Where to dive in:

00:00 Why Esther’s story is for you, right now
13:59 Who was King Ahasuerus, really?
18:25 Vashti’s downfall: the cost of doing your own thing
38:23 Esther rises: beauty, humility, and obedience
47:16 Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman
1:05:10 “If I perish, I perish”: Esther’s courage
1:08:35 Haman’s plot backfires
1:13:58 What’s your heart posture today?

Transcript

Jaime Luce (00:00.514)
Welcome to the Jaime Luce Podcast. Thanks so much for taking some time with me today. We’re gonna be digging in today in the book of Esther, just so you have a point of reference. And I am going to give you some a little bit of added history just to fill in a few blanks so that as we go through this, you actually have a much fuller, bigger picture of what’s taking place in Esther.

and also to help you navigate some of the other books of the Bible that coincide with this. and I toyed with several things to call this today. honestly, it could be a number of things. I I want to talk specifically about a couple of things. So, number one is when you are in any position, no matter what sphere of life you find yourself.

If you have influence at all, that could be over children in your own home, it could be over a spouse, a group of friends, it could be in church, it could be in positions of power in business, politics, you name it. Wherever we are placed as people, it is natural that we have.

A form of influence happening amongst the world of people that we live in. How big that is or how small that is can range quite rapidly. And it could be, or not rapidly, but it could very largely, meaning you might have a small influence at home and have a large influence at work. And it could it can really look like one thing on one side and something else on the other.

Regardless of what that looks like, I think all of us want to walk out this Christian life with God’s favor on our life, and that favor to be evidenced by what takes place in our life. And we can really run into situations that we think, God, where are you?

Jaime Luce (02:17.976)
Where are you in this? I don’t see you in my situation. I don’t see you actively moving in here. I don’t see your hand at work. I feel like all I see is chaos and destruction and ruin around me, and I need you here moving. And yet, the age-old question that people pose, who take it straight out of the book of Esther, I have to kind of

Ask that same question to you today. There might be chaos, there might be trouble, you might feel like, where is God in this? But where has God placed you in it? And what is the question that we always ask? What was asked of Esther by Mordecai? Yet who knows?

Whether you have come to the kingdom for t such a time as this. And I found that a little fascinating today in studying in this because it says that you have come to the kingdom. And kingdom, you know, being someone who lives in the United States and has a Western mindset, it can really get in the way.

of understanding God and his kingdom because Jesus very much talked about kingdom. He he was er always referencing the kingdom. That we had to have a mindset of understanding about how the kingdom works.

And yet these people came from a place of understanding kingdom. They knew. And not only did they understand kingdom, they understood responsibility. I like thinking of how how miraculous this was, yes, but that Jesus pointed out to the centurion who needed his servant healed. He said, I am a man under authority.

Jaime Luce (04:29.11)
And I command this one to go and this one to do that. And he does it. So he understood that Jesus was here on authority, and all he had to do was say the word. He understood that because of the realm that he lived. But my concern is for those of us who really don’t understand kingdom. If you don’t understand kingdom and you think of a president and a democracy and our

The way our Senate and our Congress work and the way that people go about you know trying to convince different ones by what’s the term we call them?

it’s it’s not coming to me. But you know, those who go constantly and try to get people convince people to do their bidding for them and getting things put in bills to get things signed so that they get the result and the outcome or the money that they’re wanting. Well, during the time of Esther, this was very much what was going on. And

I did not know this previous times that I’ve read this, and I did a a more of a historical search to find out some some questions, answers to questions I had. But in doing so, I found out a lot more about what was going on during the time of Esther and specifically the people in it and why they were doing what they were doing. And this will correlate for us because if we have the wrong mindset, we won’t have a kingdom mindset. We’ll understand.

What what we’ll misunderstand our assignments, we’ll misunderstand our our authority, we’ll misunderstand our influence, we’ll misunderstand what’s needed of us. And so I want to give this to you today because there are two kinds of people. And we’re gonna see this in both Queen Vashti and Esther, and then Haman and Mordecai. And you’ll you’ll see the difference. It’ll become very clear, very

Jaime Luce (06:38.988)
Very plain for you. But my hope today is that once we go through this, you will embrace that wherever God has you right now, if you are a Christian, if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ and you live your life to serve Him and His kingdom, if you understand that.

This will be very helpful for you because this will help you to understand authority and most importantly, it will help you to understand the position that you need to take and the attitudes that we need to take, the heart posture that we need to take in order to have God’s favor and to see victory in whatever battles we’re facing.

It doesn’t mean the battles won’t come. They will. We live in a fallen, sinful world. They will. Battles will come. We are not exempt from trouble. In fact, sometimes I think we get more. We get more. If you’re doing anything for the Lord, I think we get more. But we just have to know we are overcomers in it. Jesus overcame and he said, because of that, we are overcomers. And if you need to overcome today, if you need to know

How to navigate today, I really think this is gonna help you out. So turn to the book of Esther, grab yourself something to write with, something to write on, maybe go ahead and I should start my timer because I need to know what how much time we’re spending here. There’s a lot here, and I don’t want to belabor any points, I’m gonna try to go through it as quickly as I can because I do want to cover the entire story of Esther. but let’s let’s dig in.

And I’m going to start with some history. So, in case you didn’t know this, we start the book of Esther by it saying, Now it came to pass in the days of Ahazirus. This was the Ahazirus who reigned over 127 provinces. That’s a big area, from India to Ethiopia. In those days, King Ahazirus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan, the citadel, that in the third year of his reign.

