00:00 Introduction and Midweek Motivation

00:22 Weekend Recap and California Visit

02:48 Memorial Service Reflections

04:27 Discussion on Revival and Eschatology

06:52 Esther: God's Sovereignty and Irony

15:06 Outro and Podcast Information

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Hello.

4

We are sitting here on Wednesday.

5

We're sitting here on Tuesday, but you're

listening to this on Wednesday, midweek.

6

You made it to the hump day, and so good

job, you've got you're on the down slope

7

now, after today, and the best day of

the week coming up is Sunday, and so

8

hopefully you're already looking forward

to being back with your church family.

9

We're looking forward to being with you.

10

That's right.

11

And I wasn't with you this past

weekend 'cause I was in California.

12

Yeah.

13

And so I'm back.

14

People were asking about your

contributions to the Newsom

15

campaign and how that's going.

16

I heard we'd love to know all about that.

17

I heard somebody made

a comment about that.

18

I don't know, I'm not gonna

call out names, but somebody

19

was, it's probably to mark on.

20

On Sunday for me here and

said something about that.

21

Yeah, no, no contributions

to to Gavin Newsome.

22

Dunno who that was unique

opportunity though.

23

I got to preach back

at our sending church.

24

I was outside for three services,

which by the way, made how'd that feel?

25

Three being outside was nice.

26

In fact, they were talking about

how the sun was gonna be in my eyes.

27

But I found that the Sunday

where everything changed.

28

So I, Saturday night, I

preached in the shade.

29

There was no sun in my eyes.

30

So it was great.

31

The weather was good.

32

Sunday was.

33

A little on the cooler side and it

rained, but thankfully we had easy ups up.

34

Oh, nice.

35

Yeah, we were able to get through it,

but preach it three times in a row.

36

Takes it outta you.

37

It does, yeah.

38

Yeah, but it was good.

39

It was good to be back

with our sending church.

40

They love us.

41

Even though you may not know a lot of

people out there, especially if you've

42

never been out there, you don't know

any of them, but just know that there's

43

a whole church back in California

that genuinely loves you and prays

44

for you, and prays for our witness

and prays for our impact here locally.

45

And they were excited to hear

the updates of what's going

46

on here and how we're doing.

47

And, I often will tell people out there,

it's, if you came to visit our church

48

you'd recognize some of the people that

came with us when we came to plant, but.

49

The majority of our church

are people you wouldn't know.

50

That's great because their Compass Bible

Church, as we often say, didn't start

51

in California or Compass Bible Church.

52

North Texas didn't start in California.

53

It started here, and that's who we are.

54

And we love our flock.

55

So I'm happy to be back.

56

It was great to be out there.

57

I was glad to be able to do

it, but I'm happy to be back.

58

I heard that they'd liked

having you out there too.

59

In fact, somebody sent me a text and said.

60

And I quote, why does

PPJ have to be so good?

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And I didn't know how to answer that.

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Appreciate it.

63

You didn't.

64

You say you need to come

out here then I will, I did.

65

I had to think about it.

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'cause I'm like, I don't,

how do I answer this?

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I don't.

68

I don't know the Lord.

69

Bless the guy.

70

I guess so.

71

Eventually I said, because the Lord

is encouraging you to move to Texas.

72

There.

73

It's, that's what it's,

that's what the Lord is doing.

74

That's what it's clearly.

75

Yeah.

76

And that's undeniable.

77

Yeah.

78

Evidently, that's the word

of the Lord right there.

79

Yeah.

80

No, it's it's fun.

81

So you did well.

82

I I'm encouraged by that feedback.

83

I, that's a blessing to hear.

84

Yeah, we saw Bruno and Noni.

85

They're listening.

86

They're listening probably right now.

87

Woo.

88

And Cherie Clark sent back peanut

butter balls, finally, which I'm

89

still holding ransom away from

you in my ransom, in my in my

90

refrigerator at my house, in your home.

