Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.
Main Points
Grace and Justification
what we're gonna do today is i'm gonna have you turn your bible to the book of esther chapter four as reggie mentioned yes the men's conference was a conference where we studied the amazing example of a woman because there's a lot to learn from the women in our lives and so uh as we studied this my heart was really to figure out a way to share everything that kind of came out of our sessions and our teaching time together and there are really five main themes that we talked about as men to see what the lord is doing through the theme of the book of esther and our world right now for such a time as this esther was a woman who was specifically placed by the sovereignty of god a jewish person living in exile who eventually became an orphan girl and god placed her through amazing miraculous providence as queen of the most powerful empire in the world at that time and her position as queen of persia was not random it was not simply so that she could sit back and enjoy all of the luxuries of the feasts of the kingdom but really god had a very specific mission for her at that moment of her life and that is why her cousin approaches her and says this might be your moment this could be such a time as this could be why god placed you as queen because mordecai got word that there was a mandate that was given out by the government to essentially cleanse the nation and get rid of all of these refugees that were living in exile in the persian empire which were god's people and mordecai says to esther you know this is your moment this is such a time as this is why you are here and we wanted to think about that as men what is god doing through the circumstances of our world and our privileged position in his kingdom for the open doors of ministry that he has for us and so we studied uh the book of esther and we looked at other passages of scripture and we found five key points that really the word spoke to us and i want to share those with you this morning but i don't want to share them through a teaching that's why this looks a little bit different the incredible thing about the book of esther as you study it you'll find that the name of god is not actually mentioned in the book his fingerprints are all over it his name is not in the book because there are times throughout history and throughout our generation and throughout your life where god wants to tell his story through somebody else where god wants to say or show how providential and sovereign he is by showing the way he positions certain people with certain access and privilege and talents and skills to show the story of god through their life that's what the book of esther is esther is a story of god through the life of esther and so rather than teach this morning what i want to do or what the lord put on my heart is i actually want to show the stories of the way that god has opened up doors for our church in such a time as this and so i've invited a few people that i've gotten to know in this year specifically through some of the random circumstances of this year to where god is opening up doors this year that weren't open last year god is pushing us into new ministries to take new ground this year that he wasn't doing last year this year has been incredible and as was stated last service don't believe what the news says god is using this year to do incredible things and this morning i want to accomplish a couple things one i want you to hear the stories that god is shaping in our church for such a time as this these are just a few there are too many to name but there are a few and then as you hear these stories i want you to be thinking through your own position your own privilege your own spiritual gift and the ways that god has positioned you to see an open door for his glory so without further delay i would like to invite what is the panel this morning to share some of the stories of god so would you help me welcome up some of the people that i'm in inviting up they're gonna come and fill these chairs and parker is where is parker is parker around two because he's also yes parker everybody also welcome up parker i'm sure he'll appreciate that and i'm also going to invite someone very special to come up and pray at the end of all of this so i'm going to introduce each one of these people one by one and really i said we had five kind of themes that came from this conference this weekend and you have five different stories that you're going to hear now of course god's fingerprints and themes are over all of these stories but i want to share the example of esther and one by one allow a story to teach the lesson so the first excuse me i've been talking a lot this weekend the first thing that we really studied this is our first session on friday night was in esther chapter 4 verse 4. you've already heard the context i hope you know the story of esther because it's an incredible way to see how god positions people but there's really an interesting context to the way that esther gets to walk through the open door look what it says in verse four so esther's maid and eunuchs came and told her and the queen was deeply distressed what did they tell her well mordecai her cousin has just gotten word of this new legislation that has been passed to wipe out god's people in the kingdom of persia and so he gets word through messengers to the queen and she when she hears the plan what does she feel and this is an important lesson for us to remember when we think about walking through the open doors of god through faith in our own lives oftentimes we're waiting for god to write it on the sky and to give us the butterflies in our heart and make it so exciting that we is undeniably the grace of god but the pattern of scripture is that god typically has to send messengers to the people that he wants to use and one of the very first messages