IBC Richmond

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
• What lessons can be learned from Esther 7 about living as a believer in a secular environment?
• In what ways do you feel unchristian if you have enemies? How can you determine if your enemy is God’s enemy or one of your own creation?
• How does King Ahasuerus respond in verse 5? What does the king’s reaction show about Haman’s plot?
• Consider the relationship between Esther and Mordecai (8:1)? Who is like family to you? Who can teach, challenge, and warn you?

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
• In light of Mordecai's public mourning, how has someone else's grief influenced your reaction to suffering?
• Who can counsel you like Mordecai counseled Esther? Why do you need counselors?
• Name all the emotions in Esther 4. How do you understand and identify with these emotions?
• Is it faith or fatalistic to say with Esther "If I perish, I perish"?

The goal we are presenting is to be a church ruled by Christ, governed by members, led by elders, served by deacons.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
• What, if any, is the significance that Mordecai was a Jew and Haman was an Agagite?
• How did God use Mordecai and Esther’s positions for good? How can your position and influences be used for good?
• Is randomness like casting lots (Esther 3:7) antithetical to God’s sovereignty? Why or why not?
• How must God’s people receive persecution in light of his providence?

The goal we are presenting is to be a church ruled by Christ, governed by members, led by elders, served by deacons.

Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
• Carefully read Esther 2. Is Esther's behavior righteous or sinful?
• Who is Mordecai? What is his relationship to Esther?
• How has God's grace exceeded your personal sin (Rom. 5:20b)?
• Is God willing to use sinners to accomplish his purposes? How does this shape an understanding of providence?

APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
• What does King Ahasuerus request of Vashti? Why does she refuse?
• What part does alcohol play in the story? How does this view of alcohol influence your celebrations?
• Is the prince's feared outcome (vs. 17) valid? Describe a better way for a husband to gain a wife's respect.
• Do you live with the same moral integrity as Queen Vashti? How has it caused good or bad consequences?