Open your Bibles to Ruth 4 and read along as we talk through the chapter. (Seriously open your Bible or at least open this in a new tab!)
Read verse 1. Boaz goes to the gate which was a place were business was taken care of publicly. "The close relative of whom Boaz spoke" walks by and since they don't even bother to mention his name, it seems rather unlikely that he'll step up as the kinsman redeemer. We also see God's providence at work that this guy even walks by the gate.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Monday, August 21, 2017
Be Teachable
"The sketchy details of the story and the customs involved do not effect the overall meaning of the story." (Sailhamer 214) This chapter has some weird stuff that doesn't really make sense to us. Don't focus on that. Focus on what is happening in the big picture.
Open your Bibles to Ruth 3 and read along as we talk through the chapter. (Seriously open your Bible or at least open this in a new tab!)
Read verse 1.What Naomi is really saying here is "shall I find you a husband?" That word rest or security is the same one we see in 1:9 where she adds "in the house of her husband."
Read verses 2-5. Naomi comes up with a plan and Ruth says she'll be obedient to it. No questions, no suggestions for another way. She trusts Naomi to know the customs of her people and obeys without any debate.
Also, in verse 2 when it talks about the threshing floor... that was a shared building in the community. They would each be assigned a turn to use it. That's why Boaz would be sleeping there; he needs to keep an eye on his stuff that it doesn't get stolen.
Read verses 6-9. Ruth carries out the (strange) plan. Boaz wakes up in the middle of the night (after a hard day of work, this was probably God waking him up). He notices a woman, asks who she is and she says "it's Ruth; spread your cover over me." Again we miss some connections not knowing the original language or maybe just because we don't pay attention to details. But that word cover is also translated as wing depending on the version you read. It is the same word used in 2:12 when Boaz is blessing Ruth.
In Exodus 25:17-22, this word is used describing the decorations on the ark of the covenant, which was the place God dwelled. In the Psalms, this word is used multiple times explaining that we can go under God's wing as a refuge or shelter for our souls. So readers in biblical times knew the weight of the words Ruth was saying to Boaz, she wasn't simply asking him to share his blanket with her.
And one more thing to note for all the single ladies: This is not a recommended way for women to go find a husband today! According to commentaries, Ruth was being forward but that was because she was a widow. And going at night was probably so if he refused her proposal, he could do so quietly without embarrassing either one of them.
Read verses 10-13. Boaz replies by blessing and encouraging her... gives her some information... and gives her some specific instructions.
In verse 11, Boaz refers to Ruth as a "woman of excellence." In the Hebrew Bible, the books are arranged differently. There's the Law, the Prophets and the Writing. The Law is the first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy). The Prophets include the historical books where we learn of the prophets as well as the actual books of prophecy (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi). Finally, the Writing is the poetic books (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel, Ezra & Chronicles).
Open your Bibles to Ruth 3 and read along as we talk through the chapter. (Seriously open your Bible or at least open this in a new tab!)
Read verse 1.What Naomi is really saying here is "shall I find you a husband?" That word rest or security is the same one we see in 1:9 where she adds "in the house of her husband."
Read verses 2-5. Naomi comes up with a plan and Ruth says she'll be obedient to it. No questions, no suggestions for another way. She trusts Naomi to know the customs of her people and obeys without any debate.
Also, in verse 2 when it talks about the threshing floor... that was a shared building in the community. They would each be assigned a turn to use it. That's why Boaz would be sleeping there; he needs to keep an eye on his stuff that it doesn't get stolen.
Read verses 6-9. Ruth carries out the (strange) plan. Boaz wakes up in the middle of the night (after a hard day of work, this was probably God waking him up). He notices a woman, asks who she is and she says "it's Ruth; spread your cover over me." Again we miss some connections not knowing the original language or maybe just because we don't pay attention to details. But that word cover is also translated as wing depending on the version you read. It is the same word used in 2:12 when Boaz is blessing Ruth.
