I will not be Silent

"If God is Omniscient and Omnipotent then He makes everything happen, we have no free choice, no free will therefore the concept of god doesn't make sense."
It was my eight grade English class I think they call it humanities now.
The the teacher went on, "Can anyone tell me why they would still believe in god?"
He was supposed to be teaching us about those words, omniscient and omnipotent but he was giving us more of a lesson than that.
Now I had a choice to make...
Do I speak up or stay quiet?
Did I even have an answer to this very confrontational guy's question?

That's what I want us to think about today. Do we speak up or do we remain silent?

There's a Jewish/biblical holiday that just past called Purim. It's great. We celebrate the bravery of a young beautiful girl who was probably not much older than you, guys.
She had a choice to make.
She was living in luxury in a palace in fact she was the queen ....
no one knew she was also a Jew and in a few days her people would be annihilated.
That's a good SAT word anyone know what it means?
Wiped out and done now...bye,bye!
She could speak up and go to the King and tell him that she too was a Jew and plead for her people or she could stay safe and sound and quiet.
Her uncle Mordecai (the only one who knew her heritage) gave her the choice
Es 4:14
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Es 4:14
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

The problem was she hadn't even seen the King in over a month and to enter the throne room was dangerous for Esther. If the King raised his scepter to her, she would live, if not immediate death for little Esther.
What would she do? Speak or stay silent?
What's cool is that she had time, she got all her people to pray for her and with her and on the third day is went into the throne room and let's just say there was a happy ending but I guess you guys already know that 'cause if there wasn't and all the Jews had been wiped out we wouldn't have Jesus or an Bible and we wouldn't be sitting here right now!!!
Okay so, girlfriend, took time to pray and had other people pray too. Awesome.
Our next example is a young guy Bar Mitzvah age, he went to the temple with his family for Passover and he did a strange thing that on the surface looks wrong.
He ditched his 'rents!
They headed on home to Nazareth and this guy exactly your age stayed!
He hung out in the temple questioning and answering the questions of the elder's there!

Luke 2:46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." 49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

After 3 days, his parents find Him and they are freaked! He made a choice like Esther to speak up. Why? He had to" be about my Father's business? " (King James version)
He had a purpose for life even at that young age of 12... God!
Did you notice that both happened after three days?

Let's look at another example:

Acts 23:12-35
12 The next morning the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13 More than forty men were involved in this plot. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 15 Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here." 16 But when the son of Paul's sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him." 18 So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, "Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you." 19 The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, "What is it you want to tell me?" 20 He said: "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. 21 Don't give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request." 22 The commander dismissed the young man and cautioned him, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me." 23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, "Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix." 25 He wrote a letter as follows: 26 Claudius Lysias, 26 To His Excellency, Governor Felix: 26 Greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him. 31 So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. 33 When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him..

This young man had sort of a secret spy job to do. He bravely spoke up and then had to act like everything was normal and keep silent.

So sometimes we really got to know whether to speak or not and he did a smart thing, he asked his uncle Paul what to do (can you imagine having Paul be your uncle, whoa! that would be a trip). When a new governor finally arrived guess how many days it took for him to see Paul in the court?
Acts 25:1 Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, 2 where the chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. 3 They urgently requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

How do we know what to do and when to do it?
Let's turn to Hebrews 4:15-16
15.For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.
4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

This is so cool, like Esther we can approach the throne room of our great King, God, and you know why? but without any fear...
Because of Jesus. He came and as we saw He had to make hard choices, you know what He did after his parents found him in the temple, he went back to Nazareth that little hick town and obeyed them. He could have stayed amazing elders in the center of the Jewish world, the temple, He could have really been the Super Cool Super smart guy, a rock star but he submitted to his parents and did what they said!
Let's read that verse 15 again:

hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

That's talking about Jesus who lived a perfectly sinless life here and he felt just like you feel sometimes but He never slipped up, He was without sin. He faced every temptation and He paid for out sins on the cross and on the third day, He arose, He resurrected, He came alive again.
Because of that we can verse 16

4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Like Esther we can walk into the courts of the King and our King is God himself and He really gets you! He had to obey his parents and live here on this earth and face the same kinds of challenges you have to face.
So what does that mean for us?
Like that song we were singing this morning by David Crowder Band..
"I will not be silent.."
We ask Him to help us, we ask others to pray for us and help us, we read and study and be ready when we are asked to answer a teacher or even a king and like Jesus said when he was just 12 years old we stay in our Father's house and be about His business!

Okay so what did I do that day in class?
I prayed a quick prayer and I did not keep silent.
I told that old teacher that
because God knows everything (omniscient)
and is all powerful (omnipotent) He can see the beginning and end and He can make sure Everything works out for good but He can also let us make our own choices.
and yes I still believe in God.
I don't know what happened but that guy stopped it. He didn't hit on that subject again.
He didn't argue with me. He just went on to something else and all those kids in that class got to hear a little something about God.
So remember spend time in the throne room with God! He's just waiting for you and He so 'gets' you! and who knows if you will be used like Uncle Mordacai said "for such a time as this!"