Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Will You Answer the Call? - PDP 077
2 Plays2 seconds ago
Queen Esther had to be alerted to the danger, but when the call came for her to engage, she risked her life to do the right thing.
Christians in America are called to the same battle. The battle of ideas that threatens everything we hold dear. What will your answer be? It could be that "you have come to the kingdom for just such a time as this."
Check us out at PreacherDad.com
Email: Jarod@PreacherDad.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Purpose
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello, welcome to the Preacher Dad Podcast. My name is Jared, and I am the Preacher Dad. And here at the Preacher Dad Podcast, what we wanna do is equip and inspire Christians in the West to engage in the culture war and make a difference for the next generation in the name of Christ and in the power of Christ. So I hope that you're on board for that.
00:00:35
Speaker
We're sure glad to have you here with us tonight. And wanna remind you that this podcast is brought to you in part by Cornerstone Fellowship. Cornerstone Fellowship is a small country church out in the middle of nowhere, Georgia, we like to say.
00:00:49
Speaker
It's just a little north of Tombsboro, Georgia. If you're ever in the area and want stop by and visit us, we'd love to have you. But you can also find us on the web. You can find us on Facebook or you can find That's cornerstonefellowship-ga.org. Because dot o r g because There's lots of cornerstone fellowships in the country and we had to make sure you knew it was the one in Georgia.
00:01:17
Speaker
So there's that dash GA for you.
Story of Esther & Modern Parallels
00:01:21
Speaker
Well, folks, we're glad you're here. I have something I want to share with you from the scriptures. It's from Esther chapter four.
00:01:28
Speaker
You can look up Esther four if you have the time, if you're sitting in your living room, enjoying a nice cup of tea or a cup of coffee, you know, cheers. We would love for you to to do that. But if you're not, if you're driving, just listen. I'm going to tell you what happens. In Esther chapter 4, what's happened is that the king has the king of Persia has made a decree. He's decreed that all of the Jews in the entire nation of Persia, the entire kingdom, on a particular day, they're going to be wiped out. They're going to be obliterated, killed, murdered, ah complete genocide.
00:02:07
Speaker
And of course, when this proclamation is made in the capital city, I believe it's Shushan, in the capital city, it's a huge uproar all over the city. The Bible says the entire city was in an uproar over this proclamation.
00:02:22
Speaker
Well, Mordecai, he's one of the king's ah officials, and he is also the cousin really the father figure to Esther, who is the queen.
00:02:37
Speaker
Her name in Hebrew is Hadassah. And it's a beautiful name. But Queen Esther is a Jew secretly. Well, ah Mordecai rips his clothes and he goes into mourning, puts ashes on his head. And Esther does something very interesting. She sends a messenger to him and she says, why are you in mourning?
00:02:58
Speaker
What is the matter? What's the deal? And you want to say, if I was Mordecai, I want to say, Esther, look out the window, read the newspaper, turn on the radio, something, listen to a podcast. Maybe the she didn't have the Preacher Dad podcast back then. So that's probably why she didn't really know what was going on.
00:03:18
Speaker
ah But she was unaware of what was happening. unaware. Her head was in the sand about the the very important issues of their day. This wasn't like, you know, we've elected a new dog catcher and she wasn't aware. This was a very big deal throughout the city and she didn't know what was going on.
Call to Action for Christians
00:03:40
Speaker
Friends, if if if you are among Christians or if you are a Christian who has your head in the sand, you need to wake up We have a lot of Christians in this nation who are asleep. They are unaware of the very serious danger our nation is in, our way of life, and our religion.
00:04:00
Speaker
Our religious freedom is like one election away. It seems like that's always the case. But the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, they say. But...
00:04:11
Speaker
our Our religious freedom is so close to being removed. Thank God for President Trump and his administration and the ways that they are trying to protect religious liberty in our nation. But folks, there is a lot of problems and there's a lot of danger. And the culture war is happening.
