10 CHAPTERS: OVERVIEW
CHAPTERS 1-2
• King Xerxes deposes his wife Vashti for discord and disrespect.

• After hosting a years long beauty pageant he chooses Esther to become the new queen

Chapters 3-4
• Mordecai (Esther’s guardian) refused to bow down to Haman a high official of the king.

• Haman becomes infuriated and plots to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom.

• Mordecai hears of the plot and reports it to Esther.

Chapters 5-10
• Esther outwits Haman and takes her petition to the king and pleads for the lives of her people.

• The king out of anger, has Haman hanged on the gallows.

• Esther’s faith and courage saves her people.

Her name:
Hadasseh is Esther’s Jewish name. Haddasah means Myrtle which is a type of evergreen shrub.

She goes through a name change (Likely to fit in) and becomes Esther which means STAR.

Hadassah means shrub Esther means Star (mentioned 55 times)

OPENING QUESTIONS:
In this charge there’s but one question we must ask ourselves.
Am I willing to lay down my life for God’s people?
Are we really willing to die for God’s Kingdom?
Are we willing to let go of our lives? Our careers, comforts, self-centered ambitions, our lives?

Any sin we have been unwilling to let go of?

Then we must ask ourselves would I really be willing to give up my life?

Point 1: Such a Time As This!
Esther is faced with this question, starts to make an excuse. Let’s look at how her discipler Mordaci responds.

Scripture: ESTHER 4:12-14 World English Bible
12They told to Mordecai Esther’s words. 13 Then Mordecai asked them return answer to Esther, “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews. 14For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
• Talk about a spicy discipleship time.
• Not by chance but by God
• He place in the kingdom

• Her ethnicity-Her Family-Her Discipler- Her physical appearance

• Her position in the Kingdom was not a coincidence.

• Orchestrated by God himself.

• Believe that we are the WALLs of our cities, & the Shepherdess of our regions.

OPEN: Times I wondered if I stood where I stood by mistake.
• But I am who I am by God’s divine appointment

• We are who we are, we are where we are, and it’s all because God has planned and  destined  it!
• We must seize the opportunity, or the chance will be given to someone else!
• Question: Are we willing to rise to the occasion. And lay down our lives?

Esther was:
Let’s see how she responds
Esther 4:16

POINT 2: If I perish, I perish
• She made up her mind, she was going to let go and lay down her life to save all the jews!

• She first fasted. (How long has it been since you fasted? Can’t remember remember? It’s been too long)

• Thought to myself, Why is Esther mentioned more than any other woman in the Bible???

• 55 times

• Because this verse!

• she was willing to give up her life for all of God’s people!

• In fact, if you can accept it, she is a FEMALE FORESHADOWING OF our Lord and savior JESUS Christ!!!

• She reminds me of Jesus who in Matthew 26:46 says “Rise let us go! Here comes my betrayer.”

Jesus said rise, and
Jesus rose to the occasion!
Esther also rose to the occasion.

John 12:24
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
(Personal Application)

• Die to self.
• If you are not willing to let go of a sin, I can confidently tell you, you’re not going to let go of your life for God’s people!

• If you don’t t have anything to die for, you got nothing to live for!

• We must see the advancement of God’s Kingdom as worth dying for.

• Initially, Esther struggled to let go.

• She appeared fearful, hesitant, and for a moment self-focused.

OPENNESS:

Fear is one of my thorns. In my sinful nature I wrestle a lot with insecurity and self-doubt. I can be fearful of the future, fearful of starting over somewhere new, fearful of all sorts of things. And sadly I can be self-focused and hesitate.

• Esther didn’t lose her fear. But she let Go to Let God work in her life, and through her life.

• I’m not asking for you to no longer be afraid. I’m asking you to let go let God.

Song: Let it go, let it go!

How did Esther go from Shrub to Shining star?

What did Esther do?

1. She took discipling!

2. She prayed and fasted

3. She accepted that she needed help as she commanded others to fast also.

4. She applied the discipling! She wasn’t full of head knowledge but was determined to apply the lessons learned from Mordacai.

In doing so she is able to be used by God in a powerful way!

The Jews were on the brink of Mass Genocide and God through ESTHER
Solved this seemingly unsolvable problem.

God can turn any situation around.

My Encouragement is this: No matter how dire, overwhelming, challenging or hopeless a situation may be.

God has the ability to turn it all around in a single day! And he may use you to do it!

In closing my Challenge is:
• We too must be willing to lay down our lives, and rely on God.

• We must fight for our friends and families.

• We must believe God can change any situation no matter how challenging in a single day!

ESTHER went from being a myrtle that is a shrub and made her into a shining star.

She surrendered her fear, her self-focus, her comfort, and her doubt.
She became courageous, humble, self-controlled and capable of the noblest form of self-sacrifice.

She was willing to die.

Let’s be shining stars in 2020