Esther - Unlikely Heroine

Story line - 1. Vashti disses King Xerxes 2. Esther wins beauty pageant

3. Uncle Mordecai foils assassination plot. 4. Haman has issues - buys off king for Holocaust heyday, 5. Captive Israel in Sackcloth and ashes

Key verses Esther 4:4-16 - esp. Vs 14 -end of 16 "If I die..."

Unpack meaning for today - recall Shadrack, etc. But if not...

Esther - how do we know that this time is the right time,

1 - God doesn’t give coincidences, Beauty contest - holocaust?

Esther favored because of her looks, God used that favor to save a nation

2 - godly people encourage you

3 - God didn’t close the door, Paul and Agabus,

Esther didn’t want to be the hero but she realized that God had opened the doors for her service.

4 - Is it in line with what I know to be true about God will it glorify him.

Don’t ask - Will it be easy? Giving by nature is not easy - it makes us like God

Don’t ask - Will it make me comfortable? Comfort kills -

Don’t ask - Will I succeed? that doesn’t matter - Faithfulness matter

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. Goethe

Resume Story line

Esther smooth talks the king, reveals Haman’s plot

Great story of irony with Haman and Mordecai

Jews were not only set free but allowed to attack their enemies.

Eph. 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.