SUNDAY FEB 18, 2018

LESSONS FROM PURIM

· KEEPING DOING WHAT IS RIGHT AND GOOD, DON’T GIVE UP

· YOUR BLESSING & HONOR WILL COME AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME

LAST WEEK WE SAW MORDECAI SITTING AT THE GATE OF AUTHORITY AND HAMAN RISING UP TO DESTROY HIM AND ALL THE JEWS OF PERSIA BECAUSE MOREDECAI WOULD NOT BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP HAMAN.

Haman told the King the Jews were not like any other people. They had their own laws and would not obey the laws of Persia. This was only a half-truth.

These Jews were taken captive and carried away from Israel because they did not obey the very laws this Haman was talking about. So many prophets about what would happen to them including Moses warned them, but they refused to obey God’s instructions known as God’s Torah.

Leviticus 26:33 33,39 NKJV I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. 38 You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

Nehemiah 1:8-98 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations;] 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name

1 Chronicles 9:1 So all Israel was recorded by genealogies, and indeed, they were inscribed in the book of the kings of Israel. But Judah was carried away captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.

Mordecai is carried over with to Babylon from the tribe of Benjamin. Mordecai’s great grandfather is King Saul’s father named “Kish”

Kish was known as a mighty man of power, wealth & resources

· Mordecai is in a strange land, but he does not let what was taken from him to define His present or His future. He has a heritage and is part of a legacy of those who have a covenant with God.

Esther 2:5-7TLV 5 There was a Jewish man in the Shushan palace whose name was Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives that had been carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken away. 7 He had raised Hadassah—that is Esther—his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The girl was attractive and had a beautiful figure. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her to him as his own daughter.

Remember even though Esther and Mordecai were connected to the palace they had an even greater connection to the ways of God and His Word.

Deuteronomy 8:18-19 18 “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

God’s people are chosen and separated from the other peoples of the earth.

1 kings 8:53 GNTYou chose them from all the peoples to be your own people, as you told them through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt."

Haman did not like that Mordecai would not bow to him in honor.

God’s covenant people must only worship God and not a man or an idol

Exodus 20:3-5TLV 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 Do not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them, do not let anyone make you serve them. For I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

· Haman got the king to pass a judgment to destroy and kill every Jew and steal their wealth, possessions and homes on a certain day, which was the 13th day of the 12th month. (Esther 3:7)

· Haman was a descendant of King Agag who King Saul refused to utterly destroy in disobedience to God. Now what King Saul didn’t do would come back to destroy a descendant of Saul and all of his people. (1 Samuel 15)

· When one generation does not do what was purposed for them, then another may suffer the consequences.

HAMAN MAKES A MAJOR MISTAKE. MORDECAI HAD INTERCEDED FOR THE KING AND SAVED HIS LIFE BY TELLING ABOUT THE PLOT TO KILL THE KING AT THE GATE.

EPHESIANS 6:8 NLT

Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

Esther 6 :1-3 NKJV That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

· God knows how to reward you at the right time for the good things you have done!

Genesis 15:1KJVAfter these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

SHIELD: DEFENCE, PROTECTOR, ROOT WORD IS TO COVER, SURROUND OR HEDGE ABOUT

THE SPIRIT OF HAMAN IS OF THE SUBTLE SERPENT WHO WANTS TO UNCOVER AND DESTROY GOD’S PEOPLE.

MORDECAI WAS CONNECTED TO THE COVENANT GOD HAD WITH ABRAHAM AND HIS DESCENDANTS.

GOD PROMISED ABRAHAM THAT HE WOULD BE HIS SHIELD & GREAT REWARD

· GREAT: (MULTIPLIES & ENLARGES)

· REWARD: (ONE WHO PAYS YOUR WAGES)

Esther 6:6-13 VOICE TRANSLATION6 So Haman entered the king’s chambers. He waited for the king to speak first.

King Ahasuerus:Haman, I want to ask you something. What do you believe is the proper manner in which to honor a man who has pleased me? Then Haman thought to himself, “There is no one the king wishes to honor more than me.” Haman:7 If you desire to honor a man, I believe you should do this:8 First, have your servants bring one of the robes you have worn and one of the horses you have ridden that has worn the royal crown on its head. 9 Then, you should give the robe and horse to one of your most noble officials. Have him robe the man whom you want to honor and then lead the man on horseback throughout the center of the city. It should be announced that this is what happens for the man whom the king wants to honor.

King Ahasuerus:10 Your idea is perfect, Haman. I want you to go and do this immediately. Take one of my robes and one of my horses and do exactly what you have suggested to Mordecai, the Jewish man who sits at my gate. Do everything you have said, and don’t leave out one single detail. Not one!

The situation is now reversed, and Haman is forced to honor the man he has sought to kill.

11 Haman was mortified. He took the robe and horse; he dressed Mordecai in the king’s robe and led him throughout the square of the city. Haman(shouting): This is what happens for the man whom the king desires to honor! 12 When it was done, Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman fled to his home, mourning and covering his head in humiliation. 13 He told his wife, Zeresh, and all his friends everything that had happened to him. They offered him a bit of wise advice. Zeresh and His Friends:You must be very careful with how you handle Mordecai! If he really is a Jew, a descendant of the nation that defeated your ancestors, then you won’t be able to succeed. In fact, you will most certainly be destroyed! Look, you’ve already begun to bow to him.

· TODAY YOU MIGHT FEEL LIKE HAMAN IS ON YOUR HEELS!

· Don’t forget Jesus crushed the serpent’s head with His heel.

Genesis 3:15 ESVI will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

· GOD WILL REMEMBER HIS COVENANT AND THE GOOD THINGS YOU DO WILL COME BACK TO YOU AT AN APPOINTED TIME!

PSALMS 20:1-4 NKJV

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;

May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;

2 May He send you help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen you out of Zion; 3 May He remember all your offerings, And accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah

4 May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,

And fulfill all your purpose.

· When you do good and honor God you are operating on the right side of the law of sowing and reaping.

Galatians 6:9 NLT So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we d