Jaime Luce (09:05.473)
He made a feast for all his officials and servants, the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of the provinces being before him. It says, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all. Folks, that is six months. He threw this feast.

Banquet for all of these people for six months solid. Now, I’ve often wondered, my word, what would cause such a thing? What and on on the one hand, it seems just like sheer generosity or sheer waste or just a a pompous way to show off. Like it could

Depending on how you read this, you can have a bunch of different thoughts and things be conjured in your mind about what kind of king this was. Now, make no mistake, he was a fierce king. He came in and was able to take over. And you know, before this, the children of Israel, the reason Esther and all of them are where they are is because they have been exiled to Babylon. Well, Babylon and all the series of kings that Babylon had were in power and

Israel was in Babylon for 70 years. And so we have then a kingdom, the Persian kingdom, that comes and defeats the Babylonian kingdom. Okay? So I want to give you a little history here. Hold tight. If this isn’t your thing, just hold tight because this will add to the whole thing. The events that are recorded in the book of Esther take place in the middle of the book of Ezra.

Okay, they occur decades after the first group of exiles finished building the temple under Zerubbabel. But roughly twenty five years before Ezra led the second wave of returnees to Jerusalem. So while many Jews had returned to Judah.

Jaime Luce (11:31.028)
Esther and Mordecai belonged to the population that chose to remain in the Persian capital of Susa. Now, and just so you know historically, King Ahazurus is also known as King Xerxes I. So just so you know, if you hear those, those are the same people. I know that gets confusing be confusing because we have different names called by different kingdoms and different languages and all kinds of things. And but that is

Widely accepted that that’s exactly who that was. And I had wondered as I read that, why if they were free, if the Jews were free to return to their homeland, why didn’t they return? Why is Mordecai and Esther still in this foreign land? Why are they still there?

And I wondered this about many people because we know that there wasn’t an entire big second wave, that not everybody came. But you have to keep in mind that when it was prophesied that they would go into Babylon, I believe it was Jeremiah when he was prophesying that they would go into Babylon, basically God was telling them, Go ahead and go. And you’re gonna be there a long time. This is a lifetime. 70 years is a lifetime, an entire lifetime.

So get settled, build houses, let your kids get married, plant vineyards and raise your livestock and do all the things you do because you’re going to be there. Your life now is going to be there. So that’s okay. I’m with you, I’m not leaving you. This is for a time, but you’re gonna be there. And so you have to understand the mindset of the people who are there, okay? And there were many reasons that people stayed in Persia. One of them was their economic comfort.

Many families had established their thriving businesses. They bought homes and accumulated wealth while they were in Persia during the decades of the exile, which is what they were told to do. You have to remember also that there were many who were born in Persia. And since they were born there, this is all they’ve known. This is their home. They never knew Judah and Jerusalem. They’ve never lived there. That’s foreign to them. This is actually home to them. There was also fear of the journey.

Jaime Luce (13:59.092)
It would be traveling over 800 miles back to Judah, which was a dangerous multi-month trek. Okay. So think about taking your family and all your belongings on a journey that’s going to take you months. And it is through very dangerous territories that you know are filled with bandits and process and the possibility of you not making it or being completely robbed of what you have. Okay.

So families who have children, those who are older may not think they could even make the journey back, even if they wanted to go. Not to mention that Jerusalem, their homeland, was completely annihilated and destroyed. It was ruined. They had no walls for protection, they had no infrastructure, and it would require require grueling physical labor to rebuild. Again.

Consider people’s age and ability. Then there was the fact that they did have religious freedom while they were there in Persia. So because of Cyrus the Great, the Jews enjoyed a high degree of religious tolerance and safety. Then there was social integration. Some had reached very high-ranking positions in the Persian government, such as Mordecai, Esther, and later Nehemiah as the king’s cupbearer. So

Those, I just wanted to give you that little bit of history to add to this, what had gone on. Here’s some more history. This is really important. So we’ve read the first few verses of Esther. The king is throwing this massive banquet. And all we know is he’s throwing a six-month banquet, right? And instead of us understanding, we need to understand this extra information. This was fascinating to me.

The extravagant 100 day banquet that was thrown by Xerxes or King Artaxerus in this first chapter was not just a party. Listen to this. Historically, it was a massive military planning summit. Xerxes’ father, who was King Darius, had suffered a humiliating defeat against the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon.

Jaime Luce (16:24.534)
Years earlier. Xerxes called his provincial governors, his generals and nobles, to the capital city of Susa to project ultimate wealth and power, build morale, and plan a retaliatory invasion of Greece. So he needed to be able to convince all of these people that they had the wherewithal, the means, the finances, the strength.

To be able to endeavor to take down these other rebellious and large, dangerous nations who could come against them. So there were there were campaigns, military campaigns that needed to be strategized. And so very strategically, he throws this massive banquet to be able.

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Jaime Luce (18:25.954)
Their ability, their strength, because they had suffered defeat before. So he’s he has to build them up. He has to convince them. The morale has to come to another level. Plus, they needed to crush some revolts that they knew were coming. For instance, in Egypt, they had to crush rebellions from Egypt and Babylon. And

The fragility of his domestic authority. So when Queen Vashti, this is very important. So let me read you those verses real quick. let’s go down to verse nine. Queen Vashti, while he’s making this giant feast, Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace, which belonged to the king. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was married with wine, he commanded Muhammad.

Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcass. Sorry if I have totally butchered those names. Seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahazirus to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. So he, as part of his strategy,

He’s presenting this very strong royal family. He wants Queen Vashti to come in her royal clothing robes in her crown and present herself as his queen as part of this very strategic planning meeting that’s taking place for six months. Okay? At the same time, Queen Vashti is planning her own little thing. She’s got her own feast going that she’s holding for the women.

Several years ago I put out a message about that. And it’s when we do our own thing, regardless of what the king’s doing, we’re doing our own thing. But what you need to know about that, this is really important. In verse 12, it says, But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command, brought by the eunuchs. Therefore the king was furious and his anger burned within him. So then the next few verses.

Jaime Luce (20:49.62)
Are the king talking with these wise men who tell him, King, you have to do something about this? This is a problem. Okay? Now we’ll understand the problem much larger than what you see here in scripture when I read you this. So when Queen Vashti publicly refused the king’s command to appear at the summit, she created an internal political crisis. Now, this all this history and stuff that I I just

I Googled all this history to check all this. So this is where I got this. Xerxes was trying to project absolute godlike control to his entire military elite. Okay. His advisors warned him that if he couldn’t control his own palace, his authority across the empire, the entire empire, would be shattered.

So they’re trying to, or the king is trying to project this massive, powerful kingdom that he has ultimate authority and control over, but his wife won’t listen to him. And they’re saying this will cause your authority to be called into question. People will not believe you. This is what led to Vashti’s banishment, okay? Because

What it was was an internal. one of the things I looked up, I thought this was really kind of fascinating as well, said that she by doing this, this was an internal political battle going on. So within the kingdom, there was unrest. You had people who were still from the Babylonian Empire, they had been conquered. You have the Jews who had been conquered, you have the

Persians and the Meady, the Medes, and they’re all together now. And he is trying to uniformly be king over it all, to run it all, to control it all. And Queen Vashti does something, and we’re gonna, this is where I want us to spend a little bit of time. This is really important to see what she did, what that, what her influence and her position.

Jaime Luce (23:14.858)
Afforded her, but how she used it and why that was wrong, and then we’ll move to Esther. Okay. So though Vashti was very beautiful, I want you to see what it says in verse 16. We’ll start in 15. What shall we do to Queen Vashti according to the law? Because she did not obey the command of the king, Ahazurus, who brought or let’s see, sorry.

Of King Ahizuris brought to her by the eunuchs. And Memukin, who was one of these wise men, answered before the king and the princes, Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, so according to their law, she has done wrong. Okay? But also all the princes. And what they mean by that is not only should she have come, but there was a strategic reason for bringing her.

So she is taking, in essence, a political stand against the unity of what they’re doing. So she has come against all these other princes and all these other rulers and all these other people who are in command. And all the people who are in the provinces of King Ahaziris. They’re saying what she has done is wrong for the king.

It’s wrong for all of those in leadership positions, and it is wrong for the people. Because he is wanting to bring unity and strength, oneness of heart and mind so that they can mount their campaign. And what she’s doing is undermining it all, which means she’s taking a stand against all of them. What does this show us about her?

It says, For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise their husbands. Despise it the her behavior showed such disrespect that they’re saying it will cause women to despise their husbands. So there’s more going on here.

Jaime Luce (25:35.606)
We have to kind of look at this text and realize these words have been chosen very carefully. When they report, King Ahazirus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come. So this very day, the noble ladies of Persia and media will say to all the king’s officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be excessive contempt and wrath.

So this is going to cause a problem in homes all across the province. If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahazurus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So they are making very sharp accusations at her.

What we see about her is she’s beautiful to look at. He was proud to have her. He wanted to bring her before all of these people and show her off. And I want you to be thinking, I know this is kind of hard. We’re talking about a Bible story. This is history. This is real. This did happen. But I want you to also understand where are you positioned right now? All along as we’re reading through this, I want you to try to.

Imagine this pertaining to your life. Okay? Where are you right now? What position do you hold? Are you in unity with the people that you serve under? Are you someone who has authority and you have great influence? That the things you say, the attitudes you take, the things you do will affect others. If you’re a mom at home, your children are watching you.

They’re watching how you act, how you react, they’re watching how you make decisions, they’re listening to the words you use, how you treat people, especially there’s if if there’s a father in the home, how you treat the father. Everything we do is being watched and many times emulated, mimicked, and copied. And whether they are even old enough to understand it or not, they are copying.

Jaime Luce (28:01.098)
And learning and things are being embedded in their process, their processes, in their mind, and in the connections in their mind on how the world works. So we are none of us are exempt from what we are seeing in this passage and what happens because of it. So though she was beautiful to look at, she was rebellious, she was proud slash arrogant.

She was self serving.

She was, I hope I say this word right. And this is a little less. This is a big word. And a disclaimer, if I s if I pronounce this wrong, please forgive me. But she was she is

Machiavellian. I think I’m saying that right. Machiavellian, which means someone who is fully aware of their power and influence and deliberately uses schemes, manipulation, and deceit to achieve their own selfish goals. They are calculated.

Malicious, predatory, and they malign.

Jaime Luce (29:30.018)
Lastly, they are foolish. They act foolishly.

What was her foolishness? She threw her own banquet. She refused the the king. She broke the law. In her position, she used her place and position as a way to use and enact her own will. Boy, how much do we see that in our world today.

If you look at the politics of our day, people come in under the assumption of the things they have said. We are used to being lied to and manipulated and used so that someone can come into a place of power and authority. And then they don’t do the things they said, don’t follow the laws that we’re supposed to be following, and do things that are very self-serving. It’s no different today. That’s why I’m hoping that you can see.

