16- Broken Promises

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen

Lesson No. (16)

References:
Nehemiah 10.

Notes for Servants
-The Lord punished His people for their sin. The Lord sent their enemy to destroy their land and
everything they have to teach them a lesson.
-Many people return to Christ through sickness, afflictions and temptations. We should thank the
Lord for His love for us.

Objectives
General: The outcome of sin.
Specific:
The children will be able to...
A. Understand the Meaning of God’s punishment.
B. Know that sin make God angry.
C. Learn that confession is the only way that God forgive us sin.

Bible Verse
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

(Ps 51:10)

Teaching Aids
Felt figure and flannel board.

Instruction
(1) Review last week's lesson.
(2) Who remembers the verse?
(3) Remind the children about the church occasions for the coming week.
Story Time
Long ago the people of Israel were very bad. God was angry with them and let their enemy to take
their land and destroy everything even the Temple. There was a good priest his name was Ezra, he prayed

to God to help him to take his people back to their land and to rebuild the Temple.
God answer his prayer and the king give Ezra permission to go back with his people and rebuild
the Temple. When they arrived to their land Ezra start to read the word ofGod to them. They knew their
fault and promised God that they will be good. In their hearts the people wanted to be good and please
the Lord. Three hours a day they listened as Ezra and other priests read to them; and three hours a day
they confessed their sins "and worshipped the Lord their God."
One day one of the leaders cried, "Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever."They
stood. Then with bowed heads they joined in this beautiful prayer: "Blessed be thy glorious name, which
is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the
heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is
therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee."
To prove they really meant to be good from now on they drew up an agreement and signed it.
Princes, priests, and people "entered . . . into an oath, to walk in God's law." In this document they agreed,
among other things, 1. That they would not let their girls marry heathen boys; or their boys marry heathen
girls. 2. That they would not buy anything on the Sabbath. 3. That they would pay so much a year to help
keep up the Temple services. 4. That they would pay their tithe to the priests and Levites.
Nehemiah was the first to sign the document. Then all the other leaders signed it. What a solemn
agreement it was! With the people thus pledged to do right, and the wall built, Nehemiah felt it was a good
time to go back to Persia and report to the king, as he had promised to do.
How long he stayed there we do not know. Certainly he must have been away from Jerusalem
many months, possibly years. At last he got permission from the king to return; and it was a good thing he
did. When he came back he found princes, priests, and people had forgotten the pledge they had made.
As Nehemiah continued his inquiries he found that the people had not kept their promise to pay their tithe,
with the result that the Levites were starving. He soon changed that.
Then he noticed that on the Sabbath, which was supposed to be a holy day, the people were acting
just as though it were an ordinary weekday. They were buying and selling, harvesting and traveling,
seemingly without a thought that this was God's day. Always a man of action, Nehemiah determined to
put a stop to this wrongdoing at once. So he set some of his own faithful servants at every gate, with orders
to close them at sunset every Friday evening and not to open them till after the Sabbath.
He had built these gates as a protection against Israel's enemies; now he shut them to help his
people remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. So Nehemiah, the king's cupbearer, tried his best to
bring Israel back to God; to keep them in the way of truth and righteousness; to save them from further
punishment. Alas, but few heeded his counsel, and the sad story of broken promises went on and on down
the years.

Discussion
1 - Follow up the story by talking about it with the children.
2 - Continue the discussion while they do the activity.

Learning Activities
Activity Sheet.