In Exodus 25:17-22, this word is used describing the decorations on the ark of the covenant, which was the place God dwelled. In the Psalms, this word is used multiple times explaining that we can go under God's wing as a refuge or shelter for our souls. So readers in biblical times knew the weight of the words Ruth was saying to Boaz, she wasn't simply asking him to share his blanket with her.
And one more thing to note for all the single ladies: This is not a recommended way for women to go find a husband today! According to commentaries, Ruth was being forward but that was because she was a widow. And going at night was probably so if he refused her proposal, he could do so quietly without embarrassing either one of them.
Read verses 10-13. Boaz replies by blessing and encouraging her... gives her some information... and gives her some specific instructions.
In verse 11, Boaz refers to Ruth as a "woman of excellence." In the Hebrew Bible, the books are arranged differently. There's the Law, the Prophets and the Writing. The Law is the first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy). The Prophets include the historical books where we learn of the prophets as well as the actual books of prophecy (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi). Finally, the Writing is the poetic books (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel, Ezra & Chronicles).
Ok, so why does that matter? Ruth is located after Proverbs. The book of Proverbs ends with "An excellent wife, who can find?" (Prov. 31:10) and a description of that woman. Then the book of Ruth is next with an example of an excellent woman. I think it's pretty cool the way that works out.
This whole story has been working out pretty nicely (haha well besides the deaths in the beginning). But as far as things between Boaz and Ruth, everything seems to be falling into place. Until Boaz tells Ruth that there is actually another kinsman redeemer who would have the opportunity to redeem her first. Like any good ABC Family or Lifetime movie, there has to be a bit of conflict in the story.
Read verse 14. Boaz is an upstanding guy and to avoid any rumors, he has Ruth leave so no one notices she was there.
Read verse 15. That amount of barley would have weight about 60 pounds. "She girds herself with strength..." (Prov. 31:17) Ruth is definitely strong! And interestingly, he probably put it on her head for her to carry.
Read verses 16-18. As always, Ruth tells Naomi everything that happened. Naomi responds with confidence that Boaz will take care of everything today!
Application:
Feel free to comment or email me your thoughts!
And to cite my source, the quote from the beginning is from the NIV Compact Bible Commentary by John H. Sailhamer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Sunday School, we are going through the book of Ruth. We read the chapter and discuss as we go along. I always make the teens share how they think we can apply it before I share what I think.
Read verse 14. Boaz is an upstanding guy and to avoid any rumors, he has Ruth leave so no one notices she was there.
Read verse 15. That amount of barley would have weight about 60 pounds. "She girds herself with strength..." (Prov. 31:17) Ruth is definitely strong! And interestingly, he probably put it on her head for her to carry.
Read verses 16-18. As always, Ruth tells Naomi everything that happened. Naomi responds with confidence that Boaz will take care of everything today!
Application:
- Be teachable. Listen to the advice given to you by the people who are wiser than you. You don't know everything and other people have more knowledge or more experience that they can offer you. Learn from them! Let them help you not to make decisions you may regret later.
- Girls: Be a woman of excellence. Guys: Be worthy of a woman of excellence. As we talked about with chapter 1, this was written in the time of the Judges when not many people were very excellent or worthy. Boaz and Ruth were exceptions. They were worthy when most peole around them were worthless. Regardless of what the people around you are doing, strive to be like Christ. In doing so, you will become a woman of excellence (or a worthy man).
- Don't dilly dally on important matters. Some times we need to think about decisions, like where to go to college or whether to move to Hawaii or other significant choices. But sometimes there are simple, yet important decisions that we should make immediately. These choices are whether to do the right thing or not. If Lauren is sad and lonely, I don't need to think for hours or days or weeks about whether I should talk to her and encourage her. Don't dilly dally, the answer is obvious.
Feel free to comment or email me your thoughts!
And to cite my source, the quote from the beginning is from the NIV Compact Bible Commentary by John H. Sailhamer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Sunday School, we are going through the book of Ruth. We read the chapter and discuss as we go along. I always make the teens share how they think we can apply it before I share what I think.