How this pertains to our life. Th just because it’s history, just because it happened thousands of years ago, it is extremely relevant for our life today.

All of these things are what we see happening in the character and under the facade and beauty of Ashti. Okay? So please think about this. Where has God placed you? Where has He placed you? What is the what is the authority that you have? How do you use that?

Jaime Luce (31:19.968)
Are you because it’s easy to do, because you have the power, because you have the position, do you now take it lightly, so to speak, that you can just use it? You know, there are many dangers that come with having wealth and position and power, because when you get used to having what you want.

And you get used to things being easy for you, and you think that you know, yeah, that’s normally how it works for other people, but it doesn’t work that way for me. I don’t have to go through that rigmarole. I have the power, I have the authority, I can just say so. It if you’re not careful to realize that God has put each one of us in a position, we represent a position.

In his kingdom. You are where you are because you are positioned. You live, whether you understand it or are cognizant of it regularly, that every day we are living in two kingdoms. We live in this world because we have to, we’re in it, we live in it. Our flesh is subject to the things that happen here because of sin. But we are born again.

We live in another kingdom and we hold positions and authority in that kingdom. And we are called upon to live that kingdom and live that purpose in a way that pleases our king. We are to carefully use our position and influence for his kingdom. So again, who knows whether.

You were brought to the kingdom for such a time as this. What is that kingdom? That’s different for each one of us. What if right now the very things you’re thinking about, the very things you’re battling, the very decisions you’re making, the very things that you are struggling with are about the kingdom, your position in the kingdom, the people around you and their position in the kingdom, what God wants done for those people.

Jaime Luce (33:43.594)
In those people, through those people, in you, for you, for his church, for his bride, for all eternity. It’s a kingdom without end. We have to take what we read here, folks, and understand we are supposed to be impacted by these very words for our lives today to know how to live in God’s kingdom. And that we have a job to do.

Not everything that the people in the Bible did was right or good. We see their humanity. We see the things they did right, the things they did wrong. We’re not supposed to emulate the people. We’re supposed to understand the big picture. We’re supposed to see what does God want us to see and take from this and that what we apply that to our lives. That we see their mistakes and hopefully don’t make those mistakes and and the things they got right. And boy, how do I

How do I apply that to my life? How do I make this mine? But we have to take what we read here and understand that the principles found in Scripture are still living and active. That the word is still speaking to us today. And boy, did Vashti get it wrong. Boy, did she get it wrong? And she was banished. She was banished. She lost her position, no longer king, she’ll queen, she’ll never be brought out.

Forth in the kingdom again, stuck in some house that her the rest of her life is done. She didn’t only wreck it for herself in her position, she lost it all, and now everything around her has shifted. Still is in this weird, weird position because another historical thing that takes place is before chapter two.

We end chapter one with the queen is banished, and then we read chapter two. What we don’t understand is that four years pass before chapter two. Four years. And during that time, the kingdom went out and had some battles and had to come back.

Jaime Luce (35:58.488)
Let me ex see if I can find the exact battle so that I can tell you. I may not have put it in my notes.

Jaime Luce (36:08.524)
I don’t think I did.

Jaime Luce (36:13.07)
Okay, regardless, you could look it up. There was a four-year period of time. And during that four-year gap, here, this might be it. There was a four-year gap between Esther chapter one, which was the third reign for the king, the third year of the reign for the king, and chapter two, his seventh year when Esther is crowned. During those hidden four years, Xerxes or Ahazerus marched his massive army into Greece.

He won at Thermopylae against the famous 300 Spartans. Now you all know that historical story, right? The 300, the famous 300, and burned Athens. This is during this time. This is what he did, this very king. But ultimately, though, he suffered a devastating empire-shaking defeat at the naval battle of Salamis.

When he returned to Persia, defeated, humiliated, and seeking comfort, his officials initiated the search for a new queen, which opens the door for Esther. So the reason they suggested the whole campaign to find the new queen was because of the dejection and the loss that the king had suffered.

And they’re wanting to cheer him up. He had great victory, but then he had great defeat. So let’s look at Queen Esther here for a moment.

Chapter two. After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuras subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. Then the king’s servants who attended him said, Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all of the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel.

Jaime Luce (38:23.774)
Into the women’s quarters under the custody of Haggai, the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women, and let beauty preparations be given them. So they want to completely distract him, get a bunch of beautiful women together, and he gets to pick out of all these women who will be the next queen.

They let the young women, I’m sorry, then let the young women who the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. This thing pleased the king, and he did so. So we read in the next several verses how Mordecai and Esther enter the scene. It says, In Shushan the citadel, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shemai, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.

Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away. And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. So again, she was one of the ones who is brought up in this place, and she has no father and mother. So this is really the only.

security and safety that she’s known was living in this territory. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. So not just beautiful, she was a lovely person. This is talking about who she is, not just her outward beauty, her inward beauty. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So it was when the king’s command and decree was heard

And when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel under the custody of Haggai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace into the care of Haggai the custodian of the women. Now the young woman, Esther, pleased him, and she obtained his favor. So he readily gave beauty preparations to her besides her allowance. So she’s being shown extensive favor.

Jaime Luce (40:32.738)
He not only likes her, but the things that she’s allotted, he’s giving her more, doing more for her, not just what normally everybody else gets. He gives her more.

The seven then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her from the maidservants to the best place in the house of the women. Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it. So we’re seeing she’s beautiful, she’s lovely as a person, she’s so lovely that she gains favor right away.

