FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS “YOUR DEFINING MOMENT”
INTRODUCTION:
Every single one of you sitting here have or will face a “DEFINING MOMENTS” in your life. There are many “DEFINING MOMENTS” along the way for the moment, but for the most part there will be “ONE” that will “DEFINE” you along the way or maybe for the REST OF YOUR LIFE, good or bad, or until God gives you another “GREAT DEFINING MOMENT!”
Everybody faces “DEFINING MOMENTS” in life! They are never “CONVENIENT, SIMPLE or EASY!” Each “DEFINING MOMENT” will determine your direction for at least the foreseeable future and the “DEFINING MOMENT” will do what it says! It will “DEFINE” you and your character within you! And will “DEFINE” your church future as well!
“DEFINING MOMENTS” have to do with whether or not you’re going to “OBEY GOD & GOD’S WILL” for your life or not! It’s that easy & simple!
Throughout the Bible we see PEOPLE in “DEFINING MOMENTS” in their lives. We see in the Bible some were “BIG DEFINING MOMENTS” like...
DAVID & GOLIATH, NOAH & THE ARK, MOSES LEADING GOD’S PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, JOSHUA at JERICHO, & JOSHUA’S DEFINING STATEMENT!
Some seemed rather small at the time, like....
THE BOY W/A LUNCH, THE WOMAN WHO ANOINTED JESUS’, THE WOMAN AT THE WELL, A TAX COLLECTOR IN A TREE, THE RICH YOUNG RULER!
But small as they may have seemed there were not small! For they were the legacy of these people, these were the “DEFINING MOMENTS” of their lives.
In Esther 4, after having received a message from Mordecai, Esther sends a message back to her Uncle that if she approaches the King’s inner palace without invitation she would be killed!
But Mordecai, knowing her “DEFINING MOMENT” had arrived, pushed her. He knew that in her hands were “DELIVERANCE” for their people & in when he spoke immortal “DEFINING WORDS” to her echoing down throughout the HALLS OF HISTORY, in the church world, when he said to her in Esther 4:14...
“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief & deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you & your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the Kingdom for SUCH A TIME AS THIS?”
In other words, Esther, you’re going to perish if “YOU DON’T” but if “YOU DO” (God’s Will) then “YOU & YOUR FAMILY” will survive! God will ultimately provide as He always does but God has chosen“YOU! FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!”
FOLK, HERE IS THE LESSON FOR US!
“YOU” CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! ... IN YOUR FAMILY! IN THIS CHURCH !
IN THIS CITY! & IN THIS WORLD!
THERE’S “DELIVERANCE” IN YOUR HANDS IF YOU WILL YIELD TO GOD AND ARE USED BY GOD! “DELIVERANCE” IN YOUR HANDS FOR THE SIN SICK LOST DYING PEOPLE AS GOD USES YOU!
MORDECAI TOLD HER... “IF YOU DON’T, DELIVERANCE (WILL COME), BUT, FROM SOMEPLACE ELSE...”
ESTHER NEEDED THAT “ENCOURAGEMENT!” SHE NEEDED THAT “CONFIRMATION” IN HER SPIRIT! SHE NEEDED THAT “NUDGE/PUSH” FROM HER UNCLE & THE HOLY SPIRIT!
SOMETIMES WE NEED THAT NUDGE! YOU NEED A NUDGE FROM A “PASTOR” BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY FROM THE “HOLY SPIRIT!”
“YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE” BUT NOT UNTIL YOU FACE YOUR “DEFINING MOMENT” & UNTIL YOU REALIZE “YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE!”
I don’t know if Esther fully understood “HER PURPOSE” in life till that “DEFINING MOMENT!” Maybe she just thought she had been blessed of God because He loved her! Sometimes we can “MISS THE MOMENT” without realizing it or even knowing it! That’s why God puts a “MORDECAI” in you life!
Remember this:
GOD NEVER DOES “ANYTHING” WITHOUT A “REASON OR PURPOSE” TO COINCIDE WITH HIS WILL FOR MANKIND EVEN IN “YOUR LIFE!”
Which means that every single one of us has a “PURPOSE” for “HIS WILL” for mankind! Getting Saved was not just “YOUR” personal “FIRE ESCAPE FROM HELL!” GOD HAS A “PURPOSE” FOR YOU! THERE IS A “DEFINING MOMENT” COMING IN YOUR LIFE & IT’S COMING SOON IF NOT ALREADY HERE! MANY MISS THEIR “DEFINING MOMENT” BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL TO BRING IT OR ANOTHER ONE AGAIN!
Let’s dissect this passage this morning & take a new look at it!
I. EVERYONE HAS A PURPOSE IN LIFE!
YOU ARE NOT HERE BY “ACCIDENT!” YOU HAVE A “PURPOSE” IN LIFE! YOU HAVE A “PURPOSE” IN LIFE “RIGHT HERE & RIGHT NOW!” EVERYONE HAS A SPECIFIC “PURPOSE” IN LIFE TO FULFILL!
