Building Announcement Sunday: Once In A Generation

Here To Stay: Once In A Generation

May 17th, 2026/Seventh Day Adventist

Title: Once In A Generation

Let’s turn our attention to Esther chapter 4, we’re going to be starting in verse 14.

The Persian empire stretched across the known world, and through a series of political events and royal decisions, a Jewish orphan named Esther had unexpectedly become queen. But while Esther was sitting in the palace, an evil man named Haman was rising to power with hatred in his heart toward the Jewish people. After Esther’s cousin Mordecai refused to bow before him, Haman manipulated the king into issuing a decree that would annihilate the Jewish people across the empire. Suddenly an entire nation was living under fear, and Esther realized she was standing in a moment where her comfort, her calling, and her courage were all about to collide.

And suddenly Esther is faced with a decision: will she shrink back in fear, or will she step forward in faith and become the person God positioned her to be?

Passage: Esther 4:14

“Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”

Background:

When you study the story of Esther, you quickly realize this moment did not begin with Esther. There were generations behind it. There were battles behind it. God was weaving together a story that had been unfolding for centuries.

Mordecai, Esther’s cousin and guardian, is introduced as being from the line of Kish, the same family line as King Saul. Then Haman, the enemy threatening the Jewish people, is introduced as an Agagite. That detail matters because Agag was the king of the Amalekites, the very people Saul had been commanded by God to fully deal with generations earlier in 1 Samuel 15. Saul compromised. He partially obeyed. He left unfinished what God had called him to confront.

Now roughly 500 hundred years later, another generation is standing in the middle of the consequences. Esther is facing a battle that has roots far deeper than she realizes.

Whatever is not transformed in one generation gets transferred to the next.

And as I studied that this week, I felt the Holy Spirit stirring something deeply inside of me because some of you know exactly what that feels like. Some of you are fighting battles you did not start. Some of you inherited pain, fear, compromise, dysfunction, addiction, spiritual apathy, or brokenness that had roots long before you arrived. Maybe your family tolerated patterns that God wanted healed and broken generations ago.

But hear me clearly today: what was transferred to you does not have to continue through you.

The Gospel gives us the power to stop cycles, break chains, and build a different future. Even when generations fail, God remains faithful. Even when people compromise, God continues weaving redemption through history. The story of Esther reminds us that God can take what previous generations left unfinished and still raise up people willing to stand in faith.

Story: I was at the ER recently dealing with kidney stones, and one of the first things they asked me was, “Do kidney stones run in your family?” Why do doctors ask questions like that? Because they understand something all of us instinctively know: what gets passed down matters. Family patterns matter. What is transferred from one generation to another matters.

Now hear me clearly, I’m not preaching today so we can blame our parents or blame the spiritual climate of Boulder on previous generations. I’m preaching today because by the grace and power of Jesus, we can stand in the present and believe for victory in the future. We can become the generation that says, “The cycle stops here. The compromise stops here. The spiritual passivity stops here.”

Somebody needs to get this in their spirit today:

“I didn’t start this battle… but by the grace of God, it ends with me.”

Look at your neighbor and say “I didn’t start this battle… but it ends with me.” Look at your other neighbor which you chose second, and say “I’m glad you’re here.” 🙂

Main Points:

1. GOD HAS BEEN PREPARING THIS MOMENT LONGER THAN WE REALIZE

   1. One of the most powerful things about Esther 4 is realizing that this moment did not begin in Esther 4. God had been preparing this moment for years. Long before Esther stood before the king. Long before Haman issued his decree. Long before Mordecai challenged Esther to rise up in courage, God had already been moving pieces into place behind the scenes.
   2. That’s one of the great themes of Esther: the hidden providence of God. What’s fascinating is that the name of God is never directly mentioned in the book of Esther, yet His fingerprints are everywhere. You see Him moving through ordinary people, difficult seasons, unexpected moments, and even through the decisions of pagan kings.

   3. If Esther would simply look back over her life, she would realize there had been divine leading all along. God had positioned her strategically for a purpose greater than herself. And church, I feel that deeply when I think about Pinewood.

