For Such a Time as This // Jared Thurmon

02/11/19 • 47 min

Seventh day-Adventist Church of Adairsville

For Such a Time as This
Adairsvillesda.org
February 9, 2019

The Bible and Historians like the Greek Historian Herodotus, and the Jewish Midrash give us details to one of the greatest stories ever told. A story about risk. A story about the power of a woman’s influence. A story about the power of one man’s courage. A story that warns of the dangers of restricting religious freedom and mingling church and state.... A story for such a time as this...

Our story begins on the night of the overthrow of Babylon. King Belshazzar is having a party, everyone is drunk, and in fiery letters written on the wall everyone is terrified to hear from Daniel the prophet that the Kingdom of Babylon has been weighed in the balance...and will be overthrown. It has failed it’s calling, and it is the fault of the king who should have known better and not lowered himself to a drunken festival to the downfall of his empire. At the same time, the Medo-Persian army has diverted the river Euphrates and is marching under the wall to overthrow the metropolis of the greatest empire the world had known. Belshazzar the king is slain. Terror seizes everyone and all are running for their lives. Darius, the future king of this empire, and soon to be a friend of Daniel the prophet, sees something that catches his eye and..........................................that’s the beginning of our story. Fast forward – where we pick up our story in Esther Chapter 1:1

Xerxes the Great

Ahasueras, also known as Xerxes – the Grandson of King Cyrus the Great – the son of King Darius – Ruled Media and Persia at its apex.
-He becomes King. Xerxes began to be known as a ruthless, cruel, arrogant man. The multiple assassination attempts show that those closest to him didn’t respect him.

Verses 3-5

There was drinking of wine and reveling. It was similar to that last night in Babylon at Belshazzar’s feast with a thousand of his lords.
Truly Medo-Persia was the daughter of Babylon.

Esther 1:10, 11 - When the heart of the king was drunk with wine, he commanded ... to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look upon.

Vashti
Although the Talmudic rabbis never say explicitly that they read Esther 1:11 as Ahasuerus’ attempt to mock Vashti’s royalty, this may be inferred from the way the rabbinic reading of the command as meaning that Vashti should wear only the diadem (Midrash Abba Gurion 1):
אמר ר’ אבא שלא יהיה עליה כלום אלא הכתר וערומה. R. Abba said: “That she should appear with nothing on her but the crown, that is, naked.”

According to the Midrash – The ancient Jewish commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures – Vashti was the daughter of King Belshazzar. Great granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Taken captive by King Darius the night of the overthrow, he took pity on her and eventually had her marry his son – Xerxes/Ahasueras. Vashti’s name means (The Beautiful – The Best)
She was known as a savvy politician. The idea is proposed that the ladies banquet held at the same time as Ahasueras/Xerxes festivities was a strategic political maneuver. With all of the noble wives of the empire present, she would have control of a key group of hostages in the event of a coup d’etat at the King’s feast. She had learned her lesson from her father Belshazzar’s feast.

Harriet Beecher Stowe called Vashti's disobedience the "first stand for woman's rights.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that Vashti "added new glory to [her] day and generation...by her disobedience; for 'Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.'"

Ellen White states - When this command came from the king, Vashti did not carry out his orders, because she knew that wine had been freely used, and that Ahasuerus was under the influence of the intoxicating liquor. For her husband's sake as well as her own, she decided not to leave her position at the head of the women of the court.
She acted in harmony with a pure conscience. -CC 243. 37 The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 3:1139. CC 243.2

Xerxes commanded her to appear before his half-drunken company, wearing only her crown and she refused to be humiliated like that.

The men around Xerxes argued this would set a terrible precedent. She hadn’t just wronged him but this would alter the state of society. It would be a power given to woman that would be to her injury (Manuscript 29, 1911)

So Xerxes banished Queen Vashti (Esther 1:3).

There is no queen in the empire...what now?
Mordecai and Esther – Chapter 2

Hadassah was an orphan – of the royal line of Saul. Her parents had both died when she was a baby. She was raised by her cousin Mordecai as his own child. She was simple-hearted and unassuming, requiring little and demanding nothing. SDP 171.2

Mordecai called her Esther to hide her lineage – and at the age of 16 she went t...

For Such a Time as This
Adairsvillesda.org
February 9, 2019

Xerxes the Great

Ahasueras, also known as Xerxes – the Grandson of King Cyrus the Great – the son of King Darius – Ruled Media and Persia at its apex.
-He becomes King. Xerxes began to be known as a ruthless, cruel, arrogant man. The multiple assassination attempts show that those closest to him didn’t respect him.

