Introduction
- 5 minutes to prepare a persuasive speech on something you are passionate about. They are to be 30 seconds long.
Lesson
- Review Esther to this point: Esther becomes queen after winning what was essentially a beauty pageant. Haman gets power, and is against the Jews. Mordecai, cousin of and the person who raised Esther, refuses to bow to him and sends him over the top. Haman gets permission to wipe out the Jews. Esther now in the position to save the lives of the Jews.
- Read Esther 7:1-7. Big, bad, overconfident Haman now is scared for his life. He goes to beg and plead with Esther to spare his life.
- Read Esther 7:8-10. Haman basically dug his own grave. The fact is when people go against God or persecute His people, then they are truly digging their own graves.
- Read Esther 8:1-17. A beautiful story of victory and deliverance.
- Read Esther 9:1-10:3. Remember a couple weeks ago we asked you to remember the fact that they, “cast the pur (lot)” to see when the annihilation of the Jews would occur? That’s because the Jews now celelbrate, on February 28th, Purim. The day they should have been wiped out, but instead they stood victorious and delivered.
Application
- Though God was never mentioned in this book, how was it evident that He was at work?
- What did He give to Esther to make her successful and a tool for the deliverance of His people?
- What lessons have you learned from the study of Esther?
Introduction
- Name the greatest scene you have ever seen from a movie
Lesson
- Review- Where are we. What has just happened
- Read Esther 4:1-3. Look at the genuine reaction of grief and pain in Mordecai’s face. Imagine a Jew knowing about the Holocaust before it happened. This is what Mordecai is facing.
- Read Esther 4:4-9
- Read Esther 4:10-11. Esther wonders what she can do about it. She knows that if she goes to the king and says something without an appointment, and if he does not extend his scepter, that person dies. She hasn’t seen him in 30 days. It doesn’t look like he would reach out to her does it?
- Read Esther 4:12-14. Think of the best actor you know of. Picture Sean Connery from “The Rock” or another older actor reciting these lines.
- Read Esther 4:15-17. She knew that she could not do it on her own. She knew that she had to have God on her side, and the prayers of his people. When you enter hard times, or something that you are scared of, do you take the chance to get other people to pray for you?
- Read Esther 5:1-2
- Read Esther 5:3-8. Why hasn’t she already asked the king to save her people?
- Read Esther 5:9-19. Haman is on a power trip. Things don’t look good for Mordecai
- Read Esther 6:1-9. Oh Haman, you arrogant punk…
- Read Esther 6:10-14. Why didn’t Mordecai go back home? He knew that it was still going to be a bad day for the Jews. Haman is solely motivated by revenge at this point.
Application
- Do you think that God has put you in a certain situation, economic status, workplace, or school for a certain purpose? Have you asked?
Introduction
- This turns into Miss Congeniality. The whole reason that Sandra Bullick’s character enters the beauty pageant is to solve the mystery and the threat on the pageant. We find out today that this movie is kind of ripping off the book of Esther. Esther wins the beauty pageant, but now she is in the midst of something more. Something deeper. Something that is showing that God is active in her life.
Lesson
- Review last week
- Read Esther 2:19-23. Who was Mordecai? We will find out later that this is very, very important.
- Read Esther 3:1-4. Why did Mordecai refuse to bow down before Haman? What does this tell you about Haman?
- Read Esther 3:5-7. Just remember this
- Read Esther 3:8-15. Did Mordecai’s actions cause this to happen? No, it just sent it over the top.
Application
- Do you think we have enough Mordecai’s in our Church today?
- What does a Mordecai look like? It is not someone who stands up against taxes. Mordecai wouldn’t be going to tea parties. He wouldn’t stand up on the side of the road and hold signs calling people who have had abortions murderers. Mordecai would be the man who simply did what he was supposed to do, and remembered who his God was.
- Do you think we need more people protesting, or living an exemplary life?
- What attributes was Esther given to help accomplish God’s will?
Verse of the Week: Genesis 1:26, 27
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Wednesday, November 4
This Wednesday we will watch the final movie for our Fall 2009 series, "Faith N' Flicks." We will be watching the movie Amazing Grace. The movie is just under two hours long, so we will need to start the movie at 5:30. We will then discuss the movie over the next two weeks. Our Wednesday night programming will conclude on November 18
Sunday, November 8
We had a successful launch of three new series last Sunday. We are looking at the book of Esther in our BFC classes with "God's Beauty Queen" (Senior High) and "Anonymous" (Junior High). We examined Esther 1:1-2:18. Last night we launched a spinoff from our Masquerade series entitled "Mirrors". We focused on Genesis 1:26, how we are made perfectly in the image of God.
Next week we will continue these series, and we hope that you will join us. As always, if you miss a Sunday/Wednesday, you can find the outline of the lessons, discussions, and devotions on our blog (www.movementbgcc.blogspot.com)
Also, for those who have been keeping up with the Bible reading plan, please bring a piece of paper, signed by a parent, indicating that you have kept up with the reading. If you present this paper to Jared this Sunday, you will get rewarded for your hard work!
Sunday, November 22
This Sunday will be the Sunday that we are coming back from our Fall Retreat. For those who are not going on the trip, we will be having a combined BFC that day during the 9:45 hour. The Bakers will lead the BFC.
Saturday, December 12
BGCC will be hosting the Project PG Angel Tree Breakfast. We hope that you will join us in helping out for the event. We need youth to help carry gifts to the cars of the adults and to help on delivery runs. This is a great way to help these wonderful people have a great Christmas. More details will come.
Introduction
- In today’s society, it’s not real appropriate to look up to supermodels and beauty queens as role models. However, we are going to look at someone in the Bible who basically won a beauty contest, and then proceeded to save lives and have the upmost character.
Lesson
Background:
- Written approx 470 BC
- One of only two books in the Bible named for a woman.
- The original language no proper name or pronoun for God appears in it.
Read Esther 1:1-8
- This was their way of preparing for battle. They get battle strategies, and also, if they are going to lose, at least they had fun getting ready for it.
Read Esther 1:9-12
- Big time insult. Xerxes wants to show off his lady and she says no. You do not say no to the king!
Read Esther 1:13-2:4
- Answer to their problem: A beauty pageant!
Read Esther 2:5-7
- What does this tell us about Esther?
Read Esther 2:8-11
- Why doesn’t Esther say where she is from?
Read Esther 2:12-18
- Esther’s beauty and charm wins over Xerxes. She is now queen. Why is this significant?
Application
- What attributes was Esther given to help accomplish God’s will?
- What things have God given you to use to accomplish His will today?