you're going to hear god say to people is this don't be afraid what i'm about to tell you is going to freak you out don't be afraid where you're about to go is going to go way beyond what you think you're capable of don't be afraid and what's esther's climate in all of this the lesson that we heard this weekend guys men of our church do not be afraid to follow god and walk through the open doors the initial response will be fear the initial response may make your flesh or that part of you that wants comfort and ease to say no esther is no different her initial response is that she was deeply distressed and the esv says that she was greatly afraid so the first story i want to share with you is an amazing example of a woman in our church who has been coming to our church in such a time as this year and i want you to hear her story and i hope all of us be inspired to know that when we do something for god we have nothing to be afraid of so will you help me welcome up anna luke and a luke take a seat in a loop if you want thank you so anna luke is i often call the hijab woman but because she's been called to minister to people in this context and so will you share a little bit of your story how god has positioned you and then this lesson of overcoming fear to be used by god is that okay if i stand i think better if i stand and i need all the help i can get the blood flowing keep going i'm a part italian i need the hands to move so thank you so much one of my favorite topics to ever speak about is overcoming fear because my background is i am a woman who needed anxiety flash cards on my honeymoon to get on that sounded really bad not because of my husband um as i said like oh that's leading wrong no but to be on a cruise ship because i don't know if you know this they just don't let you off willy-nilly on those things i had to endure buffets massages and all sorts of things and to pull me through i had blue anxiety flash cards with very important messages like you are safe breathe deep if only i was kidding that is a true story and so how does a person go from that to iraq the short answer is jesus my husband and i serve in the refugee camps in iraq we visited there for the first time when isis had control of mosul we were about 20 miles outside the capital of isis and so that is how that journey began and so whatever jesus has called you to especially if it's really good you're gonna have to step through some fear and um i just want to encourage you more this morning do not give in to fear because jesus is waiting for you right through that doorway i've experienced it on several occasions but this morning i just want to share a quick story um because jesus has you stepped through that fear not for just any reason because there's probably a captive that needs to be set free someone who needs to hear the name of jesus we went to iraq to serve the yazidi people they were the main targets of isis but while i was there i came in contact with an african girl who was trafficked to iraq it is very common for african girls to get traffic their promise to have better jobs in europe and they paid these agents money to get these better jobs only to find themselves showing up in iraq they don't know what country they've been brought to their papers are taken from them and really bad things happen to them so um one of many miraculous stories that i've been honored to experience i always say i'm jesus's puppy i just go with enthusiasm and no talent to pull anything off and he's so faithful to pull it off so my friend angel who is traffic feels that she has been called just as moses was called to set his people free she is called to help set her people free from being trafficked even though she was trafficked herself we have offered to help get her out she believes she's supposed to stay and so she is my point person and we had to leave unexpectedly iraq on january 3rd and when we arrive back home i get a call from angel mama there's a girl who needs your help she's in a very bad situation i had told her to take a picture of a sign what time will your people be there to pick her up angel i have no people i just have jesus we need to pray and jesus totally shows up and he rescued that girl but the story i want to share with you and the reason i share that with you is because you may not have the knowledge of what jesus is calling you to do i don't have the knowledge how to rescue traffic people but jesus does and so on this particular occasion um another scenario i get to get another call mama there's three more girls they need your help angel we're broke it's expensive leaving iraq at the last minute with three people we don't have the money but let's ask jesus i woke up the next day just really down knowing i don't have anything to help these girls i we got a new dog the dog um was co i meant to ask you is it okay to stay constipated at church too late it's too late it's too late but we're family here and so and jesus says cast all your cares upon him so i believe he even cares about that because that is the starting point of this miracle a constipated dog that i did not have time to walk but a sister cannot leave a fellow sister in that condition so we are going to make time to walk her new constipated dog and we walk to the river and i'm just praying jesus you have to provide for these girls and i'm sitting watching the water and i'm praying and i get up to leave and sitting behind me is this couple talking and they wanted to pet my newly dog and i started sharing and i shared what we did do with refugees and they go oh that's really strange we have a heart for women who have been trafficked i go oh that's really strange because i was just on the phone all day yesterday trying to figure out how i'm going to get three traffic girls out of iraq and they go oh where can we donate and i said i don't need money i need airfare which takes money i know i'm not god's brilliant child