God is Always Working

We're in week four, and actually the conclusion of a series we call Pretty Ugly People, and when life is ugly, how do we respond? How should we respond as Christians? How should we respond as people who are internally beautiful? Because we're learning how to be internally beautiful in an externally ugly, ugly, ugly world. Because beauty is fleeting, right?

It's leaving, but what lasts forever is right in here, okay? What lasts forever is there and here, and that's what we're focused on in this series, and hopefully you gain some insight. If you're new with us today and this is your first time coming on the tail end, you can go back and listen to our message series on David and Absalom, and we have just a number of stories there that will help you learn how to live beautifully in an otherwise ugly world. Today I'm going to hit on a very interesting book that I think a lot of people may try to dodge a little bit. It doesn't get taught on a lot because it's an interesting book, and I'll explain that in a minute.

But we're going to deal with Esther. We're going to talk about Esther today. Can y'all say Esther? Esther. Esther is a really, really cool story.

So if you're with me today, pull up in your Bibles, turn to chapter 2, verse 5, and we're going to start there. You can tune in on the screens. I think we've got the tech going now. We had some issues there for a second, but we got that going. If you're online with us, we're so thankful you're here with us today online.

You don't get the missed service. Yes, and I'm so happy to see you. I'm looking at you in the camera way back at me, okay? Good to see you today. Take notes and talk about it during the week.

So here's where we start. Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai, son of Jair. He was the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Y'all remember Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel and all that kind of stuff, so it's kind of happening in this storyline. Among those captive was Jehoiachin, king of Judah.

And then Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. And this young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and a beautiful face. And Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. So let me just give you some context of the book of Esther. This is number two of only two books in the Bible that are named after women.

You have Ruth and you have Esther. So that's an interesting fact there. It happened about roughly 500 years before Jesus came. So it's about 470 BC. And there was this king, King Xerxes.

King Xerxes was the current king over all of the Persian empire. Persia had control of that area in the time. And if you remember King Darius, Daniel in the lion's den, if you watched VeggieTales, if you're new to Christianity, maybe you saw that or you understand the story of Daniel in the lion's den, you know King Darius, right? This is the son of King Darius. So that puts you in the timeline of what's happening here.

And what's interesting about the book of Esther is that God is not mentioned in the entire book. Did you know that? It's a historical narrative about something that's happening in a time period. God is not actually mentioned in the book, but God's all over it. You see God working in and out of this situation.

And I believe that's why it was canonized in the book, in the Bible, because we do see God working in this situation. We see God all in it. And yes, Esther was outwardly beautiful. How do we know that? Well, it says, this young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful.

So, from top to bottom, really. I mean, they didn't leave out figure there, so she must have had a nice figure, a nice body. She was attractive. In every way, if any man had looked at her in that day, they probably would have seen her attractive. So we have kind of an Absalom thing, but it's a little different, right?

We have the kind of Absalom figure from top to bottom. Outwardly, she's beautiful. But inwardly, there was something different about her. And let me just state this, okay? There's nothing wrong with beauty, okay?

There's nothing wrong, women, with you being beautiful. You can be beautiful. I've known traditions where they teach you not to wear makeup and, you know, you need to wear your hair up in a ball because you don't want to attract. You know, don't. Listen.

Listen. There's nothing wrong with being beautiful. Esther was a beautiful woman. And throughout the Bible, we see beautiful women. But here's the thing.

Esther was more than just outwardly beautiful. She was inwardly beautiful. And that's what I want to look at today, the character of Esther and how she handled what was happening in this particular time. There was something deeper about her. And this is perhaps why King Xerxes chose her over everyone else, which you'll learn in the story here in a minute.

But the life of Esther was anything but pretty. Even though she was pretty, her life wasn't pretty. Her circumstances certainly weren't pretty. She had no mother and father. She lost her mother and father.

And I can imagine what that would have been like. She was raised by her distant cousin Mordecai. So we have Mordecai in the story. And then we have the Jews are in exile. They are still in exile even from the time of Daniel.

They still don't have any power. Although some of them were moved back to Jerusalem. It's a Persian empire. So Persia is in control of what's going on in this day. And the context of this scripture, we've learned that the Jews aren't like people.

Yes, the Jews aren't like today from a lot of people. A lot of people don't like the Jews today. They didn't like them then either. The Jews have always been under the target of different empires. And what we see here is that the Jews are once again being treated.