91

Yeah, you do have refrigerator

rights though, so technically you

92

can just come over and take them.

93

I just too much out of the way.

94

Anytime.

95

Hey the memorial service that

took place on Sunday, all right.

96

Massive, right?

97

Huge and huge.

98

Six hours I think is what the

thing was from beginning to end.

99

Wait, I know where this is going.

100

You want yours to be seven

hours and in a bigger stadium?

101

No, but it was pretty impressive.

102

I was catching glimpses 'cause I

was traveling and getting delayed

103

by storms here, so I wasn't

able to watch the whole thing.

104

But I'd love to get some of your

thoughts on what you saw from the.

105

From some of the things on

there and the impact of it.

106

I saw a lot of really encouraging

and positive responses.

107

In fact the longer I look at my feed

after the fact the more I realized

108

there were a lot of people there.

109

Yeah.

110

Who, whose names you would know?

111

Obviously there was Frank Turk, the

guy who was mentoring Charlie Kirk to

112

some degree, and there were others.

113

That are related to guys like him

but some of our friends and brothers,

114

people that are like-minded and

like-hearted we're there to support

115

and to observe and to be part of it.

116

And there was of course

some of the celebrities.

117

You had President Trump and his vice

president and along with Elon Musk,

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so the who's who of some of the most

powerful people in our society were there.

119

Even some of the most, I don't wanna use

powerful, but some of the most influential

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people in our church and within our

stripe in particular were also there.

121

So I saw a lot of.

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Great support, number one.

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I think that's really sweet and unifying.

124

Number two, I also saw a lot of positive

things that were said, surprisingly.

125

It's always hard when you

have something like this.

126

There's lots of people talking and

lots of things that could be said.

127

But most of what was said

I could find no issue with.

128

In fact, I was greatly heartened

by the things that I heard.

129

The gospel was presented.

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Clearly there was a call to salvation, and

even though I'm not one for alter calls,

131

it was effective, at least to the degree

that people were responsive to the call.

132

Yeah.

133

So lots of good things

happened in that, and I think.

134

My hope is that this is the beginning of

a new season for America, and that's a

135

lot of people what a lot of people were

suggesting that what this portends is that

136

there's positive change on the horizon.

137

If the church does what she's, what

she has the opportunity to do, this

138

could be a really fruitful season

for us, and I'm inclined to agree.

139

Yeah.

140

Yeah.

141

Even though our.

142

Our theology, our eschatology believes

that in the, that ultimately things are

143

gonna get worse before they get better.

144

That, that we're headed for not a

better world, but a worse world.

145

That doesn't mean that we don't

believe that there could be seasons

146

of revival, in fact, absolutely.

147

We've seen that historically.

148

We've seen that.

149

We pray for that.

150

We've seen that here in the

United States historically.

151

And so there's nothing to say

that God couldn't bring revival

152

again before he sends Christ back

for the bride and for the church.

153

That's right.

154

And so it's not wrong for us to

look at something like this and to

155

say, man, we hope this does have the

positive impact that it should have.

156

We're not pessimists as

far as that's concerned.

157

We just are looking at scripture

saying we wanna understand things

158

from a bigger picture on that.

159

That's right.

160

Let's jump into our, hold on.

161

Do you have any input on that?

162

Anything that you wanna

say on the memorial?

163

Yeah.

164

Yeah.

165

Again I saw bits and pieces of it.

166

I thought, I was encouraged that

Frank Turk stood up and said what

167

he said about Charlie's in heaven

because of his faith in God.

168

Period, end of story.

169

That was really cool.

170

It was cool to see a stadium full of

all of those thousands and thousands

171

of people worshiping the Lord.

172

That's cool.

173

Yeah.

174

My wife brought up a, she was watching it.

175

As some of these leading

dignitaries were walking into the

176

stadium and taking their seats.

