Sunday School: An Interceding Cup Bearer

Intro Option 1: Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day

Build a tower with mini marshmellows and toothpicks.

Grade on height, creativity, and strength.

Main Point: God empowers His people to fulfill the mission He gives them.

3 Things that Give Us Success in His Mission...

The Lord’s promises give us success in His mission.

Nehemiah 1:8–11 ESV

8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, 9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ 10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

*Talk about Art Artaxerxes’ proclamation in Ezra 4:23 to stop construction in Jerusalem

This is Nehemiah’s prayer

*Talk about being a cupbearer

What is one way we can join God in the work He is doing in the world?

Pray like Nehemiah

*Define prayer (talk about 1 John 5:14-15)

How does Nehemiah’s prayer teach us to pray?

Pray for what God wants

*Talk about Nehemiah’s leave of absence

What does the king’s response tell us about God’s power to supply what we need to fulfill our calling?

God is never unable to equip or provide what we need to do His will

3 Things that Give Us Success in His Mission...

The Lord’s promises give us success in His mission.

The Lord’s provision gives us success in His mission.

Nehemiah 2:1–10 (ESV)

1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

Concern > Submission > Action

*Talk about Deism

What God’s call demands, God’s hand supplies.

The need for time

Why is it important that we use the time we have to serve God’s great plans and not our own?

God’s plan involves the mission

We live for the mission

The need for materials.

Nehemiah: “I’d like to rebuild my hometown on your time and pay for it on your dime.”

What do we learn about trust in God from Nehemiah’s bold requests to the king?

Trust > Confidence

The need for partnership

God provided the time, resources and partnership

When we fully five ourselves to God’s plans, what kinds of people might he provide to partner with us?

Like-minded people

3 Things that Give Us Success in His Mission...

The Lord’s promises give us success in His mission.

The Lord’s provision gives us success in His mission.

The Lord’s power gives us success in His mission.

Nehemiah 2:15–20 (ESV)

15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” 18 And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”

Unity is essential.

Talk about Nehemiah’s refusal to compromise

Why does God allow us to face the enemy’s resistance while we’re trying to obey God’s call?

Genesis 50:20 “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”

Resistance against God

What can we learn about handling conflict from Nehemiah’s response to His critics?

Keep moving forward

Rebuilt in 52 days!

What is spiritually satisfying about living for God’s glory?

Being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself

the mission

Christ Connection

Nehemiah brought the people together to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem so the city would be protected from enemies. But that protection was not permanent. Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, God made a way for His people to be forever protected from the enemies of sin and death.

Head: What does Nehemiah’s story teach us about God’s provision for His plan?

God’s not obligated to bless what we’re doing; we’re called to do what He’s blessing.

Experiencing God’s provision

Heart: What needs do you see in the world that move your heart to action?

*Talk about what Nehemiah’s heart was broken for

Repairing the ruins that you see

Hands: What do you need God to provide for His plans for you right now?

Don’t stop asking

Don’t start doubting