Introduction
In this session, we focus on Nehemiah 2:11-20 and the importance of personally verifying facts before reporting or sharing with others. Nehemiah inspected the damage to the wall alone and at night before sharing the report with officials or asking for their action. Credible information always motivates action from the hearers, as it is written in Nehemiah 2:16c… “so they put their hands to the good work.” Be aware that as you gather support for disgraced believers, the wolves around the sheep will always challenge your actions.
Objectives
By the end of this session, the learner will have:
- Learned how to personally conduct in-depth research on the disgraceful believers.
- Been challenged to first verify the credibility of the report about disgraced believers before sharing it with other report users.
- Been warned that the enemy’s strategy is to discourage your efforts through mocking and despising them.
Outline
- Verify the facts on the ground
- Conducting an in-depth interview with the disgraced believers
- Don’t be ignorant of the schemes of Satan
- How to answer the mocking enemies against believers
- Lobbying for common support.
Group Study Time
Nehemiah 2: 11-20.
Connecting
- Gather with two or more people for a community discovery bible study session.
- Start with a heartfelt prayer, inviting God to guide and bless your understanding.
- Explore the passage by reading it at least twice, using different Bible versions if available, then retell the story together as a group.
- Reflect and share the challenges and blessings you experienced from the previous study.
Comprehending
- Read Nehemiah 2:11-16. List at least three actions Nehemiah took while personally verifying the facts on the ground before sharing them with the official end users.
- Read Nehemiah 2:16-18. Why is it important to personally verify the truth about the occurrence of persecution before sharing it with other report users? Discuss. What three things should you report to the intended end users?
- Read Nehemiah 2:19-20. Notice the second response of the enemies of the disgraced church. What did they say? And why? What did Nehemiah tell them in reply to their mocking?
Committing
- Engage with the Bible—read, study, memorize, meditate, pray, listen, and live it out.
- List three lessons you have learnt as an agent of change that you would like to put into practice and teach others about.
- Take time and worship Jesus with the attributes revealed about Christ.
- Use the SPACEPETS model, to assist you in putting God’s word into practice. Look for:
- Sin to confess
- Promise to claim
- Attitude to change
- Command to keep
- Error to change
- Prayer to make
- Example to copy
- Truth to obey and
- Something praiseworthy
Communicating
- Identify one person you can connect with and share the valuable insights and lessons you gained from this session.
- Reach out to a new believer—either in person or by phone—and pray with them to support them through their challenges, including any concerns about attending church.
- Create a new group and guide others through this study to help them grow in their understanding.