For Such A Time As This

Real Life presents the Jack Kibb's podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Do you see your life right now for such a time as this? Don't think for a moment that you're living and breathing right now by accident or by some sort of fiat, it's by the plan of God you're here right now, by the plan of God you're watching right now and I believe that's so much that even if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, the plan of God that you hear this message because God's going to plan for your life. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackkibb's.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Kibb's. Esther, no stranger to some of the most romantic writing. Esther, her name actually in Hebrew is Hadessa. Her name Esther is the Babylonian name given to her by her captives. Esther was one of those tens of thousands of Jews who were taken captive by the invading Babylonian forces and was raised up and born into a culture that had departed from God. And she is now in the palace, she's been elevated. She thinks by the powers of the empire because she's beautiful. Esther was very attractive to the Bible says that she was beautiful and we know that she was very bright. We know that Esther was young. We know that she was pleasant to look at. And the Bible tells us that when King Ahazarus, the pagan king, was hosting a bank, what if you remember, him and his governors in generals got a little drunk and he wanted to show off the beauty of his wife, Queen Vashti. And so he called for Queen Vashti to come in, probably the word means dance in front of all these drunk guys. That's not a good scenario. And so when the edict went out, hey, Queen, come and dance for my guys, we're having a great time. Queen Vashti said, nope, not going to come. And no, go go ask her again, Esther was still, I'm not coming. And so boy did that start a scandal. And so put the king in a very uncomfortable situation, plus he's probably a little bit off in his judgment, but he became angry. And he banished Queen Vashti from the throne and fast-forwarding throughout all of the realm, men were tapped to find the most beautiful candidate to take her place. And out of all the women of the kingdom, this one was found by the name of Hadesa and her name given Esther. Esther Babylonian name, Eshtar, there's the Eshtar Gate in Babylon, which now you have to go to England to see the Eshtar Gate, part of it, by the way, is in Berlin, the Eshtar Gate. We get the word Easter from Eshtar, do you know the Easter is a pagan thing, the bunny, the chocolate, the eggs, you know that, right? That it's paganism, it's ancient paganism, it's actually a fertility worship service. That's why the bunnies are involved. No, really, I'm not kidding, they are a picture of fertility. And Easter is that pagan worship, but you think, oh, no, no, no, Easter is awesome, it's a resurrection of Jesus, no, that's the resurrection of Jesus. It happens to fall at the same time as the pagan worship season of Eshtar. And that actually plays into our challenge this morning in our study about how we look at things. For such a time as this, you either believe that in the Bible for you in your life or you don't. And happier those who do, that your life's existence is not a drudgery that is pre-programmed for you to experience boredom. No, that's you doing that to you. God's plan for your life is to bring you now, if you can hear me, it means you're breathing. If you're breathing your heart's beating. It means that God is a plan for your life right now for such a time as this as a believer that God wants to use you. And so when we think about the events of our life, this harrowing woman who became the Savior in some ways of Israel, because as we'll see today, her people were destined to destruction. The fact that Eshtar was brought in, she was invited, she was allowed to come in, she made petition, she goes to see the king, the Bible tells us that for 30 days they had not taught. She had been distanced from the king, we don't know why. She knows that if I go in to speak to the king unannounced, even though I am the queen, without invitation, he has the power and the authority to kill me because I'm not allowed to be there. So she takes her life into her own hands for her people. She steps into the chamber and if you were not going to die, in other words, if he wanted to talk to you, he would raise his scepter. And by submission, you would come and you would tap the edge of the scepter and then you can speak to the king. She had to do all that. She didn't know how it was going to go, but God had a plan. And so we'll glean a lot out of this, but the challenge today is for you and I to realize that God has you right now in the kingdom for such a time as this. I hope you're not defeated by the days in which we're living in. I hope you're not discouraged. You need to realize that the overriding divine plan for your life is not thwarted in any way, shape or form. That what you're living right now is the fact that God has brought you to this moment for such a time as this. And for that, you should be emboldened. But it's an amazing movie or Hollywood scene. You've got Esther. She's beautiful. She's the damsel as it were in distress. You've got her being raised and adopted by her uncle, her sweet uncle by the name of Mordecai. And he's an older man. He's a man of great conviction. You've got King Ahazarus, which is his title. His name is Xerxes. And he's the ruler of a vast empire, one of the great empires of the world in that day. In fact, Esther chapter one, verse one says, now it came to pass in the days of Ahazarus. This is the Ahazarus who reigned over 127 provinces from, listen to this, from India to Ethiopia. And in those days, when King Ahazar set on the throne of his kingdom, this man is a massive power and power broker. He's a man of extreme wealth and influence, and he's part of the players. And then there's this guy by the name of