The favor isn’t changing her. The blessing and the elevation she’s receiving is not changing her. How do I know that? Because Mordecai has commanded her and she is being obedient to Mordecai. We just read that. And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her. He took care, he took much care in watching over her.

He was he felt very responsible for her and was very concerned for her and wanted to make sure that she was well cared for. Each young woman’s turn came to go into the king after she had completed twelve months preparation. Let’s skip down to verse 13. Thus prepared each young woman went to the king and she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace.

In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of this person, the king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. She would not go in again to the king unless he delighted in her and called her by name. Verse 15. Now, when the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abbail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter to go into the king, she requested nothing.

Jaime Luce (42:40.514)
But whatever Haggai, the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. I want you to look at the foolishness we had seen in Vashti, the wisdom that Esther is showing. She’s not rebellious, she’s not proud or arrogant, she’s not Machius or Machiavellian, sorry, she’s not foolish, she’s not greedy for gain. She’s not doing this with self selfishness and and wanting to.

Heap things on herself and to take whatever she thinks. She’s not relying on her own understanding. She’s not somebody who just thinks I know better. I like this, so this is what I’m gonna take into the king. She says she required nothing. She asked for nothing except whatever this man who’s in charge of her, this eunuch who’s in charge of her, whatever he says, she’ll do and take in whatever he says. That’s wisdom.

She knows this man serves the king. She knows what the king likes. This servant of the king knows what he responds to, what he doesn’t, how he his tastes, his he serves him constantly, so he knows. She required nothing but whatever Haggai had said. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

So Esther was taken to King Ahasiris in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tibet, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the other virgins. So he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Ashti.

Now I’m going to try to go through this next part quickly because I want you to see the differences, and we’re going to read about more of the things that the queen did. She was beautiful, she was lovely, she was obedient, she was humble, she was subservient, she was altruistic, another big word, which simply means someone who is completely unselfish and uses their influence solely for the purpose to help others.

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without expecting anything in return. They are benevolent, guileless, scrupulous, and ingenio ingenious. Ingenious ingenious if I’m saying that right. Anyway, she had wisdom.

We’re going to see that both queens threw a banquet. One threw a banquet for herself, one threw a banquet for the king. And we’re going to see that one was foolish, one was wise. So let’s look at what’s going on. So the queen is now Queen Esther.

The king makes a great feast in verse 18 to proclaim a holiday in all the provinces. They give gifts, and he’s very generous to the people to celebrate that he has made Esther his queen. Verse 19. When virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king’s gate. Now Esther had not revealed her family and her people, just as Mordecai had charged her.

For Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him. So literally, we’re seeing, and this is repeated for a reason. We need to know this, this is important. But not only are we seeing that this is still relevant, but that she did this when she was under the king’s care, I mean under Mordecai’s care, and she is continuing to be obedient, continuing no matter now that she is queen, no matter now that she has.

Available to her the kingdom, no matter what is what influence and position she now has. This has not changed her, this has not changed the lovely Esther. Okay, and this particular scripture is saying that she obeyed even as she did when she was brought up under Mordecai. So she is the same person in those days. Verse 21: While Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs were

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Big thin and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on the king. So there’s a plot now. Verse 22 tells us that so the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, the and Esther informed the king. And when the inquiry was made, they found out about it, it was confirmed, and the men were hung on gallows. Okay, so move to chapter three.

After these things, King Ahaziras promoted Haman, the son of Hamandatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who are with him. So we’re seeing another rise of a figure who is all of a sudden elevated to a very high position. He now has influence, power, prestige, and name. He has authority. Okay? We’re gonna see another mix here. We have Haman and Mordecai.

And all the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, so that the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. Now you might think, well, that’s not right. Mordecai should be bowing before the king. That’s the that’s the rule of the land. That’s the what he should be doing. But don’t forget, they had freedom of their religion while they were there. The Jews were allowed to practice Jewish law.

And live accord as Jews, even though they were in the Persian and Medes territory. So he didn’t bow because his law that God has spoken was that you do not bow before any man, you bow before God. In fact, Acts 5, 29, Peter says, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than man.

We need to understand this. Our position in God’s kingdom comes before our position in any earthly kingdom. We are to be loyal to God’s kingdom first. And this can be a problem sometimes. This can cause trouble. This can be a real issue. And we can get into trouble. Trouble can come, problems can come.

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When the law of God is not the same as the laws of the land. But we have to obey God first before we obey the laws of the land. We are to be good citizens, we are to care for the people, we are to pray for our rulers, those in authority over us. But we don’t break God’s law. We don’t break God’s law. So as much as we can, we are obedient and subservient.

And we will end up having to live by the laws of the land, but at the same meaning pay the consequences. So if we are not, if we break a law because it breaks God’s law, then we may end up in jail, under persecution, paying fines, dealing with issues, angry people because we won’t bow to the world’s way.

This is what was going on with Mordecai. This is what’s happening with Haman and Mordecai.

I want us to jump to well, let’s look at verse, we’ll start in verse four. Now it happened when they spoke to him daily, and he would not listen to them. So people came up to Mordecai. He was questioned about this. They they were telling him, You should be following this law, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, because he told them, Listen, I don’t have to. I’m a Jew and I’m following what God’s law is. Verse 5: When Haman saw.

That Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on him because let’s see, verse six, but he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai, meaning it’s not just him. This means none of the Jews who live here have to do this. So they appealed to.

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To the part of Haman that wanted prestige and power and authority, and wanted people to be subservient to him. They appealed to the nature that was in Haman so that he would not only be angry with Mordecai alone, but that he would want to come after the entire group of the Jews. We see this happening right now. If a Christian says something.