and i'm like can you just give me airfare and the man says him and his wife done we have a small business it i don't care what it costs all three tickets paid for all because i took a dog for a walk and so i want to share a couple pictures with you this girl her name is patience that is her after she got rescued back in her church sharing the story of jesus providing for her they all know the story and this girl is a muslim girl who i said angel you make sure that girl knows jesus provided that money for i didn't have it jesus of the bible not the jesus of the koran provided that money for her and so we're just going to take a quick second um are we still they said they were going to cue it this is the audio yep this is an audio voicemail that got sent back of this woman who was so grateful here it is i mean that dubai right now and in the dubai right now thank you so much to help and my god bless you and protect you to evo i um right now i'm so happy i don't even know how to thank you guys because today i even i think the live now i can't get here i don't know if i can get here but by the name of god i'm here to go home so thank you so much thank you amen so she started to break down and cry and said by the name of god i'm here and so thank you so much for your example and uh so the timeline of this is you were in iraq at the beginning of the year because of the craziness of the year and the circumstances of our world you're now out of iraq but you're here in boise and the lord has put on your heart a way for you to continue from boise in our church to reach muslim women in iraq so quickly share your ministry heart our heart is to start a youtube channel to reach muslim because muslim women my heart is for women and even in refugee camps in iraq everyone's got a cell phone and everyone's scrolling youtube 2020 is an amazing year to reach the loss everyone's on lockdown we're hearing reports of muslims coming to know jesus through youtube from all over the world the only problem is the spirit is willing the tech skills are low so this mama needs some help so um i am in search of media missionaries um if you have any of that skill set i would love to hear from you and thank you guys so much and please pray for us thank you so much amen okay the second theme that came up and thank you so much for being part of our church and we just are so grateful to see what god's gonna do um you know as you study the moment that esther really comes to terms with the call of god in her life uh she has her fear she even has her doubts and she says her message back to mordecai they're speaking through messengers because she's in the palace and he's on the outside of the of the palace area and she says you know it's against the law for me to go if i go into the king's courts and have not been invited anyone who does that's put to death even the queen and i haven't been with him for 30 days and so we're not really in a good place it's not like i'm seeing him every day and mordecai says listen if you don't do this you and your house will perish and god will find a way without you reminder church reminder believer that god will be victorious even if you don't want to join him in that he will be victorious you may fail god won't and mordecai says who knows this might be your time and you know what esther says in response it's in esther chapter 4 verse 15. mordecai says who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this is why you're queen and yet esther says this she said tell them to reply to mordecai like this go gather all the jews who are present in shoshone and fast for me neither eat nor drink for three days night or day and my maids and i will fast likewise and here it is point number two and so i will go to the king which is against the law and if i perish i perish in other words if i die i die god's calling me and god will protect me but even if he doesn't i gotta serve him and when we talk about being initially gripped with fear but overcoming that fear because god is going to be victorious what we have to remember is our life is not our own god gets to send us god gets to use us and god calls us to live like jesus to lay down our lives for the sake of the gospel which means that to really walk through the open door of ministry to be a church that gets to take part in the mission of god we have to make absolutely selfless decisions it's not about our personal kingdoms it's not about our personal plans our personal wants esther's could have easily said listen i'm the queen and we've got big feasts planned and i got a great year ahead of me i don't need this in my life but she says i'm gonna lay down my life and so as a story for this and we all have versions of laying down our lives but the year 2020 is opening up doors that show us the open door of selflessness and so i would love for you guys to meet pastor of bill could you come up and i'm going to give you a very short so uh as we were getting our um international ministries as we opened our doors it was on my heart to also reach out to our other international ministries and you guys have seen pastor julio i hope it's third service after this is our spanish speaking and uh as we saw the african fellowship coming back and nagme who you're gonna about to hear a story from is like this evangelist for the outreach of refugees in our community and all this is stirring and i said nagme we need to do something for the arabic speaking uh the arabic speaking refugees and of course i was thinking that she spoke arabic so mr insensitive right here i had no idea and she's like okay then we better pray and we started praying and what i've now come to find out that we were just an extension of a prayer journey that had lasted five years from a woman named may in our valley who was continually praying lord there are arabic speaking people but there's not an arabic speaking pastor there are sheep that are scattered but there