1. Our living on earth is about fulfilling kingdom purpose.
It is easy to forget that, and when you forget, you are not so concerned about how other folks go make it. You wind up saying like her, in essence, ‘I made it, why are you all not making it?’ We become self-absorbed.
I know that I am not supposed to be where I am today. I am supposed to be on the street and not as a preacher. My father was not a believer in those early years, and our home was in total disarray. But God invaded our home and led my father to Christ. God came into our family, taking me to a Bible-teaching church and allowing me to have unique opportunities. The only reason I am here is because of the goodness and grace of God.
The moment I lose sight of that, my role has been illegitimize. I am what I am only by the grace of God. God did not give you the experience and opportunities so that you can testify only about yourself. It is not just about you. And anybody who does that must be held to account. It is about the Kingdom of God. When we lose sight of that, then we have missed God’s plan and program in history.
God has given you the power to make wealth and to fulfill his covenant. It is about a kingdom purpose. It is okay to benefit from a kingdom purpose as long as you do not lose the kingdom purpose in the process of benefiting.
Once you pride and patrol in your glory, God begins to examine your heart. Where you are now, are you there for God? Are you there for how he can use you for others? Is your pursuits just about selfishness? When you pride in yourself, you lose your destiny. Your destiny will always involve a test of whether you want to be a blessing or whether you only want to be blessed.
Your value to the kingdom of God is your usefulness. The sand on the beach is free. That same sand, if you want to put it in a playground, is going to cost you. You got to go to the store and buy bags of sand. You have to now pay for it to put it on a playground because it is used differently. Computer chips are made with sand. That is the most expensive sand you ever seen in your life. Not because it is different but because it is used differently.
You are a saint now. Your value must be tied to your usefulness. What good is a refrigerator that does not work or a stove that does not light up? No matter how expensive it was, no matter how good it looks, if it does not do what it was created to do, it is a useless appliance.
Luke 14: God says some of his believers are useless.
2. When God blesses you, he is putting you on display.
This is because we have no kingdom orientation, and we wind up saying, ‘I do not know what my purpose is.’ And you will never find it if you are not kingdom-oriented. You will never find your time if life is only about you and not through you. Your time comes when you discover how God can use you to be a blessing.
Big department stores have display windows and then in those display windows are dummies. I have seen dummies with tucks, gowns, and Rolex watches. In New York, one time, I saw a window with a dummy sitting in a Ferrari. Why do the owners of the department stores put dummies in the window? Because they know that there are other dummies walking up the street. They put them on display so that when the other dummies are walking up the street, they will be impressed by what is on display.
And having been impressed by what is on display, will draw them into the store so that they can get some stuff for themselves. In other words, the dummy is not put on display to show off the dummy. The dummy is put on display to be an attraction to a bigger kingdom and to draw people off the street into the kingdom of market products.
When God blesses you, he is putting you on display. God allows you to get an education, be successful, and have resources so that as a representative of his kingdom, other people will see what a dummy looks like who has been touched by the grace of God.
3. We do not exist for ourselves
On our best days, we are sinned and saved by grace. The Titanic was a terrible incident in 1912. About 1500 people lost their lives in the maiden voyage of the sinking of the Titanic. Did you know that 1500 people did not have to die? Most of the lifeboats coming off of the Titanic were half-filled.
But the people who were saved and delivered did not want to risk turning back. Because if they turned back, the people drowning might bum-rush the boat. And if everybody bum-rushed the boat, it might flip the boat over. So, since they had been saved and delivered, they did not want to risk going back to save and deliver others because it might interfere with their being saved and delivered. So, 1500 people died because other people who were already saved did not want to save others.
If you have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, God has not just left you here because you are making it to glory. He left you here because people are drowning spiritually, relationally, and morally. Here you are in this OCBF lifeboat, your personal lifeboat, and living large while people are drowning. It can not only be about you or me or even us in our church.
We do not exist only for ourselves. We exist to make a difference and impact. Today, we have bow fancy. When I was growing up, there was no fancy bowling. Today, we have bowling pants, shirts, gloves, and socks. They even have bowling bags and fancy bowling balls. No matter how good you look as a bowler, if the pins are still standing, you have failed because a bowler is measured by his impact.
No matter how ‘Christiany’ you look, or how ‘Churchified’ you act, If there is no impact on the kingdom of God, you are a failed representative.
4. God is always having another solution elsewhere if you do not do it
Why would God share his purpose with you for you to dismiss it? You are blessed to be a blessing.
Verse 13
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place. And you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have been attained royalty to the kingdom for such a time as this
If you do not do it, God has a solution elsewhere. Nobody is indispensable. God never limits himself to one person. How good you are, how rich you are, how powerful you are, how skilled you are, God always has a replacement for you if you ignore him. How good you are, how rich you are, how powerful you are, how skilled you are, God always has hidden options.
If you are going downtown 35, Dallas, and you get stuck on the highway, there are other options. 35 is not your only option. It is just your direct option because you can get off on Illinois, turn left, go over to Zion, turn right to Jefferson, turn right again, go across the Jefferson seat bridge, and arrive in downtown 35 Dallas.
