Hope for Persia | The Pursuit | 03.01.26 | Russell Johnson

0:00I had another sermon ready to go this week, but with the events of Friday night and Saturday morning that have now been splashed on the headlines of every news outlet around the world, I felt it pertinent to change my sermon. The title of my sermon this morning is Hope for Persia. The story of the nation of Israel, the story of the nation of Israel in many ways can be divided into three primary chapters. The founding of Israel under Joshua as he leads the people into the promised land, the expansion of Israel, as the nation conquers land and stretches out its borders under the leadership of King David and King Solomon, and the disintegration of Israel as disunity causes the nation to crumble.

1:01Israel was once the pride and joy of the ancient world of people who had come out of 400 years of Egyptian bondage, surviving 40 years of wilderness wandering, arriving in the promised land, conquering the Canaanites, slaying the giants, and establishing a homeland for the next generation, but what started as a miracle would soon turn into a mess. Because after the death of King Solomon, the once great nation of Israel descended into a period of chaos and idle worship, adultery, and infighting, and what resulted was a civil war that would split the country in half. And just 40 years after Solomon had built the Great Temple in just 80 years after David

2:01slayed a giant name Goliath. Israel now finds themselves more divided than ever before, and in the midst of a civil war, while the nation is busy fighting amongst themselves, the enemies who surround Israel are licking their chops, waiting for an opportune time to attack, and it's only a matter of time. Before this once great nation, we'll find itself back where they started in the first place, enslaved, and oppressed without hope, and back in bondage, for without a united force to protect a united kingdom, the Jewish people face a bleak future. It wasn't so many years ago when Joshua was first leading the people across the Jordan River into the land of promise. It wasn't too many generations ago when the people were constructing stone altars of

3:02remembrance so that they would never lose sight of what God had rescued them from. But over the years, as the memory of God's faithfulness began to fade, the fidelity of God's people went with it. And when you forget what God rescued you from, it is the quickest path back to bondage you could ever imagine. Imagine for a moment growing up hearing the stories of God raising up a deliverer named Moses, who freed your ancestors from Egyptian slavery. Only to find yourself carried off into bondage a thousand miles away from your homeland because of disobedience and disunity. This is the reality of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. See, first, it's the Assyrians. Under Emperor Sargon, the second, when he attacks the North, and then

4:05it's the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar attacking in the South. And before you know it, the temple is burned, and the people are enslaved, and the nation is all but erased from the memories of the people who were born there. But what a Syria and Babylon could not anticipate was that their time as the chief political powers on the earth was quickly coming to an end because a new kingdom was about to arise, and that kingdom was named Persia, and that king of Persia was a man named Cyrus. And although Cyrus does not know the God of Israel, the God of Israel knows Cyrus, and try as he might. Cyrus cannot shake the fact that 160 years before he was born,

5:06a prophet named Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, told the people of Israel, there is coming a day where God will raise up a ruler named Cyrus to restore Jerusalem, and to rebuild God's house. And even though he does not know the Lord, the Lord has marked out a sovereign purpose for his life. And here's what I love, even in the midst of Israel's rebellion and hardheartedness, they had one thing going for them, and it's this, they served a covenant keeping God, who refused to give up on the very people that he had called his own. They were dark, but he had found them lovely, they were broken, but he had found them worthy, they were unfaithful, but he was more than faithful. They were unrighteous, but he was more than righteous. He was compassionate, he was gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, for this God does not

6:10treat us as our sins deserve nor repay us according to our iniquities. Israel had a covenant with a covenant keeping God. You've got to understand this about the nature of God. It's impossible to separate his character from his words. He is not a man that he should lie. For his promises, they are yes, and they are a man, and he is not slack concerning them. For if God said it, God is going to do it. If it was up to you to be the broker and the arbitrator of heaven's covenant, the game would have been over before he ever started to play it, but it wasn't up to you. Wow, you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. Wow, you were lost in darkness. Jesus paid the highest price. He made covenant through the torn veil of the flesh of his son.