ONE PURPOSE & ONE TASK - A LIFE MINISTRY!
Every person in this room has a “LIFE MINISTRY” to fulfill! It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, your color, or gender! We were “ALL” created for a “PURPOSE” in life! ONE PURPOSE, ONE TASK: A LIFE MINISTRY!
You have been given a “PURPOSE” a task, a reason, a direction, a job if you will! IF “YOU DON’T” FULFILL THAT “PURPOSE” , then as Mordecai said to Esther, You will FAIL & PERISH “YOUR PURPOSE!”
You might have a “PURPOSE” that will “CHANGE” the course of the history or even the world! “YOU HAVE” been give the “PURPOSE”...
FOLK, THAT IS WHY YOU WERE BORN!!
Exodus 9:16, God speaks to Moses like this...
“But indeed for this PURPOSE I have raised YOU up, that I may show My power in you, & that My name may be declared in all the earth!”
In John 9:1-3 we read about a man blind from birth.
“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parent that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither, this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed IN HIM.”
This man, most likely, never knew his “PURPOSE” in life till his “DEFINING MOMENT” arrived & happened with the very Son of God, Jesus! Jesus explained & told him & everyone there about his “DEFINING MOMENT!”
Even Jesus had a “PURPOSE” in life & spoke about & to that “PURPOSE!”
Matthew 18:11
“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.”
Matthew 20:28
“...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.”
This passage even speaks of the “ULTIMATE DEFINING MOMENT” of the Life of Jesus, but even still there was more “DEFINING MOMENTS” in and through the Life of Jesus! After the Cross there was an “EMPTY GRAVE!”
II. EVERY PERSON HAS A DEFINING MOMENT!
Esther 4:14
“HAVE YOU COME TO THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.”
Esther did many wonderful things in her life, she didn’t just arrive at the palace one day for her moment, SHE LIVED, SHE HAD A “PURPOSE” EVERY DAY, but something “SPECIAL” was happening in her life at that moment!
Each one of us has “A TIME & A CHANCE” to do something really big for God! I’ve determined in my life that I’m not going to “PASS IT UP or MISS IT!” WE MUST “ALWAYS” BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THAT “MOMENT OF PURPOSE!”
Mordecai asked her, causing her to think, “HAVE YOU COME TO THE KINGDOM (TO THIS PLACE) FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS?”
I’m asking you! Have you come to the kingdom, TO THIS PLACE, TO THIS TIME, TO THIS CHURCH “FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS?”
I can tell every single one of you, “YOU HAVE” come to the Kingdom “FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!”
PEOPLE ARE DYING & GOING TO HELL FOR THE LACK OF CHRISTIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD “NOT” FULFILLING “THEIR PURPOSE”! I DARE SAY THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS CHURCH WHOSE “DEFINING MOMENT” IS HERE & NOW BUT “THEY” ARE NOT!
This goes back to some of my preaching about the “PRESENCE OF GOD” in your life! If you are “AWARE” of the “PRESENCE OF GOD” in your life then you’ll be more apt to notice when “YOUR MOMENT” arrives, & “YOUR MOMENT” will arrive!
We have to be “AWARE” of the “MOMENT!” Esther didn’t realize the “MOMENT” had come upon her till (GOD) gave her a “MORDECAI” who asked the question! Folk, the “MOMENT” may pass us by in the “ROUTINE OF LIFE,” for the “LACK OF AWARENESS”, or simply out of “NOT CARING!”
WE CAN “MISS THE MOMENT” WITHOUT REALIZING IT!
Of the widow, in Luke 21:3, she most likely didn’t know the “MOMENT!”
“In truth I say to you that this poor widow has cast in more than they all.”
The widow gave her offering of two small coins. This was just what she did! She did nothing different but the Master took notice of her “FAITHFULNESS & ACTIONS” & gave one of His most “POWERFUL LESSONS ON GIVING!” WHAT IF SHE HAD STAYED HOME THAT DAY? She would’ve missed her “SUCH A TIME AS THIS...HER DEFINING MOMENT!”
That widow did nothing out of the ordinary or trying to impress anyone! She was doing her “LIFE ROUTINE” her “LIFE MINISTRY!” There is a chance she didn’t even know this had happened till she got to heaven!
Every single one of you has a “LIFE ROUTINE” but, MORE IMPORTANTLY, you should have a “LIFE MINISTRY!” Where do you think the “PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE LIES?” It lies in your “LIFE MINISTRY!”
I have been called to the “MINISTRY!” I’ve tried other things in life! Nothing makes me “HAPPY or FULFILLS” me but my “LIFE PURPOSE”, my “LIFE MINISTRY!”
It has it’s difficulties, problems, trials, hardships, but still it is MY CALLING! My “LIFE MINISTRY!”
NOTHING WILL MAKE “YOU” AS HAPPY IN LIFE AS WHEN YOU’RE “FULFILLING YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE!” EACH OF YOU WERE BORN WITH A “PURPOSE” IN LIFE!
