September 27, 2023 • 44 mins
Join us for a captivating deep-dive into the biblical story of Esther and her stalwart cousin, Mordecai. Together, we'll unpack Esther 2, shedding light on Esther's unwavering faith and how Mordecai's mentorship helped navigate her through treacherous territory. Uncover how risking it all for your beliefs can defy survival instincts, but in doing so, can bring clarity and understanding of God's grand plan.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Grainger (00:03):
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, guys, it's me timeand I'll tell you what I'm
excited for this one.
This is one that I just thinkwe're going to have a lot of fun
.
Hopefully it's going to helpyou grow.
Before we get too far, let's getinto our scripture.
Okay, so our scripture thisweek is in Esther, chapter 4,
(00:26):
verse 16.
It says Go gather together allthe Jews who are in Sousa and
fast for me.
Do not eat or drink for threedays, night or day, and I am my
attendance what fasts as you do.
When this is done, I will go tothe king, even though it was
against the law, and if I perish, I perish.
So, guys, I spent a lot of timeunpacking that one particular
(00:47):
verse and our spiritual kickoffs, and go listen to that one,
because it really speaks toreally where we're getting into
this episode today, okay, thementorship and the ability to
speak truth, and to otherpeople's life, and to see how
Esther respondent to Mordecaiwhen he spoke to her.
This was her response If Iperish, I perish.
So we're going to unpack whatthat means more in depth.
(01:09):
If you haven't listened to thatspiritual kickoff yet, please
go check that out.
Okay, now, the way we've beendoing these lately is I have a
wonderful opportunity at mylocal church to teach Sunday
school.
I put a lot of effort intoSunday school lessons and really
tried to dig into the wordstudy to make that time together
with the believers you knowspecial, and so I started doing
(01:32):
this, usually about once a month.
These solo episodes they'rebasically from a Sunday school
lesson that we have at our localchurch.
So there's your invitation.
If you want to come to havechurch with us and hear a
potential Lionel Dennis episode,hey, come on to our local
church here and it's in Cree,mornal, carolina.
We'd love to have you yet be avisitor, come to the Sunday
(01:53):
school and we'll love to haveyou as a guest and be.
Hopefully, I can be teachingthat Sunday.
You'll be able to sit in withus and enjoy.
So, anyway, we're going to betalking about today the ultimate
point of this lesson.
What we're going to try to getthrough, guys, is that we need
to encourage others to followGod's leadership, no matter the
costs.
Okay, so that's really.
That's the crux that we'regoing to be getting to.
(02:14):
So to kind of get us thinking aswe get moving, for all she
think about risk takers.
So you may be a risk takeryourself.
Maybe you may be.
You're a skydiver.
I know we have some skydivingguys in our Lionel Dennis
community.
Those guys are crazy but youknow, hey, they love it.
Maybe we have some scuba divers, some bungee jumpers, some
adrenaline junkies, you knowroller coasters, things like
that.
(02:34):
Taking risk, really, when youthink about it, goes kind
against our nature, like thebrain, right, the brain that we
have the way, the brain that GodGod designed is basically he
designed it so it keep us alive.
That's what we're constantlydoing.
We're trying to protectourselves and keep us alive at
all costs, because taking riskis scary.
Okay, I just think about when Idecided to start this, the
(02:55):
Lionel Dennis, and as somebodywho's kind of an introvert
that's really who I am at thecore it was pretty risky.
You know, I've been a W2employee my whole life to try to
start something like the LionelDennis where you're doing it on
your own.
This was scary fellas.
You know, spiritual warfare hasbeen intense, right, the work
can be exhausting.
(03:16):
I'm just gonna be real with you, but when you're doing what
God's called you to do, it givesyou clarity, it really does,
and it helps you see.
Okay, here's the next steps youwon't be to take and that's
what we're going to kind of see.
What in this story today, whatMordecai and Esther is all about
?
Okay, if she was asked to dothe things that she was totally
(03:38):
asked to do, could it end in herdeath?
That's just a I'm just gonna bea spoiler alert.
It could have killed her.
Yet her confidence in doingwhat she knew to be right by
God's provision led her down arisky road and she was able to
walk in confidence there.
Okay Now, interesting fact, Imentioned this on a spiritual
kickoff and some of you guys maynot have been able to hear it
(03:59):
yet, but God has actually nevermentioned in this story of
Esther.
Okay, so what's going on here?
You have, the people are inexile because of their sin, and
this is takes place usually inthe area of Persia, iran, today.
So, mordecai and Esther, you'regoing to be talking about those
two names.
Mordecai is Esther's cousin andwe're going to see how the
(04:20):
relationship grew to help Estherdo great works for God's people
.
Okay, so we're going to startoff in Esther twos, if you want
to open your bottles to Esthertoo and we're just going to look
at a few verses here.
And it says right here Nowthere was at the Citadel and
Susa a Jew whose name wasMordecai, the son of Jair, the
son of Sheema, the son of Kish,a Benjamin who had been taken
(04:43):
into exile from Jerusalem withthe captives who have been
exiled, with the jacquani kingfrom Judah, who never connects
her to King of Babylon and exile.
He was bringing up Hadassah,that is, esther, his uncle's
daughter, where she had nofather or mother.
Now the young lady wasbeautiful, beautiful a form and
face.
Now her father and her motherdied.
Mordecai took her as her owndaughter, as his own daughter,
(05:07):
sorry about that, fellas.
So we need to have a little bitof context first of what's
going on here.
So the king in chapter one hadhad a banquet for like seven
days.
I mean, this was a party,fellas.
I'm telling you these boys aregetting down.
They were drinking, they werepartying it up.
Now what he had asked for washis queen Vashti to come
(05:28):
basically during this party andto show how beautiful she was.
Now doing even further research.
When I was looking into this,it actually tells her he wanted
her to bring her to where hercrown and come to the men there
at the party.
There are some accounts thatwhen you study this, say that's
(05:48):
all he wanted her to wear.
So he was basically asking thequeen to come out wearing your
crown and nothing else in frontof a room.
Basically, let's just get realI would have a bunch of drunk
guys because the wine wasflowing, fellas.
So what happened was she's likeno, that ain't happening.
I don't care, it ain'thappening, buddy.
(06:09):
And so when she made that, itkind of was like an
embarrassment, as I slap in theface to the king.
So he banished her.
So he banished her from it.
So basically, they had toreplace her.
So when they, the way they didthat, they put on just think of
it as this like intense beautypageant, okay.
(06:32):
And what's going on?
They had they brought in allthese ladies from from these the
virgin ladies from around, andthey put them through these
different tests and things likethat, and they were preparing to
see who would be the next queen.
Okay, that's ultimately what'shappened to Esther.
She is chosen by the king atthe very end of it, she gets,
(06:53):
she takes the queen's position.
So that's really what's goingon.
So if we look as I'm kind ofpacking this verse by verse we
look at five, we see that versefive, rather, we see it now.
There was in the citadel SusaJew whose name Mordecai, the son
of Jer, the son of Shime, theson of Kesh, the Benjamin.
So what is that telling here?
Primarily, what's what we'reseeing here is is Mordecai's
(07:15):
Jewish heritage.
Okay, he had the lineage fromthe tribe of Benjamin and he and
he knew that his heritage meantthat he was to be called by God
to be set apart for service toGod, to him.
That's it.
We see this also.
For me it helps to understandhey, this is this is this is
real, this is not fake.
Okay, let's look at verse six.
(07:36):
It says who'd been taken intothe exile from Jerusalem, from
the captains who have beenexiled from, with a, a jacona,
the king of Judah, who've neverconnected to the king of Babylon
, had exiled.
So what?
This is telling us?
The port.
There's verses like this guy.
Sometimes we read them in aBible.
We're like what is the world,is this here for?
I'm going to tell you why One.
(07:56):
God wants it to be there.
That's the main thing.
There's not a single word inthis Bible.
That's not God breed, but theseverses point to the absolute
realness of the word of God.
We're not reading a fairy tale,fellas.
This is not like Snow White orCinderella, or or or or Shrek or
something like that.
I mean, come on, these areactual events that happen to
(08:18):
real people just like you and me.
Cause easy to read God's work.
It is so easy to read God'swork and think of it as, like
you know, fiction, like theChronicles of Narnia or things
like that, but that's inaccurate.
We can see here the truth andactually you can dig into second
King, second Chronicles andJeremiah and find further
(08:39):
evidence of this timeline andthese events.
So I'm telling you, fellas,don't ever read God's word and
just think you know what this isfor someone else.
This is.
This is not real.
No, this stuff happened.
I know it can be so hard to beto put your your your mind here
and picture these people asbeing real people, but I am
telling you this is Dan thereand word of God.
(09:00):
We need to understand that.
Now let's look over seven.
He, talking about Mordecai, wasbringing up Hadassah, dennis,
esther, his uncle's daughter,for she had no father and no
mother.
Now, the young lady wasbeautiful a form and face.
When her father and her motherdied, mordecai took her as his
own daughter.
So how many of you guys outthere have cousins?
I'm sure most of you do, okay,and a lot of times cousins are,
(09:23):
let's just face it.
