Clarksville, TN - Grace Community Church

In preparation for Sunday’s message, read Judges Chapters 6 and 7 and see the way God used Gideon to lead the Israelites out of captivity. 

Consider these questions as you reflect on the passage?

6. What is God asking you to do at this point in your life?  Will you have the courage to obey?    

Lt. Col. Randal Nelson assumed the command of the Group Support Battalion this past Friday. The ceremony was held at Gabriel Field, 3200 Block of Indiana at Ft. Campbell, KY. If that sounds official, it’s because it is. Randy, as we know him, and Celeste are in our community group that meets each Wednesday night. Cheryl and I have grown to love them. They are great people. Randy is a great soldier. Today our group was invited to be his guests as he assumed a new position with the military. I found myself fighting tears of patriotism as I watched the ceremony. Standing before me were some of the bravest men and women in our country. Of course they represent the thousands of others, many who are currently separated from their families, who defend my right to do what I do each day.

When I think of the persecution of believers around the world I am ever more thankful to be in a country where liberty is defended at any cost. Sunday I preached on Esther, a Biblical character who was willing to put her life on the line for the cost of freedom. Friday I saw a visual reminder that people do that every day.

God bless our troops and their families.

(From Ron’s blog at www.ronedmondson.com)

Today is our final day for the first round of this blog experiment. Our hope is that this has been beneficial for you in your walk with the Lord, and that this reading the Scriptures this week has helped create habits in you that will last a lifetime.

Read Esther chapters 9 and 10

Answer the following questions:

It is interesting how the Jews celebrated. Their celebrations were very purposeful, filled with meaning. They "celebrated the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar "as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration." (Esther 9:21-22) So the celebration time did not revolve around the gifts. It revolved around remembering.

1. When your family celebrates, does it revolve more around gifts, or God's gracious provisions and blessings?

Why was it so important to celebrate? Because God had delivered them!

There was the chance, though, that future generations would forget the great stories of God's deliverance. This is why celebrations and feasts like this were put into place, so that the stories would be retold generation after generation.

2. Do you have a story of God's deliverance in your life? How are you making sure that it doesn't die out before the next generation?

Mordecai started off by taking a back seat in terms of his prominence among the Jews and others within the country. By the end, though, he was second in rank only to the king. His undying devotion to the good of his people and the welfare of all the Jews was noticed and honored. But it didn't start with Mordecai seeking this prominence, and throughout the story, we never see Mordecai desiring more power. He was seemingly content loving God and loving others (see Matthew 22:36-40).

3. How are you doing at loving God and loving others? Are you content if you never receive recognition or praise for your service? Or is there an underlying expectation that you will be praised for your efforts? Do you think God is honored (even when you do "good" things to serve others) when you seek power and prestige for your service?

We hope that our blog this week has helped you to apply the book of Esther
to your daily life. This Sunday, Ron will be preaching from the book of
Esther. Our hope would be that thinking through Esther will help prepare
you for what God has in store for your life this Sunday.


Read Esther, Chapters 7 and 8

Answer the following questions:

Haman's plans were finally and fully revealed to the king. I cannot think
that this is the way that Haman thought things would progress. His plans
were revealed right before his eyes at a banquet which he was forced to
attend after having given honor to the man whom he wanted to hang
(Mordecai)! Right after this, "Haman was terrified before the king and the
queen," (Esther 7:6), and rightfully so.

1. Are there hidden areas of your life where sin is active and that you are
banking on other people NEVER knowing?

If so, you might want to go ahead and start being afraid. "There is nothing
concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.
What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you
have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the
roofs. (Luke 12:2-3)

2. Are you surrounding yourself with people who truly know you and want
God's best for you? If not, why not?

God's plan throughout the book of Esther is now made clear: He was going to
save His people. Lots and lots of patience, though, was needed on the part
of God's people. They could've given up hope at any point. God was
faithful, though.

3. Are you patient, trusting that God will protect you and has your
ultimate best in mind? (if you have time, read Hebrews 11, especially
11:40)

Mordecai received honor, but it was not immediate. He received honor for
remaining loyal to the king.