7:11That means you can run, but God runs faster. You can hide, but God's going to find you. You can be dark, but his light's going to light you up. Israel serves a covenant keeping God. See, since it's founding in 3000 BC, Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, but siege 23 times and destroyed twice. Israel has been carried off into captivity four different times, and in 1948 it became the only nation on earth to go out of existence, only to come back and do existence 1900 years later in direct fulfillment of Bible prophecy. And still today, Jerusalem is the most hotly contested piece of real estate on earth, because there is nothing the enemy hates more than covenantal inheritance.

8:15And haven't you noticed the enemy never attacks that which isn't valuable? A dead church, not a target for the enemy. A dead marriage, not a target for the enemy. A dead business, not a target for the enemy. A dead region, not a target for the enemy. But you don't belong to something dead. You belong to something living. And why do you think the enemy hates covenantal inheritance? Because it reminds him of the one thing that he can't do. He can't reproduce. The only thing that he is the father of is the father of lies. And this is why the enemy is after your inheritance, because that's the only way he will ever have one. But you serve a covenant keeping God. So you ought to hear me today, friend, just because you haven't seen your breakthrough yet. Doesn't mean that you ain't going to see it soon. For just like the prophet Isaiah told the Hebrew

9:19children, I am telling you today there is coming a day where God will raise you up. He will restore your fallen house. He will rebuild your fractured future. Because when God makes a promise, He intends to keep it. And don't be confused for a minute today. Israel might have been lost, but God never was. See, everyone in this room today likely shares a similar trauma. We can all remember the feeling of being momentarily lost when we were young. I remember swimming in the ocean as a kid, one minute you're playing, you're laughing, you're jumping in the waves, and in the very next minute you look up and realize that you're not where you started. The shoreline doesn't line up anymore. The lifeguard tower is way off to the side. The people that you came with are nowhere to be found. For the current quietly carried you somewhere

10:20you never meant to go. You weren't trying to get lost, you just drifted. In the moment you realized you're not where you thought you were, that's when everything inside of you begins to tighten up. But there's only one thing more scary than being lost as a kid. And that's being lost as an adult. And I'm not talking about getting lost in the ocean. I'm talking about getting lost in that abuse, getting lost in that addiction, getting lost in that divorce, getting lost in a world whose current is taking you places you never wanted to go. And the harder you try to fight it, the more you end up alone. And I wish I could tell you today that those feelings of being lost only happened when you're unsaved, but in Exodus it wasn't just the Egyptians who were lost. It was God's people who was lost as well. And see, friend, that there will be seasons of your faith.

11:23Oh, we're miracles that should have been instant, end up taking a lot longer in prayers that that should have been answered seem delayed or or even forgotten in relationships that should have worked and ideas that should have succeeded in plans that should have prospered. Just don't seem to prevail and you must remind yourself even though I might feel lost at the moment the God that I serve never is. For he is a covenant keeping God who is faithful to his word. And I've got good news, friend. There is something stronger than the existential feelings of your loss and confusion. There is a God who has bound himself and covenant and he won't ever leave you nor forsake you because there isn't one place that you'll ever go that he hasn't already been. If you're walking in the wilderness, he is walking right beside you. If you're traveling through the valley, he is traveling right beside you. It's not just that God celebrates my good moments.

12:28His presence is most felt when I am most crushed because in my weakness his strength is made manifest. Christ walks through walls to interrupt the grief of his friends. Christ stoops down in the dirt to interrupt the sorrow of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Christ enters in to the house of Zacchaeus to interrupt the confusion of a tax collector. For he is a husband to the widow. He is a father to the orphan. He is the joy to the Baron and he is the lifter of our heavy heads. So why do I have hope for a place like Kirkland or Stahomish or Seattle or Spokane? Because I serve a covenant keeping God and that God declares I won't forget you nor forsake you for I have engraved you on the palm of my hands. So all those things look bleak for the people of God.