Verses 3-5

There was drinking of wine and reveling. It was similar to that last night in Babylon at Belshazzar’s feast with a thousand of his lords.
Truly Medo-Persia was the daughter of Babylon.

Harriet Beecher Stowe called Vashti's disobedience the "first stand for woman's rights.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that Vashti "added new glory to [her] day and generation...by her disobedience; for 'Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.'"

Xerxes commanded her to appear before his half-drunken company, wearing only her crown and she refused to be humiliated like that.

So Xerxes banished Queen Vashti (Esther 1:3).

There is no queen in the empire...what now?
Mordecai and Esther – Chapter 2

Mordecai called her Esther to hide her lineage – and at the age of 16 she went t...

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Is Perception Reality? - The Story of David and Goliath // Jared Thurmon

CHOSEN

@adairsvillesda
Feb 23, 2019

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover - but we do.

They say names will never hurt you - but they do.

They say perception is reality - but is it?

———
She had a rocky start in life. As the daughter of a teenaged low-income mother, her start was anything but glamorous. In her early years, her living conditions were rough, and she was sexually abused starting at the age of 9, by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend. At the age of 14 she got pregnant, but her son died shortly after birth.

Finally the day came to pursue her dream, She was hired on to a local television station for the news, but things didn’t go well. She was fired by the producer because she was “unfit for television,” But - Oprah Winfrey didn’t give up.

———
“I’ve made billions of dollars of failures,” he said at a recent conference, adding that it would be like “a root canal with no anesthesia” if he listed them. “failure and invention are inseparable twins,” - Jeff Bezos, the richest man in America didn’t give up.

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I missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I was trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan - didn’t give up.

———
When asked by a newspaper reporter if he felt like a failure and if he should give up, after having gone through over 9,000 failed attempts, He simply stated “Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric lightbulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” - Thomas Edison didn’t give up.

Is perception reality? If we looked at each of these people at various stages in life, we would likely call them failures.

Whose perception is reality? How often is the majority right? In a world of social media and likes and comments and views, how do we define reality? Is it based on what you see? What they see? Or is it something else?

I’d like to take you back to the land of promise...

Israel was tired of being unique, they wanted to blend in, be liked and be like the majority of the nations around them - They wanted a king on the throne.

That first King, like many leaders today was only a leader by title, not by character.
People followed him because they had to, not because they wanted to.

He failed his calling and God called Samuel, the prophet in Israel to go to Jesse’s house, to find the next king

READ - 1 Samuel 16:6-7+

Perception is not always Reality

———————————————————————
Explain the life of a shepherd
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1 Samuel 16:16-23

David’s talent gets him into the court of the King. Why? To learn what to do? How to become king? NO

Sometimes God leads us into situations to learn what NOT to do.

—————————————-

READ 1 Samuel 17:3-11 - THE VALLEY - THE BATTLE ARRAY

Goliath - 10 feet tall - 200 lbs worth of armor
David - - 16 years old, well built, tall

David knew God had called him to something decisive this day!

David gets audience with the king. He makes his case. 1 Sam 17:32-

Don’t get caught here, this is a moment like when Oprah finally had made it through college, finally at a network only to be fired. People thought yep she’s unfit for this type of work” But was that the end of the story? No! She was finding her own armor. Jordan didn’t make the varsity team, too short, small and didn’t have what it takes. That crazy geek in the lab, failing over and over and over with all his silly lightbulb inventions.

And so with David, he’s scared, he doesn’t want to fight...

David realizes, I’ve prepared for this, but this isn’t how I prepared.

Other people’s perceptions of what you should be doing and how you should be doing it, are hurting who you are meant to be! Fight in your own armor. You’ve been preparing for this your whole life. Stop listening to the crowd. They tell you you’re not pretty enough, not strong enough, too bossy, too wreckless....Stop listening to the crowd. The majority is never right! David has figured this out.

VS. 40 - David begins to walk down to the valley. He hears the whispers.

Why are the soldiers afraid? They don’t know how to fight with swords and armor...1 Samuel 13:19-21

Barium Sulfate - density chemical make up twice as dense of normal stone.

What was his perception? What was Israels? What was Sauls? What is yours?

VS 41 - 44 - Come to me on my terms

David Responds: But before I tell you what he says I should tell you about the slingers:

Share accuracy 400’ and range - 1300’ of slinger ( velocity -stopping power of a 44 magnum handgun

Who should be afraid in this moment?

VS 45 - 47 - David Responds

S...