They're usually somewhatsimilar in age.
We don't have all and we don'thave all the details of the gap,
of the age gap here and thestory.
It's pretty apparent that therewas enough gap here for
Mordecai to be Esther's legalguardian.
Okay, and what I thought wasinteresting when we start
studying this Hadassah, when youstart reading it, studying the
(09:44):
meanings of the words and names,it means, it means it means
myrtle tree, and that canactually be connected to mercy.
And that's really cool when youthink about it, because you see
God's merciful hand allthroughout this story,
particularly when the going istough, and it really does.
And we also know from this thisone verse right here, that what
she was good looking, let'sjust be real.
(10:06):
I mean, she won the beautycontest, so we know she must
have been an absolute headturner, fellas, let's just be
real.
She was also an orphan.
We can see that and you can seethat Mordecai right here.
This one verse, he stepped upand he took her in as his
daughter.
Okay, this was huge back then,fellas, because as women in this
(10:26):
time, they needed protection,right.
They needed connection withfamily as well.
This speaks directly toMordecai's character.
Let's just be clear about this.
There is no funny businesswhatsoever happening here, and
there's no kissing cousins oranything like that.
He loved her as a father and hewanted her to grow and
(10:49):
ultimately, what he was was forme, for her, was a great mentor.
Yes, he was being a fatherfigure, for sure, he was being a
great mentor, and I want youguys to think about that for a
second.
How do you mentor your family?
That can be hard, right.
The hardest thing we can dosometimes is mentor our family.
It really can be.
Now, when I think about this, Ithink about my little buddy.
(11:11):
His name is Trevor and how muchI love him.
It's just spending time withhim.
Each month, we usually spendsome time together.
I mentor him, but that's alittle easier because we're not.
We don't have the bloodrelation, and so I can be check
him pretty hard and he's goingto listen, and there's going to
be a day when he's going to cometo me with some hard stuff and
I'm going to have to be listenedand I'm going to have to obey,
and it goes back and forth,right.
(11:33):
So mentoring others is it canbe.
It's not always a walk in thepark, fellas, particularly when
it's family, and I think that'sone reason why this story jumps
out so much at me of aconfidence to be able to do this
as a Christian leader, becauseyou know what it's not always.
(11:53):
It's not always just cut anddrive black or white.
There are some family dynamicsthat we're going on here, but
more to cut, ultimately, whatyou see in this relationship is
his love for her, her love forhim as as as as family, and he
knew that.
She knew that ultimately, theyweren't the best for each other.
Sometimes you're going to haveto see, you have to step out in
(12:15):
faith to do that.
So we're going to get ready tolearn about another member of
this account, okay, which isthis story and any story.
You have a little conflict, sothis is going to be talked about
.
It's a guy named Heyman.
Okay, he's a ruthless fellow.
He hated the Jews, and we'regoing to see how Warkeye guided
Esther in the face of extremepersecution fellas, I'm telling
(12:36):
you extreme persecution andwe're going to see how she
responded when that hate wascoming directly at her.
So we'll be right back afterthis break.
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All right, guys, welcome backhere.
So we just unpacked the veryfirst part of this, of this
mentorship episode here, wherewe're talking about Esther,
mordecai.
(13:57):
Okay, now I want you to skip onfour.
If you're reading the long-ishBible, you can open up to
chapter four.
We're going to spend the restof our time in chapter four,
okay, so go to the chapter four.
We're going to look at verseseight through 14 together.
So let's just read God's wordto get us started and then we'll
unpack it and we'll see whatthe Holy Spirit reveals to us as
we move forward.
So, looking at verse eight, itsays he also gave him a copy of
(14:17):
the text of the edict which hadbeen issued in Sousa for the
destruction that he might showEsther and inform her.
It's in order to get her to gointo the king, to go to the king
and implore his favor and toplead with him for her people.
Hattok came back and related toMordecai the words Esther.
Then Esther spoke to Hattok andordered him to reply to
Mordecai.
All the king's servants and thepeople of the king's provinces
(14:40):
know that for any man or womanwho comes to the king, to the
inner court, who is not summoned, he is but one law that he be
put to death.
Now let the king holds out tohim.
The golden skeptor said he maylive, and I have not been
summoned to come to the king forthese 30 days.
(15:00):
They were laid to Esther'swords to Mordecai right here.
Don't miss these.
Next cut two verses, guys, thisis Mordecai's response.
Then Mordecai told them toreply to Esther do not imagine
that you and the king's palacecan escape any more than all the
Jews, for if you remain silentat this time, relief and
deliverance will arise for theJews from another place and you
(15:22):
and your father's house willperish.
And who knows whether you havenot attained royalty for such a
time as this.
Guys, this is getting realright here.
This is the direct challenge.
You can see it right there.
We need more people in our life, right here, that are willing
to call it like it is.
I'm telling you, instead ofalways just following that line,
(15:45):
to agree.
And Mordecai, he was not a yesman.
You can see that directly.
And while his response toEsther, you may say it's too
direct, this is exactly the typeof message that needed to be
delivered, based off of whathung in the balance.
Guys, I'm telling you there wasso much that was hanging right
here.
He could not afford to tip youto around.
(16:05):
Let's just dig into the wordand just see what the Holy
Spirit says to us as we, as welook at these verses.
To look at verses eight, nineagain real quick, so I'll just
read real quick for you.
He says he also gave him a copyof the edict which had been
issued to Susan for thedestruction that he might show
Esther and former and to orderher to go to the king and to
deploy his favor and to playwith him for her people.
(16:27):
Had it came back or related toMordecai, mordecai's words to
Esther.
So what's going on here isEsther saying a Mordecai.
Actually we see Mordecai.
Actually we see, sorry aboutthat we see Mordecai reacting to
the edict that Haman the guy Imentioned earlier, had
essentially laid down.
(16:47):
So what Haman did?
He went and he persuaded theking to put this edict in effect
.
And what the edict stated wasthey had a day set that the Jews
were going to be executed andthere was nothing they could do
about it.
So this led the Jews to becrashing, to be crying out, to
be fasting, to be lamenting, toput on sad clothed ashes.
(17:07):
I mean, just think about that,right.
How would you feel that if youknew in two weeks from now,
whenever you listen to this, twoweeks from now, people will be
coming to kill you and yourentire family?
There was nothing you could doabout it?
How would you feel?
This was real anguish going on,fellas.
This was too.
This was impacting Mordecaideeply, deeply.
(17:31):
And Mordecai knew something.
I got to do, I got to act.
I can't just sit here.
I got to take action.
So Hattok he was like Esther'sunit, so he was basically like a
messenger between Mordecai andEsther.
So he was there to take care ofEsther, and I can imagine that
the message that he had todeliver Esther was probably hard
(17:51):
, because this was goingdirectly against the king that
he was serving as well.
Right, so just don't mess thatone little nuance there with
this story.
But there is a direct messagethat Mordecai was going to have
to send, because this edict thatHaman had laid down, this was
going to impact everything,they're whole family.
(18:14):
Think about the people thatwere that hung in the balance If
Mordecai didn't act here.
It's so, so powerful.
So let's look at verses 10 and11 again.
Fellas says then Esther spoketo Hattok and ordered him to
reply to Mordecai.
All the king's servants and thepeople of the king's provinces
(18:38):
know that for any man or womanwho comes to the king in the
intercourt, who is not something, he has built one law that he
be put to death and let the kingholds out the golden scepter so
he may live.
And I have not been summoned tocome to the king for 30 days.
So, basically, what's happeningright here is Esther saying
(19:00):
look bro, I hate Mordecai, butdo you remember the rules of the
game?
Do you truly know how this gameis played?
I can't just go to the king.
Here's why I haven't beeninvited.
So it's not like a marriagethat we have these days.
Fellas, I'm just probablythrowing some of you guys off.
I know it threw me off too whenI read it the first time.
Till I started studying it, itwasn't like the king and the
(19:22):
queen that had access to eachother at all times.
No, it's not it.
The queen was set aside andwhen she was needed she would be
called for.
That was really where it was.
When he requested it, she cameand they had strict rules, very
strict rules.
If you did not obey, you wouldbe killed or, like the last girl
(19:47):
.
She didn't come up when she wastold and she was exiled, she
was outed.
So, Baye Esther knew in thismoment that that say, I'd love
to help, but I can't go unlessI'm called Mordecai, don't you
know that?
Because I'm not risking what Ihave right now.
Look at this dude, like I'm inthe palace, I am the queen.
(20:07):
People do what they, what Itell them to do.
There's food, there's shelter,there's comfort.
I don't have a lot of stress,right?
Why do I need to risk any ofthis stuff?
Because the state, the thingsyou're telling me to risk, that
could cost me everything.
Right, this is legitimateobstacles.
They were, and think about whatobstacles get in our way of
(20:29):
doing what's right.
Sometimes, you know, maybe theworld says we're crazy or we
don't want to cause the same, orperhaps the biggest of all,
we're comfortable, we'recomfortable, and if we're going
to do what's right, maybe thatmeans getting uncomfortable, and
a lot of times that justdoesn't happen because our
natural responses, we want tostay comfortable.
(20:50):
What I'm telling you is this isthis is this is a natural human
response.
