Mordecai Part II

This is the second part of a 7 part series that I wrote on Mordecai for the men's group at my fellowship, it's mainly my notes but you should get the gist of it:

NOTE: in the preview page the fonts came out all funny = different sizes & such, try to overlook that as I figure out what the deal is :)

Mordecai Part II

ATTRIBUTE #2 = Man of LOVE & CONCERN

Esther 2:11 “And Mordecai walked every day (yôm = time, period) before the court of the women's house, to know (yāḏaʿ = perceive & see) how Esther did, and what should become (ʿāśâ = to be produced) of her.”

Four kinds of love in the Bible:

- agape = divine love

- phileo = brotherly love

- storge = family love

- eros = physical/sensual

Hebrews 3:13 “But exhort (parakaleō = to encourage, strengthen, instruct, teach) one another daily (kata = through out) (hekastos = each, every) (hēmera = the space of twenty four hours), while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

The Early Church met single every day… in person, in groups… to encourage each other & this was so important the writer of Hebrews used three different words to emphasize this point. Acts 2:46 also mentions meeting daily.

Notice what the Bible doesn't say in this verse or about them meeting daily:

- where they met (location)

- how they met (manner)

- how long they met (duration)

Let me just say this: I'm not meeting with my church family every single day, no one is; that's just not happening in this day & age. There's these things called families, jobs, schools, you know “life”. However, we do live in a day & age where we can connect in some form to each other on a daily basis: blogs, micro-blogs, videos, video shorts, texts, chats, video calling & conferencing.

The Bible says that every day Mordecai inquired to Esther's well-being, every day the Early Church met to connect w/ each other, to inquire of the other's well-being, to talk “Jesus”.

Philippians 2:4 “Look (skopeō = fix one's eyes upon) not every man on his own things (heautou = himself), but every man also on the things of others (heteros = one not of the same nature, form, class).”

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love (agapaō = to love dearly) one another (allēlōn = reciprocally, mutually): just as I have loved (agapaō) you, you also are to love (agapaō) one another (allēlōn). By this all people will know (ginōskō = understand) that you are my disciples, if you have love (agapē) for one another (allēlōn).”

QUESTION:

- How do we truly love & care about others (other men, church family, neighborhood, community, city, county, etc) as Mordecai did & as Jesus commanded us to?

ACTION POINTS:

- ask God to give you His heart for people

- try to connect w/ the men every Sunday, in class or in service, ask about their families, ask about their dreams & aspirations, agree w/ them in prayer for whatever the need or desire is

- if possible, join the weekly virtual men's group for an encouraging or challenging word, for prayer requests, etc

- if you're a church administrator or on the church social media team, schedule daily encouraging posts, tweets or texts to your men and/or church family (example: schedule tweets/texts for 7 am & 7 pm, so the people stay constantly fed & encouraged)

- if possible, meet w/ a man or two from your church family bi-monthly for coffee or brunch, connect, truly care about them, encourage & challenge them, talk faith, hope, love (hopefully only the agape, storge & phileo-type of love!)