I mean, genocide attempts happened over and over and over again. And we'll learn in this story, another genocide attempt was trying to take place. And I'm sure this is, even though it doesn't specifically say, I'm sure it's implied that I don't think Esther's model husband was King Xerxes. King Xerxes was a drunk. He was easily manipulated by women.

He liked good-looking women. He had concubines. And this was a good Jewish woman. And if she's a good Jewish woman, she probably wanted a good Jewish man and wanted to raise a good Jewish family. But in this day, I'm sure there wasn't a choice.

I mean, it doesn't say that she chose to go. No, it says that they brought them in. And obviously, her attraction or looks probably helped with that picking of her being displayed before the king. So you have several people here. I've already mentioned some of them.

You've got King Xerxes, and then you have Mordecai. And then you have this other man named Haman, which we'll talk about in a minute. He was a noble, and he's like the antagonist of this story. So we've got kind of a real-life fairy tale going on here, okay? But it's not a fairy tale.

It's real life, right? It's a historical narrative. So we've got this going on. So let's look at this story. God had a plan.

Although God isn't mentioned in the story, we see that God had a plan in Esther's life. So let me just talk about, let me just talk you through this story, give you some information about this story, kind of the synopsis of what happened, and then we'll talk about Esther a little bit here. So King Xerxes decides to throw a feast. And this feast is a feast to exalt himself. Does that sound familiar?

Build a monument to myself. And he invited all these people from around. And he decided, his current queen at the time, Vashi, apparently a beautiful woman as well, he decided that she needed to come in and parade herself. around all the people there so he could show her off. But she said, no.

She said, no, you're disrespecting me. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going there. You're not going to use me and my body and my looks to parade me around. So he gets angry because he's been drinking and he's, you know, King Xerxes.

And he just gets really angry and says, okay, you're out. You're not king anymore. You're done. And he makes this decree across all the land that every man of their household should be respected. And he's just going off.

I mean, he seemed to have a quick temper and make a lot of decisions hastily based on his emotions, right? And that's for another sermon, making decisions based on your emotions. But she's out. She's not queen anymore. And then the nobles say and his royal advisors are like, wait a minute.

You've got to have a queen. Every king has to have a queen. So they decide to throw another banquet. Yes, they like to party. OK, they were some partying people.

The Persians were partying people. And let's let's do another party. And let's get a number of virgins throughout the land, beautiful virgins and bring them in. And we're going to do this bachelorette style. You know, they're going to come in and they're going to do their thing and they're going to talk and they're going to walk and they're going to parade around.

And we're going to pick a queen. And Esther, among all the young virgins, is brought into the feast. And here she is while hiding her Jewish identity, by the way, because Mordecai suggested she hide it, the king is captivated by her and elevates her, picks her and elevates her to queen status, queen over all of Persia. And after this, and what's even more serendipitous is that Mordecai just so happened to catch two royal guards, two royal guards having a talk out in the grounds about the assassination of the king. They were plotting an assassination.

So Mordecai, who is the distant cousin of Esther, who raised her, just to get that back in the picture there, is out and hears this. And he tells Esther. And Esther tells King Xerxes. And therefore, they thwart the plan in order to assassinate King Xerxes. Xerxes.

So he's honored, you know, and he's credited with saving the king's life. Well, there's this guy named Haman that enters into the picture. The story kind of goes this direction. And he's an Agagite, which is a descendant of the Canaanites. You remember in the Old Testament, Canaanites.

So he's a Canaanite descendant. And his name is Haman. And he is a noble. And Xerxes apparently is caught by this guy. I think he must have been a polished, smooth politician, you know, that won the eyes of the king.

And he elevates him to the highest position of the kingdom. And here's what Haman does. Because Haman's so proud and he's honored and he's kind of second and companion pretty much at this point, he asks everyone to kneel down to him when he came into the area or came into the room. You had to kneel down to him. Well, he ran across Mordecai one day and Mordecai said, it ain't happening.

I'm not bowing down to you. He finds out that Mordecai is a Jew. And from that day, he has this anger towards the Jews. And he persuades the king to enact a decree that would destroy the Jewish people. He decides that the date of annihilation would be rolled by dice.

Take dice and we'll roll it. And a die in Hebrew is called poor. Pocket that for a second, because I'm going to come back to that in a few minutes. So by rolling dice, they find out that 11 months later, the 13th of Adar, all Jews would die. That was the decree.