And the media goes nuts about what this Christian says, they don’t want to just come after the one person. They want us all gone. They want to quiet and silence all of us. And this is how it works.

Verse 7, in the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahizurus, they cast pur, that is the lot, before Haman, to determine the day and the month until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. So they’re they are concocting a plan here to attack all of them, not just Mordecai. When Haman said to King Ahizurus, there is a certain people, he doesn’t tell them who they are. He just is

He’s giving him a half truth in that he’s not disclosing who the people are. There is a certain people who scattered. He makes it sound like they’re scattered, they’re dispersed, they’re just this random group of people. He’s not letting them know who they are and how large of a group they are. Among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom, their laws are different from all other peoples, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore, it is not fitting.

For the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the king’s treasuries. So what we see happening is a major bribe who the

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Haman is appealing to the king’s need for finances. They are now unstable. He returned from the last battle defeated. The defeat they suffered caused the kingdom. Again, I looked all this up in history that two thirds, two thirds of what they needed was basically gone. And so he’s saying, I will pay 10,000.

Talents of silver, meaning I will put into the treasury everything you lost. Reestablish your complete power, wealth, and authority. I’m gonna I’m gonna put it back myself. But the way he’s gonna do it, let’s read.

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So the king took the signet ring from his hand, gave it to Haman, the son of Hamond, the enemy of the Jews, and the king said to Haman, The money and the people are given to you to do with them as seems good to you. Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month to decree a written accree was written sorry, a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded.

To the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over every province, to the officials of all the people, to every province according to his script, and to every people in their language, in the name of King Ahazirus, it is written and sealed with the king’s signatureing. And read this. And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women.

In one day on the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of Adot, and to plunder their possessions. Okay, his plan was: I’m going to go in, I get to exact my revenge on Mordecai, and I’m going to kill all these people. And how I’m going to get this money to give to the king is I’m going to plunder all the Jews.

Who were very wealthy. They had planted homes and vineyards and businesses and become, they were doing well as they were supposed to. And he says, And I’m you get to plunder them. And he had told them basically, you get to keep a portion, but the rest of it goes to the king. So he was gonna take all the wealth of the Jews, plunder the people, kill them all, take their money, and give that money to the king. The king doesn’t fully understand what’s going on.

But he’s allowing Haman to put forth this wicked plan. Verse 14: a copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day. So they’re making a decree that says this is a day that we are making it law to come against these people.

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Okay, to come against the Jews that you all live amongst. Come against them, kill them, annihilate them, and take all their possessions. Look at verse 15. The couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command, and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink. But look at this. This is all the people who received this, the people who lived amongst the Jews. But the city of Shushan was perplexed. This caused great confusion for them because.

This didn’t make any sense to them. Why do we have to kill these people? Why do we have to take all their s these were they were friends amongst these people. They were all living and doing business and living together.

In chapter four, this is where Esther has to agree to put her life in danger to save the people. Again, Mordecai is going to use authority. He’s going to ask Esther to do something on their behalf that is dangerous.

When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes, he put on sackcloth and ashes, and he went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. So I want you to see, let’s keep an eye on this and make this personal. When things happen that are wrong, that come against us, that upset us, how do we behave? Who do we emulate?

Let’s look at Haman. He takes advantage of a situation. He devises evil plans and manipulation. He uses dishonesty. He he desires by greed to go and steal from another. He demands that you respect him, though he is not respectful. He is someone who we’ll even read later that all he cared about was his wealth, his status, but that he wanted to gloat.

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He was someone who gloats. And he was someone who is he’s a fool, but again, throwing his own banquet, so to speak, he will devise plans of murder and death. This is what’s truly in his heart. Because of position and power. In his position of authority, what position does he take? One of ruthlessness. One that is completely.

Against God, against the character of God, against the ways of God, against the ways that we should be participating in life. We are to be made sanctified people who emulate Jesus Christ. Versus Mordecai, who is willing to humiliate himself, doesn’t care what people think about him that way, goes out into the middle of the city in sackcloth and ashes and cries out loud and mourns in front of all the people.

about what is about to be decreed to take place against his people.

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Let’s go to verse 3. And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews. With fasting, they self-humiliated, humbled themselves with fasting, with weeping and wailing. And many laid in sackcloth and ashes. So this exchange goes back and forth. Esther finds out that Mordecai’s out there in sackcloth and ashes. She sends

Eunuchs to him to give him clothes to where he refuses them. So so she says, Find out what’s wrong. Why is he doing this? What’s going on? Then Mordecai sends a message back.

And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him. I’m sorry. Let’s see.

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Yes, verse seven. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her, here he is again, command her to go into the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people.

So he goes in, he tells all of this to Esther.

And let’s go to verse 12. So they told Mordecai Esther’s words. She had told him, I if I go in there, you realize it’s against the law. And the only the law is that if the king hasn’t called you, you’re dead immediately. They’ll kill you immediately, unless he extends the scepter to you. So they go and tell this to Mordecai. Verse 14. I’m sorry, verse 14.

13. And Mordecai told him, told them the answer 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. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place. He knows God will care for his people. If you won’t do it right, somebody else will. God has people.

That he will call on and he knows they will be obedient servants and do what he’s asked them to do. But you and your father’s house will perish. He’s saying, You and I and all that we love will die. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

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He’s saying, Esther, you don’t know if the only reason that everything that took place because they don’t believe the Jews do not believe in coincidence.

