Tips for Teaching This Week’s Session of The Gospel Project for Adults

Listen to this week’s leader training podcast with Y Bonesteele, team leader for The Gospel Project for Adults, for a summary and guidance in leading your group.

This week’s additional resources for study and preparation:

• Sermon Transcript: “Rebuilding from Ruins” by Andy Cook
• Sermon: “Sign Me UP” by Bartholomew Orr
• Sermon: “The Rules of Worship” by Jesse Johnson
• Sermon: “Worship in the Rubble” by Raudel Hernandez

Transcript of Leader Training Podcast:

Hi, this is Y Bonesteele, team leader of the Gospel Project for Adults. Welcome to another Leader Training Podcast. Today we are in Unit 17, Session 1, The People Restored, with the core passage of Ezra 1:5-8 and 3:1-7, and with the key concept of: God is faithful to reconcile and restore His people to Himself.

The Israelites’ exile was 70 years as prophesied by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:10. Ezra 1:1 mentions this prophesy, so the time came for King Cyrus to come on the scene and, through God’s sovereign hand, allow the Israelites to return to their land. So, starting in our core passage after King Cyrus’s decree, “the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites ​— ​everyone whose spirit God had roused ​— ​prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem” in verse 5. God was at work in Cyrus’s life to allow the people to go back, and He was at work in the lives of the Israelites, rousing them to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Now, why did God’s spirit have to rouse the hearts of the people? We all know that we tend to be complacent when we’re settled in a place. The mentioning of the fact that God had to rouse the hearts of the Israelites makes us assume that at least some of the Israelites didn’t want to go back. They and their families had been in Babylon for seventy years now; that’s a long time. It would be very normal for some to feel that life was easier and safer where they were, a bit of Stockholm syndrome so to speak, the psychological idea that some hostages, prisoners, or victims feel bonded with their captors. Whether it was Stockholm syndrome or just a settled feeling and not wanting to move, God’s spirit had to rouse some to realize it’s time to go home. And even more, God worked in their neighbors’ hearts to give the Israelites all they needed: “silver articles, gold, goods, livestock, and valuables,” just as a freewill offering. And King Cyrus also gave back to the Israelites the articles from the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had taken. Jeremiah also prophesied about this in Jeremiah 27:21-22. And like the Leader Notes state on page 67 of the Leader Guide, “This passage holds many parallels with the exodus account. Both were deliverance events previously promised. God initiated both by stirring the hearts of pagan kings toward action.” God’s people in Egypt and in Babylon were released from captivity to enter the land God promised them. And in both situations, neighbors gave them excess articles and supplies to help them, as seen in Exodus 12:35-36.

How have you seen God’s providential and restorative hand at work through the storyline of the Old Testament? By now, we have seen God’s providential and restorative hand over and over. From Adam and Eve’s restoration, to providentially choosing Abraham and his family, restoring Joseph through many trials, and Moses, of course. Then rescuing the people out of Egypt and sustaining them over and over again in the wilderness even through their unfaithfulness; and on and on we’ve studied so much of God’s providential and restorative hand. This should cause us to remember that whatever we’re going through, whatever we’re worried about, God is still and always in control. He is working out His will, sometimes through our suffering and our confusion and lack of understanding. God is at work; no doubt about it.

Ezra chapter 2 contains a detailed list of those who made the journey to Jerusalem and Ezra 3 starts with the people rebuilding the temple and restoring their sacrifices to the Lord. Verse 1 says it was the “seventh month,” Tishri, an important month in the Jewish calendar, around our September and October. This special month contained the Day of Atonement and the Festival of Shelters which included the need to offer sacrifices and thus the need for an altar. So we see two families heading up the project: Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers. They set up the altar and began offering sacrifices, “even though they feared the surrounding peoples,” those like the Edomites, Moabites, Samaritans, and so forth who were worshiping other gods and syncretistic religions. Then they celebrated the Festival of Shelters and offered sacrifices as prescribed. And after that, as verse 5 states, “they offered the regular burnt offering and the offerings for the beginning of each month and for all the Lord’s appointed holy occasions, as well as the freewill offerings brought to the Lord.”

Why might the Jews who returned to Jerusalem have been so focused on setting up the altar, offering sacrifices, and celebrating prescribed festivals?