Now, think about it for a second. King Xerxes has no clue that Esther is a Jew. And he also has no clue that Mordecai, the one who rescued him, is a Jew as well. See how God's starting to work here? We don't see him.

We don't hear him. But God's already putting things in place. When things are ugly, it looked terrible. It didn't look like any hope. Now the focus turns to Mordecai and Esther, the only hope for the Jewish people here.

And they make a plan and Esther is going to reveal her Jewish identity to the king and ask him to reverse the decree. The problem is approaching the king without a royal request is basically death. There was a law, there was a decree that you could not approach the king. So this presented a problem. But Mordecai says in a statement, and I love this, he says that even if Esther remained silent, deliverance would come to the Jews anyway.

So he had faith in God. He knew something was going to happen anyway, that the Jews would be rescued at some point. But then he said this, you know, maybe you are just the person for this time. Maybe you are the person. So Esther, although a little hesitant as you read in scripture, a little nervous and a little anxious about it, she makes this famous line, and all of you have heard it, If I perish, I perish.

If I perish, I perish. And plans to go and make a defense for her people before the king. So what does Esther do? They are smart about this. They are wise about this.

They are not manipulative, they are not sneaky about it, but they are wise. So she plans to throw a banquet, and she invites king, the king, and she invites Haman to this banquet. And she feeds them and honors them and all of that good stuff. And they get really drunk. And then Haman goes out into the streets, drunk as anything, and starts doing his thing again, bow down before me.

And then he sees Mordecai there. And he is so mad at Mordecai, he makes a decree right there on the spot. Because remember, he has the highest honor in the kingdom. He can make decrees. And he says, I want that man impaled at the stake first thing in the morning.

So they created a stake, and they were going to impel him the next day. Interestingly enough, and I love how the story pivots, it happens that the king can't sleep that night. He can't sleep. So for bedtime stories, he decides, pull out the royal chronicles. I want to hear what's going on.

So to put him to sleep, I mean, that's a strange way to go to sleep. But I guess the king was, that was a king thing. And he learns about Mordecai once again. He had forgotten all about Mordecai. He said, who is this man that saved my life?

It's Mordecai, sir. It's Mordecai. Oh, okay. Well, we need to honor him. We need to do something for him.

So the next day, as Haman is showing up at the royal court to decree this killing of Mordecai, the king stops him before he even gets to say what he needs to say and says, who is this Mordecai character that saved my life? Haman, you're going to go out and you're going to get a royal horse and put him up on it and parade him around the city, okay? So here's Mordecai aiming to kill him. And so angry, I mean, not Mordecai, Haman, angry and wanting to kill him. And Mordecai is up on the horse celebrating, waving.

Everybody's bowing down to him instead of Haman. So funny, funny, funny thing. I love the Bible, don't you? Don't you love the Bible? Yeah.

You can't make this stuff up. I mean, you really can't. I mean, and this is real stuff. You don't need, I mean, you don't need to read, I mean, you just read the Bible. That's all you need, really, right?

Not saying that other literature isn't good. Don't get me wrong there. Some of you are going to go home, but the pastor said throw away all my literature. No, no, no, no. That's not what I'm saying.

I just love the Bible. It's just neat. Stories in the Bible are just really neat. So Esther throws the second banquet, and the king and Haman arrive, and she tells the king that she's Jewish. And also she tells Haman, or tells the king, that Haman has enacted a decree to kill her people, Mordecai, and everybody basically, and her.

And then the king becomes very enraged. He's like, are you kidding me? And he ends up, and get this, and this is where it gets kind of grisly. He says, why would you do such a thing? And he decrees him to be impelled at the very stake he created for Mordecai.

And Haman's execution, however, doesn't solve the degree of the problem, because decrees by the king cannot be reversed. Once they are set, they are set in order. So Mordecai and Esther offer a counter decree that on the 13th of Adar, the appointed day the Jews were to be killed, a decree was to be set to allow the Jews to defend themselves. They were to defend themselves and destroy anyone who plotted to kill them. So on that day, they had every right to defend themselves and kill anybody who tried to attack their family, attack their villages, attack their cities.

And the Jews would be honored. They would celebrate, and Mordecai is elevated to a seat beside the king. And eventually the decree, they came, the Jews triumphed over their adversaries, including Haman and his brothers who were coming against them. And they were able to take care of them and kill them and get them out of the way, and all the people that were against them, and they celebrate. And Esther and Mordecai established a degree, a two-day feast.