13:33Their oppression is about to break forth into a new beginning. Let me show you this morning. In 539 BC a new empire comes to power and it's the empire of Persia taking over the world, displacing Babylon and Assyria. The man who ascends to the throne of Persia as their first king is a man named Cyrus who is going to allow some of the Jews to return home and start rebuilding the temple in fulfillment of Isaiah's word. Some decades later his son King Xerxes will take over the throne and it will happen to host a beauty pageant that an orphan Jewish girl named Esther just happens to win. Not too many years later Esther along with her Persian husband the king will disrupt the demonic plans of Haman to save the Jews. In 20 years later the son of

14:34Xerxes a man by the name of art Xerxes will take over the throne and allow Ezra and Nehemiah and any of the remaining Jews to return home not to just finish rebuilding the temple but now to rebuild the nation of Israel. You ought to hear me friend only a God as good is the one that we read about in this book can give humanity this type of hope that our end doesn't have to be the end because with God it can lead to a new beginning. I would venture to say this morning that God has already planted the seeds for your turnaround in the soil that is just ahead of you and if you'll keep walking on the road that he's placed you on soon enough you're going to see the victory that you've been believing for. Your job is to keep walking. God's job is to keep providing and if he hasn't failed before why on earth would he start now?

15:43You might be asking yourself today why are you spending so much time talking about the Persian empire today Russ? Well I'm glad you asked if you weren't aware number one, Persia plays a massive role in in-times prophecy but number two and maybe even more importantly for our present moment the kingdom of Persia never really went away. It just morphed into the nation we know today as Iran. There's a reason the Persian Gulf borders Iran. There's a reason the official language of Iran is Persian because it's still the kingdom of Persia today. In fact it wasn't even until 1935 when the name of this country was officially changed from Persia to Iran. And unless you're living under a rock I would assume that you're aware that Iran is once again

16:50on the front page of every major news outlet around the world and see the the prophet is Ezekiel says that in the last days it just prior to the return of Christ that Persia will be part of a coalition of nations that ultimately hardens their heart and turns on Israel and tries to attack but God will supernaturally intervene he will defeat the armies of Persia of Gog and May Gog and in doing so he will save Israel and all of that means this what is happening right now in the nation of Iran might be the last glimpse of mercy for that region of the earth prior to that final prophecy of Ezekiel being fulfilled not only are we in the last days but we are in

17:56the final hours of the last days as we live on the very precipice of the glorious return of the God man Jesus Christ it could be that the next battle will be the last battle it is now or never free run and the Persian people that turn towards God before their hearts are hardened and it becomes too late it's almost as if when war broke out on earth war broke out in the heaven lease and the Prince of Persia was once again restrained and in doing so it's giving the nation of Iran one more opportunity to turn to God before the return of his son Christ Jesus and while progressives are protesting in Seattle the Persians are celebrating in the streets of Tehran why

18:59because in the early hours of Saturday morning a joint coalition of US and Israeli forces took military action against Iran they killed the Ayatollah they decimated their military and the Islamic radicals were overthrown in the Persian kingdom today there is hope again for the Iranian people now let me give you some facts for over a millennium Islam has dominated the Persian Gulf but recent data shows us that more Iranians have come to faith in Christ in the last 20 years than in the last 1000 years combined in fact the largest media outlet in Iran is reporting that close to 70% of mosques have now closed because quote Islam is weak in Iran

20:03I'm telling you God will not allow the final chapter of human history to be written by Islamic jihadis and radicals the final chapter of history will be written by a glorious church that triumphs over evil brings in the harvest and sees the name of Jesus exalted from the streets of Seattle to the suburbs of Tehran to the countryside of China and everywhere in between this gospel will be preached to all nations and then the end will come every other day another news agency is reporting on the fact that folks all across the Middle East are having dreams and visions that are leading to mass conversion the harder that these Islamic governments try to stamp out the gospel or arrest pastors or burn down churches or