4. How can you, today, show your loyalty to the true King, Jesus?

Read Esther, Chapters 3 & 4 and answer the following questions:

In an effort to stop Haman's plot, Mordecai sent word to Esther for her to plead with the king for his favor on the Jews. After Esther's refusal, Mordecai's words to her were direct and scathing. He told her that, just because she had received the favor of the king and was in his palace, she shouldn't expect that she would be spared from the coming destruction by Haman. There is a verse here which is often quoted, "And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14) This question presumes a lot, doesn't it?

1. Do you believe that God is in control of your life? Has He "messed up" by putting you in the situation that you're in? Had He "messed up" with Esther? What good might come out of the situation you have found  ourself in?

Esther didn't immediately jump on board with this plan of Mordecai's, which involved her being put into grave danger with only a slim hope of a possibility of saving her people, the Jews. What was it that finally convinced her? A little encouragement. Encouragement changed the course of a nation (the Jews). Don't underestimate its importance! How might you encourage somebody? Why not start with Scripture? In the Scriptures, we have all of the encouragement we need to live a life that honors God (2 Peter 1:3-4).

2. Who will you encourage today? What will you encourage them to do? How do you need encouragement?

Read Esther Chapters 1 & 2 and answer these questions:

1. King Xerxes was pretty pretty proud of himself. In fact, when Queen Vashti refused to come to him, ³the king became furious and burned with anger.² (1:12) How do you react when you don¹t get your way, or when someone doesn¹t do what you think they should do? Do you act as a self-centered king? How should you act? Compare your answer with Ephesians 5:21 and Philippians 2:3.

2. The king feared family rebellion would spread throughout the empire if he did not punish Queen Vashti for her disobedience. He feared that other wives would despise their husbands and rebel against them (1:17) as Vashti had done. To keep this from happening throughout the land, he passed a law which commanded that ³every man should be ruler over his own household.² (1:22) How has it worked out for you when you have demanded respect from your spouse? Does that illicit the response you¹re looking for? What kinds of ways should we treat our spouse? Does this bleed over into other areas of our lives?

Some of you have been asking for a daily Bible reading plan, so we've found a couple on the internet that may help you out.

This one lets you tailor a program to whatever you want to do, however you would like to go through the Scriptures. It emails you the passage for the day. http://www.bibleplan.org/.

Another you can print that doesn't start at Genesis (so it's easy to jump in anywhere) is: http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf

We hope that these resources are helpful. Don't forget that on Monday, we will begin posting questions for you to think through that correspond with the passage in the book of Esther for that day, culminating in Ron's message on Sunday, June 29th.

Ben

We here at GCC are always looking to challenge ourselves (and challenge you) to become more faithful followers of Christ. In each of our environments, we seek to foster spiritual growth that is genuine and effective. From Grace Acres to Cross Street to our Gathering service, from our volunteer ministry to community groups and starting point, we want to grow closer to the Lord and help you to do so as well.

With that in mind, we want to try something new in conjunction with Ron's upcoming sermon from the book of Esther on Sunday, June 29th. Starting this coming Monday (June 23rd), our blog will give you a short (2 chapters) passage of Scripture to read and think on from the book of Esther. We will give you some questions to help think through and apply the passage to your life. We hope that you enjoy the change to the blog for this upcoming week, and are open to suggestions as you have the chance to try it out.

What questions do you have about the Bible or Christianity that you've been afraid to ask?  We would love to hear from you and someone on staff will answer some of the more frequently asked questions in future blogs. You can post them here or email us at

Went to see the new Narnia flick a week or so ago.  Prince Caspian I think it is.  Anyway, what a great movie!  As a follower of Jesus, there is a lot of symbolism in the movie that fires me up!  At one point, the prince is told that he has a chance to be the "most noble contradiction in history."  I don’t want to spoil the movie for you but that line is powerful.  That noble contradiction is me! That’s Grace Community.  God has given us a chance to put back together a community that we helped break!  We all had a hand in messing things up and now we’ve all embarked on a mission to put it back together.  Who would have thought Clarksville and Narnia had so much in common?