Our Choices Matter
March 14, 2021

Today’s Scripture
I John 2:15-16; Esther 3:1-11; 4:1-3,13-14

Our choices give birth to results – good or bad.

As much as Jesus wants us to make good choices, we have an enemy that tempts us to make bad ones.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Esther 3:1 After these events King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him.
2 All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage.
3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you transgressing the king’s command?”
4 Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage. 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.


Esther 3:7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.
9 If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.”
10 Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”


Esther 4:1 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.
2 He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
3 In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.


Esther 4:13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”

3 TRAPS OUR ENEMY SETS EVERY DAY.

1. Lust of the

(Passion) is the Temptation to


2. Lust of the (Possession) is the Temptation to


3. Pride of (Position) is the Temptation to

3 ANTIDOTES FOR THE TRAPS

1. The ANTIDOTE to the Lust of the Flesh is



2. The ANTIDOTE to the Lust of the Eyes is

3. The Antidote to the Pride of Life is

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity - “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.”

“He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place to which it leads.”

2. Discuss in a Life Group

DISCUSS:

  • Discuss why and how our choices matter.

  • What are some bad and good choices that Esther and Mordecai made.

  • Share testimony of results of some decisions you’ve made in the past (good or bad)

  • Discuss the 3 Traps of Satan and the 3 Antidotes of God

3. Pray Together

Pray for each other and record any prayer requests here.