21:11stop the preaching of the word of God the more that God circumvents the system of man and speaks by his spirit directly to people living in villages spread out across the landmass of places like Iran which is home to 90 million people God knows how to reach people exactly where they're at there is not one totalitarian regime there is not one Islamic dictator there is not one communist country that is so smart or so strong that they can stop the wave that God has initiated his glory covers the earth as the waters cover the sea and the gates of hell cannot and will not and shall not stop the advancing of the church of Jesus Christ and when a nation like Iran has a disruption and its political and military system

22:18by virtue of outside intervention if the church would be strategic it could lead to the greatest flood of missionaries and gospel influence into that country to crack it wide open for the kingdom of God we saw this after America was involved in Korea in the war that happened there when South Korea opened up missionaries came in we saw this when America kept the nation of Vietnam from heading towards communism when that war was over the nation opened up and missionaries fled in could it be that in the infinite wisdom and brilliance of God while the nation's rage God sits on his throne above the circle of the earth and he laughs knowing that there is a divine covenantal strategy being interwoven amongst the pages of human history that what looks bad on the onset will simply give way for an avenue for the gospel to be preached and for people to

23:26be saved I stood on this stage 30 days ago and I told this audience keep your eyes on Iran something is about to shift we live in the hour and in the era where kings and kingdoms are being set up and disposed in a 24 hour period 30 days later you see it playing out on international news what looks like chaos to the world is strategy to the high king of heaven God is getting ready for a sweeping revival in the Middle East and beyond when a dictator gets removed like Maduro getting taken out of Venezuela the news report in the following week that immediately after the dictatorship of Maduro collapsed the political and the religious prisoners who'd gotten locked up under his leadership were released it included

24:30800 spirit-filled pastors that had been shut down their churches closed their people harassed their leaders arrested when when when when the leader of that country got removed it was like a lid that was holding back the the intention and the plan of God all of a sudden for but a moment got lifted off and and and and and the presence and the people and the glory of God poured in I saw this news clip floating around just the other day and I think it's pertinent to what's happening in our world at this very moment turn your attention to the screen and take a listen or read Iran right now has the fastest growing Christian revival and movement in the world before the revolution of 1979 it was estimated there was only five there were only 500 converts from Islam to Christianity only 500 at best today inside Iran there is probably close to 5

25:36million Iranians in the 40-year span with all the regression all the barriers we cannot get in the country people are arrested for even having a Bible it reminds me of the communist era where people were severely punished for having a Bible so the numbers are just staggering I I snuck that that part in on the end that wasn't originally in there but I thought why not but but but this story of what's happening in the kingdom of Persia the nation of Iran this weekend is actually more significant than you even realize and I want to show you today that in God's economy nothing is by accident that what appears to be happenstance or what appears to

26:38be coincidence is actually proof of the sovereign hand of God shifting people and places into divine position so that folks are ready and available to encounter him I've told you already how God used the life of King Cyrus by virtue of the prophecy of Isaiah to to help the Jewish people rebuild the temple but now let me tell you how God would use his son King Xerxes to help save the lives of the Jewish remnant see see what you may not know is this this weekend this very weekend begins the feast of Purim Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates how God used a Jewish queen named Esther and her Persian husband King Xerxes to save God's people from annihilation when a demonic plan was hatched by Heyman to wipe out the Jews Esther went before

27:46the king her husband and interceded for the lives of her people and by virtue of Esther's intercession King Xerxes would issue a decree the Jews would be saved the conspirators would be hung and the covenant of God would once again prevail think about it on this very weekend 25 hundred years ago the Persian Empire saved the Jewish people from destruction and 25 hundred years later on this very same weekend the Jewish people are returning the favor by giving freedom back to the Persian Empire what God has done for one he will do for all for he is no respecter of persons or of nations it very well could be the start of the greatest

28:49era of revival kicking off in the Middle East and ground zero is the kingdom of Persia and the nation of Iran sometimes being in our like little small corner of the world it's easy to get so consumed with kind of what's happening in our immediate proximity that that we forget that actually Christians in America are a minority of the total Christian population all across the earth and that God is using circumstances and conditions and and and and and global events to like shift entire nations at once into prominent places of destiny with the express purpose that they would be open and available to receive the gospel you could have been born in in any

