{"id":14645,"date":"2013-09-16T01:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-09-16T06:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=14645"},"modified":"2013-09-12T23:06:05","modified_gmt":"2013-09-13T04:06:05","slug":"esther-chapter-31-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/16\/esther-chapter-31-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther: Chapter 3:1-4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week we are studying the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> Chapter of the Book of Esther.\u00a0 Things were\u00a0getting really serious!\u00a0 Remember when Esther came and shared the story of God\u2019s provision for her life with us?\u00a0\u00a0 If Esther were here sharing with us now, I think that she would be crying her beautiful heart out!\u00a0 And this is why&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Uncle Mordecai is refusing to bow to\u00a0 Haman.<\/li>\n<li>This enraged Haman who decided that to kill Mordecai would be silly&#8230;why not destroy all of Mordecai\u2019s people\u2014the Jews.<\/li>\n<li>Haman somehow has convinced Ahasuerus that the Jews are a threat and that they all should wiped out.<\/li>\n<li>A date has been chosen for the annihilation of God\u2019s people.<\/li>\n<li>An edict has been issued, signed, and sealed with the king\u2019s signet ring and sent round to all 127 provinces in the kingdom.<\/li>\n<li>Mordecai and Esther\u2019s people are to be wiped out of Ahasuerus\u2019 entire kingdom&#8230;all this in Chapter 3!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Today in our study of <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Esther: the Beauty of Courageous Submission<\/span><\/em>, Mrs. Schacht asks an important question:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8220;<em>If Vashti was rebellious when she refused to submit to the King in chapter one, how then was it okay for Mordecai to refuse?\u00a0 We can find a clue to that answer when we read Acts 5:27-29.\u00a0 What do you deduct from the example of Peter and the apostles?&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Have you considered her question yet?\u00a0 How about we look deeper in detail at this record&#8230;.\u00a0\u00a0 Whenever I read this chapter in the Book of Esther, I always think that Mordecai was so similar in heart and his actions to Jesus\u2019 apostles.\u00a0 He would not bow to any other than Almighty God; and they would not bow to any other than their Lord, Jesus.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at the Book of Acts, Chapter 5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=acts%205%3A18-41&amp;version=NASB\" target=\"_blank\">Acts 5:18-41<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Take a few minutes, if you would, and read through this incredible record; then come back here, ok?<\/p>\n<p>We see this record opening with some of our Lord\u2019s apostles being put in jail (verse 18).\u00a0 One of these men was Peter.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you just love Peter?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He was a fisherman who cast down his nets when Jesus said, \u2018Follow Me.\u2019<\/li>\n<li>He was one of Jesus\u2019 closest companions<\/li>\n<li>He was one of the three that Jesus took with Him to pray on the night He was arrested<\/li>\n<li>He was a very passionate man<\/li>\n<li>He was the one who lopped off the ear of the high priest\u2019s servant in the garden of Gethsemane<\/li>\n<li>He was also the one who denied being with the Lord three separate times during Jesus\u2019 trial<\/li>\n<li>He was also the one who heralded forth the truth about Jesus on the day of Pentecost<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Peter, and the others, were committed to telling others about the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t afraid.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t timid.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t hold back.\u00a0 Now, it doesn\u2019t appear that they were trying to be radical or revolutionary.\u00a0 They just were NOT going to back down, close their mouths, and not speak.\u00a0 Just Like Mordecai could NOT bow down to &lt;hiss!&gt; Haman &lt;hiss!&gt;&#8230;.they just could NOT not speak!\u00a0 Now the following, I think, is the \u2018clue\u2019 that Mrs. Schacht was referring to in her question.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison,<br \/>\nand taking them out he said,\u00a0 &#8220;Go, stand and speak<br \/>\nto the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.<br \/>\nActs 5:19 and 20<\/p>\n<p>They were directly <strong><em>following the command<\/em> <\/strong>given to them by an angel sent to them by the Lord.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 If an angel brought a message to you from the Lord, would you hesitate to go and do it?\u00a0<em> Not at all<\/em>, I am sure!<\/p>\n<p>As we read in the context of this record, upon being sprung from prison by the angel, they immediately went to the temple and began to speak.\u00a0 Needless to say&#8230;they were confronted and accosted again.\u00a0 When asked why they would continue to do so, here is what they responded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">But Peter and the apostles answered, &#8220;We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.\u00a0 He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.\u00a0 And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.&#8221;<br \/>\nVerses 29-32<\/p>\n<p>I am sure I do not need to tell you that the officials (the Sanhedrin) were livid upon hearing their words.\u00a0 But one them spoke up and suggested that they just let Peter and the others go&#8230;and see whether anything would come of it.\u00a0 &#8220;&#8230;for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God&#8221;\u00a0 (verses 38 and 39).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">They went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.<br \/>\nActs 5:41 and 42<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>So, do you have an answer to Mrs Schacht&#8217;s question?<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"CENTER\">* * * * *<\/p>\n<p>Lord, You have given us so many examples throughout the Scriptures of Your people who have boldly stood for the TRUTH.\u00a0 Help us, Lord, to have the same commitment, the same \u2014the same love and devotion to You, and You alone.\u00a0 We love You, Lord!<\/p>\n<p>Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week we are studying the 3rd Chapter of the Book of Esther.\u00a0 Things were\u00a0getting really serious!\u00a0 Remember when Esther came and shared the story of God\u2019s provision for her life with us?\u00a0\u00a0 If Esther were here sharing with us now, I think that she would be crying her beautiful heart out!\u00a0 And this is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[3723,3724,235,246,3475,3722,3512,425,3726,3725,3513,1135],"class_list":["post-14645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-womens","tag-acts-518-42","tag-apostle-peter","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-commitment","tag-darlene-schacht","tag-esther-31-4","tag-esther-the-beauty-of-courageous-submission","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-go-stand-speak","tag-obey-god-rather-than-men","tag-obs","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3Od","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14645"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14677,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14645\/revisions\/14677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}