Welcome

1. Adult II Couples Class Welcome discoverjoy.com

2. How old were you when your parents let you go out on your first date? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

3. Prayer Requests -Tony: Cancer treatments -Cathy Laster: Cancer treatments -Abraham Garcia: Cancer treatments -William Stephenson: Biopsy -The Savages -Country Haven Church -Rebekah Heup -Global Missions Offering

4. Church Stuff Class Events Church Events • Benevolence Fund • R.E.A.P. (P-Team) • Scripture Readers Needed • Monthly Fellowships • October?? • November?? • December - Woffords • Dinner out Friday (28 Sept) • 5th Sunday Breakfast (30 Sept) • Quarterly Service Project • Samaria Project: Servant Care Ministries ($419 raised so far) • Olive Grove Terrace Visitation (23 Sept) • Crochet Classes (29 Sept) • Men’s Prayer Breakfast (6 Oct) • Sunday School Teacher Luncheon (7 Oct) • Youth Crazy Night (10 Oct) • Women’s Fall Retreat (12-13 Oct) • Men’s Golf Scramble (20 Oct)

5. How old were you when your parents let you go out on your first date? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

6. Chronological Bible Discipleship Iva May and Dr. Stan May week thirty-eight Ezra/Nehemiah/ Malachi/Joel

7. Review Creation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin. Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithfulness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Promised Land and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself. Conquest: Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land.

8. Review Judges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into the sin cycle. Kingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succession of kings from Saul to Solomon who rule over a united Israel. Divided: Israel divides into the northern and southern kingdoms and each descends into rebellion and idolatry, inciting God’s judgment.

9. Captivity Era • A succession of wicked kings leads the Northern Kingdom (Israel) into idolatry • Taken captive by Assyria in 722 B.C. • They are scattered and cease to exist • 136 years later, Babylon invades to destroy Jerusalem and the temple • All of Judah is taken into captivity • 4,600 Jews survive intact in Babylon • During the time of the Babylonian captivity, God is at work to preserve the remnant for seventy years so that He may finally move in the hearts of their cap-tors to restore them to the land of promise

10. Overview • Dark nights seem to characterize much of Israel’s history • They find themselves taken into captivity and scattered throughout the provinces of Babylon • A wicked leader in the Babylonian gov’t rises up to authorize the de-struction of the Jews • God positioned Joseph as prime minister of Egypt to protect His people • In the same fashion, God stations Esther as queen of Persia during the darkest night of their history • The faithfulness of her cousin, Mordecai, and her appeal to the king change the course of history

11. God intervenes in the most desperate times in the lives of His people in the most unusual ways to demonstrate His sovereignty and faithfulness Key Truth

12. Context Cast of Characters • Mordecai: Jewish exile and scribe in the court of the king of Persia • King Ahasuerus: Persian king of the former Babylonian empire • Esther: Younger cousin of Mordecai whom he has raised as his own daughter; she is selected to be queen of Persia, but her identity as a Jew is kept secret • Haman: Arrogant and evil prime minis-ter of Persia who determines to eradi-cate all Jews in the Persian empire

13. Captivity Era Esther 2 & 6 King of the Darkest Night Mordecai’s Good Deed The King’s Sleepless Night Dark Night Turned to Light

14. Mordecai’s Good Deed Esther 2:21-23

15. Mordecai’s Good Deed • Mordecai Saves the King from Assassination (21-23) • Mordecai overhears two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, conspiring to kill Ahasuerus • Mordecai informs Queen Esther who tells the king • Both men are found guilty and hanged • Mordecai’s deed is recorded in the king’s book of chronicles • Mordecai’s Character as a Righteous Man • Though Mordecai is not rewarded for his part in saving the king, he does not fret • He views concern for the king’s welfare as the right thing to do