Friday, August 18, 2017
It's not about me! Esther 7&8
Read Esther 7.
At the second banquet the king again asks Esther what she would like. What does she ask for this time?
Clearly angered by what happened the king asks: who did this?
The king walks out to the garden, maybe to control his anger, maybe to figure out what to do. Either way, what does he see as he walks back into the room?
What does Harbonah tell the king?
Read Esther 8.
What does the king give to Esther and Mordecai?
Esther goes before the king another time and falls at his feet begging. What is she asking him for?
What does King Xerxes do and then say in response?
What does the edict/letter say about the Jews (or give them permission to do)?
So how about this story?? It’s been quite interesting, hasn’t it?
In chapter 4, Mordecai gives Esther this pivotal piece of advice that we didn’t really talk about. In the ACV (Amber Carter Version) Mordecai says, “It’s not about you! You can chose to be the person He uses to save the Jews. But if you don’t they will be rescued by God somehow. Maybe the whole reason you became queen is for this moment.” The chapter ended and we didn’t know what Esther was going to do.
Now we’ve read what happens. We know she does risk her life to go before the king and plead for the salvation of the Jews. That resulted in Haman being destroyed, but not the salvation of the Jews. Esther risks her life a second time in chapter 8 to again plead for the salvation of the Jews. For a second time, the king reaches out the golden scepter and grants her her request.
Esther realizes “It’s not about me!” and does what she can to save her people. She put aside the very real danger she faced to do what she could.
Sometimes we make long-term commitments to live for Christ and not ourselves. Sometimes it’s commitments that require some sacrifice to put others first. But sometimes it’s a big risky commitment. Esther faced death and still decided to live for God and not herself.
It’s hard to apply this. You are not queen of a country. You don’t have life or death choices before you. We never know when that sort of situation may come up. When I was in 10th grade, there was a school shooting at Columbine High School that I believe is still the deadliest shooting that has occurred in the US. There were two girls who were Christians that were killed and with guns to their head were asked if they believed in God. They could have easily said no to save their lives and didn’t. That was like the go-to example for a message like this when I was in high school. That could happen - how would you respond?
I think a more likely situation is being faced with decisions where we risk leaving our comfort zones. Do you stand up for what’s right when there is risk involved?
Write about a time that you chickened out of doing what was right because you thought it was too risky.
Write about a time where you did what was right even when it was risky.
.
So today is our last day and we are basically at the end of the story. There are still two chapters left though. In the next few days, read over them and see what happens. Basically we are just told about when the day arrives that the Jews are to be killed and how they protect themselves and fight back and then about the festival/feast set up to commemorate that day. But seriously take the time to read them so you can get God’s version of how the story ends instead of mine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
At the second banquet the king again asks Esther what she would like. What does she ask for this time?
Clearly angered by what happened the king asks: who did this?
The king walks out to the garden, maybe to control his anger, maybe to figure out what to do. Either way, what does he see as he walks back into the room?
What does Harbonah tell the king?
Read Esther 8.
What does the king give to Esther and Mordecai?
Esther goes before the king another time and falls at his feet begging. What is she asking him for?
What does King Xerxes do and then say in response?
What does the edict/letter say about the Jews (or give them permission to do)?
So how about this story?? It’s been quite interesting, hasn’t it?
In chapter 4, Mordecai gives Esther this pivotal piece of advice that we didn’t really talk about. In the ACV (Amber Carter Version) Mordecai says, “It’s not about you! You can chose to be the person He uses to save the Jews. But if you don’t they will be rescued by God somehow. Maybe the whole reason you became queen is for this moment.” The chapter ended and we didn’t know what Esther was going to do.
Now we’ve read what happens. We know she does risk her life to go before the king and plead for the salvation of the Jews. That resulted in Haman being destroyed, but not the salvation of the Jews. Esther risks her life a second time in chapter 8 to again plead for the salvation of the Jews. For a second time, the king reaches out the golden scepter and grants her her request.