And Esther was right here.
She was, you can see it righthere.
In response Look more car.
I'd love to help, bro, but I'msorry, I'm just sorry.
This is too good.
The situation I'm in right nowis too good.
(21:11):
Have you ever been there towhere you really you like to
help somebody?
But, man, somebody else willyou know, or you just you,
things are so good Maybe you're,you're crushing it, we're
crushing it at home, all yourkids are doing good stuff and
you just, I don't really reallythink we need to do anything
else.
I don't know that that'sserving others.
Man, we'll do it.
(21:32):
We get a chance, you know,because it's uncomfortable.
Let's just be real.
It's uncomfortable Sometimeswhen you go and you serve others
and you really truly trying todo the Lord's work.
It's not easy.
Particularly, you havespiritual warfare that's going
to come at you.
But we know, we know the rightthing.
We know the right thing to do.
Sometimes it's so hard to do it.
(21:53):
And let's see how Morca responds.
Look at verses 12.
Okay, it says they were late atEsther's worst morning, so more
time.
Got the words back right andwhat Esther just said?
It said.
And then let's just look atverse 13 and 14.
It says more time replied tothem, told them to reply to
Esther.
Rather, do not imagine that youare, the king's palace, can
(22:15):
escape any more than all theJews.
For if you remain silent thistime, relief and deliverance
will arise for the Jews fromanother place and you and your
father's house will perish.
And who knows whether you havenot attained royalty for such a
time as this Boy Morca guy'sanswer and his response back
(22:38):
that's some of the most directfeedback you'll ever hear or
you'll ever read.
He basically said look, I don'tcare if you're in the castle,
you're chilling out, you got allthe luxuries, you're eating
grapes, you got all the goodstuff going on.
Because right here, in thismoment, you need to remember,
dog on it, who you are.
You are a Jew and you have aduty to your people.
(22:59):
That was it.
And you don't know what our Godis, so big and so powerful.
If he chose you to do thisright, you better step up and
take some action, because if youdon't, he's going to make it
happen somewhere else.
He's probably taking out in theprocess.
I mean, that's just powerfulstuff right here.
And this, that last sentenceright there where he said look,
(23:23):
and who knows whether you havenot attained royalty for such a
time as this, that made me thinkit all brave heart speech.
Right, they can never take off.
Freedom, that's it.
He's reminding her that thecircumstances that occurred to
get her in this position are notby mistake, fellas.
There's a reason.
There is a reason that's thetime to act is right now.
(23:45):
And this hard truth is theultimate rally cry at the end.
He's trying to give her a rallycry for her to respond.
That's what we're seeing righthere, and, as a, as a mentor,
that's what we have to dosometimes.
We have to challenge others.
If you're going to be aneffective mentor, you're not
(24:05):
just going to be able to tellpeople how you're doing great,
you're doing great.
No, you have to challenge them.
Ok, and that's sometimes.
That's.
That's hard, but the best waythat most of us grow, I think,
if you think back, is when weare challenged.
That's it.
When we are challenged, we arewhen we're up against the wall.
That's where you grow.
When I'm being a mentor or I'mmentoring others, it's the hard
(24:27):
moments, those hard moments,that produce the growth.
Right, it was when you realizethat, hey, there's no golden
path out there.
Right, you don't want it, youhave to just ultimately dig in.
Right, you got to take itsometimes.
You got to take that path.
That's full of mud, full ofbriars and full of different.
You know nooks and grannies,but you know it's the right one
(24:48):
to take.
Right, it's calling out theirfriend when they're spending too
much time looking at otherwomen speaking to some of you
guys out there right now Now Iknow I am Right.
Or if we see inappropriatepictures on the website I eat
the porn, the pornography world.
Right, it takes standing up onthe values that God has called
(25:09):
you to follow in your journey.
Let's just face it Mentoring ishard.
It really is.
When you're doing it right andyou're actually caring for
others, mentoring is hard.
It can also be extremelypowerful.
You can see right here, betweenEsther and Mordecai, the back
and forth right, the ping pongtable tennis back and forth
(25:32):
between the two.
Hey, do you understand this?
Yes, but hey, I don't care.
Do you know what?
What hangs in the balance?
That takes an extreme, extremelevel of connection in
relationship to be able to speakto each other that way.
That's extremely encouraging tome.
Hopefully it is for you too.
(25:54):
Because, guys, if you'rethinking about, yeah, I want to
be a mentor just so I can goshoot hoops with people, yeah,
that's great, that's great.
Shoot hoops, having the funtalks, that's great.
You want to do that.
But if you never get beyondsurface level connection with
your mentee, or if you never leta mentor get beyond surface
(26:16):
level with you as their mentor,as their mentor, there is no
growth.
That's just hanging out Again,me and my mentor, my mentee,
when we're together.
I had a hard conversation withhim.
I talked to him about sexualimpurity.
I talked to him about fallingChrist.
(26:37):
I talked to him aboutprotecting his eyes and speech
and how he should respond.
I challenge him to read theBible.
I'm doing things that are notalways comfortable, but he knows
I'm doing it.
I love because I spend so muchtime with him, and it's
something that I prioritize.
And it's something, guys, thatyou can see right here between
(26:58):
Esther and Mordecai directly,how he spoke the truth to her.
She listened.
She could absolutely walk awayfrom this stuff, guys, but she
didn't.
She listened.
Now we're going to see howEsther responds to this ultimate
rally cry for Mordecai as wemove forward.
So we'll take our probably ourlast break, guys.
(27:20):
We'll be right back.
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All right, fellas.
So we've been working throughthis idea of mentorship, looking
at the relationship betweenMordecai and the Lion Within,
mordecai and Esther in the Bookof Esther in the Old Testament.
So now we're going to look atthree more verses.
(28:46):
Okay, just three more.
We're not going to unpack thewhole Book of Esther.
I really want you to do that onyour own.
But look at verses 15 through17.
This is Esther's answer back toMordecai.
Now, just remember, mordecaijust laid all this stuff out to
her and basically this is ahanging on the on the rent
moment where she says he'scalling her out to Saint Girl,
(29:06):
you need to step up.
That's Chris's short, condensedversion.
Okay, so verse 15 says thenEsther told them to reply to
Mordecai go assemble all theJews who are found in Sousa and
fast for me.
You're not eating a drink forthree days, night or day, and I
am my maid.
Maidens will also fast in thesame way, and thus I will go
(29:28):
into the king, which is notaccording to the law, and if I
perish, I perish.
So Mordecai went away and didjust as Esther had commanded him
.
So now this response right herespeaks to the character and
nature of Esther.
She had a few ways.
She couldn't respond, let'sjust be real.
And the decision she made wouldhave had tremendous impact on
(29:51):
so many generations, and we seeright here in verse 15,.
Then Esther told them to replyto Mordecai.
We see right here, she did notrun away, she didn't.
She could have taken Mordecai'sfeedback in this moment and
dismissed it.
Let's just think about it.
She could have.
She could have gotten mad athim.
She could have said Mordecai,who are you talking to?
(30:13):
Because when we get feedback,we don't like fellas, let's just
be real with it.
Often we put that to the side,don't we?
We don't want to listen to thatstuff.
Well, somebody's giving usdirect feedback that way.
No, that's not what she did.
She heard the feedback and,even though it was hard, she
took action.
So here's what she think about.
(30:33):
When you read this one versewhat action do you need to take
that you know you've beenputting off.
It's the Holy Spirit callingyou to do something.
Is he telling you to take thatstep in obedience?
If he is, why aren't youwalking?
Why aren't you stepping?
Let's just be real, you got totake that step of obedience.
(30:54):
Guys, I know it can be hard, itcan be scary.
There's nothing like takingthat step in obedience.
That will set you free, andthis is what she did here.
Then we get to the verse of that.
That's our verse of week, verse16, right when it talks about
going to assemble all the Jewswho are found in Susan and fast
for me.
You're going to eat a drink forthree days or night.
Three days, night or day, Imight make millions who also
(31:17):
fast the same way, and thus Iwill go to the king, which is
not according to the law, and ifI perish, I perish.
So right here again, shedoesn't call for prayers.
She's not calling for that, butwe know that prayer is tied to
the fasting piece, and shedoesn't just ask them to do it
right.
She's saying straight up look,I want you to do this, mordecai
and all the Jewish people to doit, but you're not going to do
(31:39):
it alone, I'm going to do itwith you.
I'm going to do it with you.
To me, that jumps out as when Ithink about Esther just that
part of this verse it's so easyto try to outsource stuff, right
.
Hey, just get this departmentto do it right, or get this
division to do it right.
(32:00):
Try to outsource these things.
So where can I get people to dothis editing or whatever it may
be?
And outsourcing is not.
Sometimes it has its place, butnot when it comes to things
that God's called you to doRight, and this is a spirit to
that moment.
Maybe God's calling you toactually step out in your faith
(32:21):
and do the work, and maybe thatmeans not just writing the check
this time, and so many of us,me included, feel like you know
what.
I'll just try to check andsupport it, or I just you want
to give my chairland Don'tmistake what I'm saying A lot,
of, a lot of the efforts, a lotof things that are out there
need your monetary support.