And the Jews celebrate this feast today, and it's called Purim. And guess what? I didn't know this until Lisa Marie texted me on Facebook, but this week is Purim. It happens this week. They celebrate a two-day feast, and what is God doing here?

Like, I didn't plan this message in response to that. It just kind of works out that way because God is doing something here. So in the end, Mordecai is elevated to a position, second command, and the Jews thrive in exile. Okay, what more of the story? I mean, just that itself says God's got a plan.

God's in control. When we don't know it, when we don't see it, when we don't see God in Scripture, when we don't hear God in our hearts, when we don't know God is doing things, He is doing something. There's something going on in the background. There is a plan in place, and God is working out that plan. But in the meantime, we need to look at the life of Esther and see.

Let me just pull three things out of Esther I want to mention real quick about who she is internally, not externally, although we know she was very beautiful. We know that she was internally beautiful. And again, this is implied because there's no indication in Scripture at all about her personal life outside of this story. But just watching her interact with the king and interact with the people around her, we can learn a lot about who Esther really is inside. First of all, she's honorable and faithful.

She's honorable and faithful. Look at verse 17 of chapter 2. Now the king was attracted to Esther more than any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a key crown, or royal crown rather, on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Now, as we know, Vashti's out.

She's done, right? So he brings her in. She wins the beauty contest. And some of you might say, well, I guess my purpose is... Or what are you saying?

Her purpose was being pretty? What was her purpose at the time? What was her plan at the time? Was her purpose being pretty? No.

God had a lot more going on. Again, I'll say it's okay to be pretty, but you're more than pretty, okay? You're more than outwardly beautiful. You're more than that, okay? You're more than just a body.

You're more than just a nice figure. You're more than just whatever you are externally. You might be on the other side. Let's just be honest. Some of you may not be that attractive, but let me tell you that, let me tell you this, you're beautiful on the inside because God sees you differently than your outward appearance, okay?

Not everybody can look like this, I know. It's just hard. It's hard for some people. We all have our things, you know, in life. I mean, but her purpose wasn't just being pretty.

You come to Salt Church, you hear all kinds of things, don't you? But what's interesting is that she didn't just win the favor of the king and perhaps it was only outward beauty that the king saw. She won not only the approval in favor of the king, but she won the approval in favor of others around her. I think there was more to this than just walking into a rude room and parading herself around. I think people saw something in her differently.

I think they saw the way she acted and reacted and how she connected with people, how she loved people. Because it goes back to verse 9, even the eunuch Haggai was won by her favor, was found favor on her. Because he was with her. He was giving her the beauty treatments and all the wonderful stuff. They got like spa treatment before like months they were preparing for this beauty contest, right?

So he gets to see her in a different light. He doesn't just see her as pretty Esther. He sees her as a person and he was won by her. He was captured by who she was. And let's just say he was a eunuch too.

So I'm just not going there. But as you, yeah, so he was, he wasn't, he probably wasn't interested in her romantically. He just knew who she was. And later in the story, we see that she honored and respected the king. Unlike Vashti, who didn't honor him.

Now, whether it's right or wrong, I think she was probably right being mad about that, right? I think any woman would be mad if you're going to parade me around like that and treat me like I'm just an object. I understand that. But whether it was right or wrong, it was what it was. You still honor authority.

As long as they're not asking you to do something immoral, you honor authority. And I'm sure Esther had those times too, when she was paraded around and looked at. But she honored the king. She honored the king. It's like David.

She wasn't sneaky. She wasn't underhanded. She wasn't manipulating any of the situation. She wasn't, she wasn't doing any of that. She didn't want to do that.

She was going to do this the right way. And when she went before the king, she didn't get all creative. She was just going to tell the truth. If I die, I die. I mean, that's just how it is.

I'm just going to tell him what he needs to know. And here's the thing. If you do the right thing, the truth will eventually come out, okay? If you lie and you're sneaky and you're underhanded and you stab people in the back, it won't work, okay? You can't trade evil for evil.

You trade good for evil. You trade blessing for evil, okay? And ultimately, the truth will come out. And I'm not going to take matters into my own hands like Absalom. Absalom took matters.

See, this is the difference. This is the contrast here. We saw Absalom a few weeks ago. He was beautiful from head to toe, but he was as sneaky as the devil, you know? He was underhanded.

He would stab you in the back. He only cared about himself. She didn't. She cared about others. She was loyal to others.

