God chose just the right man to do a “God sized” job for Him. God called Nehemiah, a simple cupbearer. In today’s lesson we see a simple cupbearer transformed by the “Power of the God of heaven”.

First, Nehemiah, the cupbearer, asks for a “God size” response from the king of this foreign land that he was exiled in. Nehemiah asks God to let the king show him, a servant, favor; and that is exactly what happened. The king talks to Nehemiah first and asks him why he is so sad.

Second, we see Nehemiah, the administrator, who is ready for answered prayer, even thought he is afraid. He does not let fear stop him. He lets the king know the terrible conditions of Jerusalem and that he would like to return there and rebuild it. Nehemiah has thought about what he would say to the king, he has a plan all worked out. He asks for letters to give to the governors as he travels through their land on this 800 mile trip to Jerusalem. These letters will give them protection and authority. Then Nehemiah has worked out that he needs materials to rebuild the walls and a residence for himself and so he requests these from the king also. Nehemiah’s “God size” prayers are answered and he leaves for Jerusalem.

Next we see Nehemiah, the governor, arrive in Jerusalem and is met by opposition. His opposition is from Sanballat, governor of Samaria, Tobiah, an official of the Ammonites, and Geshem the Arab. These rulers did not dare challenge Nehemiah’s authority; their only weapons were scorn, ridicule, and mockery. Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem by the authority of the King of Persia, King Artaxerxes. The letters he carried from King Artaxerxes gave him the power of a governor. But Nehemiah has more than letters from an earthly king; he has the Power of the God of heaven.

He carefully surveys the situation, at night, so there is no trouble until he can set his plan in motion. Once Nehemiah assessed the walls and gates of Jerusalem, he publicly addressed the people. He states three things:

1. The Problem
2. The Solution
3. The Wherewithal (The necessary means)

(1) The problem was that the walls and gates were in ruin and Jerusalem was in disgrace.
(2) The Solution is to rebuild the walls and gates.
(3) The wherewithal (necessary means) is the power of the God of heaven. Nehemiah testifies to the “power of the God of heaven”. Everything can be done, if God is in it, by the power of God.

God moved a king to show him favor. God moved the king to supply safety for his travel. God moved the king to give the supplies. By the power of God we can do “God size jobs” for God!

We want to start a Community Bible Study in this area, why? So women and children can experience the power of the God of heaven. So women and children can know the “God of heaven” who loves us and cares for us and wants to give us life and success.

Just as Nehemiah encouraged the people of Jerusalem with the power of the God of heaven, I would like to encourage you with the power of God in my life. I want to share my problem, the solution and the “wherewithal”.

I had a problem. I was raised to know right from wrong but at 18 years old I chose to take the wrong way.

When I was 18 years old I got my first full time office job at a company in Downtown Detroit. I met some people who introduced me to a different life style. I began going to bars with them, drinking and staying out late at night.
One month after my 19th birthday, in one of those bars, I met a man 11 years older than me. At the end of a year and a half of dating him, I became pregnant and he didn’t want anything to do with it. He gave me money for an abortion. I went to a broken down, filthy house somewhere in downtown Detroit and I was given an abortion. But thank God the abortion did not work.
I loved my parents and did not want to hurt and embarrass them so I planned to go away, have the baby, give it up for adoption and come home as if nothing had ever happened.

My Uncle, and his family, who I grew up with, was now living in California. So I called my cousin and made arrangements to stay with him and they agreed not to tell my parents. Although my Uncle, Aunt and cousins showed me great love, and care, I was so lonely in California. I wanted to go home. When I was eight months pregnant, my Aunt came to me and said that my parents had found out that I was pregnant and they were about to call. The phone rang; I only remember talking to my Father. I said “Dad what should I do with this baby?” He said, “Only you can make that decision–we just want you to come home.” I called the airlines to get a ticket, but they would not allow me to purchase a ticket at eight months pregnant. So I had to stay.

The day came for me to give birth. At the end of four days in the hospital I went home to my Aunt’s house and my baby went home with its new parents. It was Easter Sunday morning and I was in bed, in pain, feeling so lonely. I looked up to heaven and said “God did I do the right thing?” I heard an audible voice say, “There is no reason on earth why you shouldn’t keep him.” I immediately called the doctor and told her I wanted my baby back; she said I could not have him. I had a cousin Raymond that wanted me to keep the baby. I called Raymond and said “Raymond I want my baby and the doctor says I can’t have him” he said he would take care of it. Raymond called back and said that I could have the baby, but it was Easter Sunday and they would like me to wait until Tuesday. Tuesday I walked into the doctor’s office and they put my son into my arms and joy flooded my soul.

I thank the Lord for my son, I have received more joy from my son than I could have ever imaged. God can make something beautiful out of our mistakes. Isaiah 61 tells us:

and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. (Isa 61:3 NIV) 

My son and I returned home and my Father and Mother loved him “like their very own.” They loved me and forgive me and accepted me as if I had never brought them any pain. I wish I could say that I learned a lesson, but I did not. I continued in my path of disobedience to God. I was sure that God could never love me.

