Fashioned: Created for Purpose

made with Proclaim

Don Parmely

New Life Family Church

Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago • 1:12:04

Female Ministry

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I am so sorry that Cecelia’s daughter, Pastor Tina Glosson was unable to attend due to having covid.

But, the Lord can use what the devil meant for evil.

Perhaps it was because I, as a pastor, really needed to focus on women in the church.

You see, when I was a just-saved teenager, I KNEW teenagers were at risk because of drugs, alcohol, free sex, rock and roll and the like, but I just KNEW, I took it for granted that kids and adults — well surely the church had a strategy to keep them safe and “in the fold.”

As an adult, the Lord called me to ministry in a Men’s Retreat.

As a young man, a husband, a father called into ministry through Men’s Ministry I have watched with dismay as men stopped being what they were called to be — godly husbands, involved fathers, a critical part of church, of society.

I watched Men’s retreats that overflowed with men wither and die.

I see it today.

Out of the more than 2 dozen men in our church I was only able to convince 5 other men to attend a Men’s Conference next month.

I wish I could say the rest of the men in the church don’t need the encouragement we 6 do, but, sadly, that is NOT the case.

It has been extremely discouraging as I have struggled through out my years as a pastor to minister to men — to help them realize how important they are to their marriages, their families, the church and society at-large.

And then, last year, the Lord increased the number of children in our church, and in the process, I became aware of how at-risk our kids are.

David Boyd, a long time children’s minister, and author of the book: Strong Enough to Last: BUILDING SPIRITUAL DEPTH INTO OUR KIDS, says:

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 Clearly shows, that God is concerned that His people might neglect the responsibility of passing on spiritual faith to the next generation.

Again, sadly, that is exactly the situation.

The church and parents are failing to pass along an understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

Disney, social media and YouTube, all with blatant hostility to Christianity babysits our toddlers,

Public school education and its hostility to Christianity indoctrinates our children against the Bible

Divorce, unchurched peers, all-consuming sports programs and other activities that our children HAVE to be in (or they’ll be stunted for life!) are pulling our children out of church, if not altogether, then most of the time.

Boyd goers on to say:

In a day when parents and church leaders often decrease their discipleship efforts with kids, the Bible instructs us to do the opposite. Like a knife being sharpened by honing, God asks parents and leaders to sharpen their kids’ biblical faith.

[Boyd says:]… kids are “soft clay”—impressionable, pliable, and teachable. Proverbs 22:6 NKJV agrees, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” [Researcher George] Barna’s statistics bear this out when he states, “By age thirteen, your spiritual identity is largely set in place,”7 and, “In essence, what you believe by the time you are thirteen is what you will die believing.”8 Unless God miraculously intervenes later in their life, childhood is where kid’s spiritual foundations are built.

Unless we can see the overwhelming tide turned, our children WILL lose out with God.

Not maybe, WILL.

Pray church! Pray parents, grandparents!

And then the devil is succeeding in destroying the final linchpin of the church.

The glue that has held church together for all my life and long before.

He is taking out the women of the church.

Women Leaving the Church

In the almost 35 years I have been a pastor, women have been the backbone of the church.

It is easy for us pastors to take them for granted.

But something has been happening over the past several years.

Yes, we knew that fewer people are attending church.

We knew that trend was accelerated by covid.

In fact, Cecelia was telling me that her daughter has been grieving the loss of children in the church since covid.

Her church has so few compared to what they did BEFORE covid.

But perhaps the reasons for less children are clearer due to information I found this past week.

Reasons that I have passed along to Cecelia and Linda as they lead women’s ministry here at New Life.

According to Ericka Andersen:

Women have always attended church at higher rates than men, but that is changing. From 2003 to 2019, women’s attendance dropped from 48 percent to 31 percent.

In that same period, men’s church attendance dropped from 37 percent to 31 percent, meaning that women have left their churches at nearly three times the rate of men.

Why?

Apparently women still have a desire a desire to be close to God.

In fact, Kate Harris says that 88 percent of … women say the area of their lives they’d like to improve most is their faith.

But women are leaving the church:

Of Christian women, 72 percent feel stressed out, 58 percent are tired, and 48 percent say they are overcommitted.

For those with children at home, the numbers are even higher.

So, women are leaving the church because they feel stressed about life.

Women are also leaving church:

As Kate Harris says:

[BECAUSE women] are tired and overcommitted, they need a REASON to carve out time on Sunday mornings and throughout the week, a reason that supersedes the work, sports, or free time already taking up those slots.

We do what we want to do.

Unfortunately, many women don’t see a benefit to attending church.

Others are leaving due to hurts they have experienced in the past — sometimes spiritual abuse or perhaps even sexual abuse.

Still Others have dealt with doubt or have had their questions shut down in the past. They no longer want to feel silenced or shamed for having a voice.

Single women and single moms leave the local church at the highest rates, often because they feel unseen and unheard.

So women are leaving church to try to discover God in other ways, OUTSIDE of church attendance.

The common line “I don’t need church to have a relationship with God” completely disregards the Scripture passages that remind us:

not to “give up meeting together” (Hebrews 10:25),

to “sharpen” one another in faith community (Proverbs 27:17),

and to consider ourselves “one body” in Christ such that “each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5).