There's definitely a need forthat, but sometimes you got to
(32:44):
put your boots on.
You got to go to work.
This year, for instance, wechanged our whole vacation
structure.
We didn't really do a vacation,we did a short little beach
weekend.
We didn't do a week long tripor anything.
This year what I did is Irescheduled my personal time off
for my primary job to have atime at camp with both my
(33:06):
daughters At the time of thisrecording, after I've already
done one camp with my 11 yearold, and then next week I'll be
going to camp with my 12 yearold and to a youth camp.
And when I look at that, youknow I start thinking through
you know what.
I've had a lot of picturespopping up on my phone lately of
(33:27):
previous years and things likethat, cause we usually go to the
beach just time of year, thetime of this recording at least,
and all those pictures aregreat and they're wonderful.
They were great memories.
So I'm not, you know, trying todiminish any of that, but the
time I had with my 11 year oldat her camp was so precious and
I saw her grow in herrelationship with Christ.
(33:49):
I was able to grow as well.
It has some conversations andsome connections with some
people that I never would havehad if I wasn't there.
But I had to put as a prioritythe things of God over the
things that I want to do, causeif you've ever been to a kids
camp or youth camp, you don'thave to talk about it.
(34:10):
It's not a picnic, it's not awalking apart.
You're doing a lot of walking.
It's hot middle summer.
You're outside, you're inside,you're marching around.
The schedule's jam packed.
The schedule starts at seven inthe morning and it goes to nine
30 at night.
There's literally hardly anydowntime, but at the same time
you're helping kids grow inChrist.
(34:30):
So I knew that was an act Ineeded to take.
I knew that was something Ineeded to do and for me,
replacing the fun and joy ofmaybe going to sit at the beach
for a week and buggy boring allthat fun stuff with serving him
is so much more fulfilling, somuch more fulfilling.
So maybe he's calling you totake that action and to do the
(34:53):
hard stuff.
So we see right here, shedidn't outsource any of that,
right, she prayed, she fastedwith them three days, three
nights.
Now, why was she doing that?
She was doing that because Godwas preparing her.
He was preparing her, he waspreparing her heart, he was
preparing her spirit to be ableto do stuff that he was calling
(35:14):
her to do.
Right, and she knew this isgonna be real, this is gonna be
hard, this is not gonna be easy.
I'm gonna have to step out anddo some things that are gonna be
very, extremely difficult.
And what you see right here inthis verse, thus, I will go to
the King, which is not accordingto the law, and if I perish, I
perish.
She's basically saying righthere, guys, I'm gonna do it, I'm
(35:38):
gonna do it.
It may cost me everything, butI'm gonna do it right.
And when I read that, that'sfaith, that's courage, that's
strength, that's power, that'sconfidence, all that stuff.
And again, she knows who, sheis man, she's a bloodbought
daughter of the King, right,just like I mentioned in the
(36:00):
spiritual kickoff, just likeDaniel, his friend Shadrach,
meshach and Abednego, theydidn't know they were gonna be
saved when they went up to well,walking up to that staircase,
to the furnace.
They didn't know that, theydidn't know how the story was
gonna turn out.
We just think about them nowdancing in the fire.
And they had the fourth onethere, right?
No, when they were walking upthere, yes, they had faith, but
(36:22):
they didn't know.
That is confidence, right there,guys, just like you guys hear
me talk about airplanes a lot.
You know I don't like flying ona big fly.
I have to fly for the work thatI do now as part of it.
But you can have confidencethat planes are gonna fly, right
, but you don't have faith in it.
(36:43):
You're not walking that faithout to step on that plane and
sit down in that chair andyou're on that runway and you're
taking off.
At that point you're walking atyour faith, right?
It's the same thing here, guys,you can see what Esther was
doing At this moment.
She was unwilling to compromiseher early ship with God.
(37:03):
She was gonna do what was right, even if it killed her, even if
it killed her.
And so, fellas, I'm justtelling you as a mentor you see,
the last part is verse.
The last part right here, verse17.
It says so.
Mordecai went away and did asEsther had commanded him.
(37:25):
Now, mordecai was Esther'smentor, right, she was the
mentee.
What we see right here is thathe responded accordingly and
that the mentor themselves needto respect your relationship
with the mentee and followthrough to stay true to the
relationship that is built.
(37:46):
So if your mentee tells you toask you to do something and it's
in accordance to what you'retrying to help them with on
their journey, sometimes youjust gotta do it.
And what, mordecai, was whatEsther asked Mordecai, there's
not a doubt in my mind thatMordecai obeyed.
He gathered the Jews, theyfasted, they prayed for three
(38:08):
days because they knew what wasgetting ready to happen.
So, basically, what's going onhere?
She says doesn't matter to callsomeone, do it, it doesn't
matter the cost, we're gonna doit.
I'm gonna tell you one thing,fellas if you just take the time
and read this as a family it'sonly 10 chapters You're gonna
(38:28):
see for yourself how taking anobedient step of faith can lead
to amazing blessings.
And that obedient step though,fellas, is not always easy,
right?
But Mordecai and Esther show usdirectly how and why mentors
that take action and walk outtheir faith, and how that can
(38:48):
make such an impact.
Just imagine how strong theworld around us would be if we
took this mindset and led everyday with the mission of doing
the work and helping othersadvance the kingdom of God.
Right, it would changeeverything, about everything.
I'm telling you, guys, this issuch a big deal, such a big deal
(39:10):
.
Don't miss this, because it'snot about cost, it's about the
obedience.
As we're wrapping up here, guys,I want you to think about how
do you mentor others?
You've had a really good lessonright here today and a biblical
example of what it looks liketo be a mentor and a mentee from
(39:32):
God's point of view, and we seethat.
So maybe you need to be aMordecai, maybe you're an Esther
.
Right now you're being mentoredby someone else, but are you
opening up your conduit to havethat connection with each other?
The way that they did this wasnot fake.
This was not a fake one at all.
This was 100% genuine authority, authentic, rather, connection
(39:56):
and relationship between thesetwo people who loved each other
and who were in a very extreme,difficult situation, but chose
obedience over the easy pathbecause they knew that's what
they were called to do.
So that's your challenge, guysGet out there, take that step in
obedience, walk in faith.
(40:17):
You can do this.
Be a mentor to others.
Think about the people in yourlife right now that you could
start that connection with todayand have that mentor
relationship and then startwalking it out.
You have an example right hereon what that looks like.
So that is your challenge.
You know you have action youneed to take.
(40:39):
Quit putting it off.
Start being obedient to thespirit.
Find those people that you canhelp in their path.
And just remember this too,guys.
I have so many guys that tell meall the time well, I can't do
this because I've only knownthis much.
I only know this If you're justone step ahead, just one step
(40:59):
of someone else, you can helpthem.
You don't have to have adoctorate to figure all this
stuff out.
Just one step ahead Lifeexperiences, the stuff that crap
has happened to you.
Use it to help others in theirjourney.
You know I've gone through alot of stuff, fellas.
(41:20):
You've heard me talk aboutgoing through the pain of a
divorce, the pain of losing 130pounds, of being overweight and
unhealthy, job losses and losingour daughter and all these
things, guys that have.
I've tried in many ways to turnthose into opportunities to
(41:42):
help others, to serve others.
It's not always Chris has allthe answers, but Chris has been
through some stuff, so he wantsto use some of his stuff to help
others and you can see righthere this relationship between
Morrican and Esther is abeautiful example of that.
So I pray you guys enjoyed thisand I pray this helped you out
today.
I would ask that you just sharethis with others.
(42:03):
Maybe share this with someonethat you want to be a mentor
with and just have aconversation, or maybe you want
them to be a mentor and have aconversation about it.
Guys, but mentors take actionand it's time that we step up
and we lean in.
I would ask you to leave us arating and review.
I pray that you wouldprayerfully consider that.
Go to the lionwithinus.
That's the lionwithinus for allour resources.
(42:26):
You have our access to ourcommunity, all of our blogs, all
the stuff we put out each andevery week.
Guys, I'm telling you we put alot of work and a lot of effort
into the lionwithinus.
So if you're listening, ifyou're finding any value
whatsoever, I would encourageyou to just check out our
website, see if there'ssomething there that would serve
you well.
We would definitely haveopportunities.
(42:46):
We have a blog on there talkingabout have a Paul, barnabas and
Timothy.
That'd be a great one to checkout, particularly if this
message today resonated with you.
Okay, so come back on Friday.
Have some really good tips whenwe use for you.
Give you on Friday Got somegood dad jokes.
We'll have some fun there.
We'll unpack a few more thingshere around mentorship and we'll
go from there.
(43:07):
So stay strong, stay committed.
Use the Old Testament.
I'm telling you, use the OldTestament.
It is beneficial, fellas.
It will help you grow.
It will help you have thatdeeper relationship with Jesus
as you move forward,particularly when you take the
time to study God's word and seewhat the Holy Spirit reveals to
you.
(43:27):
So stay strong, stay after it,get after it and have a great
day.
Come back on Friday.
Look forward to seeing you guyson our fun Friday.
Don't forget to unleash thelion.