Heyman. And oh, let me hear that again. Very good. I mention Heyman, they all hissed. Because in Israel, if you're Jewish, you always hiss when you hear the name Heyman. Because Heyman, okay, I got it. Anyway. So Heyman was the one who desired, engineered the eradication and the extermination of the Jewish people, beginning with Mordekai. He was going to have Mordekai killed and then commence a purge, a genocide of the Jews off the face of the earth. Heyman is his name, and he's a type of antichrist. He is a type of satan in the storyline, and God has got a plan for his life, too, frankly. It's going to end not the way he planned, that is Heyman, but it's pretty cool for us the way it ends. What else? In Esther, chapter 3, verse 2, the Bible tells us that Mordekai, the Jew, would not bow or pay homage to Heyman. That's a good one. And it said, I don't want everybody, as I am second in command, I want everybody to listen to what the king said, I'm supposed to be worshipped and bowed down to. And everybody bows down in the kingdom to Heyman, except one guy. Mordekai would walk by, can you imagine? Everybody's bowing, and listen, this sick type of thinking, these Heyman types of people, they think that it's really exciting to have people bowing down and worshipping them, even though it's all forced, because if you don't, you get your head cut off. But somehow, they're so sick and they're in their megalomania that they like it, look, they're bowing. Well, you've forced them to bow, it doesn't matter, they're bowing. And then you can see this guy with everybody bowing, there's this old man, I think you have like a squeaky walker, too, you know, it's just like, and Heyman looks at him and he's just furious at this Jew that won't bow. And that's part of the problem in the kingdom, those Jews that won't bow. They've got this God in heaven that he's the only one that's supposed to bow to. And it just began to eat him up. The man's a narcissist, it's on steroids and he sees one guy that won't bow. And what do you think? That's the guy that he's got to deal with. But from that venture of hatred and envy and all of that comes one of the greatest stories ever told. But it's all to communicate that you and I, like Esther, have been brought into the kingdom for such a time as this. And we read it a moment ago, one more verse before we get ready to go into this and that is Esther 4 verse 14. Mordecai says, for if you remain completely silent at this time, Esther, if you don't step up, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place. That old man knows his stuff. But you and your father's house will perish, yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And I believe that you and I are living in the opening throes of a very similar time. Christianity is being targeted. Christianity is being marked out just this week in Washington, D.C. in the house. The Bible was addressed and looked at and being considered a book of bigotry. That what the Bible says is absolutely outdated. That what the Bible says is now no longer applicable. That we have advanced beyond that silly stuff. And that the Bible is not gender sensitive. This has been a wild week in Washington for this nation and for your faith and your freedoms. So I believe we're living at a time that is somewhat similar. And here's where we begin. For such a time as this, we want to make note of it. For such a time as this, here you are. Here you are. Esther's life was a life that had been brought up in a way, in captivity, being a Jew, in a strange land and she's being raised in a world that is foreign to her belief system. She doesn't recognize so to speak anything that what she's been taught of as a good Jew, that what she would have learned at home and what form of synagogue if any that they had in Shushan, that now she is living this life and from her looks, listen, from her looks to her place of becoming an orphan who she's adopted by Mordekai, her bringing up to the fact that Vashdie's dethroned and now there are those working for the king that selectively go through the kingdom to pick out attractive women that they think the king might be attracted to. She's one of them and ladies, listen up, this is amazing, is the fact that she, I think it was a year or so, she, with the other women in the harem that are being prepared to be picked by the king, they're bathed, they're fed certain diet, their skin is oiled, they are perfumed, I mean it is the spa of spas, there's probably soft music playing in the corner, I don't know, I'm making that up, just kidding. But all this stuff is going on and they just do everything they can cosmetically to prepare women who are already beautiful to present before the king, they've got to pick one to be the queen of the empire and she gets picked and she's the one, but listen, nobody knows she's a Jew, they don't know she's a Jew. And while she's living large, Mordecai is living this life that is humble and meek, but he's a man of convictions and he's a man who has a reputation and Heyman is derailed by all this. Now here's what's cool too, Heyman does not know Esther is a Jew, but he does know Mordecai is and so he begins to ring his hands about how he can kill Mordecai and the Jewish people. Listen up ladies and gentlemen, anybody who wants to kill the Jews and erratic them from off the face of the earth is from the spirit of Heyman and the spirit of Heyman, you can read about in 1 John is the spirit of Antichrist, beware of that, can a Jew drive you crazy? Yeah, are Jews hard to talk to, yep, are they stubborn, yep, just know something, God chose them. What do you do that, I have no idea except that he gives us a clue, he says in the book of Deuteronomy, don't think I picked you because you guys are cool, he said I picked you guys because you're the most stubborn people on earth, so what does that mean? I don't know, but if God can save a Jew, he can save a Jew, right? It's encouraging, by the way, when a Jew does get saved, give it or hang