      1. For nine years, God has been preparing this moment.
      2. Long before Here To Stay had a name.
      3. Long before this building conversation ever started.
      4. Long before some of you even moved to Boulder.
      5. God was already working.
         4. Story: About 2 years ago, I was prayer walking around this building, honestly begging God. Pleading with Him. Asking Him over and over to move, provide, and make a way. And in one of the clearest moments I’ve ever sensed the voice of God, I heard Him say: “You don’t have to beg for this.”
         5. I cannot fully explain what happened to me in that moment, but my posture changed immediately. I realized I was not trying to convince God to care about Boulder. He already does. I was not trying to manufacture a move of God. He was already moving. We are not dragging God into our plans. We are responding to His invitation.
         6. App: And maybe some of you need to hear that personally too. Maybe when you look back over your own life, you’ll start realizing God was preparing things you didn’t even understand at the time. The painful seasons. The closed doors. The delays. The unexpected turns. God wastes nothing when He is preparing people for purpose.

2. GOD’S PURPOSES MOVE FORWARD THROUGH PEOPLE WILLING TO SAY YES

   1. When Mordecai challenges Esther in chapter 4, he says something incredibly powerful. He tells her: “If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place…” (Esther 4:14)
   2. That is an incredible statement of faith. Mordecai understood something important: God’s purposes were bigger than any one individual. God was going to preserve His people because God always keeps His promises. The question was not whether God’s plan would survive. The question was whether Esther would choose to participate in it.
   3. Sometimes we act like the Kingdom of God rises and falls on us. But hear me clearly: God will accomplish His purposes. The invitation is whether or not we will join Him in what He’s doing.
   4. If Esther rejected the will of God for her life, God could still save His people but Esther would lose because she would miss the blessing of participating in what God was doing. That changes the whole perspective. This is not God desperately needing us. This is God graciously inviting us.
   5. And honestly, I think that’s what makes this moment so emotional for me. Because I believe we are standing in front of a once-in-a-generation opportunity as a church family. I believe God is doing something significant in Boulder, Colorado. And I believe He is inviting us to be part of it.
   6. But moments like this always require courage because Esther’s moment was terrifying. Approaching the king without invitation could cost her life. She had every reason to stay silent, stay comfortable, and protect herself. Yet Mordecai looks at her and essentially says, “Maybe your entire life has been preparing you for this moment.”
   7. Maybe God brought you to Boulder for more than a career. Maybe all the hidden preparation has been leading to this moment.

   8. And I genuinely believe this is bigger than a building.

      1. This is about future generations.
      2. This is about children worshipping Jesus in downtown Boulder.
      3. This is about prodigals coming home.
      4. This is about students having a place to belong.
      5. This is about those who have been hurt by christians to find healing in the family of God.
      6. This is about pastors and church planters across Colorado realizing that if God can establish a strong gospel-centered church in Boulder, then maybe nothing is impossible for Him.
         9. There are moments in life where you either step back in fear or step forward in faith. And I believe God is calling Pinewood to step forward.

3. GOD IS NEVER IN A HURRY, HE’S NEVER LATE, BUT HE IS ALWAYS ON TIME

   1. One of the hardest parts about following God is that His timing rarely feels fast enough for us.
   2. If you read Esther quickly, it almost feels like God is absent. A drunken king seems to be in control. Wicked Haman rises to power. Esther is hidden in the palace. The decree goes out against the Jewish people. Everything feels delayed and uncertain. But behind the scenes, God is still moving.

   3. Esther became queen in roughly the seventh year of the king’s reign, but the decree against the Jewish people didn’t come until the twelfth year. Think about that. For years, God was positioning Esther before she even understood why.

      1. App: And maybe somebody in this room needs to hear that today because you’ve been frustrated by the pace of your life. Frustrated by delays. Frustrated by prayers that seem unanswered. Frustrated because you feel like God is moving too slowly.
      2. But God is never in a hurry because He sees the end from the beginning.
         4. A.W. Tozer describes the sovereignty of God like a massive ocean liner crossing the sea. People on the ship are free to move around, make choices, and live their lives, but they are not changing the course of the ship. The ship is still headed toward its destination.
      3. I love that imagery because that is exactly how the providence of God works. Kings rise and fall. People make decisions. Cultures shift. Opposition comes and goes. But the purposes of God keep moving forward.
      4. And when I think about Pinewood, I realize it has taken us a decade to get here. Years of prayer. Years of sacrifice. Years of staying the course… believing God when things looked impossible.
      5. And there were moments along the way where it would have been easy to quit. Easy to settle. Easy to lower the vision. But I keep coming back to this thought: God was preparing us before we even realized what He was preparing us for.
         5. Church, these moments do not happen overnight. And this building is not the finish line. It is another step of obedience in the story God is writing. That’s why I believe we can walk into this season with confidence. Not confidence in ourselves. Not confidence in our resources. But confidence in the sovereignty and faithfulness of God.