Author LINDA ZNACHKO asks:

How many women are seeking purpose, asking, “Is this all there is to life?” [God wants you to know ladies, that …] … “You were made for so much more!” … Women [can be who] … God made [you] to be by living an abundant life in a church community. … [in fact] women [are] vital to church life because it is in [women’s] DNA to be life givers. [Women need] ... to realize [they] have so much to receive inside “God’s holy home on earth.”

Seeking (and finding!) Purpose

So, ladies (men too!) if you are seeking purpose, I strongly recommend you:

First of all — NOT withdraw or give up on church attendance.

Instead, connect with the local church.

Don’t be a spectating stranger.

Be an involved participant.

Ladies, if you are seeking for purpose, meet with our ladies here.

THIS Tuesday, the ladies will meet for fellowship with a meal and start looking at the Bible account of Esther.

Studying Esther can help you:

Activate your trust in God

Embrace your assignment from Him

Find your voice

Walk in victory

Ladies, Esther knew what it was like to have her life, her world crushed.

The author of the the Bible study guide on Esther that the ladies will use, Nonda Houston, says of the cover:

The cover displays a picture of olives on a branch.

I believe this imagery perfectly represents Esther’s story:

through crushing and pressing, her life produced a precious oil — an anointing — that ultimately saved her life and the life of every Jew in the kingdom of Persia.

In the midst of crushing, when everything was on the line Esther knew where to turn — to God.

I believe she knew where to turn because of a man, Modecai, who raised her to know God.

To know God so strongly that no matter what happened in her life, she would NOT let go of Him.

Not only did Esther KNOW God, she knew how to get to Him — through prayer and fasting.

In the process of running to God for help in a dire situation, Esther realized (maybe not immediately, but eventually):

That through the events of her life, God had been preparing her to fulfill a great destiny.

Things that happened in her life were not random or haphazard.

Just like in our lives — the things that happen — especially those things that are outside of our control — are the things God is using to prepare us to accomplish what will give Him the most glory.

That God was positioning her so that she could do the most good.

Are you HERE by accident?

Are you HERE simply because this geographical location makes you feel good — because you like mountain living?

If we are open and willing God will orchestrate the trajectory of our lives to position us for a special mission.

God used Esther’s beauty to position her in the palace.

He can use your gifts and talents to position you for His special mission — a mission He calls you to accomplish.

And, if God prepares you and positions you, be assured He will empower you.

Even in what seems like impossible situations.

Because that is what Esther faces in our text:

Esther 4:9-17

TEXT: Esther 4:9-17 “… ha-THOK came back and told Mordecai’s words to Esther.

Read chapter 3 and the first part of this chapter.

What ha-THOK told Esther was that an evil advisor to King Xerxes, named Haman, had manipulated the foolish and impulsive King to sign a decree to commit genocide against the Jewish people.

ha-THOK had a copy of the decree that Esther’s cousin and adoptive father, Mordecai had given him.

Mordecai had told ha-THOK that Esther HAD to go to the king and stop the genocide.

10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to reply to Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.” 12 So they told Esther’s words to Mordecai. 13 Then Mordecai said for them to respond to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s house can escape any more than all the Jews. 14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not reached royalty for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther said for ha-Thok to respond to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.” 17 So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.

Fashioned: Created for a Purpose

Esther was created for a purpose.

In our text, she learns what that purpose is: the deliverance of the Jews from annihilation.

Modecai told Esther in vs. 14:

God has positioned you in a place of royalty for right now. Just for this reason.

But as we see in our text, everything hangs on the whim of an undisciplined, unprincipled, foolish king.

For Esther to save her people will take a supernatural intervention.

So she calls for her entourage to fast and pray.

She calls on Mordecai to gather all the Jews of the capital city, Susa, to fast and pray.

They do and God intervenes.

I keep going back to Jonathan’s statement to his armor bearer before he assaulted a garrison of the enemy.

1 Samuel 14:6 (LSB) Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps Yahweh will work for us, for Yahweh is not restrained to save by many or by few.”

Perhaps Yahweh, our covenant-keeping God will work for us.

That was Esther’s attitude.

She didn’t KNOW apart from faith.

Just like Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah didn’t know when they faced Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. When confronted by Neb and commanded to bow before the idol or get thrown into a fiery furnace they said:

Daniel 3:17–18 (NLT) If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

But God DID work on behalf of Esther.

He gave her the courage to risk her life.

He gave her favor with the king.

And then God gave Esther the wisdom and guidance for a plan to save her people.

A deliverance that is still celebrated by the Jews today.

In fact that celebration, the Feast of Purim, begins next week on March 6.

Women, You Are Appreciated and Needed!

Ladies, I implore you, please,

for the sake of other women who don’t know Jesus,

for the sake of husbands who need a strong Christian mate (and yes, I know the men are supposed to be spiritual leaders in their homes),

for the sake of the children,

and for the sake of the Bride of Christ, the church…

Like Esther:

Activate and build your trust in God

Embrace your assignment

Find your voice

Walk in victory

Prayer

Just men, please come to the platform to help me.

Invitation to those who do not know Jesus,

Prayer for Women in Ministry

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