on because man, they just take off, they're amazing, but when God came to earth, he decided to come as a Jew, isn't that wild? I don't know, I would have come, I would have come as a Southern Californian, he could have come as a Canadian, he could have come as a Peruvian, God comes as a Jew to earth, put him in Bethlehem, born to the house of David, all by the plan of God, quite remarkable, but here you are, God has not caught this strange time unaware, the Bible tells us in Psalm 91, verse 15, when you call on me, I will answer, I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue and honor them, God's speaking about his people, not under the Jews, but that's for us. So in God's greatness, this very moment in the 21st century, you're here today and you are a believer and you're a follower of Christ for such a time as this, and I want that truth that just galvanize you into your everyday working life, in your marriage, in your singleness, in your parenting, in your business, 24-7, God says of you, the believer, for such a time as this, I've brought you into this world. Right now, the day of your birthday and the age that you are right now, that's not a, that wasn't left up to your parents, God was in that. And the more you understand and believe that, I think the more destined you'll be to be like a Mordakai, but maybe for some of us today we need to be awake into that reality like an Esther. But you are here and it's for a purpose, and I love this because every day of every hour according to God's word, he says to us, I'll rescue you, church, I believe that. I'll be with you. God's moving. In fact, we know from Psalm 91, 15, we read it a moment ago that what appears to be throughout the history of the Bible, when God works with His people, the prerequisite is you got to get in trouble to see God move. You ever think about that? Oh, I just love this, the amazing events of the Bible. I do too, but remember how they happened. People got in trouble. When God calls you to stand for Him and when God calls you to walk as it were before the King and say, listen, I've got some news and here it is. The God of Heaven says, thus and so, church, we all love that moment and we want to be part of that moment, but you got to get in trouble before that moment comes. That's why God says, I will rescue you. You've got to need rescuing before He can rescue you. He's not going to ride up on a white horse with a white hat if you're sitting around eating cheetos and watching TV. But if you're out on the front line and you're terrified and the bombs and missiles and rockets are flying by, He says, I'll be there to protect you. Oh, I want to see God move. You get on the front line, oh, I want to see miracles then get up and get out and watch what He does. You've got to be willing to get into trouble with the fact of the matter is for such a time as this, you are here and here you are and God wants to commission you and God wants to use you. He has called you, ordained you and appointed you to this very time. God's moving and He wants to establish His truth. God moves throughout the Bible with these divine appointments. We call them divine appointments. Divine appointments, I believe, happen to us all the time if we're looking. If we're looking through think of Franklin's bifocals, bifocals are funny, right? I mean, they're kind of a pain, but I guess it's worse if you don't have them. But in fact, that's what the invented those progressive lenses, right? But you can tell when somebody is wearing bifocal glasses because if they want to look at something close, they'll go like this and they look funny. If you don't know they're wearing glasses, it's like, what's wrong with that person? And they'll go like this, hang on a minute. And they're reading through the lens because it brings it all up close. And then you say, did you get the answer? And they go like this, yeah, I got it. Can you check again? Sure, hang on. What is it again? Yeah, it's this. And life's like that. We either look like that or we look like that. One thing brings everything in clarity and focus. The other one is a broad view, not so clear, but it expands. It's thin, but it's wide. The closer look is narrow, but it's exact. That's how God moves in our lives. When we open the Word of God, it takes life in its broad view. We open up the Bible and it brings it right into the exact in the moment. That's why we can come away from an ancient book that's written 2,500 years ago and be able to read it and say, man, you know what? As I look at it through the bifocal, lower part, I see this is applicable in my life today. God wants to move. God wants to work. Even Jesus says to us that when you're called before kings and rulers, don't worry about what you're going to say. For in that moment, your Father will give you what to say. That's going from looking broad to the thick lens of exactness. Acts chapter 2, verse 22, the Bible says there, Peter is speaking. Now, Rimmer, Jesus has been crucified, Jesus has been resurrected, Jesus has ascended back to heaven. Now, Peter is fully spirit and he's not the same Peter. Acts chapter 2, verse 22, Peter says, man of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did through him. In your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by your lawless hands and have crucified and put to death. Listen to the lens. Watch the lens. Broad speaking, Peter is saying, you guys crucified Jesus. Narrow bullet point focus, but God in his predetermined counsel and foreknowledge appointed Christ to this divine appointment, and that is, he was to die in the cross. Somebody say him into that. God's word said, Messiah will die in the cross. Man looks and says, let's kill him. They think they're doing their will and they think they're doing what needs to be done and God says, my plans being worked out perfectly. This Jack Kibb's podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listed or supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.