Esther: A Queen's Dignity (Esther 1-2)

What does dignity look like? Do you know someone that you think of when you think of dignity? I love this section of Esther because it shows that for one woman dignity is revealed by saying, "No!" to the king. For the other woman, dignity was revealed by her walking with a "yes" as she moved obediently through the process! Both of them were dignified in their response. The other thing that blesses me about Esther's story is that even though God is not mentioned you can see His providential hand at work. Crazy factoids I discovered as I studied this book. Greece was holding its 79th Olympics during this time frame! Crazy to think the Olympics have been going on that long. The other thing that blew my mind was the extense of Xerxes territories as the King of Persia. His kingdom spanned through Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon as well as parts of Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and Arabia. No wonder his party lasted 180 days as he welcomed all of his territories! I imagine the dignitaries were coming and going as they arrived on the scene! Apparently, Persia loved to party! The first two chapters have three parties and as we watch this true story unfold we will see that Esther holds her own parties. Even the bad guy hangs out with his friends and family in between scenes! This was one communal group! Yet, through it all, we will discover that God can use one person that is willing to be used by Him to help change things for a nation.

ALL NATIONS BY ALL MEANS

ALL NATIONS BY ALL MEANS 

When I received a friend request from a man wearing a topi I was intrigued. I thought, Why would he be friending me? After checking out his profile to make sure he was a safe person I friended him. I always examine my friend requests before I accept them. I try to say yes as much as possible because I use my social media for ministry. 

 The next day he wrote on one of my posts to pray for his country. I asked for the name of this country, and he shared it with me. I wrote it down in my prayer journal and started praying the next day. That night I received the longest message in messenger telling me about his people group. 

I learned that the there is 0% literacy among the women and that the men have less than 2%. They take care of cattle and cotton crops. They don’t have tv’s, radios, or Wi-Fi and no Bible is published yet in their language. I also learned that the women are not allowed to use cell phones or in their culture there is no need to do so. They are truly an oral culture. 

He then asked me, “Will you disciple my wife in Bible storytelling?” 

He shared that he prayed and asked God to give him someone that would teach his wife so she could disciple their women because he realized that if they don’t teach the women the Bible then their culture would never change. 

I found myself asking God, “God is this my person of peace? Am I to do this?” and immediately I heard in my heart a resounding, “Yes!” 

My response was, “Here I am, LORD!” We set up a time to meet. Late at night for my husband Greg and me and early morning for them. Now three months later and sixteen Bible stories, this couple is like family to my husband and me. We cannot wait for our Zoom calls and are eager for messages about what is happening in their lives. 

Somehow GOD in HIS sovereign will chose us to go to a place we never thought possible to make disciples through ZOOM of all things. 

We use several different methods as we train: conversations, stories, questions, art, stick figure drawing, graphs, and PowerPoint slides. 

Sometimes Greg and I are up early, and they are up late. We change the time based on the rhythm of our needs, but we remain faithful to giving the Word of God as accurately as we can orally so they can hear the Scriptures in their heart language. 

Greg or I tell the Bible story and then our friend interprets it to his wife so she can hear it. Then she repeats the story back and he interprets it to us so we can tell if she understood correctly. She then meets with five to eight women from five different villages on Friday nights and tells them the Bible stories. They tell them back to her and she checks to make sure they know it. They then go home and tell people the Bible stories in their villages. The women then report back stories of what happened. It is a circle dance of listening, sharing, teaching, listening, sharing, teaching with questions mixed in to help us all understand. 

The NARION theme for 2021 is Mark 13:10 “And the gospel must first be communicated to all nations.” (Mark 13:10). 

Our theme is ALL NATIONS BY ALL MEANS! As I prayed God put on my heart four words that we should remember. 

The first word that God put on my heart is PANTA TA ETHNE! In the great commission God gave us the command to go to all nations by all means. 

All Nations is the PANTA TA ETHNE. There are debates among theologians on whether this word represents the geography, the anthropology, the linguistic, or the Gentile. But in the scheme of things all agree we must go and if someone doesn’t know then we must find a way to get the Scriptures to them in their heart language. 