Esther realizes “It’s not about me!” and does what she can to save her people. She put aside the very real danger she faced to do what she could.
Sometimes we make long-term commitments to live for Christ and not ourselves. Sometimes it’s commitments that require some sacrifice to put others first. But sometimes it’s a big risky commitment. Esther faced death and still decided to live for God and not herself.
It’s hard to apply this. You are not queen of a country. You don’t have life or death choices before you. We never know when that sort of situation may come up. When I was in 10th grade, there was a school shooting at Columbine High School that I believe is still the deadliest shooting that has occurred in the US. There were two girls who were Christians that were killed and with guns to their head were asked if they believed in God. They could have easily said no to save their lives and didn’t. That was like the go-to example for a message like this when I was in high school. That could happen - how would you respond?
I think a more likely situation is being faced with decisions where we risk leaving our comfort zones. Do you stand up for what’s right when there is risk involved?
Write about a time that you chickened out of doing what was right because you thought it was too risky.
Write about a time where you did what was right even when it was risky.
.
So today is our last day and we are basically at the end of the story. There are still two chapters left though. In the next few days, read over them and see what happens. Basically we are just told about when the day arrives that the Jews are to be killed and how they protect themselves and fight back and then about the festival/feast set up to commemorate that day. But seriously take the time to read them so you can get God’s version of how the story ends instead of mine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
It's not about me! Esther 3
Read Esther 3.
Who is Haman?
What did Mordecai do to make Haman angry?
Because he is mad at Mordecai, what does Haman decide to do?
What year of King Xerxes reign did this happen?
And Esther was selected to be queen in the _______th year, so this is _______ years later.
Does the king ask Haman any questions before giving approval?
What day were the scribes summoned to write the letters for the couriers to deliver?
Lev. 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover.
Passover was the biggest celebration of the Jews all year. The day before Passover they got a letter saying they were going to be killed on a particular day basically about a year from then. Can you imagine getting a letter on Christmas Eve saying next December you and all of your family are going to die?! That would certainly put a huge damper on all the Christmas festivities. I imagine that’s very much like how the Jews would have felt about this news right before Passover. (This has nothing to do with our theme, it’s just crazy to me! What awful timing!)
What did King Xerxes and Haman do while this news was being delivered to the Jews?
In the introduction to Mordecai in this chapter we yet again see him making a decision that is right but could come with some consequences. We should not be bowing down and worshiping any one or thing besides God. Mordecai knows that, and also knows that there could be consequences to not bowing down if Haman finds out.
I bet you already figured out that Haman is a bad example! Haman is so full of himself. He gets promoted to a pretty powerful position and just lets it go to his head. Seriously, he decides to annihilate all of the Jews because one Jew doesn’t bow down and honor him.
Haman is not portrayed as being very likeable. One time when we were teaching this story in Sunday School, the teens all booed or hissed every time they heard his name mentioned. But he didn’t start out as a bad guy. In order for the king to have promoted him to his position, I think that he had to have been doing things right. He had qualities that King Xerxes recognized and made Xerxes think this guy should be promoted.
But at some point that changes and Haman starts thinking “It’s all about me!” He has people start bowing down to him, sure it’s at the king’s command, but Haman didn’t have to let that happen. And he gets irrationally upset when he isn’t bowed down to. It isn’t normal to get upset at one person and then decide to eliminate their entire race as a result. He’s so insistent upon it that he also offers the king a huge bribe to be sure Xerxes will approve it.
I think the craziest part of everything he does is that he sits down with the king to drink. While the Jews all throughout the land are learning about their pending destruction, Haman sits and has a beer with the king.
Much of what we learn not to do from Haman in this chapter is similar to what we discussed about King Xerxes about pride and humility. Something different though is that if we realize “It’s not all about me!” we should not take things personally and forgive people. Haman took offense to what Mordecai did and as a result made bad decisions. The Bible is full of commands for us to love others and to forgive others. The only way we can do those things is if we recognize “It’s not all about me!”