She was loyal to Mordecai, even. She was loyal to him. When he said, don't say that you're a Jewish woman, she honored that. She listened to him. She listened to the person who raised her and cared for her and respected him.

And she was also, she was also... She was loyal to her people because her people were up against danger. She was getting ready to do something that would cost her her life and she was loyal. She was loyal and she was honorable. And people like that are dependable.

People like that you can trust. People like that won't stab you in the back. They're honorable. They stand by what they say they believe and they do what they say they're going to do. And they respect people and they respect relationships, okay?

And this is what they saw in her. She was honorable. She was loyal. The second thing is she was courageous. She was courageous.

It says this, and this is Mordecai talking to Esther. And in the background of this, there's a lot of hesitation with Esther. Esther was nervous, okay? There was fear in Esther. I mean, Esther wasn't just going in there, oh, I'm going to do it.

I'm no, you know. No, no. She was a human being and she was, dealing with a lot here. And here's what Mordecai says, do you think that because you are in the king's house, you alone of all the Jews will escape? For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.

So what he's saying here, he's kind of responding to this, hey, listen, Esther, if this is too much for you, God's going to do it anyway. He's going to do it another way. It's okay. It's okay. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish.

So, you know, we'll probably perish, but God will do it another way. But it's okay. It's okay, Esther. It's okay. If you're not ready for this, you're not ready for this.

And who knows? This is what he says. And who knows? But that you have come to royal position for such a time as this. Y'all know that statement.

Y'all heard it over. For such a time as this. And then what is Esther's response? I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I'll perish.

See, Esther was afraid, but she was courageous. She was courageous. Because courage isn't the absence of fear. There's fear when you're courageous, right? It isn't the absence of fear.

Courage is what you do despite your fear. It's the next step you take despite what fearful things that you have in your heart. And that's what courage is. You walk through that with being courageous, standing strong and walking through. Boo.

And let me just put that in perspective for a minute. If somebody walked into this room right now, or somebody walked into your home tonight, and put a gun to your head and say, recant God, or I'm going to shoot you in the head. Okay, let's just be morbid about it, okay? Would you be able to say, I'm a follower of Christ? Would you be scared?

Yeah. Gun in my face? Yeah. But I think Esther would have said that. I am a Christ follower if she were living today.

And I'm willing to, if I perish, I perish. I'm going to trust Him. I know He has a plan. I know He has a purpose. Even if I die, I die, but I think God's going to come through.

I know God's going to come through. I know His plan's going to come through. I love how Isaiah 41.10 says it. This is not in the notes, because I added it this morning.

Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. Jesus actually quoted this somewhat. And I will strengthen you, and I will help you, and I will withhold you with my righteous right hand. You can trust and depend on God, that's for sure.

You can trust God. You can depend on God. And from another perspective, another point is, if you're not afraid of what eternity holds, then you have nothing to fear anyway. Anyway, you don't have to fear the end if you are prepared for the end. Okay?

You don't have to fear the end if you're prepared for the end. You don't have to fear the end. Thank you. You need to write that down and memorize that and put it in your heart, because here's what Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I die, if I live, I live another day to share Christ Jesus, but if I die, you know, I'm going to be with Jesus, so what do I have to lose?

That's, he had an eternal perspective. This was not, this was not what he saw. This, this, this was not what he saw. He just saw this as an opportunity, this outward, ugly world, as an opportunity to share Jesus, but if I die, I gain everything. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for the power of God and to salvation for all those who believe in his name.

I'm not ashamed. And Jesus even said it, are you ashamed of me? Because I'm not ashamed of you, but if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you in front of my Father. That's pretty serious words there. Do we have courage?

Do we have courage? The third thing is, she was God-fearing. It says, then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai, Go gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maids will fast as you do. So, what do we see here?

We never see her personal life outside of her request here. I think we're getting a little deeper into who she is. She definitely honored God. She revered God. The first thing she did was go to God.

And not only did she go to God, she asked everybody else to go to God too. She was somebody who loved, who desired, who trusted God, who revered God. And when she knew what she was up against and the fear that was there, her first response was, we've got to fast and we've got to pray and we've got to seek God. And she was influential because not only she called Mordecai, she says, you need to fast. Get all the people, get all the kingdom, get all the Jews, tell the cities, let's fast.

Let's fast about this. So, she was influencing others, just who she was. This God-fearing woman was influencing everybody around her to live this godly thing, to work out this God. And not only that, so Mordecai and then her household, she had all the girls in her house doing it. They were all getting together, praying and having Bible studies and loving Jesus.

