Ezra Reads the Bible

Tuesday:	Ezra Reads the Bible
Story Passage:	Nehemiah 7-8
Other Passages:	James 1:22
Objective:	We should hear the Bible and obey it.
Visuals	Available (updated 2016)

Introduction: Ezra & Nehemiah

Ezra and Nehemiah were two men long ago who loved God. They were part of God's people, the Israelites. The Israelites had been away in another country for a long time. They had been slaves. While they were away, they had not been able to study the Bible. Now they were back in their own country. Nehemiah was their governor and Ezra was their priest (pastor). Ezra and Nehemiah knew that reading the Bible was important. They wanted the people to know what God said. And they wanted the people to DO what God said.

Story: Reading the Bible

Back then people didn't have their own Bibles. Many of them didn't know how to read. So a day was planned when Ezra would read the Bible to all the people. They built a big platform for him to stand on. He was up high so everyone could see and hear him. On that day, everyone came to hear Ezra read the Bible. Even the children who were old enough to understand came. Ezra read all morning. All the people stood very still and quiet so they could hear. It would be hard to stand still and quiet all morning, wouldn't it?

While Ezra read the Bible, the people started to cry. There were things in the Bible that that they didn't know about. They had not heard the Bible for many years. They were sad because they found out they had not been obeying God.

Ezra and Nehemiah told them to stop crying, because this was a GOOD day. They had heard the Bible now and could begin to obey God. So the rest of the day they ate and celebrated. They were glad to find out what God wanted them to do.

Application: Doing What the Bible Says

But even more important that finding out what God wanted, was for them to DO it. So the very next day, they began doing the things that God wanted them to do. We should listen to the Bible too. We want to learn what God wants us to do. Then we need to DO it.

The Bible says, Don't just listen to the Bible... Do what it says. This week at VBS, we are learning some of the things God wants us to do. Now we will be able to do what God wants. What did we learn yesterday? (We learned to trust God and obey Him.)

Invitation: Obedience to the Bible

Invite any children who want to learn to listen to what the Bible says and obey it to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

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