LESSON 19: The Return Home
Timeless Truth: Putting God’s business first brings prosperity.
Bible Basis: Ezra 1:1-7, 3:10-13; Haggai 1:2-11; Zechariah 8:2-22; Ezra 5:14-17,
6:14-18
Key Verse: “They will be my people. I will be their faithful God. I will
keep my promises to them” (Zechariah 8:8).
Get the Point:
Preschool: God’s people promise to follow his ways.
God wants me to follow him.
Elementary: God’s people promise to follow his ways.
God wants me to follow him.
Middle/High School: Serving God can take hard work and
effort—but it’s worth it.
Table Talk
Preschool/Elementary
• The
first people to move back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple became frustrated
at its progress and concentrated on building houses for themselves instead. The
prophet Haggai told them if they served God first by building his house, then
their crops and work would be blessed. Why do you think it’s important to put
God ahead of your personal needs?
• Do you
believe God controls everything?
• Name
some things that God controls and how that affects your life?
• God’s
people pitched in their gold and silver to make God’s temple magnificent. Talk
about a time when you worked together with friends to accomplish a big task.
Did it work better when everyone shared?
• How
does it make you feel when you give something of value to another person?
Middle/High
School
• Cyrus,
the king of Persia, encouraged God’s people to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild
the Lord’s temple. About 50,000 people went back to start the project. When the
foundation was laid, some of God’s people cried and others shouted with joy.
Talk about a time when you cried tears of joy. Can you remember a time that you
shouted with joy?
• People
in the surrounding areas didn’t want the temple rebuilt. They tried to stop the
building. Have you ever known God wanted you to do something and had others
stand in your way? What did you do? What was the end result?
• In the
ultimate backfire, governors in nearby areas went to King Darius to see if King
Cyrus had truly decreed that God’s people could rebuild the temple. They hoped
Darius would stop the building. Instead he found Cyrus’ decree and made these
governors give money and supplies to build the temple. Obviously, God’s plan
trumped the governors’. How do you think the governors felt?
• Have
you ever had a plan backfire?
• What
does this story teach about God’s plans?
Living Faith
God’s second temple wasn’t as
awe-inspiring as Solomon’s temple, but its majesty was renown. As a family,
build your own temple using graham crackers and icing. You’ll need a small
piece of poster board, a couple of boxes of graham crackers, icing and candy to
decorate it.
An
effective icing consists of one pound of powdered sugar, one teaspoon of cream
of tartar and three egg whites. These ingredients need to be beaten on low
speed until the mixture becomes stiff.
Begin by
setting up the foundation by smearing a lot of frosting on the poster board.
Set several crackers in it as walls. Keep adding walls with a good amount of
frosting on the bottom until you’ve finished your base. Now start building up.
Look online for artists’ renderings of the second temple or have fun making up
your own design. Remember to use plenty of icing as “glue” to hold everything
together. Once you’re finished building the structure, let it dry before
decorating the outside with frosting and candy. You can add food coloring to
the frosting to create different colors. Use your favorite candy to decorate
the temple and remind yourself of the great worth of God’s house.
As you
build the temple, talk about your church.
• What is
your favorite part of your church?
•
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve learned about God in the last month?
•
Is there somebody at church that you should send a special thank-you to? If so,
do it.
Extra Mile
It is fascinating to think of the
existence of the temple Ezra built, known as the “Second Temple.” Today,
archeologists are uncovering clues as to where the massive stones came from for
the construction, and what types of activities took place in the temple shortly
before its destruction.
- On YouTube,
look for the 2:15 video called
“Discovery of a Second Temple Period quarry in Jerusalem”
- On YouTube,
look for the 3:23 video called “Exclusive – Second Temple Treasure
Discovered In The Hills”
LESSON 20: The Queen of Beauty and Courage
Timeless Truth: By showing faith, God can change the hearts of rulers.
Bible Basis: Esther 2:10-12, 16-18, 3:1-12, 5:1-7, 7:1-6
Key Verse: “Show me your favor. . . . Please spare my people. That’s my
appeal to you”
(Esther 7:3).
Get the Point:
Preschool: Esther gets her heart ready for a hard
job. God helps me when it’s hard.
Elementary: Esther gets her heart ready for a hard
job. God helps me when it’s hard.
Middle School: God elevated Esther “for such a time as
this.” In the same way, I need to be sensitive to God’s plan for me.
High School: God elevated Esther
“for such a time as this.” In the same way, I need to be sensitive to God’s
plan for me.
Table Talk
Preschool/Elementary
• What do
you think Esther made for the big dinner with King Xerxes and Haman?
• What’s
your favorite food?
• Queen
Esther was King Xerxes favorite, but she took a risk by speaking to the king
without being invited. Did she just barge in and demand to be heard? Why not?
• By
being respectful and humble, the king granted Esther’s wish. Tell of a time
where respect and humility helped you.
• Have
you heard the saying, “Attitude is everything”? How would you describe Esther’s
attitude?
• If you
were in Esther’s place, what would you have asked the king to do?
Middle/High
School
• Esther
kept it a secret from King Xerxes that she was Jewish. Do you think it was good
for her to keep that secret?
• When is
it okay to keep secrets? When is keeping secrets a bad idea?
• At
first Mordecai encouraged Esther not tell anybody she was Jewish, then he told
her to go before the king and beg for mercy for her people. Have you ever had a
family member tell you to do something for God?
• Esther
prepared for her meeting with the king by fasting and encouraging others to
fast with her. What does it say about Esther that she went to God with her
request first?
• Have
you ever fasted?
• Talk
about a time when you went to God in earnest prayer before making a decision.
What happened?
Living Faith
Persian kings were famous for the
lavish banquets. So when Esther invited King Xerxes to a “big dinner” (Esther 5:8),
the pressure was on. Make a big Persian dinner in honor of Queen Esther,
although you may not want to break out the solid-gold dinnerware. During the
Achaemenid empire, Persian kings could get nearly any food they wanted. Fruit
was very common, especially cantaloupe. A spinach salad may be an authentic
touch for your meal. Fish was also popular.
Have
fun as a family planning out the menu early in the week. Set aside one night
where everybody can be together to prepare the big dinner. Try something new.
Use an exotic spice. As everybody’s working together or when everyone sits
down, you can go through some of the “Table Talk” questions. Queen Esther’s
story is truly remarkable, and Esther is only one of two books in the Bible
named for a woman.
For
dessert, your family may want to bake Hamantaschen
(ha-man-tosh-en), a traditional Jewish cookie made for Purim (see Esther
9:18-32), a celebration that honors Esther and Mordecai for saving the Jewish
people from extermination. These triangular cookies look a little funny, and
the name Hamantaschen means
"Haman's ears." But they’re fun to make and taste delicious. Look in
a cookbook or go online and search for Hamantaschen.
Extra Mile
One of the
most well-known verses from this chapter of The
Story comes when Mordecai tells Esther that God may have raised her to be
queen “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).
Go to YouTube and watch the 4:16
video called “Mandisa: “Born For This (ESTHER)” – Official Lyric Video.”
Have a piece of paper and pencil
ready as you listen to the song and watch the lyrics. Ask family members write
down phrases that have special meaning to them. When the song is over, give
family members the chance to explain why they chose their specific line from
the song. Also ask:
• How does this song relate to Queen
Esther’s story?
• How is this song meaningful in
your life and in your relationship with God?
• What will you do to “stand apart
from the crowd”? 
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