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, guys, it's me timeand I'll tell you what I'm
excited for this one.
This is one that I just thinkwe're going to have a lot of fun
.
Hopefully it's going to helpyou grow.
Before we get too far, let's getinto our scripture.
Okay, so our scripture thisweek is in Esther, chapter 4,
(00:26):
verse 16.
It says Go gather together allthe Jews who are in Sousa and
fast for me.
Do not eat or drink for threedays, night or day, and I am my
attendance what fasts as you do.
When this is done, I will go tothe king, even though it was
against the law, and if I perish, I perish.
So, guys, I spent a lot of timeunpacking that one particular
(00:47):
verse and our spiritual kickoffs, and go listen to that one,
because it really speaks toreally where we're getting into
this episode today, okay, thementorship and the ability to
speak truth, and to otherpeople's life, and to see how
Esther respondent to Mordecaiwhen he spoke to her.
This was her response If Iperish, I perish.
So we're going to unpack whatthat means more in depth.
(01:09):
If you haven't listened to thatspiritual kickoff yet, please
go check that out.
Okay, now, the way we've beendoing these lately is I have a
wonderful opportunity at mylocal church to teach Sunday
school.
I put a lot of effort intoSunday school lessons and really
tried to dig into the wordstudy to make that time together
with the believers you knowspecial, and so I started doing
(01:32):
this, usually about once a month.
These solo episodes they'rebasically from a Sunday school
lesson that we have at our localchurch.
So there's your invitation.
If you want to come to havechurch with us and hear a
potential Lionel Dennis episode,hey, come on to our local
church here and it's in Cree,mornal, carolina.
We'd love to have you yet be avisitor, come to the Sunday
(01:53):
school and we'll love to haveyou as a guest and be.
Hopefully, I can be teachingthat Sunday.
You'll be able to sit in withus and enjoy.
So, anyway, we're going to betalking about today the ultimate
point of this lesson.
What we're going to try to getthrough, guys, is that we need
to encourage others to followGod's leadership, no matter the
costs.
Okay, so that's really.
That's the crux that we'regoing to be getting to.
(02:14):
So to kind of get us thinking aswe get moving, for all she
think about risk takers.
So you may be a risk takeryourself.
Maybe you may be.
You're a skydiver.
I know we have some skydivingguys in our Lionel Dennis
community.
Those guys are crazy but youknow, hey, they love it.
Maybe we have some scuba divers, some bungee jumpers, some
adrenaline junkies, you knowroller coasters, things like
that.
(02:34):
Taking risk, really, when youthink about it, goes kind
against our nature, like thebrain, right, the brain that we
have the way, the brain that GodGod designed is basically he
designed it so it keep us alive.
That's what we're constantlydoing.
We're trying to protectourselves and keep us alive at
all costs, because taking riskis scary.
Okay, I just think about when Idecided to start this, the
(02:55):
Lionel Dennis, and as somebodywho's kind of an introvert
that's really who I am at thecore it was pretty risky.
You know, I've been a W2employee my whole life to try to
start something like the LionelDennis where you're doing it on
your own.
This was scary fellas.
You know, spiritual warfare hasbeen intense, right, the work
can be exhausting.
(03:16):
I'm just gonna be real with you, but when you're doing what
God's called you to do, it givesyou clarity, it really does,
and it helps you see.
Okay, here's the next steps youwon't be to take and that's
what we're going to kind of see.
What in this story today, whatMordecai and Esther is all about
?
Okay, if she was asked to dothe things that she was totally
(03:38):
asked to do, could it end in herdeath?
That's just a I'm just gonna bea spoiler alert.
It could have killed her.
Yet her confidence in doingwhat she knew to be right by
God's provision led her down arisky road and she was able to
walk in confidence there.
Okay Now, interesting fact, Imentioned this on a spiritual
kickoff and some of you guys maynot have been able to hear it
(03:59):
yet, but God has actually nevermentioned in this story of
Esther.
Okay, so what's going on here?
You have, the people are inexile because of their sin, and
this is takes place usually inthe area of Persia, iran, today.
So, mordecai and Esther, you'regoing to be talking about those
two names.
Mordecai is Esther's cousin andwe're going to see how the
(04:20):
relationship grew to help Estherdo great works for God's people
.
Okay, so we're going to startoff in Esther twos, if you want
to open your bottles to Esthertoo and we're just going to look
at a few verses here.
And it says right here Nowthere was at the Citadel and
Susa a Jew whose name wasMordecai, the son of Jair, the
son of Sheema, the son of Kish,a Benjamin who had been taken
(04:43):
into exile from Jerusalem withthe captives who have been
exiled, with the jacquani kingfrom Judah, who never connects
her to King of Babylon and exile.
He was bringing up Hadassah,that is, esther, his uncle's
daughter, where she had nofather or mother.
Now the young lady wasbeautiful, beautiful a form and
face.
Now her father and her motherdied.
Mordecai took her as her owndaughter, as his own daughter,
(05:07):
sorry about that, fellas.
So we need to have a little bitof context first of what's
going on here.
So the king in chapter one hadhad a banquet for like seven
days.
I mean, this was a party,fellas.
I'm telling you these boys aregetting down.
They were drinking, they werepartying it up.
Now what he had asked for washis queen Vashti to come
(05:28):
basically during this party andto show how beautiful she was.
Now doing even further research.
When I was looking into this,it actually tells her he wanted
her to bring her to where hercrown and come to the men there
at the party.
There are some accounts thatwhen you study this, say that's
(05:48):
all he wanted her to wear.
So he was basically asking thequeen to come out wearing your
crown and nothing else in frontof a room.
Basically, let's just get realI would have a bunch of drunk
guys because the wine wasflowing, fellas.
So what happened was she's likeno, that ain't happening.
I don't care, it ain'thappening, buddy.
(06:09):
And so when she made that, itkind of was like an
embarrassment, as I slap in theface to the king.
So he banished her.
So he banished her from it.
So basically, they had toreplace her.
So when they, the way they didthat, they put on just think of
it as this like intense beautypageant, okay.
(06:32):
And what's going on?
They had they brought in allthese ladies from from these the
virgin ladies from around, andthey put them through these
different tests and things likethat, and they were preparing to
see who would be the next queen.
Okay, that's ultimately what'shappened to Esther.
She is chosen by the king atthe very end of it, she gets,
(06:53):
she takes the queen's position.
So that's really what's goingon.
So if we look as I'm kind ofpacking this verse by verse we
look at five, we see that versefive, rather, we see it now.
There was in the citadel SusaJew whose name Mordecai, the son
of Jer, the son of Shime, theson of Kesh, the Benjamin.
So what is that telling here?
Primarily, what's what we'reseeing here is is Mordecai's
(07:15):
Jewish heritage.
Okay, he had the lineage fromthe tribe of Benjamin and he and
he knew that his heritage meantthat he was to be called by God
to be set apart for service toGod, to him.
That's it.
We see this also.
For me it helps to understandhey, this is this is this is
real, this is not fake.
Okay, let's look at verse six.
(07:36):
It says who'd been taken intothe exile from Jerusalem, from
the captains who have beenexiled from, with a, a jacona,
the king of Judah, who've neverconnected to the king of Babylon
, had exiled.
So what?
This is telling us?
The port.
There's verses like this guy.
Sometimes we read them in aBible.
We're like what is the world,is this here for?
I'm going to tell you why One.
(07:56):
God wants it to be there.
That's the main thing.
There's not a single word inthis Bible.
That's not God breed, but theseverses point to the absolute
realness of the word of God.
We're not reading a fairy tale,fellas.
This is not like Snow White orCinderella, or or or or Shrek or
something like that.
I mean, come on, these areactual events that happen to
(08:18):
real people just like you and me.
Cause easy to read God's work.
It is so easy to read God'swork and think of it as, like
you know, fiction, like theChronicles of Narnia or things
like that, but that's inaccurate.
We can see here the truth andactually you can dig into second
King, second Chronicles andJeremiah and find further
(08:39):
evidence of this timeline andthese events.
So I'm telling you, fellas,don't ever read God's word and
just think you know what this isfor someone else.
This is.
This is not real.
No, this stuff happened.
I know it can be so hard to beto put your your your mind here
and picture these people asbeing real people, but I am
telling you this is Dan thereand word of God.
(09:00):
We need to understand that.
Now let's look over seven.
He, talking about Mordecai, wasbringing up Hadassah, dennis,
esther, his uncle's daughter,for she had no father and no
mother.
Now, the young lady wasbeautiful a form and face.
When her father and her motherdied, mordecai took her as his
own daughter.
So how many of you guys outthere have cousins?
I'm sure most of you do, okay,and a lot of times cousins are,
(09:23):
let's just face it.
They're usually somewhatsimilar in age.
We don't have all and we don'thave all the details of the gap,
of the age gap here and thestory.
It's pretty apparent that therewas enough gap here for
Mordecai to be Esther's legalguardian.
Okay, and what I thought wasinteresting when we start
studying this Hadassah, when youstart reading it, studying the
(09:44):
meanings of the words and names,it means, it means it means
myrtle tree, and that canactually be connected to mercy.