4. GOD MOVES WHEN HIS PEOPLE PRAY AND FAST

   1. One of the things I love most about Esther is that when she finally says yes to the assignment, her first response is not strategy, it’s surrender. She doesn’t immediately gather military leaders. She doesn’t start manipulating circumstances. She doesn’t try to force an outcome in her own strength. Esther understood something deeply important: if this victory was going to happen, it would have to come from God.
   2. So what does she do? She calls the people to prayer and fasting. Before she ever stands in the presence of the king, she first bows in the presence of a Holy God.
      1. Because Esther understood that favor comes from God.
      2. Open doors come from God.
      3. Provision comes from God.
      4. Courage comes from God.
      5. Victory comes from God.
      6. And church, if there has ever been a season for Pinewood to pray boldly, fast consistently, and believe for the impossible, it is now!
   3. We are a church that relies on the power of God! In this house, prayer is our priority. I want us to be a people who understand that unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
   4. I think sometimes we forget that before Esther ever saw breakthrough publicly, there was first consecration privately. Maybe that’s why God waited twelve years from Esther becoming queen to the decree being issued. Because God is never just preparing opportunities. He’s preparing people.

Closing:

So here we are.

Four months.

Mission to a Million.

And church, I need you to hear my heart clearly today: I genuinely believe the resources are coming. I really do. I believe with all my heart that there are people in this room and people outside this room who are going to help make this possible. I believe there are kingdom investors, business leaders, families, churches, and ordinary people with extraordinary faith who are going to hear what God is doing in Boulder and say, “Tell me what you need.”

But this moment is about so much more than money. This is about a church family standing shoulder to shoulder and saying, “We may not have started this battle, but by the grace of God, we are going to finish it.”

Esther's Name:

What I found interesting in my study this week was Esther's Hebrew name. Esther wasn’t originally known as Esther, her Hebrew name was Hadassah. And Hadassah means myrtle tree.

Why does that matter? Because the myrtle tree appears in Isaiah 55, the very passage Pinewood was founded on. Isaiah says: “Instead of the brier, the myrtle tree will come up…” In other words, where there was once brokenness, God brings flourishing. Where there were thorns, God plants life. Where culture expects darkness, compromise, and barrenness… God causes something beautiful to grow.

Before Esther was ever a queen in public, she was Hadassah in private. Before she stood in a palace, she was a myrtle tree planted by God in a hostile empire. God strategically planted her in a dark place because He intended for flourishing to rise there.

Maybe God planted a myrtle tree in Boulder. When everybody else saw spiritual resistance, God saw possibility. Maybe when people said, “Nothing strong can grow there,” God said, “Watch what I can plant there.” Maybe this church was never just about services, songs, or even a building. Maybe this has always been about God establishing a lasting sign in one of the hardest spiritual climates in America.

Church, I came to declare today that the myrtle tree is rising in Boulder, Colorado.

Altar Moment: Stand To Your Feet

Come on, all across this room, stand to your feet today.

I believe years from now people are going to look back on this day and realize they were standing in a defining moment.

So here’s what we’re going to do. In just a moment, I want us to flood this altar. I want this altar to become a place of prayer, consecration, surrender, and thanksgiving.

Some of you are coming forward today simply to thank God because you’ve been fervently praying for this day to come. And now you can’t help but fall on your knees and give thanks.

Some of you are coming forward because you want to ask the Lord, “What is my part to play? What does giving my best look like? What does obedience look like in this season?” Let this be a moment of full surrender.

And some of you are coming forward because you’re carrying generational battles, generational compromise, generational fear, and today you’re declaring, “It stops here. It ends with me.”

So as we worship, I want you to come with open hands before God.

And as you come, I want this declaration to rise in your spirit:

“I didn’t start this battle… but by the grace of God, it ends with me.”

Church, these are the days.

This is the moment.

And maybe, just maybe…

We are here for such a time as this.