I had a sister who would continually tell me that only those who believed in Jesus would go to heaven and the rest would die and go to Hell. I was sure I was going to Hell.

Then one day when I was 24, and my son was two, I felt this emptiness inside me. I wanted God so much. I stopped at church everyday after work. I bought a Bible and started to read it, but I couldn’t understand it. I wanted to fill this emptiness inside me and I wondered if my sister’s church could help me. I called my sister and told her I would like to go to church with her. My son and I went to church with her on a hot Sunday in July.

I listened to all the Pastor had to say. Then I heard the Pastor say: “Is there anyone here who feels empty, lonely, sad, and tired of living in sin? Do you feel you are lost and worthless?” I felt all those things. I felt that Jesus could not love a person like me. I thought I might as well give in and take all the punishment coming to me. I was ready to go to Hell.

Then the Pastor said

“Jesus does not want to punish you. He loves you. He wants you to love Him”.

The Pastor said that Jesus took the punishment, paid the price for all my sins. All I had to do was to BELIEVE that Jesus died for my sins. Believe it and tell Jesus I believed it. Ask Jesus to take my sins away. The Bible tells us:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NIV) 

I looked at my sister and said “I want that”. I asked Jesus to take me and forgive me, and He did. He pardoned me of all my sins. He began to work in my life and change me. He called me to work for Him.

Six months after my decision to believe in Jesus, I enrolled in Bible College. A year after I was hired as a “missionary” at a skid-row Mission in Downtown Detroit. God has let me teach the mighty Word of God for Him for 33 years. My son, who should have been born with fetal alcohol syndrome, because I was drunk for the first six months that I was pregnant, was born super smart and healthy. He prayed to receive Jesus at four years old, was baptized at 12 years old, and worked as a summer missionary at ages 15 and 16. He went on to graduate from Bible College and is a pastor today. Truly God can make something beautiful from our mistakes.

Our problem is that we all have sinned.  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:23 NIV)
Our Solution is that God loved us so much that he sent His son the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins.   “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16 NIV)
Our Wherewithal is that believing in Jesus can give us the necessary means to be new creations capable of accomplishing “God-size’ jobs for God.

  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17 NIV)

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Eph 2:10 NIV)

Whatever God is calling you to do, you have the “wherewithal” to do it. The God of heaven loved each one of us so much that he sent His son to give His life for us—so we could be new creations in Christ, capable of doing “God-size” jobs for Him.

Do you know this “God of Heaven and His son the Lord Jesus Christ?”

Would you like to have your sins pardoned and begin a new life in Jesus?

Talk to God, Say to Him in your own words:

• God, I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son. 
• I believe that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins.
• Forgive me for the sins I have committed.
• Be my Savior.
• Help me become the type of person that pleases you.
• I thank you for hearing this prayer.

If you prayed this prayer, you have become a child of God and Jesus lives in you now and forever.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—(John 1:12 NIV) 

 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.” (Acts 16:31 NIV) 

God placed Nehemiah in just the right position to be able to accomplish a work for Him. A work that God had prepared in advance for him to do.

God has a position for each one of us. It may be in this Community Bible Study (CBS), or in your church or Synagogue, or in your home or neighborhood. It is my prayer for you that you will know what God is calling you to do or to be affirmed in what you are doing for Him.

Our first step is accomplishing the work that God has prepared in advance for us to do is: “not to let fear stop us”.

Nehemiah 2:1-2 says:
1  In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; 2  so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid,

God calls brave people to do His work. Like David when he saw the giant Goliath, standing nine feet tall yelling out insults against God and Israel for 40 days. A very young David said “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26)

But God also calls those who are afraid like Jeremiah.

In Jeremiah 1:4-10
4  The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 6  “Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” 7  But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. 9  Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10  See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

It’s alright to be afraid, but do not let fear stop you.

When the king asked Nehemiah why he was sad, Nehemiah said to himself: “I was very much afraid,” but he continued, he did not let his fear stop him and we see Nehemiah’s prayer answered, “the king showed him favor”.

Even though Nehemiah was so afraid, he still had a plan ready. Nehemiah was prepared for answered prayer.

When you pray, do you prepare yourself for the answer?

I know this is easier to say than do. A story in the Bible that helps me is found in Mark 9. Whenever I feel “low” in faith, I always think of the man in Mark 9.14-27

14  When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15  As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16  “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. 17  A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18  Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” 19  “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20  So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21  Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22  “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23  “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24  Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” 25  When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26  The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

So when you pray, be prepared for the answer. Nehemiah’s request to God was that the king would show him favor. Nehemiah could not just speak to the king. For Nehemiah to speak to the king uninvited was a serious offense that could lead to disgrace and even death.
If the king showed him favor by speaking to Nehemiah, he was prepared to share:
• First he sends up a quick prayer to God, then he shares his heart’s desire to rebuild Jerusalem.
• Second, he shares his need of protection to arrive in Jerusalem safely. It was an 800 mile trip through dangerous territory and would take several months.
• Third, Nehemiah needed the necessary materials to accomplish the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, which included a place for him to live. God calls us to work for him and he cares about our personal needs.

