Bible Lesson: The Story of Nehemiah

SUPERBOOK III

Week 1: Nehemiah

November 3 and 4, 2018

SERIES OBJECTIVE

At the end of the series the kids will understand that the different Bible stories make up one BIG story about the love of God so that they can live a life of faith and obedience.

TITHES AND OFFERING

1 Chronicles 29:12-13 NIRV Wealth and honor come from you. You are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power. You can give honor and strength to everyone. Our God, we give you thanks. We praise your glorious name.

Big idea: God is the source of everything we have: wealth and honor, and even strength! We can respond to His goodness by giving Him thanks and by bringing back our tithes (the 10% of whatever we have) to Him.

POWER VERSE AND POWER TRUTH

PT: God's Word can help me live a life of faith and obedience.

PV: Psalm 119:11 NLT I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

WORSHIP SERVICE PROGRAM

PRIMARY		PRETEENS
5m	Welcome (First timers/Bday celebrants)	5m	Welcome (First timers/Bday celebrants)
5m	Rules & Announcements	5m	Reminders & Announcements
10m	Praise Dance (2 songs)	5m	Water/Restroom Break
5m	Water/Restroom Break	15m	Praise & Worship (2 to 3 songs)
10m	Tithes & Offering (Exhortation, 1 song)	5m	Tithes & Offering (Exhortation, 1 song)
5m	Worship (1 song)	20m	Preaching
20m	Preaching	20m	Huddle Time
10m	Huddle Time
5m	Redemption Booth
75m	TOTAL TIME	75m	TOTAL TIME

INTRODUCTION

We are continuing our series based on some episodes of the Superbook animated shows. We will look into different stories in the Bible and realize that they all point to only one thing – God’s big love for us. Today, we will learn about Nehemiah, someone who was in the habit of praying to God, and God never failed to be faithful to him.

CONNECT: Complete the Verse

Before we start, let’s play a game. Boys vs. Girls. Assign a leader for each team. I will give you a verse from the Bible with some of the words scrambled. Once you have figured out the scrambled words, the leader must memorize the verse and whisper it to me. The leader cannot write it down and read it to me, it must be recited from memory. The members of the first team whose leader will recite the verse correctly will win.

Ephesians 6:18 CEV Never stop GRIPNAY, especially for SHOTER. SLAYAW pray by the PREWO of the STRIIP. Stay TRALE and keep praying for God’s ELOPPE.

Good job! The verse encourages us to always pray, especially for other people. The person who we are going to study today, Nehemiah, exemplifies this. He was someone who always prayed to God, and rarely for himself, always for others. In fact, the book of Nehemiah is peppered with prayers, there is almost one prayer in every chapter!

VIDEO: Nehemiah

Because of their disobedience to God, the Israelites were scattered away from their homeland and their city of Jerusalem was in ruins. Many of the Jews were living in exile in Persia and some became important people in the kingdom. One of these was Nehemiah. He was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. Being a cupbearer was an important job because the cupbearer made sure that the king’s drink was safe. He was like a protector of the king, which made him a trusted person.

One day, Nehemiah’s brother, Hanani, came from Judah to visit him. Hanani told him that the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed and there was great trouble. During their time, the walls of a city were very important because it kept the people safe from their enemies. When Nehemiah heard the bad news, he was very sad! He prayed to God to help him talk to the king about their problem.

After some time, Nehemiah was serving King Artaxerxes and the king noticed that he was sad. The king’s people are always supposed to be happy, so Nehemiah was afraid that Artxerxes would be mad at him for being sad. So he said a quick prayer to God to help him with the king. When King Artaxerxes found out why Nehemiah was sad, the king allowed Nehemiah to leave and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem! Let’s watch the video clip…

(http://en.superbook.tv/video/nehemiah-seeks-kings-blessing)

WORD

Let’s read about the story straight from the Bible.

Nehemiah 1:3-4, 8-11 CEV 3 They told me, “Those captives who have come back are having all kinds of troubles. They are terribly disgraced, Jerusalem’s walls are broken down, and its gates have been burned.”

4 When I heard this, I sat down and cried. Then for several days, I mourned; I went without eating to show my sorrow, and I prayed:

8 Please remember the promise you made to Moses. You told him that if we were unfaithful, you would scatter us among foreign nations. 9 But you also said that no matter how far away we were, we could turn to you and start obeying your laws. Then you would bring us back to the place where you have chosen to be worshiped.