That Vashti did what she did in order that she would be banished, and that the virgins would be brought, and the king has suffered loss, so that the virgins would be brought, and you would be amongst them, and that you were chosen to be in this position. This reminds me so much of the story of Joseph, because his family, he was born into his beautiful family.

As was she, she has this beautiful family. But troubles is brewing. For them, it was that they were, she was to be taken from this home, even though this was a good home, not because she wanted to, but because the king decreed it. And Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery, into a man’s house that he did well at, had favor, she had great favor, so did Joseph. Everywhere she went, she had favor from everybody.

God had put favor on her life because she was a lovely child. And Joseph was lovely. He was beautiful on the outside, scripture tells us he was good looking. And he was beautiful on the inside. He was someone who was totally dedicated to God, to do what God wanted him to do, to live according to God’s laws, to do it right. And he was put into prison. But what did Joseph ultimately tell us? He understood he was put in that prison so that.

He would be in the position to be second in command, to be able to lead the people of Israel and bring, he did Egypt for Joseph for Israel. Everything that this happened all because God orchestrated all of these events. The famine, the blessing, and the famine, to bring the everything God was orchestrating. And we see the same thing happening here. Mordecai saying, Do you understand what’s taking place, Esther?

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Do you understand? Then Esther told them to go reply to Morak Mordecai, go gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise, and so I will go to the king, which is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. You see now in Esther somebody who wanted to save her people, not herself.

Somebody whose life was not about her own promotion, what she wanted to do, what she wanted to accomplish. This was about the people caring about others. Look at the difference in her life versus Vashti’s life. This is a beautiful picture of an obedient heart. What it is to walk obedient to the call of God.

To be faithful to the position that He’s put you in, to be faithful to do His bidding and not your own. Can you be trusted with position? Can you be trusted by God to give you favor and influence? Can He trust you? So many times people wish for things and ask for things and then they get them and they lose everything because they couldn’t be trusted with what they got. They couldn’t handle the blessing. And blessing isn’t just money.

Position and influence and power are ve this is in every sphere of life. We have to be so careful. What are you brought to the kingdom for? Is it for such a time as this?

We don’t have time to read everything else other than to say in chapter five, Esther, the way that she approaches this problem is she asks the king if she can have a banquet. She has to go before him. She has to appear before him without being summoned. But because she had favor, because she was willing to be the one that God had chosen, because she knew her position and power and she used it for the right reasons, the scepter was held out to her.

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And he says, I’ll give you up to half my kingdom. She says, I just want to put on a banquet for you and for Haman. Because she knows Haman is responsible. She holds the banquet. The king says, What do you want? You’ve made this banquet, I’ve come, what do you want? She says again, if I have found favor in your sight, all I want is for you to come. Give me let me have another banquet with you tomorrow. Bring Haman. And this whole time, Haman is going back, gloating, gloating in his position.

The queen asked for just meat. He’s so unwise, so foolish he doesn’t even know that he is setting himself up. During this whole time, his revenge plot was being birthed. He had already built the gallows to hang Mordecai. He thinks he’s got favor with the king and with the queen. He’s ready to take the plunder and kill all the Jews. He thinks his plan is working out masterfully, you know.

Then at the second feast or the second banquet, the queen explains. In fact, we should read that.

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Yeah.

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okay, before we get to that, I do need to say Mordecai for exposing the plot against the king. Many know this part of the story already, but I don’t want to leave it out. The king can’t sleep, another thing that I can see the hand of God and the favor of God at work dismantling the enemy’s schemes. Because the king can’t sleep, so he says, Go read to me from the Chronicles. He’s trying to find, you like counting sheep. Read to me and help me to fall asleep.

So he’s reading to them, but what he ends up reading is how Mordecai saved his life.

So he’s not a bad guy that Haman wants to kill, he’s the good guy. So the next day, in his gloating, he’s about to be humiliated. Haman is about to be humiliated. This is God’s beauty that the ones who gloat against God, he’s the one who humiliates them. He comes before the king and he’s ready to, you know, have all the accolades brought to him, and he says, What honor? The king asks him as he sees him come into the court, what honor and dignity.

Have been bestowed on Mordecai.

What do you wait what? What? He basically had said, What do I do? What do I do, Mordecai, for the man who I want to honor, who I want to bestow all these accolades on? And Haman thinks it’s him it’s himself, but it’s not. He wants to do it for Mordecai. So the humiliation is as Haman tells the king, put a put your robe on him, let him ride your horse, and make him go down the street and make everybody bow and say, This is what happens to the man.

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Who pleases the king. And he thinks he’s setting himself up to ride down the streets of Shushan on the king’s horse. And instead, God says, No, it’s Mordecai I want to honor. I mean, the humiliation. I love how God does that. The humiliation that comes to Haman. And his family tells him, This is a bad omen. This is bad news, Haman. He goes in to have the next feast with the queen. And the queen says,

let’s go to verse 7 chapter 7. Let’s go to chapter verse 3. Then Queen Esther answered and said, If I have found favor in your side, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition. She’s saying, Save my life and my people, save my people’s lives at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, to be annihilated. Had we been sold as a male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue.

If we were just gonna be made slaves, I wouldn’t have said anything.

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Although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss. He’s saying, I wouldn’t have said anything, but Yuda had great loss, and there’d have been nothing that could have made up for that. So King Ahasirus 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?

And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. So Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The king was so angry, he burst out of the room to go walk in his terraced garden to cool to cool down and figure out what he wanted to do. He needed to take a moment because he was so furious. This was his second in command. And during his exit, Haman.