29:50generation or or living in in any region but God because he's got a sense of humor just so happen to have you alive in this era living in this region watching this news hearing this sermon and I want you to recognize that you don't got a small God you don't got an American God you don't got a white God you've got a big God and he holds the entire world in his hands and he oversees the affairs of the earth and there's not one thing that's been done wrong that will escape his justice and there is not one thing that has been done right that will escape his reward God is the one who will balance the scales of history and before it is too late he's giving the nations of the earth one more chance to avail themselves to the gospel of his one and only son let me tell you the story of the feast of Purim in the life of Esther and King Xerxes this morning starting in

31:00Esther 2 and in verse 2 the Bible says this then the King's personal attendance proposed let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the King now this advice was very appealing to the King because of course it was so he put the plan into effect and at that time there was a Jewish man in the city of Susa whose name was Mordecai and this man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin Hadassa who was also called Esther and when her father and mother died Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter Esther didn't start as a queen she started as an orphan the rabbinical literature would tell us that Esther's father died before she was born and Esther's mother would die while she was being born

32:03so from the very moment that she takes her first breaths she is alone she is defenseless she is separated from her biological parents and completely dependent on the charity of her uncle named Mordecai but the way Esther started is not the way that Esther would finish because although she was born under the most tragic circumstances one could ever imagine she would ascend to the highest seat of power that no one could ever imagine and I want you to be reminded today that the God we serve declares over you that it is not the circumstances of your birth but instead the establishment of your worth in heavenly places that determines the trajectory of your spiritual destiny you might have been born looking like the world you might have been

33:06born with people telling you you were an accident but you had a God who in eternity's past was forming you in your mother's womb shouting into your soul a plan and a purpose for your life and the God who makes good on his promises has been faithful to preserve you even up until this present moment the way you start if you're with God won't be the way that you end the story continues as a result of the King's decree Esther along with many other young women it was brought to the city of Susa but Esther did not reveal her nationality or her familial background because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so that now the King was attracted to Esther

34:07more than any of the other women and she obtained grace and favor so he set a royal crown on her head and and and made her queen see Esther can't reveal her nationality because to be a Jew in the Persian Empire was to live life at best as a second-class citizen but see Mordecai senses that there is something strategic about Esther's promotion in this season and he gives her advice that ultimately functions as prudent wisdom for that which awaits her and notice the pattern Xerxes was attracted to Esther but the Bible tells us that what ultimately causes Esther to inherit the crown wasn't her looks it was grace and it was favor that came from God you you've got to understand that today number one when Xerxes puts that crown on Esther's head

35:18it is simply man catching up with what God already knew to be true because if a crown can give you identity somebody taking that crown can remove your identity Esther already knew who she was and who she belonged to and she viewed God's providence in her life by virtue of the fact that her uncle would adopt her into his family and raise her as if she was one of his own Esther already senses there is something special that God is placed on my life by the time she gets roped up into a beauty page and she didn't sign up for and stands in front of the king lined up with all the other beautiful women across the empire it just so happens by virtue of great coincidence and happen stance that the eyes of Xerxes are drawn to Esther but what attracts him he doesn't even have words for

36:19because what he's sensing in the room is not physical it is in material it is an anointing and a gift that makes room for a person on whatever stage they find their feet standing on it was it it was the sovereign favor of God that rested upon Esther's life that causes Xerxes to be drawn in to that gaze and eventually select her not just to be one of the gals in his ever growing harem but to be the chief queen and help him lead the empire of Persia see you ought to remember that is God continues to bless and and prosper your life so that you don't ever get it twisted on what the true source of your success is it's it's not the good looks the good resume or the good education or the good last name or the good family or the good luck the the source of