And that's really cool when youthink about it, because you see
God's merciful hand allthroughout this story,
particularly when the going istough, and it really does.
And we also know from this thisone verse right here, that what
she was good looking, let'sjust be real.
(10:06):
I mean, she won the beautycontest, so we know she must
have been an absolute headturner, fellas, let's just be
real.
She was also an orphan.
We can see that and you can seethat Mordecai right here.
This one verse, he stepped upand he took her in as his
daughter.
Okay, this was huge back then,fellas, because as women in this
(10:26):
time, they needed protection,right.
They needed connection withfamily as well.
This speaks directly toMordecai's character.
Let's just be clear about this.
There is no funny businesswhatsoever happening here, and
there's no kissing cousins oranything like that.
He loved her as a father and hewanted her to grow and
(10:49):
ultimately, what he was was forme, for her, was a great mentor.
Yes, he was being a fatherfigure, for sure, he was being a
great mentor, and I want youguys to think about that for a
second.
How do you mentor your family?
That can be hard, right.
The hardest thing we can dosometimes is mentor our family.
It really can be.
Now, when I think about this, Ithink about my little buddy.
(11:11):
His name is Trevor and how muchI love him.
It's just spending time withhim.
Each month, we usually spendsome time together.
I mentor him, but that's alittle easier because we're not.
We don't have the bloodrelation, and so I can be check
him pretty hard and he's goingto listen, and there's going to
be a day when he's going to cometo me with some hard stuff and
I'm going to have to be listenedand I'm going to have to obey,
and it goes back and forth,right.
(11:33):
So mentoring others is it canbe.
It's not always a walk in thepark, fellas, particularly when
it's family, and I think that'sone reason why this story jumps
out so much at me of aconfidence to be able to do this
as a Christian leader, becauseyou know what it's not always.
(11:53):
It's not always just cut anddrive black or white.
There are some family dynamicsthat we're going on here, but
more to cut, ultimately, whatyou see in this relationship is
his love for her, her love forhim as as as as family, and he
knew that.
She knew that ultimately, theyweren't the best for each other.
Sometimes you're going to haveto see, you have to step out in
(12:15):
faith to do that.
So we're going to get ready tolearn about another member of
this account, okay, which isthis story and any story.
You have a little conflict, sothis is going to be talked about
.
It's a guy named Heyman.
Okay, he's a ruthless fellow.
He hated the Jews, and we'regoing to see how Warkeye guided
Esther in the face of extremepersecution fellas, I'm telling
(12:36):
you extreme persecution andwe're going to see how she
responded when that hate wascoming directly at her.
So we'll be right back afterthis break.
Are you enjoying the weeklyspiritual kickoff?
And so we are now offering away to participate in our live
(12:56):
daily spiritual kickoffs thathappen Monday through Friday in
our community.
This is your chance to chatwith me directly and other
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daily walk.
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(13:16):
So, for what most people payfor breakfast meal, you can join
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Sign up now at the lionwithinusand let's start this journey
(13:36):
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So visit the lionwithinus soyou don't miss out.
All right, guys, welcome backhere.
So we just unpacked the veryfirst part of this, of this
mentorship episode here, wherewe're talking about Esther,
mordecai.
(13:57):
Okay, now I want you to skip onfour.
If you're reading the long-ishBible, you can open up to
chapter four.
We're going to spend the restof our time in chapter four,
okay, so go to the chapter four.
We're going to look at verseseight through 14 together.
So let's just read God's wordto get us started and then we'll
unpack it and we'll see whatthe Holy Spirit reveals to us as
we move forward.
So, looking at verse eight, itsays he also gave him a copy of
(14:17):
the text of the edict which hadbeen issued in Sousa for the
destruction that he might showEsther and inform her.
It's in order to get her to gointo the king, to go to the king
and implore his favor and toplead with him for her people.
Hattok came back and related toMordecai the words Esther.
Then Esther spoke to Hattok andordered him to reply to
Mordecai.
All the king's servants and thepeople of the king's provinces
(14:40):
know that for any man or womanwho comes to the king, to the
inner court, who is not summoned, he is but one law that he be
put to death.
Now let the king holds out tohim.
The golden skeptor said he maylive, and I have not been
summoned to come to the king forthese 30 days.
(15:00):
They were laid to Esther'swords to Mordecai right here.
Don't miss these.
Next cut two verses, guys, thisis Mordecai's response.
Then Mordecai told them toreply to Esther do not imagine
that you and the king's palacecan escape any more than all the
Jews, for if you remain silentat this time, relief and
deliverance will arise for theJews from another place and you
(15:22):
and your father's house willperish.
And who knows whether you havenot attained royalty for such a
time as this.
Guys, this is getting realright here.
This is the direct challenge.
You can see it right there.
We need more people in our life, right here, that are willing
to call it like it is.
I'm telling you, instead ofalways just following that line,
(15:45):
to agree.
And Mordecai, he was not a yesman.
You can see that directly.
And while his response toEsther, you may say it's too
direct, this is exactly the typeof message that needed to be
delivered, based off of whathung in the balance.
Guys, I'm telling you there wasso much that was hanging right
here.
He could not afford to tip youto around.
(16:05):
Let's just dig into the wordand just see what the Holy
Spirit says to us as we, as welook at these verses.
To look at verses eight, nineagain real quick, so I'll just
read real quick for you.
He says he also gave him a copyof the edict which had been
issued to Susan for thedestruction that he might show
Esther and former and to orderher to go to the king and to
deploy his favor and to playwith him for her people.
(16:27):
Had it came back or related toMordecai, mordecai's words to
Esther.
So what's going on here isEsther saying a Mordecai.
Actually we see Mordecai.
Actually we see, sorry aboutthat we see Mordecai reacting to
the edict that Haman the guy Imentioned earlier, had
essentially laid down.
(16:47):
So what Haman did?
He went and he persuaded theking to put this edict in effect
.
And what the edict stated wasthey had a day set that the Jews
were going to be executed andthere was nothing they could do
about it.
So this led the Jews to becrashing, to be crying out, to
be fasting, to be lamenting, toput on sad clothed ashes.
(17:07):
I mean, just think about that,right.
How would you feel that if youknew in two weeks from now,
whenever you listen to this, twoweeks from now, people will be
coming to kill you and yourentire family?
There was nothing you could doabout it?
How would you feel?
This was real anguish going on,fellas.
This was too.
This was impacting Mordecaideeply, deeply.
(17:31):
And Mordecai knew something.
I got to do, I got to act.
I can't just sit here.
I got to take action.
So Hattok he was like Esther'sunit, so he was basically like a
messenger between Mordecai andEsther.
So he was there to take care ofEsther, and I can imagine that
the message that he had todeliver Esther was probably hard
(17:51):
, because this was goingdirectly against the king that
he was serving as well.
Right, so just don't mess thatone little nuance there with
this story.
But there is a direct messagethat Mordecai was going to have
to send, because this edict thatHaman had laid down, this was
going to impact everything,they're whole family.
(18:14):
Think about the people thatwere that hung in the balance If
Mordecai didn't act here.
It's so, so powerful.
So let's look at verses 10 and11 again.
Fellas says then Esther spoketo Hattok and ordered him to
reply to Mordecai.
All the king's servants and thepeople of the king's provinces
(18:38):
know that for any man or womanwho comes to the king in the
intercourt, who is not something, he has built one law that he
be put to death and let the kingholds out the golden scepter so
he may live.
And I have not been summoned tocome to the king for 30 days.
So, basically, what's happeningright here is Esther saying
(19:00):
look bro, I hate Mordecai, butdo you remember the rules of the
game?
Do you truly know how this gameis played?
I can't just go to the king.
Here's why I haven't beeninvited.
So it's not like a marriagethat we have these days.
Fellas, I'm just probablythrowing some of you guys off.
I know it threw me off too whenI read it the first time.
Till I started studying it, itwasn't like the king and the
(19:22):
queen that had access to eachother at all times.
No, it's not it.
The queen was set aside andwhen she was needed she would be
called for.
That was really where it was.
When he requested it, she cameand they had strict rules, very
strict rules.
If you did not obey, you wouldbe killed or, like the last girl
(19:47):
.
She didn't come up when she wastold and she was exiled, she
was outed.
So, Baye Esther knew in thismoment that that say, I'd love
to help, but I can't go unlessI'm called Mordecai, don't you
know that?
Because I'm not risking what Ihave right now.
Look at this dude, like I'm inthe palace, I am the queen.
(20:07):
People do what they, what Itell them to do.
There's food, there's shelter,there's comfort.
I don't have a lot of stress,right?
Why do I need to risk any ofthis stuff?
Because the state, the thingsyou're telling me to risk, that
could cost me everything.
Right, this is legitimateobstacles.
They were, and think about whatobstacles get in our way of
(20:29):
doing what's right.
Sometimes, you know, maybe theworld says we're crazy or we
don't want to cause the same, orperhaps the biggest of all,
we're comfortable, we'recomfortable, and if we're going
to do what's right, maybe thatmeans getting uncomfortable, and
a lot of times that justdoesn't happen because our
natural responses, we want tostay comfortable.
(20:50):
What I'm telling you is this isthis is this is a natural human
response.