The people were back in Jerusalem, and they knew it was only by an act of God. And God’s spirit aroused them to know that worship and restoring a right relationship with their God is what was needed first in this return. They had to have learned their lesson by now, at least for the moment. Their exile was part of God’s disciplining of them for their unfaithfulness and idolatry in the past. God’s grace and mercy in bringing them back to the land warranted them to bring their lives back to submission and worship of the Almighty.

Verse 6 reminds us that the altar was needed first before the foundation of the temple. But after an altar was built, then the building preparation of the temple began with detail and high standards—with them giving “money to the stonecutters and artisans,” and giving provisions so that they could get cedar from Lebanon. The beginning of the restoration of worship and sacrifice would begin again.

What does worship and sacrifice look like today if there is no altar or physical sacrifice? Today, our bodies are to be presented as living sacrifices as Romans 12:1 states. We worship with Spirit and truth as stated in John 4:24. In other words, our whole lives, our whole manner of living is meant as a sacrifice to God, submitting our will, acts, thoughts, and desires to Him. We give God everything, our whole lives in worship.

On to the Group Experience, start with the icebreaker discussion. Then transition into the Context by displaying Pack Item 2: The Second Exodus and pointing to the span of time covered by the books of Daniel and Ezra 1–6 to help your group make timeline connections. Remind your group that Daniel and Ezra in the table of contents of the Bible are far apart yet chronologically, Daniel goes right before Ezra. And King Cyrus, or Darius, is the connecting character. Because of what he had seen in Daniel’s life, we can see possibly why he was favorable to the people of God, along with God’s stirring of course. Recap with highlights from the core passage and ask for what the group found encouraging or confusing.

Onto to the Group Activity, divide the group into two, giving one the first set of verses and asking them to identify key ways God provided for His people’s restoration to the land and write down their responses. Then with the second group, ask them to identify what the people’s responses were and write it down. Answers are included on page 71 of the Leader Guide. Discuss altogether the answers found.

Then ask, “How does this pattern of God’s provision and human response apply to our own spiritual restoration through Jesus Christ?” Sin was leading us down dangerous, harmful paths in our world and in the spiritual world. Yet God wanted to rescue us from the dreadful consequences our own actions were leading us to, and He provided His very own Son, Jesus, to live and die for us, so that we may be redeemed and restored to a right standing before God, despite our sin, despite our own selfishness.

Then have everyone write down how they have seen God provide in their own lives and then write how they have responded and/or how they will continue to respond. Ask a few people if they would like to share with the group.

Then say, “God initiates restoration, but His people must respond in faith and obedience. In Ezra, this meant rebuilding the altar and offering sacrifices even before laying the temple’s foundation.” Remind the group that in the same way, as we think about evangelism even, we stress that God desires restoration and seeks those who respond to Him, before asking them to make their life perfect. Worship and submission come first, then we can work on foundational aspects after.

Debrief with, “What do these passages reveal about God’s desire for restoration?” God is and has always been in the work of restoration—restoration of Eden, restoration of His people, and restoration of the world with a future new heaven and new earth.

“How do you see this pattern in your own life: God providing and calling you to respond?” God’s desire for restoration continues in the way He calls us to repent when we sin. And when we do, He forgives and restores our fellowship with Him. He will never say no to restoring us if we come to Him with a humble and repentant heart.

If time is limited in the Head, Heart, Hands section, focus on the Hands question: What can you do this week to worship God as a living sacrifice? Your group will have varying answers here that you may ask them to share, whether it be sharing the gospel with a stranger or friend, or giving of their time, skills, or finances to do kingdom work.

Note the first bullet point in the Next Steps with the group. There may be some who are in need of restoration in a certain area of their lives. Ask the group to reflect on this, where they might need restoration. Remind them that they can pray for God’s provision and seek His guidance in this area and encourage them that God is in the work of restoration and He always has been.

Continue with prayer requests and praises and end with Psalm126:1-3 if time permits: “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Our mouths were filled with laughter then, and our tongues with shouts of joy. Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”  3 The Lord had done great things for us; we were joyful.”

Hey, thanks again for joining me on another Leader Training podcast. Reach out at [email protected], and hope you have a great group time!