37:23your success is that when you were an orphan God found you and he gave you the spirit of adoption and you were defenseless you could even care for yourself you couldn't save yourself you couldn't forgive yourself you couldn't redeem yourself and while you were in that state lost in darkness and all alone you didn't find God God found you and he seated you at his table and he gave you a crown before anybody else even thought you had enough value to live and now God's brought you into rooms that your charisma could have never taken you the source of your success isn't you it's him and as Esther is standing on that stage

38:25I imagine she ought to be pinching herself going how did I get here and if it wasn't for God if it wasn't for God this whole time I've been complaining about a mom and dad who are dearly departed about being raised at a foreign empire separated from my ancestral home and while I've been complaining God's been preparing because I couldn't see what God could see I was a redemptive seed planted in enemy soil that one man would plant in another would water but that God would cause to increase and tell what blossomed out of my life would be the saving fruit for a remnant people headed to destruction the story continues starting in verse one of of Esther three kings Xerxes then promoted Hayman to the highest position in his kingdom and

39:28and all the kings officials would bow before Hayman to show him respect whenever he passed by for so the king had commanded but Mordecai refused to bow down or pay him on her when Hayman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him on her he was enraged and when Hayman learned of Mordecai's nationality he considered it beneath his dignity to kill Mordecai alone instead he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entirety of the empire of Xerxes then Hayman said to King Xerxes there is a certain race of people scatter throughout all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate their customs are different and they refuse to obey the laws of the king if it pleases the king let a decree be issued to destroy them now I'm not sure about you but I actually think Hayman's critique of the Jewish people

40:33is actually one of the greatest compliments we could ever receive there is a certain race of people scattered across the entire Pacific Northwest their customs are different their lives are consecrated their allegiance isn't to the king their fidelity to Christ is so distinct that they've become a threat to our established order they won't bow to our protocols they won't revere our principles they won't shut up when we tell them to be quiet may that be the crowning testimony of pursuit people that everywhere we go we become a disruptive force to the normal operating order of the culture around us why can't you just fit in because Christ didn't hang on a tree on Calvary's hill and pay the most precious price

41:36for my life to fit in or to blend in but instead to stand out now who was this demonic advisor trying to co-op the Persian Empire to annihilate the Jews the Bible tells us a man named Hayman the dearly departed former leader of Iran who was taken out in the military strikes early Saturday morning went by the name Ayatollah Hamani he was publicly quoted as saying I will finish the work that my ancestor Hayman started

42:36from an etymological perspective Hamani is like a farcey transliteration of the name Hayman from Esther 3 nothing happens in God's economy by accident a demonized ruler trying to co-op the Persian Empire to turn against the Jews so God ordains a moment in our history to take out the 21st century version of Hayman to remind the nations of the earth I am the covenant keeping God the story continues Esther 4 when Mordecai learned all that had been done

43:38he tore his clothes and he put on sackcloth and ashes went out into the city wailing loudly and bitterly then Esther summoned her attendant and ordered him to find out what was troubling Uncle Mordecai and why so Mordecai told him the story he also gave him a copy of the decree issued in Susa that called for the death of all the Jews he asked them to show a dester and director to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people then Esther sent back this message to Mordecai all the king servants and people know that any man or woman who goes into the inter court to the king who has not been called is doomed to die when Esther's words were reported to Mordecai he sent back this answer if you remain completely silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place

44:40but you and your father's house will perish yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this i love this response from Mordecai because he's doing two things that are very important for you to see as we get ready to close number one he's reminding Esther of her responsibility but number two he's not putting his faith in Esther's ability but instead in the unbroken promise of God that started in Genesis 12 when God made a promise to a man named Abram and his barren wife named Sarah that through their lineage God would produce a holy nation and it would be used to bless the nations of the earth it wasn't good advice it was a prophetic declaration that God would be

45:45faithful to fulfill Mordecai is so sure that what God said to be true way back then would still be true in his day that he tells Esther with great confidence you've got a responsibility but even if you abdicate yours God won't abdicate his for if you don't use your voice God will raise up another for if you don't use your platform God will raise up another for if you don't use your influence God will raise up another hey I don't know if you've noticed but like in the way that I lead this church like I'm passionate and I sense like the urgency of the Lord because I believe the days are short but I'm not nervous and or confused about who's building this church so that's why when I get up here and I received the offering it don't take me 45 minutes it's not high pressure it

