Rebuilding the Walls (Part 1 Recognizing the Need)
Teacher’s Guide Page

Handout
Lesson Plan

1. Explain brief History of the book of Nehemiah
   1.  The book of Nehemiah gives us tremendous insight into the Biblical principles of re-building that which is broken down. Nehemiah is a book of history. God's people had just spent 70 years in Babylon as slaves. 50 thousand had returned to Jerusalem to begin life there again.  They met with great opposition as they began to build the Temple again.  They laid the foundation, then they stopped and began to settle into their own homes and they forgot about what God wanted built.  (Haggai 1:1-8)
   
2.   Recognizing the Need
   2.  Explain how Nehemiah saw the need for a wall to be built around the city, and he began to seek God’s face on what to do. 

Nehemiah 1:1-4 “1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.  4And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,”

1. Explain the walls represent strength and protection and just as a physical wall was needed to protect the city against the attacks of the enemy, our lives need a Spiritual wall to protect us against the attacks of Satan. (1 Peter 5:8 and  Ephesians 6:12 ) 

1 Corinthians 3:16 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
We MUST see the need for these walls and we must get on our faces before God and seek Him about what to do, then we must OBEY!  
Proverbs 25:28 “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
Proverbs 12:7 “The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous man shall stand.”