The Story - Bravery

Pastor Chris Enoch - February 26, 2017

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Scriptures:

 

Esther 3:1-7

             After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.

            Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.

            When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

            In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, they cast the pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on[a] the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

 

Exodus 20:5

"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me...."

Romans 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship….

 

The Story - The Almond Branch

Pastor Chris Enoch - February 5, 2017

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Scriptures:

 

Jeremiah 1:4-15

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

            “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”

            But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

            Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

            The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

            “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

             The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

            The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?”

            “I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north,” I answered.

            The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.  I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord.

2 Kings 23-25

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. 

 

2 Chronicles 36:15-16 

The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

 

Jeremiah 20:7,8

I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.