46:45doesn't feel like you're on a used car lot buying a vehicle from a high pressure salesman because if you don't use your resources God will raise somebody else up if you don't use your voice God will raise somebody else up because it's not Russell's church it's God's church I didn't promise to build it God promised to build it God will raise somebody up now we have a responsibility and I teach that responsibility and you and me have this shared responsibility is co-laborers and co-heirs out God in Christ Jesus to see his kingdom commoners will be done and his kingdom advanced in the earth but can I tell you the success of the Pacific Northwest does not hang in the balance of the obedience of this people because if tomorrow pursuit decides to go sideways God isn't given up on Seattle he'll just raise somebody else up but I feel fortunate and I feel privileged that I have

47:45this inner witness within me and I think many of you do as well else you wouldn't be sitting in these seats on a Sunday morning you've got this inner witness that prophesized to your spirit this morning that says could it be that I was born and called to this kingdom for such a time as this could it be that the God ordained moment of my life is coming in to full picture and clear purview could it be that I own all the places I could be God has me here for such a time as this she tells Mordakai she says you know the rules the Xerxes can count me if I go before the king uninvited but Mordakai as a picture of Christ invites Esther to boldly approach the throne

48:52to receive help in her time of need and ultimately if you continue to read the story Esther determines if it cost me everything I rather die on my feet than live on my knees if it cost me everything then let my voice echo into the next generation it was still worth it to be a leechant to this God if it cost me everything then let my last act of obedience honor the patriarchs of old the man who walked this ground who the world was not worthy of if it costs me everything for this reason I have been made manifest so Esther asks all the Jews in the kingdom get ready to pray get ready to fast for three days don't eat and don't drink from the third day I'm going to approach the inner chamber of the king I'm going to reveal my identity and let him know what Heyman is conspiring to do

50:02Esther does just that the king responds with with with charity and and also without rage he issues a new decree that will end up preserving the Jewish remnant and in doing so the conspirators Heyman and his friends the pit they dug they end up falling into for the gallows they built to hang the Jews they were hung upon in 20 years from the date of this story Xerxes will be done but his son Arctic Xerxes will take the throne some Bible scholars actually believe that it was Queen Esther who was the mother of Arctic Xerxes our Xerxes will take the throne and his great act as king of Persia will to be formally announcing that the rest of the Jews who remain in Persia now have distinct permission to return

51:08back home not just for the rebuilding of the temple but for the rebuilding of the nation when you take a step back and view it from a broad perspective you recognize that Esther was just one faithful domino in a long line of other dominoes who recognized that I've got a responsibility but if I abdicate mine God will raise up somebody else but I didn't sign up to live radical for Jesus and then checking out when everything was on the line so if it was for this moment that I was created let me lend my voice to the priority of heaven and in doing so history remembers Esther and the feast of Purim still happens on this weekend all these years later because the same God who saved the Jewish people back then is the same God who saved his people today and in doing so cracking open the kingdom of Persia

52:14for the gospel of Jesus to do its best work that's the hour the church of Jesus Christ lives in today that's why I haven't titled this sermon hope for Persia that's why I'm so confident that the false religion of Islam will never be able to be set up in a controlling way in a place like Washington or a place like Texas or in a nation like the United States of America the demonic ideology of the Islamic religion is crumbling in front of your eyes the gospel of Jesus it is advancing the church is growing stronger and getting more glorious without even churches being allowed to gather five million in the nation are already born again can you imagine what the next six to 12 months is going to be like I'm telling you you're on the right side of history you worship a

53:20God who's on the right side of eternity and like Esther and her day you and yours you have been called to this region for this hour for this purpose if it's revival or we die if I perish that I perish but it's for this reason I was made manifest in the earth and so is true about you this is the time for awakening in our world today but watch us stay standing as a pre