Is hanging on Queen Esther trying to beg for his life. So when the king comes in, it looks like he’s attacking Esther. And he says, You would come in here and you would go after my wife while I walk away. Are you kidding me? And immediately he calls for his death, that he is to be hung on the very gallows, the very gallows that he had made for Mordecai. The end of the story is that Mordecai takes his position, becomes second in command.

And though a law could not be changed even by the king, a new law could be made. And he tells, the king tells Esther and Mordecai, get my scribes, and you draft a law and say whatever you need to say to deal with this problem. They rewrite another law. The law is all of you people have the right to destroy those who come against you to destroy you, and to take the plunder that they have.

They don’t tell them that. But in the end, it says that they literally took no plunder. They didn’t that they didn’t they didn’t have the same hearts. They had they did they took no plunder. In fact, chapter 9, verse 15 says at the very end, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. In verse 16, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. They were given two days with the favor of the king to use their authority to say, You may come against.

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Under the authority of the king, come against your enemies. And they did it to save their lives. They did it simply to live. They didn’t do it to steal, to kill. There was no murder in their hearts. There was no desire to take the money and plunder of these people.

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What position are you holding today? What influence do you have? What is motivating your heart? Think about it. Think about your position in God’s kingdom. Think about the favor He has given you, the realm he has placed you in, the people that He’s put around you, the voice that He has given you, whether great or small.

What is your post your heart posture? What what are you, what is the end game for you? Why are you doing what you’re doing?

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Who knows what whether you were brought to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Let’s be wise, not foolish. Let’s be servants, obedient servants, not self-serving. Let’s have a mindset about the kingdom of God and eternity versus a life here and now that is fleeting. Things that will burn up, things that don’t matter. Do we get set off easily by things that rub us the wrong way because we’ve

lost something that didn’t really matter to begin with.

Do all we care about is money and greed and obtaining things and materialistic ideas of of what we want to do with our life, or are we are we working with our hands? It says with that we are to whatever our hand finds to do, do it with all our might. Whatever position you’re in, whatever you’re doing, whatever gifts and talents you have, whatever you’re using in this life, are you using them for the kingdom?

Are you doing them unto the king with a heart for the king? A heart for the people? Or is it selfish? Listen, I’m not beating you up. I’m not meaning to browbeat you. I’m saying this is what has been laid bare in this story. And I have to look at how I talk to people, how I how I talk to my husband, how I talk to my children and my grandchildren. When I’m wanting something and my prayer.

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I here’s a full disclosure. I I was praying something the other day and when I was praying it I realized because I was asking the Lord, please show me what’s in my heart. Show me the motivation of my heart. Because on the outside it looked very good. It looked right. It looked pleasing.

It looked like it had characteristics of godly character.

And my heart wanted that, but there was a little part of my heart that had a selfish desire in it. There was a little selfish motive in there.

There was. And I had to lay that out before God and say, get this out of me. I like how Philip Anthony Mitchell, I think that’s name, how how he says it. He says, ring your heart out. When you pray, ring your heart out. We need to be like David and say, search my heart, God, and show me if there’s any wicked way in me. Do I have a lovely heart? A lovely way so that I could receive your favor?

And step into my position and my authority and my influence for your kingdom. Help me not to be someone who has swallowed up my fleshly desires for selfish ambition, which is a waste, which produces nothing, which will burn up in the end. And I will have wasted my time and my resource and my energy, and maybe I have

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hurt or hindered those around me who have watched me give an example that should not be followed and emulated. Help me use my voice for what I should be using my voice for.

Let’s take this story of Esther. Let’s determine to have a heart like Esther, to have a heart like Mordecai, not a heart like Vashti, not a heart like Haman. Let’s use what God has given us for his kingdom. Let me pray for you. Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for your word. I thank you for whatever position you have placed each of us in right now. Father, I’m asking.

By your Holy Spirit, that you would give insight to each one right now, to the positions that they hold that they may not even realize they hold, that we can see the influence that you have given us and the way that you want us to walk in it. That we would love our God and love one another and fulfill all of the law and the prophets, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul.

Your might, your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Father, we see that in the New Testament that you played this same scenario out beautifully, that you had the Pharisees who wanted power and position and favor with the people, authority over them, wanted their way, wanted to be seen, wanted to gloat over the people.

And then you had Jesus who was willing to sacrifice and give his life for the people.

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Lord, I pray that you would show us what’s in our hearts. Not because you’re condemning us, but because you love us enough to show us so that we can choose that better thing, so we could choose your way, so we could humble ourselves so that we don’t have to be humbled. Father, let your plan be made manifest to your people. Let them know what you want them to do and the position you have put them, so that your glory

Will be seen, and that the outcome that you have designed will be. Help us to have a broader understanding and not just see our life in our day right now, but see the way that you orchestrate our lives and the lives of those around us for a lifetime. Not just ourselves.

And cause us, Lord, to desire to live a life that is holy and consecrated unto you. That we do, like Paul said, that we live our lives as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto you, which is our reasonable service. We love you, we want to please you, we want to live for you. So, Father, I pray your blessing.

your favor and your covering and protection, your wisdom and your insight that each one needs to live that life. And it’s in Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen. Thanks for spending time with me today. I’d love to hear from you. If you have any prayer requests or praise reports, you can send those to me.

at my website or through email. The email address is mail at JaimeLuce.com That’s J A I E L U C. Also, if you want to watch any previous episodes or see any older content, you could get all of that at my website as well as any blogs that have been written. If you want a copy of my book, you can get that there as well. I love spending time with you today. Thanks so much and have a blessed day. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.