Write about a time that you tried to get revenge instead of forgiving someone.
Write about a time that you forgave someone even though they hurt you..
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Eph. 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Phil. 2:3-4 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Matt. 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
What do these verses tell us about “It’s not all about me!”?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
Who is Haman?
What did Mordecai do to make Haman angry?
Because he is mad at Mordecai, what does Haman decide to do?
What year of King Xerxes reign did this happen?
And Esther was selected to be queen in the _______th year, so this is _______ years later.
Does the king ask Haman any questions before giving approval?
What day were the scribes summoned to write the letters for the couriers to deliver?
Lev. 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover.
Passover was the biggest celebration of the Jews all year. The day before Passover they got a letter saying they were going to be killed on a particular day basically about a year from then. Can you imagine getting a letter on Christmas Eve saying next December you and all of your family are going to die?! That would certainly put a huge damper on all the Christmas festivities. I imagine that’s very much like how the Jews would have felt about this news right before Passover. (This has nothing to do with our theme, it’s just crazy to me! What awful timing!)
What did King Xerxes and Haman do while this news was being delivered to the Jews?
In the introduction to Mordecai in this chapter we yet again see him making a decision that is right but could come with some consequences. We should not be bowing down and worshiping any one or thing besides God. Mordecai knows that, and also knows that there could be consequences to not bowing down if Haman finds out.
I bet you already figured out that Haman is a bad example! Haman is so full of himself. He gets promoted to a pretty powerful position and just lets it go to his head. Seriously, he decides to annihilate all of the Jews because one Jew doesn’t bow down and honor him.
Haman is not portrayed as being very likeable. One time when we were teaching this story in Sunday School, the teens all booed or hissed every time they heard his name mentioned. But he didn’t start out as a bad guy. In order for the king to have promoted him to his position, I think that he had to have been doing things right. He had qualities that King Xerxes recognized and made Xerxes think this guy should be promoted.
But at some point that changes and Haman starts thinking “It’s all about me!” He has people start bowing down to him, sure it’s at the king’s command, but Haman didn’t have to let that happen. And he gets irrationally upset when he isn’t bowed down to. It isn’t normal to get upset at one person and then decide to eliminate their entire race as a result. He’s so insistent upon it that he also offers the king a huge bribe to be sure Xerxes will approve it.
I think the craziest part of everything he does is that he sits down with the king to drink. While the Jews all throughout the land are learning about their pending destruction, Haman sits and has a beer with the king.
Much of what we learn not to do from Haman in this chapter is similar to what we discussed about King Xerxes about pride and humility. Something different though is that if we realize “It’s not all about me!” we should not take things personally and forgive people. Haman took offense to what Mordecai did and as a result made bad decisions. The Bible is full of commands for us to love others and to forgive others. The only way we can do those things is if we recognize “It’s not all about me!”
Write about a time that you tried to get revenge instead of forgiving someone.
Write about a time that you forgave someone even though they hurt you..
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Eph. 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Phil. 2:3-4 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Matt. 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
What do these verses tell us about “It’s not all about me!”?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
Monday, August 14, 2017
It's not about me! Esther 2
Read Esther 2.
So some time has passed since King Xerxes had his party and disposed of Queen Vashti. More than likely he had been off battling in Greece (history tells us he was defeated in battle around this time) and was now home and longing for his queen.
How is a new queen selected?
Who is Mordecai?
Our main character, Esther, is introduced. What do we learn about her?
What year of King Xerxes reign is Esther selected as queen?
Look back at 1:3. What year of King Xerxes reign is the party where Vashti is disposed of as queen?
Easy math: How many years have passed then?
Where was Mordecai when he overheard the plot to assassinate the king?
Who did he report it to?