177

Chris Tomlin was singing, your name is

the greatest, your name is the highest.

178

Your name stands above them all.

179

Oh yeah.

180

And so she just said, so cool.

181

It was a poetic moment.

182

So cool.

183

Where you're looking at the most powerful

people in the world coming in as Tomlin

184

is shouting out and singing about the

most powerful God whose name exists above.

185

Elon and Vance and all

these, it's not you guys.

186

Yeah.

187

King Jesus.

188

Yeah.

189

It's you just pray for genuine.

190

Those that did stand

up in response to that.

191

You pray that there's now.

192

People, believers that are

involved in their lives that are

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gonna be able to continue the

process of discipleship with them.

194

I think the sobering reality, anytime

we see something like that, it's true

195

When you think of Billy Graham, and

it's true when you think the harvest

196

crusades and everything else, tho there's

all different types of the soils that

197

are represented in that crowd and the

seed is sewn and some of it's gonna

198

be the rich soil and the good soil.

199

And that's what we're praying for.

200

We're praying God make the majority

of those people that stood up.

201

Those that are of the good soil, right?

202

Because there are others that will

have stood up that are gonna show

203

that immediate signs of life, but the

persecutions of the world or the pleasures

204

of the world are gonna end up choking out

that, that initial sign of life there.

205

So we ultimately wanted to transcend.

206

And last, let's get to Esther.

207

We are finishing Esther today and

this is really Esther six and.

208

Yeah.

209

Six seven is not the six seven.

210

There it is.

211

Yeah.

212

I can't believe that.

213

That's the first time and

only time I'll ever do that.

214

We'll see.

215

Yeah.

216

Chapter six.

217

Through eight at least is really

demonstrating that God has a, an

218

ironic sense of humor about him.

219

And it's not that we take pleasure

in the downfall of Haman or anything

220

else like that, but in, in chapter six

there's this kind of break as in between

221

the parties that Esther is throwing

here and God in again, his sovereignty,

222

even though the name of God is not

gonna be mentioned, God's sovereignty.

223

All over the pages of ster,

including here, where God causes

224

the king not to be able to sleep.

225

And so he calls for the

records to be brought to him.

226

And in the records, according to God's

sovereignty, he comes across Mordecai

227

and what Mordecai did on behalf of

the king and in God's sovereignty.

228

In walks Haman and Haman.

229

Misunderstands the king thinking the

king wants to honor him and says,

230

this is what you should do, king

to the guy that you wanna honor.

231

And then the king says to Haman,

great, go get Mordecai and do that.

232

Go get the person that you

hate the most and go do that.

233

Show him honor.

234

And it, it just reminded me of

the the idea that whoever humbles

235

himself will be exalted and whoever

exalts himself will be humbled.

236

And I think cer certainly with the,

whoever exalts himself, will be humbled.

237

You see that with.

238

With Haman in this story.

239

No doubt.

240

Yeah.

241

Such a cool turn of events.

242

And this is only the beginning, right?

243

I find it fascinating that his own

wife and the wise men that he knew

244

said, man, if Mordecai before whom

you've begun to fall is of the Jewish

245

people, you will not overcome him,

but will surely fall before him.

246

That's the point where you say, Hey,

thanks for your encouragement, guys.

247

Appreciate that.

248

What am I supposed to do with that?

249

Granted, he's not the good guy,

so I'm not rooting for him by any

250

stretch, but it's such a weird,

okay, why would they say that?

251

Why is that necessary?

252

And it's really cool that

it's preserved in scripture.

253

It's like Job's wife.

254

Exactly.

255

Chris got that.

256

That's exactly who I thought of.

257

Yeah.

258

Chapter seven.

259

Then we get back to the dinner scene

because the next or that evening

260

or whenever it was later on that

day dinner part two happens, and at

261

this, the king again looks at Esther

and says, okay, Esther what do you

262

want of all up to half my kingdom?

263

What do you want?

