New Story Church

How (Not) to Self-Destruct | Esther 5-7

Paul D. Anderson

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There's something in all of us that wants to destroy us. And the terrifying part is — it usually looks like a strength.

The Book of Esther introduces us to a man named Haman — one of the most psychologically precise portraits of pride in all of Scripture. He has everything: wealth, power, access, honor. And none of it is enough. Because one man won't bow. What follows is not just a story about an ancient villain. It's a mirror — a portrait of the particular kind of self-destruction that comes from needing to be unlike everyone else, above everyone else, feared by everyone else. Haman chases it all the way to a 75-foot monument he builds for someone else's execution. (You can probably guess how this is going to end.)

This is Week 4 of our series through Esther — a book that never once mentions God, and yet somehow can't stop pointing toward him.

Download the group discussion guide here.