According to the Joshua Project 41.8% of the world’s population in completely unreached with the message that God so loved them that He gave His only Son, Jesus, to die for them! And if you add up all of the columns except the significantly reached 77.4% of the world’s population needs more people that are willing to say, “Here I am!” 

This bring us to our next word Hineni (Hnaynee) which means “HERE I AM!” 

It appears 17 times in four books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Samuel, and Isaiah). 

My friend that contacted me over social media was willing to use social media to reach out to the nations for help! He was willing to ask me if I was willing to say, “Here I am! I will go to the nations!” He was willing to ask me, when culture would say, a man should not ask a woman for help. He went ahead and asked. He recognized that God was urging him to do so, so he obeyed. 

Hineni is about a call and response. 

The CALLER…. GOD 

 God is seeking our full attention for His purpose. 

The RESPONDER… us

 We have a to make choice. 

   • Am I willing to sacrifice? 

   • Am I willing to obey the call? 

There is great risk in saying, “HERE I AM!” 

   Think of Abraham with Isaac. 

   Think of Joseph searching out his brothers before they threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave. 

   Think of Moses facing his past as a murderer before he could lead the nation out of bondage in Egypt.  

Hineni says… 

   Here I am with ALL of ME! 

   Here I am ready to face whatever is before me! 

   Here I am to do whatever You lead me to! 

   Here I am to go wherever You tell me to go! 

Hineni is… 

   Into the unknown 

   Requires faith  Expects surrender 

   Faces pain 

   Embraces needs of others 

   Dives into the deep 

   Is willing to do God’s circle dance  

Our dear sister Nancy Wilson is a person who lived out Hineni! Nancy served as a Global Ambassador with CRU on the StoryRunners team. She traveled the globe as she surrendered to her Hineni. Nancy visited over 70 countries. She lived out “Here I am” for the nations. She used many methods to reach others. She was an incredible storyteller. She used her clothes as an opportunity to tell stories and draw people into conversations. She used prayer, events, books, and speeches. Nancy used everything at her disposal to reach the nations. 

We want to take a moment to recognize her and say we miss her. We celebrate the life of our dear friend Nancy. Nancy lived out a beautiful circle dance for Jesus all over the world. 

Which leads us to the next word. Marharal. Marharal is the Circle dance! 

It is what Miriam did when they crossed the Red Sea! 

  • The Circle dance celebrates our connection to God and to each other. 

 • The Circle dance is about movement. 

 • The Circle dance is about unity. o In the Circle dance each person will move through the circle from person to person taking the next person’s place. Together moving in unity! You are never stationary and you are never alone!

 • The Circle dance celebrates in community. 

 • The Circle dance is focused on God! He is at the center! The movement is not about the one moving, but the one with whom we encircle! We are all dancing for His glory and praise! 

As I listened to this description at a wedding recently, I thought, “What a beautiful picture of ministry!” 

We each play our part and we keep moving in unity as we seek to follow our “Here I am” LORD call. 

We cannot do this alone! We must do this together and we must do it through many ways. 

This leads me to our last word Multi-modal. 

As we go to the nations with our ‘Here I am’ response and join the circle dance we must be willing to use whatever means possible to reach the unreached. 

Multi-modal is using various methods, strategies, or modes of communication in order to increase meaning. 

Multi-modal is 

 • Adaptive to the audience 

 • Flexible 

 • Interactive 

 • Experiential

 • Uses the senses

 • Creative 

It is Biblical… 

 • Miriam choreographed a group of women to sing, dance, and worship the LORD with hand drums. 

 • David Danced in the streets.

 • Ahimaaz the son of Zadok ran to get a message to David. 

 • Isaiah used poetry to point us to the Messiah.

 • Jeremiah smashed jars as visual aids to show the people God was going to smash them. 

 • Nehemiah shook his robes to show that this is what will happen to the ones that do not follow through with their word. 

 • Jesus used parables and questions.   • Paul wrote letters. 

In God’s call to the Nation’s, it is about using whatever method will help the person develop understanding and meaning when they hear the Word of GOD! 