Mordecai seems to be a guy who realizes “It’s not all about me!” The first spot he demonstrates this is in verse 7 where he takes Esther in as his own daughter. This isn’t just babysitting on occasion. This is putting aside his thoughts for how his life would be and taking in his cousin to raise as his own. That’s a long term commitment! It can be tough to get enough volunteers to commit to a week of VBS or to even giving up a week to come on this trip and here Mordecai makes a commitment to raise his cousin.
Right now you’re not in a situation where you would have to make a commitment to raise a kid, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other lifelong commitments you could/should make.
Have you ever come to the point where you realized “It’s not all about me!” and given your life to Christ? Yes or No? Hopefully you all circled yes for that and if not, put this down and go find a leader to talk to about that right now! But beyond giving your life to Christ and knowing that you’ll be in heaven one day, have you really committed your life to Him long-term?
At some point in high school, I realized that although I had gotten saved when I was a kid that I didn’t really do anything about it. I knew I was going to heaven and just kind of did whatever I wanted. Nothing real crazy, but I didn’t really live out the things I learned at church. In order to be committed to Christ long-term, there should be fruit (evidence of Him) in my life. I should be reading my Bible daily, praying constantly, attending church regularly, serving and constantly applying the things I learn to be more and more like Christ. Why? Because it’s not all about me. It’s all about Him!
So again, have you really committed your life to Him long-term? Why or why not?
The second time where Mordecai shows he knows “It’s not all about me!” is when he stops the attempted assassination. Mordecai could have ignored what he heard and been fine. It wasn’t his responsibility to protect the king. However, it was the right thing to do and so he reported it regardless of the consequences it had.
Sometimes we just ignore things because they don’t make an impact on us one way or the other. You see trash on the ground, but walk by cause you didn’t drop it. You hear a kid getting picked on, but just watch and do nothing. You see food on Pastor Rob’s face before he’s about to preach, but don’t mention it. There is definitely a right thing to do in each of these scenarios if you realize it’s not all about you, and put the needs of others above your own.
James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Write about a time that you ignored something because it didn’t really affect you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
So some time has passed since King Xerxes had his party and disposed of Queen Vashti. More than likely he had been off battling in Greece (history tells us he was defeated in battle around this time) and was now home and longing for his queen.
How is a new queen selected?
Who is Mordecai?
Our main character, Esther, is introduced. What do we learn about her?
What year of King Xerxes reign is Esther selected as queen?
Look back at 1:3. What year of King Xerxes reign is the party where Vashti is disposed of as queen?
Easy math: How many years have passed then?
Where was Mordecai when he overheard the plot to assassinate the king?
Who did he report it to?
Mordecai seems to be a guy who realizes “It’s not all about me!” The first spot he demonstrates this is in verse 7 where he takes Esther in as his own daughter. This isn’t just babysitting on occasion. This is putting aside his thoughts for how his life would be and taking in his cousin to raise as his own. That’s a long term commitment! It can be tough to get enough volunteers to commit to a week of VBS or to even giving up a week to come on this trip and here Mordecai makes a commitment to raise his cousin.
Right now you’re not in a situation where you would have to make a commitment to raise a kid, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other lifelong commitments you could/should make.
Have you ever come to the point where you realized “It’s not all about me!” and given your life to Christ? Yes or No? Hopefully you all circled yes for that and if not, put this down and go find a leader to talk to about that right now! But beyond giving your life to Christ and knowing that you’ll be in heaven one day, have you really committed your life to Him long-term?
At some point in high school, I realized that although I had gotten saved when I was a kid that I didn’t really do anything about it. I knew I was going to heaven and just kind of did whatever I wanted. Nothing real crazy, but I didn’t really live out the things I learned at church. In order to be committed to Christ long-term, there should be fruit (evidence of Him) in my life. I should be reading my Bible daily, praying constantly, attending church regularly, serving and constantly applying the things I learn to be more and more like Christ. Why? Because it’s not all about me. It’s all about Him!
So again, have you really committed your life to Him long-term? Why or why not?
The second time where Mordecai shows he knows “It’s not all about me!” is when he stops the attempted assassination. Mordecai could have ignored what he heard and been fine. It wasn’t his responsibility to protect the king. However, it was the right thing to do and so he reported it regardless of the consequences it had.