264

And then this is where

the great reveal happens.

265

Esther says, I want you to save my people.

266

And the kink says okay, who

are your people and what do

267

I need to save them from?

268

And then she pulls the curtain

back on Haman, who he is and what

269

he's plotted and what his plan is.

270

Now Haman doesn't understand who

Esther is or what her lineage is

271

or her connection to all of this.

272

Yeah.

273

Because he turns.

274

Ghost white at this, and the king

rushes out in a rage once he finds out.

275

And Haman goes to plead

with Esther for his life.

276

And the king walks in and miss

takes that for Haman, trying to

277

make a physical advance on his wife.

278

And it becomes even more furious

and enraged and orders that Haman

279

should be executed and not only

executed, but hung on the very

280

gallows that he made for Mordecai.

281

And there's where I bring up God's

ironic sense of humor there that.

282

M Haman ended up building the gallows

for Mordecai that he himself would end

283

up being executed on instead of Mordecai.

284

Yeah.

285

You never wanna be on God's bad side.

286

No, because anyone who's on God's

side, that's the majority, one

287

plus God is always a majority.

288

None.

289

Plus God is still a majority.

290

Yes.

291

God wins no matter what.

292

Yes.

293

So if you're gonna find yourself on the

opposite side of anyone, let it be those

294

who are God's enemies and not God himself.

295

That's what you see here.

296

God will not be thwarted.

297

His plans, his purposes

will always prevail.

298

Yeah, they will in chapter eight then

the twist of irony continues because

299

Haman's house is given to Esther and

she in turn gives it over to Mordecai.

300

So now Mordecai is dwelling in the

house of the one that was trying

301

to snuff out his life and kill him.

302

And so then Esther has the problem that

the king's order that was given about

303

the death of the Jews was an order

according to the law of the Meads and

304

the Persians, which meant that it.

305

Could not be undone.

306

So the king couldn't issue an order

that said, Hey, just kidding, nevermind.

307

And so what Esther asks him to

do is issue an order that allows

308

the Jews to defend themselves.

309

And that's what he does.

310

He issues an order and it says

that he sends out the steeds from

311

the royal basically the royal

stables, the fastest horses.

312

He has to spread the news throughout

the land that the Jews have the

313

right to defend themselves and to

retaliate against anyone who should

314

attempt to harm them in accordance

with the original set of orders.

315

And again, the king can't step

down or step back and say, Hey.

316

I'm undoing what I said, but he does

this to enable the Jews to really have

317

the opportunity to defend themselves,

which if people are paying attention

318

and reading between the lines, anyone

who was about to attack the Jews should

319

have seen, wait a minute, this is him.

320

Basically undoing what he

did before and they would've.

321

Let up and relented at least, but

clearly some did not take it that way.

322

Because some people app

apparently do attempt to do

323

something to the Jewish people.

324

And you're again, about to see

a reversal of those people.

325

And that's in, in chapter nine

in, in chapter nine there's.

326

500 men plus haman's, 10 sons

that are all killed in Susa alone.

327

So just in that capital city.

328

Later on we're gonna read that there's

75,000 people that are killed who

329

try to go after the Jewish people.

330

And so to your point, they didn't get it.

331

They didn't understand or they

did, they just didn't care.

332

Or they did.

333

And they didn't care yet.

334

They thought, oh, we can still.

335

Get the upper hand here.

336

And again, this is, I

think God's sovereignty.

337

He's protecting his people through this.

338

Yeah, 75,000 people were killed and

we might look at that and say the Jews

339

were just really skilled at fighting.

340

Or we could look at that and say,

no, God delivered the victory.

341

God gave them into the hands of their

enemies, the ones that came after them and

342

tried to to hurt them, try to carry out.

343

Haman's originally.

344

Original desire there.

345

Yeah.

346

Important that as you read this,

you see this as a defensive posture.

347

This is not them going on the

attack trying to hurt people.

