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!”?


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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!"

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.


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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!"

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!”?


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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!"

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.

At least it's a good story...

Open your Bibles to Ruth 1 and read along as we talk through the chapter. (Seriously open your Bible or at least open this in a new tab!)
Read verses 1-2.
Who: a Jewish family of four - Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion
What: they are leaving Bethlehem for Moab to sojourn… Sojourn means a temporary journey.
When: the time of the judges... according to commentaries, it was probably during the same time as when Gideon was judge. Another reason this is important is because when the Jews would read that this story is taking place in the time of the judges they would sense hopelessness.
Where: They start in Israel and end up in Moab. Throughout the Bible, the land is associated with blessing. Jewish readers would see red flags go up as this family decided to leave their land and head to foreign land.
Why: there is a famine in the land of Israel, so rather than waiting for God to provide they decide to go try to find food.

Exhausted

This morning while I was driving to work, I was just thinking about how exhausted I am. It's coming to the end of the school year and teachers need to hibernate in the summer. But mostly I'm just exhausted of constantly trying to do the right thing. And a verse came to mind, Galatians 6:9 so let's not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up (ESV). I was very grateful that God put the scripture into my mind. But it doesn't necessarily make it any easier… 

What has God been teaching you recently?

READY - Yield to God's Will

Yield is not a word we use in everyday conversation. What does it mean?
The place you most frequently see it is on a road sign. “In road transport, a yield sign indicates that each driver must prepare to stop if necessary to let a driver on another approach proceed.” - wikipedia
Keep that in mind as we look into what it means to yield to God’s will.

Background for today’s passage: Saul is currently king. David has been anointed as his successor, but hasn’t taken his place yet. We’re looking at a chapter in the midst of when Saul is angry with David and trying to kill him.

Read 1 Samuel 24:1-4. (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read about Saul going to the bathroom in the cave and I chuckle every time! But anyway...) So we see Saul was off fighting the Philistines and as he returns someone tells him where he can find David. We could talk a lot about how Saul is living his life and has not yielded to God’s will because he’s lost his focus. Instead of serving God and leading the nation of Israel, he’s off chasing down David for some personal vendetta. To yield to God’s will, we need to put our own will to the side. (deny ourselves)


Read 1 Samuel 24:5-7. Here we see that David feels bad about what he did and we learn why David felt bothered by what he had done. The Lord, through Samuel, had anointed David as the next king, but David realized that he needed to wait on the Lord’s timing. He felt that since God hadn’t told him to kill Saul it was wrong for him to do so. David could have easily killed Saul and justified his actions with a litany of excuses: “It’s self-defense, Saul’s out to kill me.” “It’s all right, because God promised me the throne anyway.” “It’s all right because I am in the right, and even Jonathan knows that I deserve the throne.” “This is a God-given opportunity and I should take it.” Or even, “I’m just so tired of running and fighting Saul. This can end all of that now.” But David knew they were all just excuses and he shouldn’t kill Saul. David put his will to the side and submitted to God’s will. To yield to God’s will, we need to do what’s right and quit making excuses. David felt convicted that what he had done was wrong and he doesn’t make excuses. He doesn’t take matters into his own hands.
David trusted God and waited on His timing. When God promises us something, we can be sure that He will follow through on that promise. If we try to take things into our own hands, we can make God’s promises happen, but it doesn’t turn out as well as if we waited for God to do it His way. David trusted that God’s will was better than his own will.
(An easy excuse for us to make is that we don’t know God’s will. Much of God’s will for our lives can be found reading the Bible. More specifically though in Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus tells us 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. So if you are unsure about God’s will for your life, pray and ask Him and He will reveal it to you.)

This chapter ends with David revealing to Saul everything that had happened, then Saul goes home and David continues wandering around.

Read 1 Samuel 26:7-11. Saul heads out again to try and find David. When he takes break and makes camp, David finds him, again has the opportunity to kill him. Again his men encourage him to do so. Again he denies himself, and yields to God’s will and doesn’t kill Saul. To yield to God’s will, we need to repeat the process. David didn’t decide just once to follow God’s will. His decision was an ongoing decision, a daily process. Every day (sometimes every minute) we need to choose to yield to God’s will.

And we know that David wasn’t always successful. We know he married multiple wives, he committed adultery with Bathsheba, he murdered Uriah. Everyday yield to God’s will, even if you messed up the day before. Being in process doesn’t mean being perfect.

The beginning of the Lord’s prayer summarizes these ideas. Matthew 6:9-11 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. To yield to God’s will, we need to pray for Him to help us. The only way that we will successfully yield to God’s will is if He helps us. Jesus taught the disciples to pray and to ask for God’s will to be done (not their own will) and figuratively asking for daily bread is showing that it is an ongoing process.

(Oh and I should probably cite my sources, as to not be accused of plagiarism :) I took the list of excuses David could have made from http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/0924.htm.)


GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What does it mean to yield to God’s will? What does that look like in your life? 
2. Can you think of a time that you did what God wanted instead of what you wanted and you saw positive results? 
3. What is the toughest part of yielding to God’s will for you personally? 

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This is the fifth lesson of a 5-part series I was asked to write for the middle school ministry at my Hawaiian Church, New Hope Leeward. The series is on the acronym READY.