Saved

Orchard Community Church Sunday Morning Messages

"Saved"

Esther 9:1-19

In another stunning reversal, the decree of life is carried out. People marked for death are spared and given a new lease of life. This reversal feels harsh to us, but it would have been seen as equal justice in the time. And yet this event foreshadows a much greater reversal, one in which life also came out of death—the Cross and the mercy and grace that come from Jesus' death on it.

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Esther

God Behind the Scenes

Esther is the only book in the Bible that doesn't mention God. On the surface, God seems absent from this story. Sadly, that's a familiar idea for many of us. Sometimes, we may feel like God is absent from our lives and world. But the story of Esther reveals that God is always present behind the scenes, often working with great power, even when He may seem albescent to us. Esther is the story of God's loving and sometimes hidden providence, the truth that He is over all things working out His will, and the amazing truth that he uses ordinary, flawed people to accomplish His plans. In the end, through a series of stunning reversals, we find that God is definitely not absent but is, in fact, the central character in this story and that He is always at work for the good of His people and for His glory.

Orchard Community Church
8180 Telephone Rd
Ventura CA 93004
www.OrchardVentura.org
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Orchard's Streaming and Song Select CCLI# 160190