VIDEO A Fascinating Few: Mordecai

For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen. Esther 10:3

One of the most familiar verses from the Old Testament is Esther 4:14—the words of Mordecai to his young cousin, Esther: “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” The older Mordecai had served as mentor and counselor to Esther, guiding her into the queenship in Persia where the Jews had been taken into captivity. Esther’s influence on the king saved the Jews from destruction. While Mordecai’s words applied to Esther, they could easily apply to Mordecai as well. Without his guidance and counsel to Esther, the plan to save the Jews would not have happened.

The story of Esther and Mordecai is an example of trusting in the providence and protection of God—a story of doing the next right thing and trusting God for the results. Mordecai’s courage and counsel resulted in the deliverance of the Jews in Persia.

We make plans, but the Lord determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9). Like Mordecai, we are called to be wise and brave—and faithful.

God does not give us everything we want. But He does fulfill His promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Esther 10

Tell Them What God Did

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors . . . . We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

My college friend Bill Tobias has served as a missionary on a Pacific island for many years. He tells the story about a young man who left his hometown to seek his fortune. But a friend took him to church where he heard the good news Jesus offers, and he trusted Christ as his Savior.

The young man wanted to take the gospel to his people who were “steeped in sorcery,” so he looked for a missionary to reach them. But the missionary told him to simply “go tell them what God did for you” (see Mark 5:19). And that’s what he did. Several people in his hometown received Jesus, but the biggest breakthrough came when the town’s witch doctor realized that Christ was “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). After he put his faith in Jesus, he told the whole town about Him. Within four years, the witness of one young man had led to the establishment of seven churches in the region.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul sets forth a clear plan for introducing the gospel to those who don’t yet know Christ—and it aligns with what that missionary told the young believer in Jesus. We are to be “Christ’s ambassadors”—His representatives “as though God were making his appeal through us” (5:20). Every believer has a unique story to tell of how Jesus made them “a new creation . . . who reconciled” them to God (vv. 17-18 nasb). Let’s tell others what He’s done for us.

By:  Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray

What does salvation in Jesus mean to you? How can you be better prepared to share your story with others?

Dear God, please help me share my faith story with others.

Called By God

Are you willing to follow God wherever He leads? Romans 1:1-7

Three times in today’s passage, the apostle Paul uses the word called—once to describe himself as an apostle and twice to describe the believers in the church at Rome. In all three cases, he uses the same Greek term—klétos—which means “invited, called, or summoned by God.”

But what does it actually mean to be “called,” and is it something we can expect to happen today? The answer is yes, absolutely! God calls us, His children, in multiple ways and for multiple reasons. For instance, we are …

Called to Salvation—Sin created a barrier between us and God, so He reached out to establish a relationship with us by offering salvation through Christ (Ephesians 2:5-9).

Called to Sanctification—Once we have accepted Jesus as Savior, He calls us to strive for sanctification (or holiness). Our life’s goal is to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16). What our Father expects is not immediate perfection but that we seek Him daily for guidance.

Called to Service—God has chosen to carry out His plans through those who are saved. Our task is to serve Him by walking “in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” and accomplishing what He’s planned for us (Ephesians 4:1).

Elijah’s Prayer

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (James 5:17-18)

“Elias” is the New Testament name for Elijah, the great prophet who lived during the darkest days of Israel’s apostasy, when Ahab and Jezebel ruled the land and had turned it over to the worship of the demonic god Baal. “Elijah” means “Jehovah is God,” a most appropriate name for a prophet of the true God in a nation and time given over to paganism.

Elijah suddenly appeared before King Ahab with the ominous prophecy: “As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1). This was not presumptuous. In his commentary, James said Elijah “prayed earnestly” before he spoke and that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).

This remarkable prophecy was miraculously fulfilled. There was no rain in all the land of Israel for 3.5 years (as also confirmed by Christ in Luke 4:25) until Elijah defeated all the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:17-45).

Yet, James reminds us that Elijah was “a man of like passions as we” and that both ends of the miracle—the onset and termination of the nationwide drought—were simply answers to Elijah’s two fervent prayers. James has much to say about how we also can receive wonderful answers to prayer. In addition to praying fervently, we must “ask in faith, nothing wavering” (James 1:6). But faith must be expressed by action (as when Elijah confronted Ahab), for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). Finally, if we “ask, and receive not,” it may be that we “ask amiss,” wanting the answer only for ourselves (James 4:3). HMM

Two Men Of Passion

King Solomon and the Apostle Paul.

The difference between them lay in the focus of their passion:

Solomon’s passion was directed away from God by his affection for unbelieving foreign women:

“His wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.“(1 Kings 11:4)

Paul’s passion, by contrast, was redirected from self-righteous legalism toward knowing Christ:

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.“(Philippians 3:7, 8)

Solomon expended his life on pleasure:

“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.“(Ecclesiastes 2:10)

Paul, by comparison, invested his life in making Christ known:

“We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom. To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy…”(Colossians 1:28, 29)

HOW DID THESE TWO MEN OF PASSION END UP?

Solomon became bitter and disappointed in his old age:

“I hated life… [and] I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun… “(Ecclesiastes 2:17a, 18a)

Paul, however completed his life with a profound sense of accomplishment and anticipation:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day… “(2 Timothy 4:8)

TWO QUESTIONS:

(1) Where is the focus of your passion? On yourself, or on the Glory of God?

(2) How will you end up? Like Solomon, or like Paul?

Before Abraham was, I am.”

John 8:31-59

Our Lord pleaded with the Jewish people and set the truth clearly before them, but they cavilled at him and rejected him. Of this we have an instance in—John 8:31-59.

John 8:31, 32

The contentious party among the Jews here interrupted him, boastfully extolling themselves as freemen. They were under the dominion of the Romans, and yet gloried in never having been in bondage.

John 8:48

When they cannot argue, men usually take to railing. A bad case when hard pushed is very apt to employ abuse as its defence.

John 8:57

The sorrows of our Lord made him appear to be nearly fifty, though he was only a little over thirty.

John 8:58

Thus did he declare his Godhead and eternal existence, but they would not believe in him.

Bragging About God

That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion. (1 Peter 4:11)

Basic beliefs about the Person and the nature of God have changed so much that there are among us now men and women who find it easy to brag about the benefits they receive from God—without ever a thought or a desire to know the true meaning of worship!

I have immediate reactions to such an extreme misunderstanding of the true nature of a holy and sovereign God, for I believe that the very last thing God desires is to have shallow-minded and worldly Christians bragging about Him.

Beyond that, it does not seem to be very well recognized that God’s highest desire is that every one of His believing children should so love and so adore Him that we are continually in His presence, in spirit and in truth.

Something wonderful and miraculous and life-changing takes place within the human soul when Jesus Christ is invited in to take His rightful place. That is what God anticipated when He wrought the plan of salvation. He intended to make worshipers out of rebels; to restore the place of worship which our first parents knew when they were created!