Sometimes we just ignore things because they don’t make an impact on us one way or the other. You see trash on the ground, but walk by cause you didn’t drop it. You hear a kid getting picked on, but just watch and do nothing. You see food on Pastor Rob’s face before he’s about to preach, but don’t mention it. There is definitely a right thing to do in each of these scenarios if you realize it’s not all about you, and put the needs of others above your own.
James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Write about a time that you ignored something because it didn’t really affect you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
Sunday, August 13, 2017
It's not about me! Esther 1
Like Autumn said, this week we’re going to read through the book of Esther. Make sure you actually read the chapters so God can teach you through His word. His word is way more important than anything Kirsten, Autumn or I have to say.
After you read the passage, there will be some questions to help you remember what you read and the story overall. Answer them, reread if you need to.
Then we will spend some time discussing how the chapter relates to our theme for the week, “It’s not all about me!”
Read Esther 1.
So depending on what version you are reading the King is either named Ahasuerus or King Xerxes. He’s the same guy; don’t be confused when we talk about Xerxes if your version says Ahasuerus. What does King Xerxes do for 180 days?
Right after that he invites a bunch of people for a banquet which lasted how many days?
What does King Xerxes ask Queen Vashti to do?
Does she do it?
King Xerxes then asks his wise men what the law says he should do. What do they tell him?
Interesting first chapter, huh? The king has a weeklong drinking party and asks the queen to come do some scantily clad dancing for them. She says no. And as a result, the king’s counsel tells him to replace Vashti as queen and also make it a law that wives need to honor their husbands. This first chapter (along with some of the others we are going to read) leaves me scratching my head thinking, “What just happened?!”
As we read through Esther we are going to see some people who are good examples of understanding, “It’s not all about me!” and some bad examples as well. In this first chapter we definitely see bad examples!
King Xerxes starts off with 180 days (6 months!) of showing off his riches. Clearly he’s rather prideful to need to do so much showing off. He wanted people, whether it was his own people or foreigners, to see his riches and to be impressed by it. It boosted his ego to have people impressed by his stuff.
When we forget that “it’s not all about me!” we can easily become self-centered and prideful. We want to show off the things we have, whether it’s new clothes, new phones, or some other new fancy gadget. Or we make sure people know how lucky we are that we get to do fun experiences. We try to make ourselves feel better by showing off so we get praise from people.
Sadly this is something we all do from time to time. Write about a time you tried to show off new things or talk about fun experiences just to get praise from people.
The next bad example that we see of “It’s not all about me!” is King Xerxes asking Queen Vashti to come into a room of drunk men to display herself. He again is thinking only about himself. People who are all about themselves are not all about other people. Not once did King Xerxes think about the impact this would make on Queen Vashti. When we focus only on ourselves, we don’t think about the impact our decisions are going to have on others. Pride puts others to make ourselves feel better. Write about a time you made a decision that negatively impacted someone else.
The other people in this chapter who don’t realize “It’s not all about me!” are the wise men the king gets advice from. When King Xerxes asks them what to do about the queen, they think about themselves. They think their wives will start rebelling against them. So out of fear they tell the king that a law should be made saying women must honor their husband. Because they want it to be all about them, they fear it won’t stay all about them. Pride doesn’t let us share the spotlight with others. Write about you a time you tried to keep the spotlight on yourself instead of sharing it with others.
We all forget at times that “It’s not all about me!” However, the Bible warns us in many places about the dangers of pride and tells us to be humble.
1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.
Prov. 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
What do these verses tell us about “It’s not all about me!”?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
After you read the passage, there will be some questions to help you remember what you read and the story overall. Answer them, reread if you need to.
Then we will spend some time discussing how the chapter relates to our theme for the week, “It’s not all about me!”
Read Esther 1.
