SERIES:  Jesus Story Esther                                               WEEK:#2     

MESSAGE: Divine Reversals

COMMUNICATOR: Pastor Kevin Geer

CENTRAL TEXT/S: Esther 4:1, 6, 7. 

CHECKING IN: How was your week? What was one of the highlights? Share wins (things God did that moved his mission forward and you closer to Jesus). What did you put into practice from last week’s discussion? 

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER AND DISCUSS: Choose questions that will work best for your group. Feel free to add to or ask a question in a different way than is written. 

1. Describe your favorite movie. What made it special and what lesson might we learn from it?
2. Share a God “coincidence” i.e. an event or moment that happened in your life or in the life of a family member or friend that could only be explained as a move of God.
3. Read Esther 4:1 What caused Mordecai to be in this desperate situation? What is the significance of his response? 
4. Read Esther 6:1-3. What is your “go to” when you have a difficult time sleeping? Why is the king’s time of insomnia so vital to this story? What was the result?
5. Read Esther 6:4-11. What was Haman’s reason for visiting the king in verse 4? Why did Haman come up with such an extravagant response to the king’s question? 
6. What was the ironic “backfire” or the “divine reversal” in this part of the story? Do you have a personal divine reversal story?
7. “Just because God feels absent does not mean he is not working”. Share a time when this statement was relevant in your life.  
8. Read Esther 7:1-6 Why do you think this is an important part or the story? What might be some of the emotions that surfaced during the party with Esther, the king and Haman? 
9. Read Romans 8:28. What is the promise of this verse and what is the key qualifier? How can this verse be an encouragement to you? Who needs to hear this promise this week? 
10. “God works in the middle of messy situations”. What messy situation are you or someone you know in the middle of?  As a group, pray for that person or persons situation. 

TRUTH DEMANDS A RESPONSE! What is one action step you will take this week in response to our discussion? Be specific. Try attaching a name and date to your action step.

1. ___________________________________________________________________.

WANT TO GROW DEEPER? We have created some resources to help you grow. Check out and explore the Experience God page. Go to  canvas.church/experience-god or Experience God on the App. 

GROUP PRAYER OPTIONS: 

• • Prayer Question: “What’s going on in our lives that we can involve Jesus?”
  • Ask:  What was one praise and one challenge you experienced this week? Celebrate the praises and pray for the challenges. 
  • Ask if anyone has a need or knows of a need, you can also offer “unspoken” prayer requests. 

• Pray for the person on your right, it can be out loud or in silence, if in silence nudge the person next to you letting them know you are done. 

• Prayer Clusters: Groups of two or three (by gender) and share your week together. Pray together and for each other. Send them a text, or leave a message letting them know you have prayed for them this week. 
• Have someone in your group keep an active list of the requests and the answers for both the updates and to celebrate the answers. 

Are you interested in the Bible and in helping Life Groups benefit from the weekend message? We have a team for you! Canvas members like you create these discussion guides each week. If you are interested in joining the team, please email rickz@canvas.church