The Christ Church Conway Podcast

We were dead, but God… Hear what God has done through Jesus Christ to make us alive again.

Paul prays for the Ephesians that the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened to see the wonders of the gospel.

Why does it matter that we are “in Christ”? Paul helps us understand the importance of this union in this theologically rich passage.

We are transitioning away from a daily podcast to posting sermons and other teachings at Christ Church Conway.

Esther 6 illustrates the godly encouragement to humility and warning against pride found in Proverbs. Mordecai who didn’t demand a reward for his service is exalted, and Haman who tried to secure his own glory is humiliated.

This weeks sermon at Christ Church Conway.

There is an incredible contrast set-up between Esther and Haman. She is presented in humility, he in pride. In light of the biblical wisdom of Proverbs, we have here an incredible foreshadowing of where the story is going.

Haman’s plot is announced, and the Jews go into mourning. Mordecai encourages Esther to go to the King and plead for her people because it just might be that this is exactly why God has put her in the palace to begin with.

We don’t like to think about the discipline of our Heavenly Father; nonetheless, it is a reality. Further, it is a reality that flows from His fatherly love, not contrary to it.

Haman’s lie about the Jew’s way of life is very instructive for our own thinking about how we live as Christians in the world.

The story continues, but now an enemy of the people of God is introduced. This enemy has been given authority to destroy the Jews. Even in this, if we look close, we see God’s providential rule at work.

Jesus’ healing of the dead man not only shows us Christ’s ability to heal, but also his ushering in the Kingdom of God.

This section seems somewhat disconnected from the its context. However, in telling the story of this plot against the king, several somewhat minor details are set in place that will become significant in the coming sections, reminding us that God’s providence extends even to the things we might take for granted.

In this paragraph the divines tackle the very difficult problem of God’s providentially ruling all things and the reality of sin.

As we read the story or Esther becoming queen, the questions abound. The story is presented with incredible ambiguity throughout, barring us from being able to answer many if the questions we have. One thing we do know, God is providentially at work through profoundly sinful and broken people and circumstances to bring about the deliverance of his people.

As the story continues, the king is shown having lost control. However, his loss of control is God’s providential working out the deliverance if his people.

In this episode we begin our study of Esther, a book that reminds us that nothing can undo God’s will for his people.

David gained the victory for his people, and they followed him in that victory. This is a wonderful picture of the Christian life, following Christ our King in the victory that he has won for us.

God provides the true king to fight for his people and deliver them from their enemies in order to remind them of their true story.

The Israelite should not defeat their enemy. Even their king, Saul, had forgotten the story. They needed a better king if they would survive.

God normally works through means, but in his freedom, he is not so bound.

Paul wraps up his letter to the Galatians reminding them of what the has already so thoroughly laid out- that our only boasting is in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Saying we are saved by grace alone does not mean there is not a Christian life to which we are called. The key to the Christian life is sowing to the Spirit rather than our flesh.

One extension of being a product of grace is extending grace to others. Here Paul tells us to restore sinners bearing one another’s burdens with gentleness.

We got started in the Christian life by the Spirit. We can only continue in him as well.