And she was an influencer in her time, amen? She was doing something. She used her beauty, she used her power, she used her queenship to do something for God, to save her people. And let me tell you this, just a few weeks ago we talked about singlehood and all that good stuff. Men, there is nothing more attractive than a God-fearing woman.

Let me tell you that. And if you're a believer today, that should be the first thing on your list. And if it's not, you need to renegotiate your priorities, okay? And if you've done it the other way for very long, and you wonder why your relationships always end up, because you probably haven't made that a priority in your life. And you're like, well, they're not out there.

Yes, they are. Because you're out there, right? And you're settling, that's what you're doing. And women, the same thing on your side. If God-fearing man should be the number one thing that you're looking for before anything else, you need to know that they're a God, that they love God, that they desire God in their home.

That should attract you, that should draw you, that should be the most powerful thing that pulls you towards somebody. Wow, they really do love God. And they're not just saying it, and they're not just, oh, I go to church, but every once in a while or whatever. No, you need to look in their lives, and that should be attractive. Wow, there's Holy Spirit in them.

Holy Spirit, that should be attractional to you. And then some of you are probably like, well, I'm not worthy because, you know, I've messed up so many times. Let me say this, you are. You are worthy. You are worthy to have somebody because you're a child.

Out of God. And He says you're worthy, and because God says you're worthy, you better start speaking that over yourself, that you are worthy to have a great relationship. So just a side note for you that are single here, and those of you that are married, just, you know, you've made the wrong choice, and maybe perhaps you're struggling in your marriage. And I'm not saying you made the wrong choice, because God, in this story, God already has a plan, right? So you honor God, and you live out that marriage, and you serve God, and there's lots and lots of stories of God-fearing women and God-fearing men.

I've seen them on both sides. I've been in churches where the man comes in every Sunday. Their wife's never being seen. They're not coming to church. I've seen the other side of it.

The women are coming, and the men aren't there. But they're God-fearing women, and they're God-fearing men. And I've got story after story where the man or the woman eventually came to Christ because of the way they were living and honoring God. And they said, you know what? I can't do this anymore this way.

And I want what you have, because you and the kids, y'all got something that I want. And so stay. Stay in the fight. Stay in the fight. Stay in the fight.

Because charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman or a man who fears the Lord, what is that? They are worthy to be praised. They are to be praised. So let me give you three things real quick here, and then we'll close in application. First of all, stay steady.

Leaning on God is the most powerful thing that you can ever do. Jesus is called the rock. Throughout Scripture, God is called a rock. And you know what's crazy about a rock? And I'm not talking about the little pebbles that you throw across the yard.

I'm not talking about the little driveway things that you have. Okay, that must be a light. I thought something was breaking back there. I'm not talking about that. Let me just give you an example.

When I was in college, I went to ASU, Appalachian State University. Some of you are correcting me already about Appalachian. And I'm going to tell you it's Appalachian. And you'll get beat up if you walk on campus and say Appalachian State. We know you're not from that school.

Yeah. We're proud Appalachian. Appalachian North Carolinians. Okay, we say Appalachian Trail, not Appalachian Trail. Okay, I know, I know.

It's tomatoes, tomatoes. Let's just call the whole thing off, right? Everybody's right. But I lived in the mountains, and I kind of understand what it means to have a rock that's so immovable and so strong. And there was a little place about 10 minutes where I lived.

I moved out of the dorms and then went out and got an apartment with some friends. And we lived really close to ski slopes and the trails and stuff because we were outdoors people. And there was this place called the Hebron. That's how they pronounced it there. Yes, Hebron, I know.

But they called it Hebron Rock Colony. And we would go to this park. And for thousands and thousands of years, there was this river or stream that came down the mountain. And it eventually dried up. But there's these big boulders, like huge boulders, just the funnest thing to hike.

You can hike for hours up these huge rocks and huge boulders. And you're just rock jumping. And these things were incredible. Some of them were the size of this room, just these huge, huge rocks. And the thing about those rocks, you can't move them.