So depending on what version you are reading the King is either named Ahasuerus or King Xerxes. He’s the same guy; don’t be confused when we talk about Xerxes if your version says Ahasuerus. What does King Xerxes do for 180 days?
Right after that he invites a bunch of people for a banquet which lasted how many days?
What does King Xerxes ask Queen Vashti to do?
Does she do it?
King Xerxes then asks his wise men what the law says he should do. What do they tell him?
Interesting first chapter, huh? The king has a weeklong drinking party and asks the queen to come do some scantily clad dancing for them. She says no. And as a result, the king’s counsel tells him to replace Vashti as queen and also make it a law that wives need to honor their husbands. This first chapter (along with some of the others we are going to read) leaves me scratching my head thinking, “What just happened?!”
As we read through Esther we are going to see some people who are good examples of understanding, “It’s not all about me!” and some bad examples as well. In this first chapter we definitely see bad examples!
King Xerxes starts off with 180 days (6 months!) of showing off his riches. Clearly he’s rather prideful to need to do so much showing off. He wanted people, whether it was his own people or foreigners, to see his riches and to be impressed by it. It boosted his ego to have people impressed by his stuff.
When we forget that “it’s not all about me!” we can easily become self-centered and prideful. We want to show off the things we have, whether it’s new clothes, new phones, or some other new fancy gadget. Or we make sure people know how lucky we are that we get to do fun experiences. We try to make ourselves feel better by showing off so we get praise from people.
Sadly this is something we all do from time to time. Write about a time you tried to show off new things or talk about fun experiences just to get praise from people.
The next bad example that we see of “It’s not all about me!” is King Xerxes asking Queen Vashti to come into a room of drunk men to display herself. He again is thinking only about himself. People who are all about themselves are not all about other people. Not once did King Xerxes think about the impact this would make on Queen Vashti. When we focus only on ourselves, we don’t think about the impact our decisions are going to have on others. Pride puts others to make ourselves feel better. Write about a time you made a decision that negatively impacted someone else.
The other people in this chapter who don’t realize “It’s not all about me!” are the wise men the king gets advice from. When King Xerxes asks them what to do about the queen, they think about themselves. They think their wives will start rebelling against them. So out of fear they tell the king that a law should be made saying women must honor their husband. Because they want it to be all about them, they fear it won’t stay all about them. Pride doesn’t let us share the spotlight with others. Write about you a time you tried to keep the spotlight on yourself instead of sharing it with others.
We all forget at times that “It’s not all about me!” However, the Bible warns us in many places about the dangers of pride and tells us to be humble.
1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.
Prov. 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
What do these verses tell us about “It’s not all about me!”?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
Monday, August 7, 2017
Are you worthy?
Open your Bibles to Ruth 2 and read along as we talk through the chapter. (Seriously open your Bible or at least open this in a new tab!)
Read verse 1. Like an great literary work, the Bible includes foreshadowing. This is clearly demonstrated with our introduction to Boaz. (Also fun to note, Boaz is called worthy here. Years ago in Sunday School we studied the book of Judges and it often referred to a person as worthless or worthy which let you know you were about to read a story demonstrating that quality. You can find some of those worthless/worthy references here.)
Read verse 2: Foreigners, orphans and widows were in a tough spot in ancient times. Throughout the Bible we see commands to help them. In Deuteronomy 24:19, the people are told that when they are harvesting they are to leave some grain for them to pick up. This is why Ruth heads out to the field.
Read verse 1. Like an great literary work, the Bible includes foreshadowing. This is clearly demonstrated with our introduction to Boaz. (Also fun to note, Boaz is called worthy here. Years ago in Sunday School we studied the book of Judges and it often referred to a person as worthless or worthy which let you know you were about to read a story demonstrating that quality. You can find some of those worthless/worthy references here.)
Read verse 2: Foreigners, orphans and widows were in a tough spot in ancient times. Throughout the Bible we see commands to help them. In Deuteronomy 24:19, the people are told that when they are harvesting they are to leave some grain for them to pick up. This is why Ruth heads out to the field.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)