I love how God’s message has been communicated from so many different methods! It is never about the method! It is about JESUS and reaching the people with HIS message. 

We are here today not to compete with one another, but to celebrate one another as we go to the nations in our unique, “Here I am” with whatever method, strategy, or mode that works to get people the gospel message! 

We celebrate you and thank GOD for all you do! 

Shalom y’all!

The 10 Commandments with Hidden Persian Numbers

When the kids were little Greg found images similar to these to teach the kids the 10 commandments. We were amazed that after looking at them for a few minutes both of them could tell us the 10 Commandments. 

I just recreated this set but this time there are images embedded in the drawings of the Persian script number. 

Can you find the Persian numbers? 

Can you name the 10 Commandments without looking them up?

Does this look like me and Greg?

I need advice. Which image for number 4 do you prefer?  

Do you like the Bible or the church to help you remember to keep the Sabbath?

How would you draw them?

I really like my bowing guy. No I am not keeping him as an idol!

The Most High God us number one in My life! 

Let me know if this was helpful.

When our Actions Don't Match our Words Trust Gets Broken

In today's Bible story in the Joseph series, we will discover the importance of letting our actions match our words. As you listen to the next few stories in the series as yourself, how did their actions not matching their words break trust. It greatly affected Joseph's family dynamics. 

How has your trust been broken by those who say one thing but do another? How might have you broken the trust of others by not following through?

It is at this point in Joseph's story that we see the consequences and how it affects his brothers and his father.

Watch the story here..

Joseph's Family Needs His Help and Joseph Cries (Genesis 42)

God was with Joseph

God was with Joseph

Have you ever felt like every time you turn around someone else is doing you wrong? If anyone could give this as a complaint it is Joseph in the Bible. Yet, we are told God was with Joseph! Literally, every time something bad happened Joseph had this way of landing upright on his feet even when sold into slavery, thrown into jail, and while being forgotten! Through it all, God was with Joseph. What was it that made Joseph such a blessing to those he served? 

This recording is one of the longer ones. I imagine most won't even take the time to give it a thorough listen. Ain't nobody got time for that! But, the reality is that we all need to listen to and read Joseph's story more often. 

There are life principles we need to grasp with the first one being that we recognize that through it all GOD IS WITH US! HE ALONE IS THE ONE WHO BLESSES US! 

Greg asked me how my morning was going when he came home for lunch. I shared with him that I had to record this over and over, but through it all, I felt so blessed. Each time, I discovered a new thought and nuance to the story that weaved its way into my soul! I love the mornings when I get a chance to record. They are my personal soul food!

John 3:16 In Different Languages

This is so beautiful! You can listen to John 3:16 in different languages.

https://audioscripture.org/john316

When the Rooster Crows a New Day is Coming

This morning as I read about Peter's third denial of being a disciple, I was struck by the rooster's crow. I remembered that Jesus had warned Peter that he would deny Him three times and when he was done doing it a rooster would crow. But then I remembered these words.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32).

I then thought the whole reason a rooster crows is to let us know it is a new day. A rooster crows because he has an "internal clock that helps him anticipate sunrise (www.earthsky.org). The rooster anticipates the new day is awakening. Jesus could have used anything to remind Peter of his conversation, but He chose to use a rooster. 

Peter chose to run and deny what he knew as truth, but there is a new day coming when he would stand his ground and face his own demise at the hands of man. 

Peter may have forgotten who he was and who he served for a moment, but a new day was coming when he would proclaim boldly in the streets and synagogues. 

Peter may weep after the rooster crows, but soon he will rejoice when many nations receive the Holy Spirit. 

I love that Jesus gave Peter a rooster. An ordinary creature that daily crows even today on the Mount of Olives. A new day is coming. Get up and embrace the new day.

I do not know where you have been or what you have done, but I do know each of us need to hear the rooster crow. Go ahead and weep like Peter as you remember what you have done that you should not have done, but then get up and remember a new day has come!

Jesus intercedes for you! Though you may be sifted for a moment remember a new day is coming. Celebrate the rooster crowing as our reminder! Jesus has already come and He will come again!

Shalom y'all.