And Esther was right here.
She was, you can see it righthere.
In response Look more car.
I'd love to help, bro, but I'msorry, I'm just sorry.
This is too good.
The situation I'm in right nowis too good.
(21:11):
Have you ever been there towhere you really you like to
help somebody?
But, man, somebody else willyou know, or you just you,
things are so good Maybe you're,you're crushing it, we're
crushing it at home, all yourkids are doing good stuff and
you just, I don't really reallythink we need to do anything
else.
I don't know that that'sserving others.
Man, we'll do it.
(21:32):
We get a chance, you know,because it's uncomfortable.
Let's just be real.
It's uncomfortable Sometimeswhen you go and you serve others
and you really truly trying todo the Lord's work.
It's not easy.
Particularly, you havespiritual warfare that's going
to come at you.
But we know, we know the rightthing.
We know the right thing to do.
Sometimes it's so hard to do it.
(21:53):
And let's see how Morca responds.
Look at verses 12.
Okay, it says they were late atEsther's worst morning, so more
time.
Got the words back right andwhat Esther just said?
It said.
And then let's just look atverse 13 and 14.
It says more time replied tothem, told them to reply to
Esther.
Rather, do not imagine that youare, the king's palace, can
(22:15):
escape any more than all theJews.
For if you remain silent thistime, relief and deliverance
will arise for the Jews fromanother place and you and your
father's house will perish.
And who knows whether you havenot attained royalty for such a
time as this Boy Morca guy'sanswer and his response back
(22:38):
that's some of the most directfeedback you'll ever hear or
you'll ever read.
He basically said look, I don'tcare if you're in the castle,
you're chilling out, you got allthe luxuries, you're eating
grapes, you got all the goodstuff going on.
Because right here, in thismoment, you need to remember,
dog on it, who you are.
You are a Jew and you have aduty to your people.
(22:59):
That was it.
And you don't know what our Godis, so big and so powerful.
If he chose you to do thisright, you better step up and
take some action, because if youdon't, he's going to make it
happen somewhere else.
He's probably taking out in theprocess.
I mean, that's just powerfulstuff right here.
And this, that last sentenceright there where he said look,
(23:23):
and who knows whether you havenot attained royalty for such a
time as this, that made me thinkit all brave heart speech.
Right, they can never take off.
Freedom, that's it.
He's reminding her that thecircumstances that occurred to
get her in this position are notby mistake, fellas.
There's a reason.
There is a reason that's thetime to act is right now.
(23:45):
And this hard truth is theultimate rally cry at the end.
He's trying to give her a rallycry for her to respond.
That's what we're seeing righthere, and, as a, as a mentor,
that's what we have to dosometimes.
We have to challenge others.
If you're going to be aneffective mentor, you're not
(24:05):
just going to be able to tellpeople how you're doing great,
you're doing great.
No, you have to challenge them.
Ok, and that's sometimes.
That's.
That's hard, but the best waythat most of us grow, I think,
if you think back, is when weare challenged.
That's it.
When we are challenged, we arewhen we're up against the wall.
That's where you grow.
When I'm being a mentor or I'mmentoring others, it's the hard
(24:27):
moments, those hard moments,that produce the growth.
Right, it was when you realizethat, hey, there's no golden
path out there.
Right, you don't want it, youhave to just ultimately dig in.
Right, you got to take itsometimes.
You got to take that path.
That's full of mud, full ofbriars and full of different.
You know nooks and grannies,but you know it's the right one
(24:48):
to take.
Right, it's calling out theirfriend when they're spending too
much time looking at otherwomen speaking to some of you
guys out there right now Now Iknow I am Right.
Or if we see inappropriatepictures on the website I eat
the porn, the pornography world.
Right, it takes standing up onthe values that God has called
(25:09):
you to follow in your journey.
Let's just face it Mentoring ishard.
It really is.
When you're doing it right andyou're actually caring for
others, mentoring is hard.
It can also be extremelypowerful.
You can see right here, betweenEsther and Mordecai, the back
and forth right, the ping pongtable tennis back and forth
(25:32):
between the two.
Hey, do you understand this?
Yes, but hey, I don't care.
Do you know what?
What hangs in the balance?
That takes an extreme, extremelevel of connection in
relationship to be able to speakto each other that way.
That's extremely encouraging tome.
Hopefully it is for you too.
(25:54):
Because, guys, if you'rethinking about, yeah, I want to
be a mentor just so I can goshoot hoops with people, yeah,
that's great, that's great.
Shoot hoops, having the funtalks, that's great.
You want to do that.
But if you never get beyondsurface level connection with
your mentee, or if you never leta mentor get beyond surface
(26:16):
level with you as their mentor,as their mentor, there is no
growth.
That's just hanging out Again,me and my mentor, my mentee,
when we're together.
I had a hard conversation withhim.
I talked to him about sexualimpurity.
I talked to him about fallingChrist.
(26:37):
I talked to him aboutprotecting his eyes and speech
and how he should respond.
I challenge him to read theBible.
I'm doing things that are notalways comfortable, but he knows
I'm doing it.
I love because I spend so muchtime with him, and it's
something that I prioritize.
And it's something, guys, thatyou can see right here between
(26:58):
Esther and Mordecai directly,how he spoke the truth to her.
She listened.
She could absolutely walk awayfrom this stuff, guys, but she
didn't.
She listened.
Now we're going to see howEsther responds to this ultimate
rally cry for Mordecai as wemove forward.
So we'll take our probably ourlast break, guys.
(27:20):
We'll be right back.
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All right, fellas.
So we've been working throughthis idea of mentorship, looking
at the relationship betweenMordecai and the Lion Within,
mordecai and Esther in the Bookof Esther in the Old Testament.
So now we're going to look atthree more verses.
(28:46):
Okay, just three more.
We're not going to unpack thewhole Book of Esther.
I really want you to do that onyour own.
But look at verses 15 through17.
This is Esther's answer back toMordecai.
Now, just remember, mordecaijust laid all this stuff out to
her and basically this is ahanging on the on the rent
moment where she says he'scalling her out to Saint Girl,
(29:06):
you need to step up.
That's Chris's short, condensedversion.
Okay, so verse 15 says thenEsther told them to reply to
Mordecai go assemble all theJews who are found in Sousa and
fast for me.
You're not eating a drink forthree days, night or day, and I
am my maid.
Maidens will also fast in thesame way, and thus I will go
(29:28):
into the king, which is notaccording to the law, and if I
perish, I perish.
So Mordecai went away and didjust as Esther had commanded him
.
So now this response right herespeaks to the character and
nature of Esther.
She had a few ways.
She couldn't respond, let'sjust be real.
And the decision she made wouldhave had tremendous impact on
(29:51):
so many generations, and we seeright here in verse 15,.
Then Esther told them to replyto Mordecai.
We see right here, she did notrun away, she didn't.
She could have taken Mordecai'sfeedback in this moment and
dismissed it.
Let's just think about it.
She could have.
She could have gotten mad athim.
She could have said Mordecai,who are you talking to?
(30:13):
Because when we get feedback,we don't like fellas, let's just
be real with it.
Often we put that to the side,don't we?
We don't want to listen to thatstuff.
Well, somebody's giving usdirect feedback that way.
No, that's not what she did.
She heard the feedback and,even though it was hard, she
took action.
So here's what she think about.
(30:33):
When you read this one versewhat action do you need to take
that you know you've beenputting off.
It's the Holy Spirit callingyou to do something.
Is he telling you to take thatstep in obedience?
If he is, why aren't youwalking?
Why aren't you stepping?
Let's just be real, you got totake that step of obedience.
(30:54):
Guys, I know it can be hard, itcan be scary.
There's nothing like takingthat step in obedience.
That will set you free, andthis is what she did here.
Then we get to the verse of that.
That's our verse of week, verse16, right when it talks about
going to assemble all the Jewswho are found in Susan and fast
for me.
You're going to eat a drink forthree days or night.
Three days, night or day, Imight make millions who also
(31:17):
fast the same way, and thus Iwill go to the king, which is
not according to the law, and ifI perish, I perish.
So right here again, shedoesn't call for prayers.
She's not calling for that, butwe know that prayer is tied to
the fasting piece, and shedoesn't just ask them to do it
right.
She's saying straight up look,I want you to do this, mordecai
and all the Jewish people to doit, but you're not going to do
(31:39):
it alone, I'm going to do itwith you.
I'm going to do it with you.
To me, that jumps out as when Ithink about Esther just that
part of this verse it's so easyto try to outsource stuff, right
.
Hey, just get this departmentto do it right, or get this
division to do it right.
(32:00):
Try to outsource these things.
So where can I get people to dothis editing or whatever it may
be?
And outsourcing is not.
Sometimes it has its place, butnot when it comes to things
that God's called you to doRight, and this is a spirit to
that moment.
Maybe God's calling you toactually step out in your faith
(32:21):
and do the work, and maybe thatmeans not just writing the check
this time, and so many of us,me included, feel like you know
what.
I'll just try to check andsupport it, or I just you want
to give my chairland Don'tmistake what I'm saying A lot,
of, a lot of the efforts, a lotof things that are out there
need your monetary support.
