Read to prACTice

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* You must save, or I must die... I. Click here to READ Esther 4   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (Mordecai informed Queen Esther of the imminent destruction of the Jews globally and commanded her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. Queen Esther replied...) 11 “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.” III. Reflection * Questions :  What must be done to save anyone who violates the rule of coming to the king without being called? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that when the smell of death to the Jews was everywhere,...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* Accidentally but truly... I. Click here to READ Esther 3   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (to solicit the king’s help to implement his plot to unjustly destroy the Jewish people, Haman told the Persian king...) 8 ... " There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people..." III. Reflection * Questions :  Was there anything said accidentally but truly in the plot from Haman? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that in his trying to accuse and harm the Jewish people, Haman accidentally testified to the one truth about them — "their laws are different from those of every other people" ( v8 ). This is, indeed, true because their laws are given by You, Lord, while other people write their own laws. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for bringing me to this point a...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* Early teaching, the teaching that sticks...   I. Click here to READ Esther 2 first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (Esther, an orphaned Jewish girl, was selected among the crowded competition to be made queen of the Persian empire. Her uncle, who raised her, told her not to disclose her ethnic background to anyone...) 20 Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.   III. Reflection * Questions :  How is effective teaching measured? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for letting me see that Esther continued to obey her uncle even when she was out of the house and even when she was the queen of the superpower of the world at the time ( v20 ). All this obedience was possible because she was brought up that way when she was a youngster. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking me to this po...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* When honor is forced to be given, don't take...   I. Click here to READ Esther 1 first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (all the husbands in the Persian empire wanted to be honored by their wives, so they asked for help from the king, who himself did not think that his queen Vashti gave him the appropriate honor when he had too much to drink. So he issued an honor-your-husband decree...) 20 So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.” III. Reflection * Questions :  How can honor be given or demanded? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that honor is a voluntary activity. It cannot be demanded; it can only be earned. The husbands of the Persian empire at the time and their emperor were not on the right side of justice in demanding honor. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* Let God's Word work... I. Click here to READ Nehemiah 13 first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (On his returning to Jerusalem after having gone back to serve king Artaxerxes, Nehemiah said...) 1 On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people...  4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah, 5 had prepared a large room for him... 7... in the courts of the house of God. 15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath...  23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.   III. Reflection * Questions :  When were "those days" in verses 4, 15, and 23? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that when Your Word hadn't been read in the hearing of the people, those days were marked with sinfu...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* The show must not go on...   I. Click here to READ Nehemiah 12 first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  27 Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres. III. Reflection * Questions :  How difficult was it to seek out the Levites from all their places to bring them to Jerusalem for the dedication of the reconstructed walls of Jerusalem? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that it must be very hard to seek out the Levites from all over the place to bring them to Jerusalem for the dedication ceremony. It was hard, physically, because there were many of them, there were many places, and there was much land. But it was hard, mentally, also, because of the que...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* It's broken. Free at last!...   I. Click here to READ Nehemiah 11 first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (About the settlement in the renewed homeland after the renewed temple of God was inaugurated...) 3 These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon’s servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on their own property in the various towns,   III. Reflection * Questions :  Life is full of uncertainty, but what was certain about the life of servitude?  IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that while life, in general, is unpredictable because we do not know the future, what surely was predictable in the life of servitude in the era of servitude was that it continued, once started, through generations to the descendants, as shown in the above passage ( v3 ). The bondage could not be...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click here . ******************* Exposed to the Word, Change...   I. Click here to READ Nehemiah 10   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (The Lord's people responded to the Lord's Word...) 28 “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, 29 join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. 30 We will not ... 31 ... we will not... And we will...  III. Reflection * Questions :  How many actionable commitments were made in this chapter by the Israelites? IV. Application Dear Lord God, I thank You for showing me tha...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Our God, the awesome God... I. Click here to READ   Nehemiah 9   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (The Israelites were confessing their sins, saying...) 6  “You are the  Lord , You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships You.   7  You are the  Lord... 8 ... Y ou have kept Your promise, for You are righteous...  31  You are a gracious and merciful God...  32 O ur God,  the great, the mighty, and the awesome God..."  III. Reflection *  Questions :  When was the last time you prayed as such? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for reminding me that I seldom hear such a prayer as above. Not only had I not heard, I hadn't prayed this prayer ...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* When the Lord is pleased...   I. Click here to READ   Nehemiah 8   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  9  And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the  Lord  your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.   10  Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the  Lord  is your strength.”   III. Reflection *  Questions :  What is the key to having strength, physically, emotionally, and spiritually? IV. Application Dear Lord God, I thank You for showing me that I can have physical, emotional, and spiritual strength in...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Generously complimentary...   I. Click here to READ   Nehemiah 7   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (Nehemiah said...) 1 A fter the wall was finished and I had set up the doors in the gates, the gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were appointed.  2   I gave the responsibility of governing Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah, the commander of the fortress, for he was a faithful man who feared God more than most. III. Reflection *  Questions :  How did Nehemiah introduce Hananiah to the general public? IV. Application Dear Lord God, I thank You for teaching me more about Nehemiah today. Not only was he a man who dared to side with the poor and the oppressed, but he also dared to publicly praise the praiseworthy. He praised Hananiah so sincerely. He was not concerned about the potential slipping into his shadow because of his high praises. I thank Y...