Gtcotr/ss110208
Key Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Imagine … not too long ago I was on a return flight from China and was upgraded to first class. As it happened I was seated by a well dressed woman in her early 40’s who was already busy looking at the flight menu getting ready to make her meal selections for the trip. I sat down in my isle seat with her on my left by the window. The seats were large and comfortable and I was ready to relax.
This was the last leg on my trip. I left Houston two weeks earlier headed east. Since leaving I had been to Europe, Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Nepal, and two cities in China. To say the least, I was a bit tired having preached a dozen times and driven hundreds of miles. I even took a day out of the normal schedule to take two young men on a safari where we hiked out of Kenya and into Tanzania to see a special place in the river where crocodiles catch and eat wild animals from the herds which cross there during the running of the wildebeests each year. Now leaving Beijing I was still headed East on my way to complete one more around the world trip.
As I sat there in that big comfortable seat I thought of just drifting off to sleep when the lady sitting beside me interrupted me by asking me if I could read the menu. I looked at it and realized that she was on the wrong page attempting to read Chinese. When I turned the page and showed her the selections in English she thanked me and then I noticed her ring. It must have been the biggest diamond I had ever seen someone wear on their finger.
Nice ring, I said. Thanks, she replied, it’s the ‘Gladstone Diamond’, it’s on the international registry as one of the largest diamonds set in a non displayed piece. It’s nice, she continued, but unfortunately it has a long history and comes with a horrible curse attached to it.
Now I was awake, alert and interested. A curse, I responded, what curse? With that she leaned forward and looked to the other side of the plane and said, “Mr Gladstone”, referring to the gentleman sitting smiling in the opposite window seat across the plane, “my husband”.
I didn’t really know what to say as I smiled back and lifted my hand with a little ‘hi’ kind of wave. I don’t know their story but I do know this, these people needed help and my observation was that it was probably going to require either one or both of them to change.
I know about change. I too was locked into a marriage that needed help. My wife, Brenda, and I both needed change, we both wanted change and we both had decided to change more times than we could count, but none of that changed us.
Then one day something different happened and to this day, more than thirty years later, I can tell you for sure, change can happen.
It won’t happen just because you want it; it won’t happen just because you need it; it won’t happen just because you decide to change ---
Change happens when you get a partner, get a plan, and work for it!
The partner I am talking about is Jesus, the plan I refer to is the Word of God.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)
People are in need of change every day, from weight loss and health issues to attitude adjustments and spiritual rebirths. However:
1. Change does not come because you want it.
2. Change does not come because you need it.
3. Change does not come because you decide you going to change.
4. Change only comes when you do something about it.
Seldom if ever do we see the change we want unless and until we:
1. Get a partner
2. Get a plan
3. Work for it
What change do you want? What change do you need? What change have you decided to make in the past but never made it?
1. Was it to:
a. stop cussing
b. stop lying
c. stop being critical, judgmental or unkind
d. not get drunk
e. not commit adultery
f. quit being anxious, insecure and afraid
h. quit tearing up your marriage
2. Was it to:
a. forgive someone who did you wrong
b. give more time to your family
c. be a better witness in your workplace
d. become more diligent in your finances
e. grow in your spiritual walk with the Lord
f. experience more joy, peace or patience in your life
Our text for today comes from the book of Esther and includes a story of a young woman who needed to change. Let’s read from the scriptures together and see how they worked with God to get their miracle.
The story of this young Jewish girl who became Queen to King Xerxes of the Persian Empire in about the year 480BC is a true account which is still celebrated each year in February or March by the Jewish nation as the festival of Purim. The Bible account tells us King Xerxes had earlier banished his former queen and had subsequently married Esther without knowing she was a Jew.
In the course of daily affairs a high officer in King Xerxes government who hated the Jews, accused them and gained the King’s support to have the empire cleansed of them by means of legally sanctioned genocide. Esther’s family and friends heard of this plan and asked Esther to intervene with the King on their behalf. Esther refused!
You see, there was a law which said that if anyone, even the Queen, dared to come before the King of Persia without first being summoned, that person would immediately be put to death. The only escape was to have the King hold out his scepter and pardon the offender. Esther was afraid of being executed and that was why she refused to help.
Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, who had been like a father to Esther having raised her since she lost her parents as a child, was the spokesperson for God and the Jewish people. We pick up in the story with Mordecai receiving Esther’s refusal and sending one last message back to her in attempt to get her to change the course of this death sentence the King had placed on the Jews.
Mordecai understood that Esther was afraid but he knew she could change if she only would get a partner, get a plan and go for it. He also believed that if Esther would change first, then she could get her husband to change too. And, a changed King meant a changed destiny for the Jewish people.
Esther 4 NLT
13 Mordecai sent back this reply to Esther: "Don’t think for a moment that you will escape there in the palace when all other Jews are killed.
14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. What’s more, who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this?"
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
16 "Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I am willing to die."
17 So Mordecai went away and did as Esther told him.
Esther 5 NLT
1 ¶ Three days later, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance.
2 When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her, holding out the gold scepter to her. So Esther approached and touched its tip.
3 Then the king asked her, "What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!"
Well, you can read the rest of the story and see how that God caused a great deliverance to come to the Jews so that they not only escaped the slaughter but also got to see their enemies destroyed instead. All of this was accomplished by a young woman who, although afraid, and rightly so:
Got a partner, got a plan and …
1. Changed her mind
2. Changed her life and
3. Changed her world
… as she worked her plan.
What do you need to change?
* It may take courage
* It may take prayer and fasting
* It may take some risks
* But if you will partner with Jesus and obey God’s Word … you will be changed into the image God … little by little, transformed!
You will find Jesus in prayer, your plan in the Bible, and your courage in a commitment to do whatever it takes to change.