00:04:29
Speaker
The war of ideas is it is happening now. whether you're engaged in it or not, it's happening. And so you will be swept away with the tide if you don't stand up and make your voice heard, um proclaiming biblical ideas. We need to proclaim biblical ideas in our culture. We don't need to be asleep or unaware of what's going on.
00:04:54
Speaker
And so Mordecai sends back to her, i mean, It's not in the Bible, but I feel like he would have said, you must be the only person in the city who doesn't know what's going on. But he tells her that the Jews are about to be wiped out ah throughout the entire kingdom.
00:05:13
Speaker
And Esther, and he says, Esther, maybe you could go into the king and ah plead for our case because, you know, we need someone to speak up on behalf of the Jews.
00:05:25
Speaker
And Esther ah sends back to him by messenger and says, don't you know that there's a law? No one goes into the king without being called, and I haven't even been called unto him for the last 30 days.
00:05:37
Speaker
But if I go into him without being called, I will die. The the the sentence is death unless he holds the golden scepter out to me, granting me mercy.
00:05:50
Speaker
So, you know, she's basically saying, my life is in danger if I go speak up on behalf of the Jews. Don't you know I could die? She was afraid, afraid to speak up.
00:06:02
Speaker
There's a lot of Christians right now afraid to speak up. Don't you know I'll lose friends? Don't you know that our church will lose attendance? Don't you know that the giving will go down if I speak out about political issues or address civic issues, civic problems and societal ah emergencies?
00:06:23
Speaker
um Sorry, but we're not called to be comfortable. A lot of Christians are just addicted to comfortable Christianity. And they're not willing to step up and make a difference and impact the world for Christ because they're too afraid of losing their comforts.
00:06:43
Speaker
Well, Mordecai gives her a response. And Mordecai says to her that don't don't think that just because you're in the king's house, you're going to escape. Because if you remain silent, you and your father's house will be wiped away.
00:06:59
Speaker
And you know you're going to suffer the consequences for being silent. But God will raise up deliverance from so in some other way. got He says, basically, God is not going to abandon his
Advertisement Break: Goose Feet Gear
00:07:12
Speaker
people. And God has not and will not abandon his people.
00:07:17
Speaker
ah Mordecai is confident in this. So he's like, God's going to save us somehow.
00:07:24
Speaker
Hey adventurers, ready to level up your outdoor game? At Goose Feet Gear, they're committed to keeping you crazy warm without weighing you down. I've known the founder and owner Ben Smith for nearly two decades and his commitment to quality is outstanding.
00:07:40
Speaker
Their custom down socks, jackets and pants are made in the USA and packed with premium 850 plus fill power goose down. Perfect for backpacking, camping or hunting.
00:07:54
Speaker
tailored to you with 10% off if you use the promo code FATHERHOOD. Check out GooseFeetGear.com and feel the ultralight difference.
00:08:05
Speaker
That's GooseFeetGear.com.
00:08:12
Speaker
And then he says to Esther something
Christian Influence on Society
00:08:14
Speaker
that every Christian needs to hear. He says, who knows, but maybe you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
00:08:24
Speaker
That's in verse 14. Esther 4.14 is a message that every Christian in America needs to hear. Who knows, but maybe you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
00:08:37
Speaker
Friends, this is the time. We need Christians. to be engaged in the culture war. We need you to influence your society, your community with the light of the gospel, with the hope that we find in Christ. And I'm not just talking about bringing salvation. I'm also talking about bringing the teachings of Jesus, the commands of Christ unto the society and informing them about the way Jesus wants us to live.
00:09:08
Speaker
Jesus gave us all kinds of instructions for everything our society is facing. He is truly the answer for the problems of our communities, for the ills that our nation is experiencing, the sorrow and the suffering we're enduring. Jesus is the answer. But we need Christians to bring Jesus into the civic arena.