They've been there for thousands and thousands of years. They're not going anywhere. And there was this other place. And I just remember, I would do hikes by myself out in the mountain. And especially times where I just needed to get lost for a little bit and granted I wasn't walking with the Lord at the time although the Lord was still working in me and he was talking to me and he was leading me, trying to lead me back to him at the time but I've had some of the most vivid encounters with God on the Appalachian Trail in fact there was this little place that I used to go up to and it was it was a little bit of a hike and then I would go off the trail a little bit I wasn't supposed to but I was rebellious you know the park rangers roped off all these places and I would just crawl over them and I because I wanted to do the real you know I wanted to hike off the trail and climb rocks and stuff and I'm not advising to do that okay guys I'm not telling you to break the law but at that time I did and I found this rock like this cliff rock and I just it was it was beautiful and I just sit there you know for an hour or so and just just stare across the Blue Ridge Mountains just for miles and miles and miles and just just be with with myself with God and I sat on this thing you know we called it we nicknamed it Look Out Leon look out Leon still out there but I would sit on that that rock it was peaceful and it was peaceful and it was flat and it was big and it was strong and it was a beautiful foundation right and I would be on that rock and that's what Jesus is he's that right it's not going anywhere you can't move him you can't shake him you can lean against him you need security there's something about leaning against something that just feels comfortable you know like like like even whatever it is a boulder a rock a house a monument a tree or whatever it is you're like leaning against it and you feel like it's there for you you feel like it's there that's who Jesus is that that's the rock that's why he's called the rock of our salvation that's why God's called the rock of our salvation Psalm 62 to me says truly he is my rock and my salvation he is my fortress I will never be shaken because I can trust I can depend on the rock I can depend on the rock he's steady and I can depend on the rock he's steady and I can lean on him and I can stay steady and I can run the course and I can do what he's called me to do I can run in my lane and I can fix my eyes on the rock because the rock isn't going anywhere I can build my foundation I can build my home I can build my life I can build my spirituality I can build I can build everything on this rock in his name is Jesus he will not move it's the most solid thing you will ever do ever have in your life he is the rock he is the rock second thing is I can if I know that he's the rock I feel empowered I know that I can I have everything that I need to be able to do all that he's called me to do because he is the rock and he said he will give me everything that I need to do what I am called to accomplish second Corinthians 9 8 and God is able to make all grace to abound in you so that having all sufficiency and all things at all times you may abound in every good work he has empowered you he's given you everything you need to do this life to walk this life for him to walk this ministry for him he's given you everything and you are empowered you are commissioned there's this thing called the great commission go out make disciples and what does he say I give you all authority he's given you authority he's given you everything that you need to complete the task I hope somebody is hearing me today because some of you think you're not worthy you're not capable you are capable in Jesus Christ if you are are walking with God wherever you are with God is God's with you you can do it okay if it's God's plan you can do it and if you're honoring God and you're living your life out like like like like like She knew that she was empowered to do it.

And if you're living your life out, if you're focused, if you're that song, I surrender, if you're surrendered to God, if you're surrendered to the rock, you know that you're empowered. All authority is given to you. You are anointed. You are chosen by God. You're capable and able.

And there's no one in God's kingdom. We're all tens, okay? No matter what you're called to. And then thirdly and lastly, confidently I can take the next step. If I know that God is in control, if I know that He has a plan, if I'm like Esther and I know that God has a plan, I know that I can actually initiate the first step.

And I need to initiate the first step because God's waiting on you to take that first step, right? But if you don't take the first step, He can't do what you're called to do. He can't do that through you because you haven't taken the initiative to take the first step. But when you know God is in control, it's pretty easy to do it. It's pretty easy to step out, to step into His plan, to step into your purpose.

It's pretty easy when you know that God's got it. So you need to take the leap. You need to take the initiative. Stop holding back and start moving forward because you will never experience how trustworthy God is, how amazing God is, how powerful God is, how He's got everything under His hand until you start stepping out, trusting Him in faith, and watch Him respond the way He does because He is a God who has everything in control. He is orchestrating things as we speak to make it work out for His overall plan.

And you will never know completeness and purpose until you do that. You know that? As long as you lack trust in God, as long as you don't trust the rock that stands forever, for eternity, you will never be complete. You will never have purpose in this life. You will never have, you would just walk with this life kind of half-wit, not knowing what's going on.

There's so many Christians out there that are just living miserable lives because they just don't trust God. They don't trust man, therefore they don't trust God. Because they made man their God. But let me tell you, if you could trust God, you could trust God over man or any other source in this world, so trust God today, that's what I'm telling you. Ephesians 1, 1-11 says, In Christ we find out who we are and what we are living for, right?

