Running With The Giants, Week 4 - Pastor Ted Max

This sermon from Pastor Ted Max reveals how God is often working most powerfully when He seems most invisible.

Through the story of Esther, we learn that God intricately orchestrates events, positioning individuals for His divine purposes long before they understand the "why." Esther's journey from orphan to queen wasn't merely a destination of privilege but a strategic placement by God to save her people.

A central theme is that our primary responsibility is obedience, trusting God with the outcomes. The sermon emphasizes that God's love language is obedience, and when we obey, He guides and blesses. This call to obedience directly challenges selfishness, which Pastor Ted identifies as the core sin driving all others.

We are encouraged to shift our prayer from "God, give me more" to "God, why have you given me what I have?" This reframes our perspective, recognizing that our resources, talents, opportunities, and relationships are entrusted to us for God's mission, not merely for our personal enjoyment or protection.

Mordecai's pivotal warning to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape... For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place" (Esther 4:13-14), underscores a critical point: we must not confuse our privilege with our purpose.

God didn't place Esther in the palace to hide, but to act courageously. Similarly, the church is likened to a "battleship" on a mission, not a "cruise ship" focused solely on personal comfort. Our current position, influence, and even the difficult experiences we navigate, are often God's preparation for us to help others "for such a time as this."

Ultimately, faith is not about knowing what God will do, but trusting Him enough to obey, even when His work seems ordinary or unseen—like a king's sleepless night (Esther 6:1).

We are called not to judge God's plan by the current chapter of our lives, as often it is only in looking back, sometimes years later, that we fully comprehend His constant, purposeful hand.

The sermon concludes by urging us to commit to our next act of obedience, using all we have for God's mission and purpose, confident that He is working even when we cannot fully perceive it.