00:09:30
Speaker
This is the moment. We must engage in the battles of our time. It is very important that we not take a back seat, that we not hide and ah grasp a hold of our comfortable Christianity. We need to engage in the war. We need to impact our society with the biblical principles of light and truth and hope we need pastors to have a voice to be bold from the pulpits but we also need Christians who are willing to call out sin in our world and be willing to call said by its rightful name and be willing to sacrifice things in order for the truth to be carried forward even if it means your life
00:10:18
Speaker
You see, what did Esther respond to Mordecai? How did she respond to him? She said, okay, you're right. I want you to fast. We're going fast and pray. And I'm going to go into the king in three days.
00:10:30
Speaker
And if I perish, I perish. She said, basically, you're right. This is worth dying for. This is important enough that I need to engage in this in a, in a,
00:10:49
Speaker
She said, this is important enough that I need to engage in this moment, even if it costs me my life. Friends, what are you willing to sacrifice to ensure that this nation continues?
00:11:05
Speaker
to give the blessings of liberty to our posterity, the blessings of freedom, the rights that God has granted to us to preserve them for the next generation. What will you sacrifice? Will you sacrifice an extra half hour of sleep every day to get up and pray about it?
00:11:23
Speaker
Would you sacrifice an evening of your weekend to go to the school board meetings once a month or twice a month? Would you be willing to sacrifice your own comforts in order to engage in Civic discourse, would you be willing to run for office?
00:11:39
Speaker
Would you be willing to endure the scorn and ridicule of your church members in order to speak the truth as it needs to be spoke? Friends, there are some pastors in this country who will not even address abortion from the pulpit because it might chase someone away.
00:11:56
Speaker
Abortion! We're killing babies in this nation, murdering children, and some pastors are afraid to speak about it. But what about all the Christians?
00:12:08
Speaker
Are you afraid to speak about it? Are you afraid to speak up on behalf of the unborn and say, this is wrong, it's evil, it's wicked? With compassion and with love, we're not spock talking about speaking the truth without love.
00:12:22
Speaker
Put love and truth together. The Bible says mercy and truth have kissed each other. Let them work together. But let us work and let us not be afraid of the sacrifice necessary to bring about the advancing of the gospel, the pushing forward of the kingdom of God into our society.
00:12:43
Speaker
Friends, this is important. And this is the moment. You may have come to America for this time. And you need to be loud and proud, not silent.
00:12:58
Speaker
And we need to be willing to sacrifice on behalf of the truth, just like Esther was, just like Esther stepped forward and took her life in her hands to speak up on behalf of those who could not speak for themselves.
00:13:12
Speaker
Friends, this is our moment. This is our time. Let's roll up our sleeves and let's get in there and get busy. Listen, if you're looking for ways to ah to get engaged, if you're looking for ideas, there's lots of good places out there to find information. I encourage you to tune into this podcast regularly to subscribe and to...
00:13:38
Speaker
to like the videos and subscribe and get more of these but i also want to encourage you to listen to the wall builder show with david barton and tim barton and rick green i want you encourage you to check out the defending freedom show from citizens defending freedom check out the citizens defending freedom.com you can click on get involved and there's a lot of great calls to action there and folks there's just ah there's so many things out there you could go You can go buy this little book I found. It's called Battle Plan.
00:14:13
Speaker
Battle Plan by Jared Hinton. ah You can go get my book if you're wanting to figure out what to do to get involved. We got lots of practical advice for you here at PreacherDad.com. But folks, don't just get your head out of the sand and get in the game.
00:14:30
Speaker
And there's a lot of good ideas if you'll just start looking. But we need
Podcast Conclusion & Resources
00:14:35
Speaker
you. We need you in the game. we And the Lord wants you involved in this culture war. So let's go.
00:14:42
Speaker
I'm ready. Let's get it going. Thanks for tuning in tonight. And I hope that you'll tune in next time. And I hope that you'll check us out on the web at preacherdad.com. You can find out more there. You can get old old archived episodes.
00:14:56
Speaker
You can find the blog. You can buy books. Check out preacherdad.com. Listen, God bless you folks, and I hope that he will strengthen and encourage your heart as you continue the battle of our time, the battle of ideas.
00:15:11
Speaker
And may he strengthen your heart and strengthen your arms for the work. God bless you. see you next time. Bye-bye.