See if you're weak

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If you're not particularly weak, then he's gonna look at the wife And see if she's weak and if she's not particularly weak

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Then she's gonna then he's gonna start looking at the children One after another and find a weak spot and then if that doesn't happen

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He's gonna switch to another family in the church and then he's going to do that all through the church and he's just like we're

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It's like we've huddled up together Around a fire at night as a bunch of sheep and he's walking out there just past the light

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Around in a circle around all of us watching us and he's patient. He's got all the time world.

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He's not gonna die I mean there's gonna come a time. He's gonna experience being chained in hell forever, but he still will be conscious

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So he's not gonna lot die and he doesn't believe that stuff. Anyway, he's not a believer He doesn't believe he'll ever be chained.

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So he thinks he's got all the time in the world. So he's patient so he'll just walk around out there just at the edge of the light just beyond it and watch you and Me and all of us and he's looking for the weak one

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He's looking for the youngest one If you want to look at it like a spiritual baby Or he's looking for a sick one, which would be one of us who's not a baby but we've gotten out of the word and we're not praying like we should and Spiritually, we're weak all of a sudden and we're a little bit sick spiritually

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He's looking for one of those two and he's gonna get one of them He's patient he'll wait till he sees that and when he sees the

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Opportunity where one of those sheep strays out to the edge of the light and gets into that darkness he'll grab that sheep and destroy it physically can't take you to hell, but he can take your life and Destroy it on this earth

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That is so real and all this is this is a an object lesson that we watched

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I mean he even went before the king and got permission to destroy him That's what the address the adversary goes before God all the time and points you by name out and says look at them

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They are not living for you. Why are you thinking you're gonna save them? He accused it's called the accuser of the brethren.

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Who's he accusing you before? God Now some people say he can't do that anymore

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But I know one thing I won't debate that this morning, but I know who can't he can't accuse you in your own mind

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He can make you feel guilty He is still the accuser of the brethren. I Happen to believe he can still accuse you before the heavenlies, but I think

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Jesus is your advocate. What does that mean? Your lawyer and he just goes not guilty

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I've already paid the price. I've already paid the penalty for that one. Not guilty and All this is going on again and again and you see all of it pictured here and the king goes out he comes back in and He destroys

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The adversary on the very same gallows that were built for Mordecai what what was the cross by the way?

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the cross was Designed and built by God we know but who do you think thought built it?

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Satan thought he had engineered that Satan is the one who put the thought in the mind of the

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Romans to begin to use that as punishment Hundreds of years before Jesus was even born

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Satan had this marvelous plan to destroy the Jewish race back here in the time of Haman and he wasn't able to do it

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He put that in Haman's mind, by the way Haman wouldn't be able to do it. So Satan's come up with another plan and another one

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Satan had a plan to destroy the Jews by destroying their Messiah on the cross and He was able to maneuver people such as Pilate such as Judas to cause events to happen so that Jesus actually was placed on that cross nailed on that cross and Actually died on that cross

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But what we know actually happened that day and we'll study this next

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Sunday. The Lord willing is Really? It was Satan Who is destroyed by the nails of that cross?

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And we'll see that next Sunday When Jesus Christ died he destroyed

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The father of death, which is Satan. He destroyed him destroyed his kingdom Destroyed him and so in reality from a spiritual viewpoint

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Satan is the one who ended up on the same gallows that were intended for Jesus Christ.

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It's all pictured in this story Pretty cool, isn't it? Why don't we stop while you're still ahead? Let's stand and have prayer together

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Father we thank you for your word. We thank you that you've embedded Spiritual truths throughout all of it both the

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Old and New Testament you flesh it out You give the words colors of meanings and give us more and more understanding as we study even some familiar stories

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We've studied many times before Thank you that you teach us new things while you're reminding us of the old truths that we already know

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Lord we ask you to be with us during our time of fellowship bless the meal. We're about to have

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Lord help us to spend some time this week praising your name and thinking about and contemplating the great plan of salvation that actually destroyed the enemy and Raised us up from the dead and Lord.