is not a shepherd in our whole valley we never had an arabic speaking pastor until a bill walked through our doors and so welcome abil it was only a couple weeks after five years of may's prayer a couple weeks after nagmay and i started praying uh habil walked through our door and we now have open door for ministry here in boise and i wanted you to share your story of selflessness if you perish you perish you're gonna pick up your whole family and come to boise so will you tell us your own uh story of how we can learn about selflessness in the ministry that god has called you to sure good morning it's still 12. well i'm originally from iraq and i have my wife with me sitting in the back and we left iraq in 95 and we left because the bad situation uh in iraq and we moved to jordan and from there we were planning to go to australia where uh my wife's family live there but while we were there we attended a conference for the youth and during the conference the president of uh jets jordan evangelical theological seminary came into that conference and he was lecturing about the trinity after finishing he said we have a seminary guys and we were accredited by the government to start officially so if you would like to join come in and he started distributing some applications so i went with my wife we were walking the street and i told her hey what do you think so we at the same time we had another application in our hands and it was the immigration application to go to australia but that application her uncle was the sponsor and he had prepared a letter and he said you don't have to do anything the counselor at the australian embassy is my friend so you go and present yourself you say nothing she just wanna see you that you are real and that's it so i told my wife okay let's see what is inside the letter so we had the chance to look into the letter and it was a fake story so i told my wife what do you think she said no i said okay no for australia how about studying at the seminary she said if you feel god is calling you to go into the seminary i will support you i told her i do i feel that and we started our journey in 2009 december 7th we had to leave jordan because of also the critical situation there we lost our residency and we had to leave the country and we came to san diego welcome so we were there and immediately we joined the arabic ministry of shadow mountain communist church and we start ministering to the people there and i had two classes i had a discipleship class and another class and then i started two theology classes two different programs and last year and not last year actually this year about five six months ago i was sharing with my students i was telling them i feel there's something wrong i need to leave this place and one of my students marcel is sitting there back and he said pastor i am thinking the same way and i've been making some connections with a lady a sister who's living in idaho and her name is mae rogers and she said we don't have any arabic ministry so i told him okay i need to talk to her so i talked the first time and then i told her well let's set up a meeting through zoom and i invited several other families to be with us so while we were talking she told me there is none arabic ministry so i told her okay we need to come for a short visit and i need my wife to be with me so it will take a little bit time until my wife will be able to secure three or four days from her work and we did it we came here the last days of august and the first days of september we were here so it was i discovered later on it was during the same time where pastor tucker and nagme were praying about having someone to come and start a ministry and to the urban communication community here so i sat with may and we chatted and then i was convinced that there is no one coming here she was for the last five years praying and knocking doors talking to pastors the ministers from different states asking them to come and start an urban ministry everyone was denying her request so i told her i think god is leading us here so the first day was when we arrived here we loved the state the second day we proposed the third day we got married and that was that was we felt god is calling us to come here so we went back to san diego we started packing immediately my wife told me abby will take it easy we need we need that i need some time i told her we don't have time back so bill you're here now you've moved here as of september you've been here since september weekend for a short visit and then and then we came back uh september 20th we are here and so uh now we get the privilege of being a church that gets to take to part in a couple forms of outreach for our community there are so many refugees in our valley that speak arabic that are not believers and really it's an open harvest because there's not a huge labor force to go preach the gospel to them and one of the best things that according to our bill we can do right now is offer them one of those cold cup of waters in jesus name and in the way that we teach them english and then introduce the gospel so will you explain that ministry and we're going to start that here at our church next year yeah actually one of the most successful methods to reach out the unreached is through the esl program we had the kalian community is very stubborn and the muslim community is also very difficult when we started this was a long time ago before we arrived the church has started this program when we came in my wife started teaching there and then she was she had a job she studied and then she had a job then i took over the leading of that school so it was very obvious that god wanted us to teach them not only the english language but also the gospel those who were in my place before me they used to do that and when i came and i also continued the same thing i told th
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.