16. Mordecai’s Good Deed • Mordecai’s Character as a Man of God • Mordecai’s desire to save the king without reward may have come from an understanding of Jeremiah’s admonition • Jeremiah 29:7 – ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ • Certainly his commitment to worship God alone set him apart as a man of God

17. Mordecai’s Good Deed • Mordecai’s Godly Righteousness Creates Conflict • His exclusive devotion to God brings him into conflict with the king’s prime minister, Haman • Haman so despises Mordecai’s defiance that he plots to kill him • When he learns Mordecai is a Jew, his contempt extends to ALL Jews in Persia, whom he decides to wipe out • Esther 3:6 - But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

18. The King’s Sleepless Night Esther 6:1-6a

19. The King’s Sleepless Night • The King cannot Sleep (1) • He requests that a servant read to him from the book of chronicles • He may have thought that this material would lull him to sleep • The King is made Aware (2-3) • He hears (probably for the first time) that Mordecai was responsible for thwarting his assassination • He realizes that Mordecai’s good deed had never been rewarded

20. The King’s Sleepless Night • Haman’s Bad Timing (4-6a) • At that moment, Haman enters the court, eager to propose his own agenda • “…in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him.” • At the same moment, King Ahasuerus is contemplating how to reward Mordecai • The king asks Haman for a suggestion without naming Mordecai as the recipient of the king’s honor

21. Dark Night Turned to Light Esther 6:6b-14

22. Dark Night Turned to Light • Haman’s Arrogance is His Undoing (6b-9) • Haman is immediately convinced that the king wants to honor him • “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?” • He thinks of the greatest honor he would like bestowed on himself and suggests it to the king • “…let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden…let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.’”

23. Dark Night Turned to Light • Haman’s Honor becomes His own Shame (10-11) • The king is pleased with Haman’s suggestion and assigns him the task of doing so…for Mordecai! • He even admonishes Haman to be thorough in his task • “…do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.” • Mordecai becomes the recipient of the honor which Haman had pre-scribed for himself • The Downfall of Haman (12-14) • Haman completes his humiliating task and hurries home in shame • He reports to his wife and friends Mordecai’s elevation at his expense • His wife recognizes the consequences of the situation and correctly predicts the grave outcome • “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”

24. Discussion At what other places in Scripture does God intervene when things look hopeless? Abraham and Sarah Jacob’s family in the famine Children of Israel at the Red Sea Hezekiah facing the Assyrians The death of Jesus Paul’s imprisonments Can God still intervene at hopeless times in our lives today? What are some verses that give us that confidence? Psalm 27:5For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. How does a faith that is confident in God’s ability to bring hope look when applied to our daily lives?

25. Conclusions • God protects His people even while they are ex-periencing the consequences of their disobedience. • God positions certain people in certain places to intervene for the good of others. • When the night becomes darkest it may appear that God is not involved, but appearance rarely reveals all. • If God’s hand moves during Israel’s darkest night, it is reasonable to expect that His hand moves during the darkest of nights today.

26. Bible TRIViA QUIZ The Books of Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah(2pts) • What were the people doing that prompted Ezra to tear his tunic and mourn and cry out to God for forgiveness? • “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands..” (Ezra 9:2) • What did the people do when Ezra opened the book of the law to read it? • “Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people…and when he opened it, all the people stood up.”(Nehemiah 8:5) • While rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, how were some of the laborers forced to do their work after being threatened with attack by their neighbors? • “Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon.” (Nehemiah 4:17)

27. BONUS ROUND Bonus Questions (4pts) • How many provinces made up the Persian kingdom in Esther’s day? • 50 • 13 • 127 • Unknown • When ridiculing the handiwork of the Jews in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, what animal did Tobiah the Ammonite claim could cause its collapse if it jumped on it? • “Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, ‘Even what they are building—if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!’” (Nehemiah 4:3) “…it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces..” (Esther 8:9)

28. Matthew 3 & 4 The Kingdom of God Adult II Couples Class Next week….. discoverjoy.com