348

They're they didn't

take any of the plunder.

349

The texts made that clear

multiple times, right?

350

They're not in this for the money.

351

They're not trying to get one up on

top of people because they're looking

352

to get rich or find some nefarious

means of advancing themselves.

353

This is them defending them their lives.

354

They were on the precipice of

extermination, and I use that

355

word on purpose because this is

exactly what that was like, right?

356

And so they defend themselves

against their enemies, and

357

that's what happens here.

358

This is a reversal by God's hand.

359

This is not them trying to do something.

360

Funny.

361

There's no funny business here.

362

This is God's handiwork.

363

Yeah.

364

Yeah.

365

In the rest of chapter nine, we have

the Institution of the Feast of Purim,

366

and that's in verses 20 through 32.

367

And this is gonna be inaugurated as a

way to, to celebrate God's faithfulness

368

to his people and to preserve them

from destruction during this time.

369

So the fact that this even becomes a

repeated feast of the Jews and part of

370

their religious feast system shows us that

they understood that God was behind this.

371

And that goes back to, and I don't.

372

Know that I made note of it in the

last time that we were in Esther, where

373

Mordecai said to Esther, if you're not

gonna do this, if you're not gonna go

374

into the king to intercede on the behalf

of the people, then God will deliver

375

us, or we will be delivered by some

other means is basically what he said.

376

He doesn't say God, but he says We'll

be delivered by some other means.

377

And there again is.

378

Evidence of the fact that God's

fingerprints are all over this book.

379

I think Mordecai was basically

saying, Yahweh, God our God will

380

deliver us by some other means.

381

So I think Esther undoubtedly

belongs in the canon.

382

I don't think we need to look at it

and question its canonicity, just

383

because it doesn't mention God.

384

There's no miracles recorded.

385

At least not gt ones,

not first level miracles.

386

And then the book ends in

chapter 10 with a just a.

387

A resume of Mordecai's success

and honor from that time

388

forward, God honored Mordecai for

being faithful to him as well.

389

Yeah.

390

What an exciting book.

391

You see a lot of God's fingerprints,

but you never see God's hand.

392

He's never mentioned, and he's

never noted as being particularly

393

effective doing this or that.

394

But you see all of his hand handiwork,

his fingerprints are all over this

395

book, even if his name is not, yeah.

396

Yeah.

397

So there you go.

398

There's the book investor.

399

Let's pray and then we'll be

done with another episode.

400

God we're grateful for your

sovereignty and we trust in it.

401

And even as we were talking about the

memorial earlier for this life that that.

402

Ended and was perhaps cut short.

403

I was listening even to somebody talk

about it this morning, who said, we

404

often talk about there, he has so much

life left to live in front of him.

405

And yet, Lord, we know in Psalm

1 39 that he didn't die early.

406

He died on time.

407

He died in accordance with your plan.

408

And that's true for all of us.

409

Every single one of us, you, our days

are written down in your book and

410

you are sovereign over our lives.

411

Just like you were sovereign over the

lives of Esther and Mordecai, sovereign

412

over Haman's life, even as one who reject.

413

Rejected you as God.

414

You still ordained the circumstances

of his life, sovereign over the kings

415

that we've been reading about as well,

these pagan kings, you are the God

416

that is sovereign over all creations.

417

So we trust you and we pray that

you'd increase our faith in you.

418

If we can trust you on the big

scale things, help us to trust

419

you in the small things of every

single day that we live as well.

420

We pray this in Jesus name.

421

Amen.

422

Amen.

423

Keep in your Bibles tuning again

tomorrow for another edition

424

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

425

Come back tomorrow please.

426

Bye.

427

Bernard: Well, thank you for listening

to another rip-roarin' rootin' tootin'

428

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

429

We're honored to have you join us.

430

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

431

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

432

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

433

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

434

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

435

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

436

PJ: Yeah.

437

I would agree with

everything that you said