That's who we find out. Long before we first heard Christ, we got our hopes up, right? He had His eyes on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose, He is working out in everything and everyone. You will never be fulfilled until you believe that right there, that He's working it out, that you were designed, and you will never be fulfilled without Jesus Christ. You will never be fulfilled without Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you, you can try everything else in this world, you can try every religion in this world, but you will never be fulfilled. I know it, and I believe it, because the gospel is real, the gospel is true, the gospel changes lives, and this gospel is for you. And you will never be fulfilled, whether you're a Christian here today or not, maybe you need to take the first step and give your life to Jesus, or you need to take the second step and start getting into the habit of serving Jesus, okay, instead of serving yourself, because you're living miserable, because you're not stepping into what you're called to do. You're not created to be somebody else's servant. You're created to be God's servant.

And if you're always working outside of God's will, you'll never be content, and you'll never be without the church as a part of your life. You can't be a Lone Ranger Christian. You can't walk this God thing. It doesn't work. It never works.

Because the best place to know purpose and design and to find that out is walking with people who love the Lord. So maybe it's time to take the next step and get plugged in somewhere, and I'm not actually... I'm not asking you to get plugged into Salt Church, I'm asking you to get plugged in somewhere. I've sent a lot of people out to other churches, okay? I've got a lot of people at other churches that were here at one time, or for whatever reason, or just came one time and it wasn't their style, so let's just, you know, there's great churches everywhere, but you need a family, you need somebody who pours into you and helps you and guides you, and you need something that the Holy Spirit's working in and through the body of Christ.

You cannot do it alone, it just doesn't work. It doesn't work because God has designed us to do it together with others and we're more powerful together, and we're created and designed to be in relationship with each other and the church. And when the church gets into the pocket of doing what they're called to do, and they're not just side doing this and that here and there, when everybody, imagine what we could do to change the world. Imagine what we could do when we invest our talent, our treasure, our time, all of that together, because the reason the church is kind of walking weak is because we've got limp legs and limp arms, and how do you get around like that? You can't.

You can't. Some of your arms and some of your legs and some of your feet, you need to get, we need to walk in purpose, and you need to discover your purpose in Jesus Christ first and then together in a body of Christ. In Psalm 31, just my last verse here, and I'll end real talky today, I know. Psalm 33, 11, but the plans of the Lord stand firm forever. Not just partially, not for a few years, not until you pass from this life into the next.

It's forever, it's past this life, it's eternity, and the purpose of His heart through all generations. So His plan and His purpose keep going. And your purpose starts now, with a relationship with Jesus and taking the next step. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word.

It's so powerful, it's so convicting. It really does move us and it does change us. And stories like this in the Bible, even when you're not mentioned, you're still just all over us, Lord. So thank You, God, for Your Word. I pray today, there might be a few types of people here today that need to take the next step.

For some of you, it might be just taking the next step into church and into the church life and getting plugged in. So I pray over those people who need to take the next step, who are ready to take the next step to get plugged in, that they would go over to the next step's table and talk to somebody about getting involved, or fill out that card in getting involved, or whatever it is, that next step. But God, more than anything, they would do it because they realize that they're designed for a purpose. They're designed to take the next step into that life that they've always been called to, but they failed to really take it and have the courage to step out and trust God and have initiative. So I'm praying over those people right now.

But there's some people here today who have not even taken the first step. For some of you here today with all heads bowed and eyes closed, just looking out over this audience, and I just pray over every one of you. Some of you have not taken the first step because the rock is Jesus Christ, and you'll never find purpose without Jesus. But you can make that decision today. And I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand.

I'm not going to ask you to come to the front, although I'm tempted to. But today I'm not going to do that because I don't feel like the Lord's calling me to do that today. But right there in your seat, God is convicting your heart, pulling your heart towards Him to completely surrender your life to Him. And all over this room, people are saying, I need to surrender another level of my life. And for you, it's the first step.

So today, you can say that, believe in Jesus Christ, confess your sins to Him, and He will make you His child. So pray this with me. If this is you, Father, I believe that I'm a sinner. I'm far from God. I've walked away from you.

Or I've never walked towards you, Lord. I've always tried it my own way. But today... Today, I give my life to you. I believe that you died on the cross for my sin.

You've taken away my sin. I believe that right now. And I also know that you designed me for a purpose, and you have a plan for my life. My plan was not your plan, but today, I surrender my life to you. I make you the plan of my life.

So today, God, I give my life to you. I give my heart to you. Take me, Lord. I surrender all. I surrender all.

In Jesus' name.