You’re here because of “GOD’S PURPOSE” for YOUR LIFE, YOUR LIFE MINISTRY!
“YOU” can accomplish something big for God and in doing so, accomplish “SOMETHING BIG” for “SOMEONE ELSE” because “YOUR PURPOSE IS GOD’S WILL!”
GOD NEVER DOES ANYTHING FOR “ONE PERSON” THAT HE DOESN’T BLESS “OTHERS” AS WELL! IT’S ALL PART OF MINISTRY, LIFE MINISTRY!
You may never know the FULL EXTENT of your “LIFE MINISTRY” till you get to heaven but “YOU’VE GOT TO BE READY & FOUND FAITHFUL” when it does come & IT WILL COME!
How about the “BOY WITH THE LUNCH” in John 6:9 (with his Transformers or SPIDERMAN Lunch Box!)
“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?”
He had no idea it was the day for “HIS DEFINING MOMENT” his “SUCH A TIME AS THIS!” He didn’t know that day when he stepped out & mom hollered to him, “DON’T FORGET YOUR LUNCH!” HIS LIFE WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME!
WHAT IF HE HAD STAYED HOME THAT DAY? I believe there would’ve been a miracle for the people there, BUT (WITHOUT) HIM!
Andrew didn’t know speaking to some little boy with the “SPIDERMAN LUNCH BOX” & being kind to him would change that boy’s life & everybody else's life FOREVER! WHAT IF ANDREW STAYED HOME THAT DAY?
How about when “David” was sent with food for his brothers to the front lines of the battlefield? He couldn’t have fathomed “HIS DEFINING MOMENT” his “SUCH A TIME AS THIS” was coming! HE SLEW A GIANT AND THE ARMY OF ISRAEL WAS AROUSED TO A GREAT VICTORY!
There have been “MILLIONS” of lives “NOT” touched, “MINISTRIES” “NOT” started because “SOMEONE MISSED” their “MOMENT” their “SUCH A TIME AS THIS!” Maybe because “THAT SOMEBODY STAYED HOME!”
I personally think each of us has a “DEFINING MOMENT & EVEN DEFINING MOMENTS!” I think each of us has many coming to the “KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS MOMENTS!”
BUT WE’LL ALL HAVE AT LEAST ONE IN OUR LIFE!
Maybe one of mine was with “SASHA” a little boy I ministered to as a Children’s Pastor (whom I’ll never forget) who was PHYSICALLY BEATEN w/CIGARETTE BURNS & WHELPS of parental abuse all over his body!
Maybe it was a little old lady, you picked up for church who didn’t have a way, or who couldn’t drive or whose husband wouldn’t take her! Maybe it was a family needing a ride to church who you brought & made to feel loved & welcome or a family you might have taken out for dinner when they came to visit!
Or maybe it was going over to “PRAY” with someone you hardly knew but you just felt like you wanted to or better yet, just had to because “GOD WAS LEADING YOU!” THOSE ARE ALL “COMING TO THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME MOMENTS, DEFINING MOMENTS!”
I think about a sweet old man named Bro. Murphy. Most likely he didn’t know that he was living his “COMING TO THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS MOMENT!” He picked up #5 snotty nosed, ornery, hard to corral little boys from a “Sunday School Primary Class” every Saturday, taking them on an outing, and bought them a hamburger, fries & coke. Then while eating at a park bench, roller rink or bowling alley he’d make sure they knew their “Sunday School Lesson” for the next morning! He had no idea that out of those #5 snotty nosed, ornery, hard to corral little boys at least #3 of them would end up in the Ministry!
“I” WAS ONE OF THOSE LITTLE BOYS!
We may never know every single one of our “SUCH A TIME AS THIS MOMENTS”, but we must ever be “FAITHFUL” for when they come along!
Suppose “ESTHER” let her fear overwhelm her that day!
Suppose the “WOMAN” with the issue of blood hadn’t reached out & touched the hem of His garment! Suppose she’d let the crowds keep her away from her “SUCH A TIME AS THIS MOMENT”causing her to not reach out “TOUCHING THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT AS HE PASSED BY!” She would have “DIED” in her disease!
Suppose the “BOY” didn’t give up his lunch!
Suppose “DAVID” hadn’t showed up with lunch and #5 smooth stones that day!
SUPPOSE YOU DIDN’T........! WELL, JUST SUPPOSE “YOU” DIDN’T...!
ALTAR CALL
Will you be ready for “YOUR MOMENT” when it comes? Will you care for “YOUR MOMENT” when it comes? Trust me, it will come and more than likely “YOUR MOMENT” has already come more than a few times! ANOTHER WILL COME, BUT WILL YOU BE READY, WILL YOU BE LOOKING FOR IT?
Some of you have a “MOMENT” waiting for you right here & now! A “MOMENT” of Deliverance, Healing, Victory, Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Infusing of Power, or even Salvation!
