31 - esther: queen for such a time as this (1)1 and i will certainly hide my face on that day...

31 - Esther: queen for such a time as this (1)31 - Esther: queen for such a time as this (1) 11

And I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods (Deut. 31:18).

… let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti … Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor … So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen … (Esther 2:4,17).


Mordechai … urge[d] her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people … he … answer[ed] ‘Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?’ (Esther 4:7,8,13,14).


Then Esther sent this reply to Mordechai: ‘Go gather together all the Jews … and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish’ (Esther 4:15,16).


The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves (Hebr. 10:1).

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord … (Is. 11:2).

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne … (Rev. 1:4).


Discussion & dialogue

Discuss how people in your churches, as clearly chosen by God for salvation ministry as Esther was, can be helped, motivated and facilitated to execute their God-given missions to the unreached and least-reached people groups in the world

Discuss which key character-trait of Esther’s was the one without which Haman would have succeeded

Which six of the ten themes feature in Esther, and how?

32 - The last three OT giants: Ezra, Nehemiah &32 - The last three OT giants: Ezra, Nehemiah & Malachi (1) Malachi (1)

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The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices … They have taken some of their daughters as wives … and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness (Ezra 9:1,2).


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‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.’ When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven (Neh. 1:3,4).


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I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on (Neh. 2:11,12).


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Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god … (Mal. 2:11).

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask: ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me” (Mal. 3:8,9).


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“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse … Test me in this”, says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” (Mal. 3:10).


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Discuss how Ezra’s ‘separation message’ applies to the Church of today, and why

With your small group, design a missions plan for a city, using Nehemiah’s six principles

Discuss whether missionaries should only receive or also give tithes? In case of doubt, look up Numbers 18:26,28

33 - The fullness of time (1)33 - The fullness of time (1) 1212

… his mother Mary … was found to be with child … She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means ‘God with us’” (Matt. 1:18,21-23).


… Christ Jesus, Who, being in very nature God … made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-8).


God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power … he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him (Acts 10:38).

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14).

33 - The fullness of time (4) 33 - The fullness of time (4) 1515


Discuss whether the Lord will return before or after the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached to the ends of the earth

Discuss the results of cross-cultural missions, if missionaries have not been properly trained in the language, culture and religion of the people they seek to reach

Which six of the ten themes feature in this chapter? How?

34 - Fishing partners (1)34 - Fishing partners (1) 1616

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught … When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:3-5).


When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this … he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners … Jesus said “ … from now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:6,7,9,10).



Discuss how partnership between churches and missionaries can be improved in practical ways, e.g. how churches can learn to pray for missionaries more often and more effectively

Which three of the ten themes reoccur in this story and how?

35 - Training & sending (1)35 - Training & sending (1) 1919

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matt. 9:37,38).

He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles … These twelve Jesus sent out …(Matt. 10:1,2,5).


These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons … (Matt. 10:5-8).

“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).


Discussion & dialogueDiscuss why training in Christian character has to precede performing evangelistic ministry

Discuss the advantages of a ministerial ‘practicum phase’ both in the sense of the senior performing while the juniors watch, and in the sense of short-term mono-cultural evangelism as exercise for long-term cross-cultural missions

What happens when the work for the Lord becomes than the relationship with Him?

How does theme seven feature in the outreach-assignment Jesus gives His disciples?

31 - esther: queen for such a time as this (1)1 and i will certainly hide my face on that day...

Documents

queen esther

nehemiah malachi

ot giants

unfaithfulness ezra

spirit of counsel

spirit of knowledge

people groups

spirit of wisdom