There's definitely a need forthat, but sometimes you got to
(32:44):
put your boots on.
You got to go to work.
This year, for instance, wechanged our whole vacation
structure.
We didn't really do a vacation,we did a short little beach
weekend.
We didn't do a week long tripor anything.
This year what I did is Irescheduled my personal time off
for my primary job to have atime at camp with both my
(33:06):
daughters At the time of thisrecording, after I've already
done one camp with my 11 yearold, and then next week I'll be
going to camp with my 12 yearold and to a youth camp.
And when I look at that, youknow I start thinking through
you know what.
I've had a lot of picturespopping up on my phone lately of
(33:27):
previous years and things likethat, cause we usually go to the
beach just time of year, thetime of this recording at least,
and all those pictures aregreat and they're wonderful.
They were great memories.
So I'm not, you know, trying todiminish any of that, but the
time I had with my 11 year oldat her camp was so precious and
I saw her grow in herrelationship with Christ.
(33:49):
I was able to grow as well.
It has some conversations andsome connections with some
people that I never would havehad if I wasn't there.
But I had to put as a prioritythe things of God over the
things that I want to do, causeif you've ever been to a kids
camp or youth camp, you don'thave to talk about it.
(34:10):
It's not a picnic, it's not awalking apart.
You're doing a lot of walking.
It's hot middle summer.
You're outside, you're inside,you're marching around.
The schedule's jam packed.
The schedule starts at seven inthe morning and it goes to nine
30 at night.
There's literally hardly anydowntime, but at the same time
you're helping kids grow inChrist.
(34:30):
So I knew that was an act Ineeded to take.
I knew that was something Ineeded to do and for me,
replacing the fun and joy ofmaybe going to sit at the beach
for a week and buggy boring allthat fun stuff with serving him
is so much more fulfilling, somuch more fulfilling.
So maybe he's calling you totake that action and to do the
(34:53):
hard stuff.
So we see right here, shedidn't outsource any of that,
right, she prayed, she fastedwith them three days, three
nights.
Now, why was she doing that?
She was doing that because Godwas preparing her.
He was preparing her, he waspreparing her heart, he was
preparing her spirit to be ableto do stuff that he was calling
(35:14):
her to do.
Right, and she knew this isgonna be real, this is gonna be
hard, this is not gonna be easy.
I'm gonna have to step out anddo some things that are gonna be
very, extremely difficult.
And what you see right here inthis verse, thus, I will go to
the King, which is not accordingto the law, and if I perish, I
perish.
She's basically saying righthere, guys, I'm gonna do it, I'm
(35:38):
gonna do it.
It may cost me everything, butI'm gonna do it right.
And when I read that, that'sfaith, that's courage, that's
strength, that's power, that'sconfidence, all that stuff.
And again, she knows who, sheis man, she's a bloodbought
daughter of the King, right,just like I mentioned in the
(36:00):
spiritual kickoff, just likeDaniel, his friend Shadrach,
meshach and Abednego, theydidn't know they were gonna be
saved when they went up to well,walking up to that staircase,
to the furnace.
They didn't know that, theydidn't know how the story was
gonna turn out.
We just think about them nowdancing in the fire.
And they had the fourth onethere, right?
No, when they were walking upthere, yes, they had faith, but
(36:22):
they didn't know.
That is confidence, right there,guys, just like you guys hear
me talk about airplanes a lot.
You know I don't like flying ona big fly.
I have to fly for the work thatI do now as part of it.
But you can have confidencethat planes are gonna fly, right
, but you don't have faith in it.
(36:43):
You're not walking that faithout to step on that plane and
sit down in that chair andyou're on that runway and you're
taking off.
At that point you're walking atyour faith, right?
It's the same thing here, guys,you can see what Esther was
doing At this moment.
She was unwilling to compromiseher early ship with God.
(37:03):
She was gonna do what was right, even if it killed her, even if
it killed her.
And so, fellas, I'm justtelling you as a mentor you see,
the last part is verse.
The last part right here, verse17.
It says so.
Mordecai went away and did asEsther had commanded him.
(37:25):
Now, mordecai was Esther'smentor, right, she was the
mentee.
What we see right here is thathe responded accordingly and
that the mentor themselves needto respect your relationship
with the mentee and followthrough to stay true to the
relationship that is built.
(37:46):
So if your mentee tells you toask you to do something and it's
in accordance to what you'retrying to help them with on
their journey, sometimes youjust gotta do it.
And what, mordecai, was whatEsther asked Mordecai, there's
not a doubt in my mind thatMordecai obeyed.
He gathered the Jews, theyfasted, they prayed for three
(38:08):
days because they knew what wasgetting ready to happen.
So, basically, what's going onhere?
She says doesn't matter to callsomeone, do it, it doesn't
matter the cost, we're gonna doit.
I'm gonna tell you one thing,fellas if you just take the time
and read this as a family it'sonly 10 chapters You're gonna
(38:28):
see for yourself how taking anobedient step of faith can lead
to amazing blessings.
And that obedient step though,fellas, is not always easy,
right?
But Mordecai and Esther show usdirectly how and why mentors
that take action and walk outtheir faith, and how that can
(38:48):
make such an impact.
Just imagine how strong theworld around us would be if we
took this mindset and led everyday with the mission of doing
the work and helping othersadvance the kingdom of God.
Right, it would changeeverything, about everything.
I'm telling you, guys, this issuch a big deal, such a big deal
(39:10):
.
Don't miss this, because it'snot about cost, it's about the
obedience.
As we're wrapping up here, guys,I want you to think about how
do you mentor others?
You've had a really good lessonright here today and a biblical
example of what it looks liketo be a mentor and a mentee from
(39:32):
God's point of view, and we seethat.
So maybe you need to be aMordecai, maybe you're an Esther
.
Right now you're being mentoredby someone else, but are you
opening up your conduit to havethat connection with each other?
The way that they did this wasnot fake.
This was not a fake one at all.
This was 100% genuine authority, authentic, rather, connection
(39:56):
and relationship between thesetwo people who loved each other
and who were in a very extreme,difficult situation, but chose
obedience over the easy pathbecause they knew that's what
they were called to do.
So that's your challenge, guysGet out there, take that step in
obedience, walk in faith.
(40:17):
You can do this.
Be a mentor to others.
Think about the people in yourlife right now that you could
start that connection with todayand have that mentor
relationship and then startwalking it out.
You have an example right hereon what that looks like.
So that is your challenge.
You know you have action youneed to take.
(40:39):
Quit putting it off.
Start being obedient to thespirit.
Find those people that you canhelp in their path.
And just remember this too,guys.
I have so many guys that tell meall the time well, I can't do
this because I've only knownthis much.
I only know this If you're justone step ahead, just one step
(40:59):
of someone else, you can helpthem.
You don't have to have adoctorate to figure all this
stuff out.
Just one step ahead Lifeexperiences, the stuff that crap
has happened to you.
Use it to help others in theirjourney.
You know I've gone through alot of stuff, fellas.
(41:20):
You've heard me talk aboutgoing through the pain of a
divorce, the pain of losing 130pounds, of being overweight and
unhealthy, job losses and losingour daughter and all these
things, guys that have.
I've tried in many ways to turnthose into opportunities to
(41:42):
help others, to serve others.
It's not always Chris has allthe answers, but Chris has been
through some stuff, so he wantsto use some of his stuff to help
others and you can see righthere this relationship between
Morrican and Esther is abeautiful example of that.
So I pray you guys enjoyed thisand I pray this helped you out
today.
I would ask that you just sharethis with others.
(42:03):
Maybe share this with someonethat you want to be a mentor
with and just have aconversation, or maybe you want
them to be a mentor and have aconversation about it.
Guys, but mentors take actionand it's time that we step up
and we lean in.
I would ask you to leave us arating and review.
I pray that you wouldprayerfully consider that.
Go to the lionwithinus.
That's the lionwithinus for allour resources.
(42:26):
You have our access to ourcommunity, all of our blogs, all
the stuff we put out each andevery week.
Guys, I'm telling you we put alot of work and a lot of effort
into the lionwithinus.
So if you're listening, ifyou're finding any value
whatsoever, I would encourageyou to just check out our
website, see if there'ssomething there that would serve
you well.
We would definitely haveopportunities.
(42:46):
We have a blog on there talkingabout have a Paul, barnabas and
Timothy.
That'd be a great one to checkout, particularly if this
message today resonated with you.
Okay, so come back on Friday.
Have some really good tips whenwe use for you.
Give you on Friday Got somegood dad jokes.
We'll have some fun there.
We'll unpack a few more thingshere around mentorship and we'll
go from there.
(43:07):
So stay strong, stay committed.
Use the Old Testament.
I'm telling you, use the OldTestament.
It is beneficial, fellas.
It will help you grow.
It will help you have thatdeeper relationship with Jesus
as you move forward,particularly when you take the
time to study God's word and seewhat the Holy Spirit reveals to
you.
(43:27):
So stay strong, stay after it,get after it and have a great
day.
Come back on Friday.
Look forward to seeing you guyson our fun Friday.
Don't forget to unleash thelion.
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