If he cannot use you, he will find somebody else we do not even know who they are. God never allows men to box him in. I am of no delusion that God can get rid of me and bring somebody better than me here at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. And so, if I feel that about me, how much do I feel same about you?
Nobody is indispensable when it comes to his kingdom purpose. The reason Mordecai said that was because God had made a promise, ‘I will preserve the Jews.’ Mordecai had enough of God’s word. He knew enough that if Esther did not do it, God’s sovereignty would bring deliverance because God is true to his word.
You can bank on his word and depend upon it. God would rather use you, but he does not have to. So, stop smelling yourself because you ain’t all that he is got. In fact, not only will he bring somebody else to replace you, but he will mess you up because you are disobedient to your kingdom calling.
The great tragedy today is if our church exists and still does not accomplish kingdom purpose. God gave you the education, opportunity, position, and job to use for the kingdom, which involves God’s promise for the preservation of his people.
5. Winning people for Christ is the goal
Just because you are in church does not mean you’re accomplishing kingdom purpose.
If we are not winning people to Christ, cycling them in the faith, and improving their lives in history so that they can be greater impact vessels for God for eternity, then all church sermons and activities are weekly vain parties. We must demonstrate the kingdom of heaven on Earth through kingdom discipleship. We must be heavens representatives on Earth.
The Church should facilitate the kingdom of God.
Verse 15-17
Go assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will fast in the same way. And thus I will go into the king, which is not according to the law.
6. God is preparing you to be a blessing
How do you know it is your time? There will be a spiritual conflict that God wants you to intervene in. You will see how he has prepared you to be a blessing and not just be blessed. Then, he will ask you to take a risk of faith.
Faith is a risky business because you are dealing with something you cannot see. The opposite of faith is sight. If you see it, it is not faith. Faith is acting on what you do not see because you believe God wants you to do it based on his words.
Faith is taking a step without being guaranteed the outcome. We do not mind taking a step when we can guarantee the outcome. The greater the uncertainty, the greater the purpose, and the greater the uncertainty, the more fearful the step.
7. Taking a step of faith is a major part of our relationship with God
Esther said, “If I perish, I perish.” She did not know how this was going to work out. And sometimes God causes us, when it is our time, to take a step, and we do not see where that foot will land. It is a risky step because you do not know where to put your next step and how is going to work.
You have been given a royal opportunity to take risky steps for the salvation of God’s people. Throughout the Bible, people had have to take risky steps of faith whenever God was ready to do something big. It is a spiritual entrepreneurism. Entrepreneurism is where you take risk. But spiritually, it is where you are acting on God’s word based on God’s revelation without having the results already predetermined, and it could go left, and you could perish.
You need spiritual preparation to take steps of faith. Everybody had to fast, and Esther had to fast as well. She was willing to risk her well-being for his people. The three Hebrew boys had to take a risk. They told Nebuchadnezzar, “We are not going to bow to that idol.” They did not know that there was going to be a fourth person in there to meet them. They had to take a risk in faith because they would not bow in contradiction to the word of God.
When faced with the king’s decree prohibiting prayer in schools or courts, Daniel made a courageous decision rooted in faith. His act of defiance led to his confinement in a den of lions. Little did he know that prior to his arrival, the lions had been provided with manna from above, causing them to lose their appetite for human flesh. This unexpected turn of events spared Daniel from harm, demonstrating the power of divine intervention.
Peter took a calculated risk when he ventured onto the water. His decision to step out was based on Jesus’ assurance that he could do so. At the time of his decision, Peter was uncertain about the outcome and whether he would drown in the water.
When you have been called for a purpose, there is going to be a risky step of faith. And that risky step of faith has to be taken in both options: this could work or it might not. It will always involve benefiting more than you. The Bible says, ‘Do not just look at yourself, but look at the things of others.’ How will it be beneficial to others in the process of your benefiting?
You do not want to be like the pilot who grabbed the one parachute that was on the plane when the engines failed. He went to the door, unlocked, and jumped out. Just before he jumped, he said, ‘Do not worry: I am just going to get some help.’
Open your eyes to such a time that need faith. A turtle only makes progress when it sticks its neck out. God wants to use you. God wants to bless you. God wants to empower you because he wants you to make a difference. Even with the uncertainty, allow God to use you. If it is the risk that God wants you to take, take the risk of faith because it is your time to act for the Kingdom purpose.
Take a risk of faith and believe that it is your purpose, but I cannot promise you peace and prosperity. In your step of faith, the enemy will duplicate himself, but in every way, he will lose.
There are two pills I present to you. The blue pill and the red pill. With the blue pill, you go back home to your plain old ordinary life, raise your family, make little money, and pay your bills. The red pill reflects the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I present to you the red pill. If you desire to seize the moment and witness the power of God in your life, and you long for God to work through you, then take the red pill and consume it. I cannot guarantee that taking the red pill will lead to a trouble-free journey, as it is a daring choice to make.
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