Heart and Esther #8

Phil 1:12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,

:13 whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.

:14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were voluntary.

:15 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,

:16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave – a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

:17 If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.

:18 But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account.

:19 Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay – not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides.

:20 Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord.

:21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

:22 But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.

Onesimus was a runaway slave who escaped from his Christian master Philemon. He received Christ through Paul’s ministry and now Paul was sending him back. It doesn’t say if he was set free, but he should have had a different relationship with Philemon now that they were both Christians.

Through the transforming power of the gospel, people and situation can change.

Esther 6:1 That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the Chronicles; and they were read before the king.

:2 And it was found that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Xerxes.

:3 Then the king said,” What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been bone for him.”

:4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

:5 The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

:6 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”

:7 And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,

:8 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head.

:9 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘ Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”

:10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”

:11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”

:12 Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.

:13 When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.”

:14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

God kept the king awake and arranged the king being reminded what Mordecai had done five years before. Any part could have been read, but God made sure that part was read.

How angry Haman must have been when he realized it was Mordecai and not him being honored.

God says the humble will be lifted up and the proud disgraced.