10 Our Lord, I am praying for your servants—those you rescued by your great strength and mighty power. 11 Please answer my prayer and the prayer of your other servants who gladly honor your name. When I serve the king his wine today, make him pleased with me and have him do what I ask.

Nehemiah 2:4-5, 8 CEV 4 The king asked, “What do you want me to do?” I prayed to the God who rules from heaven. 5 Then I told the king, “Sir, if it’s all right with you, please send me back to Judah, so that I can rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried." 

8 I will need timber to rebuild the gates of the fortress near the temple and more timber to construct the city wall and to build a place for me to live. And so, I would appreciate a letter to Asaph, who is in charge of the royal forest.” God was good to me, and the king did everything I asked.

God answered Nehemiah’s prayer in a big way. Let’s see what factors were that made God answer his prayer.

1. Purpose

Nehemiah 1:8-9 CEV 8 Please remember the promise you made to Moses. You told him that if we were unfaithful, you would scatter us among foreign nations. 9 But you also said that no matter how far away we were, we could turn to you and start obeying your laws. Then you would bring us back to the place where you have chosen to be worshiped. 

God answers prayers that are according to His purposes. He had given His word to Moses that He will bring back the Israelites to Jerusalem when they repent and obey God again. The purpose of Nehemiah’s prayer was rooted in the promise of God, which is found in the Scriptures.

ILLUSTRATION: Exam

You have an exam in Science. You can be 100% sure that the questions on the exam will be from your Science textbook. You cannot prepare for the Science test by reading your Math textbook. The answers to the Science exam will be coming from the Science textbook.

Just like with prayer, when you pray for something that is according to God’s purposes and His word, you can be sure that He will answer it. Can you pray for the bully in school to get very sick that he won’t be able to come to class anymore? No, because God’s word tells us to love our enemies and to bless them. Can you pray for God to provide for your needs? Yes, because He promised it in the Bible! That’s why I encourage you to always read your Bible.

2. Person

Nehemiah 1:11a CEV Please answer my prayer and the prayer of your other servants who gladly honor your name.

Nehemiah was praying for something big. But he wasn’t shy to present his requests to God. Nehemiah was confident because he was someone who loved God and honored Him. He knew that God listens to the prayers of His people. (John 9:31 We know that God listens only to people who love and obey him.) The kind of person who prays also matters to God.

ILLUSTRATION: Parents

When you need something for school, like new notebooks or pens, who do you ask? Your parents. You can confidently ask them because they are your parents. They will go out of their way to make sure that you have what you need. If your classmate comes knocking on your house and gives your parents a list of the school supplies he needs, do you think they would go out and buy the stuff for him? Probably not, because he is not their kid.

Nehemiah had the same confidence because he knew his standing with God. We become God’s children when we love and obey Jesus. As God’s children, we can confidently come to Him with our prayers and requests, and He hears us.

PRACTICE

Looking at the life of Nehemiah, we will see that every difficult situation always lead him into prayer. He knew what to pray for because He knew God’s promises, evidence that he was deeply rooted in the scriptures. In the same way, if we want to grow in our faith, it is vital that we seek to know God's word, to obey it daily, and pray continually. It is just like what our Power Truth and Power Verse say...

PT: God's Word can help me live a life of faith and obedience.

PV: Psalm 119:11 NLT I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

POINT TO JESUS

Nehemiah was known to be an intercessor. An intercessor is someone who prays to God for others. But being just a person, Nehemiah is limited. He already died and can no longer pray for others. But the Bible says (Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.) that Jesus is alive and is always interceding to God for us.

HUDDLE TIME

1. What kind of prayer do you think God answers? Give an example of something you are praying for now, that you know God will answer.

2. What is one thing that you can include in your daily prayer, something that will not benefit you? (Teach the kids to pray someone or something else that needs prayer)

TEACHER’S DEVOTIONAL

For such a short book, the Book of Nehemiah is peppered with prayers. In almost every chapter, you will find Nehemiah talking to God; and in most of his prayers, he is not even asking for his personal benefit. All he wanted was to help God’s people and to honor the Lord. Nehemiah was indeed someone who lived a lifestyle of prayer and intercession.

When was the last time you have prayed for someone, for your country, or even for another nation? Did you pray for the children today and for the Kids Church service? Why don’t you find a partner and do that right now? Let us bless the service and ask the Holy Spirit to come in power as we serve. Speak a blessing to your prayer partner as well.

God bless you as you teach!