We want to start a CBS in Mt. Dora, why? We know the joy and blessings that come from being in an in-depth Bible study week after week. We know the joy that comes form making friends founded on the Word of God and we want everyone in Mt. Dora and a 40 mile radius to know the same joy.

How will we accomplish this task that God has put before us?

Just like Nehemiah had a plan, we have a plan, we are prepared when God answers our prayers.
1. We have taken our desire to start a CBS to the Lord.
2. We know what we need to do to accomplish this.
3. Now we need to ask for God’s favor to go before us as we invite our neighbors, friends, relatives.

Now all we have to do is take Nehemiah’s first step and that is to not let “fear” stop us. He was so afraid, but he moved ahead with his plan. Don’t be afraid of being rejected by someone you ask.

Maybe it’s not CBS that this lesson is speaking to you about. Maybe it’s something at your church or community (like the building program at your church). In what ever we are being led to work at for the Lord, let’s follow Nehemiah’s example.

Continue to pray for guidance and favor. When the opportunity to act comes, send up a quick prayer and then move ahead.

My challenge to you this week is “Be prepared to act when God answers our prayers”.

When you receive bad news, what do you do? I hope you will run to God. That is what I hope that I will do the next chance I get.

When I moved to Florida three years ago I fell into depression for the first time in my life. I had left “hundreds” of good friends in Michigan along with a great ministry—I had purpose in life! We arrived in Florida in March and in July we decided to fly Space Available to Europe (my husband is retired military so we can fly free to many bases all over the world). We were in Europe for 30 days and decided to try and caught a “Space Available” flight home. We tried unsuccessfully for a week, taking trains from one base to another base, from Italy to Germany. We were in the Ramstein Air Force Base, and I was now about to give up on God.

I had seen a poster in a hallway for a Sunday School class. So I left my room in search of it in this gigantic Ramstein complex.  I walked and looked and walked, but I could not find the room.  I returned to the Chapel and sat on a rock and cried.  “Where are you God”, I asked? “Why haven’t you answered my prayers?  Aren’t you in control?  I feel like you have left me”.  Then it began to rain.  It was cold and damp.  We had only clothes for hot weather.  A cold chill ran through me and I felt so alone abandoned by God.  Now I did not even want to go to church.  “Why”, I asked myself.  “God is not going to intervene on my behalf anyway”.  I had never before in my Christian life felt like God was not there.  In fact I had taught many, many times that God is “Jehovah-Shammah –The LORD Is There”.  But now I could not feel God, I felt that God no longer cared about me.  I felt that I had once been useful, but now God was through using me.  I sat on the rock and cried. 

I went back to the room.  My husband had gone out for breakfast.  The rooms shared a bath room in between them.  As I was entering my room a woman stepped out of her room and with a very stoic face and stern voice said to me “If you would follow the rules, it would be much easier for all of us”.  If only the women knew how I was feeling.  As I looked into her face I thought of just falling on the floor in tears and defeat.  Then the inner me kicked in.  “What do you mean”, I asked her.  “Each of us has a bath mat that we are to take from our room and put in the shower and when we are finished with it we are to take it back to our room” she said.  That was it, I could take no more.  It was bad enough that God was not answering my prayers, but now this woman was wrongly accusing me.  I looked at her and said “The bath mat was not in my room, the bath mat was in the shower.  No one told me it was mine and excuse me for living!”  I went into my room and yelled into the air.  “I’ve had it, I don’t want to go on, I want to get out of Germany, I hate everything here.” 

My husband returned and said it was time to go to the church service, and I followed him.  For the first time in 33 years I did not want to go to church.  We went into the chapel and we sat down close to the front.  I began to cry.  Tears flowed down my face as I sat there.  “Where are you God?”  I asked.  “Why can’t you get me home?  Why can’t you make things as they were?  Will you ever use me again?” then God started speaking to me through the service.

The service was all about being in a storm, about trials and despair.  They sang, “Til the Storm Passes By”, “God Leads Us Along”, “Francis of Assi Prayer”, “My Life Is In You Lord”.
The Sermon passages were from 1 Kings 19:9-18, Romans 10:5-15 and Matthew 14:22-33.  1 Kings was about Elijah in despair! As I looked at the scripture through my tears and listened to the sermon I heard God speaking to me. He knew I was discouraged. As the chaplain spoke from the Book of Romans I heard God assuring me that he was not finished using me, he was using me, he would use me again to speak for him.

God answered my questions. He did care. He did hear. He was there. He would rescue me and continue to use me. I wrote those words three years ago in Germany. Since then God has called me to this group of ladies to help start a CBS. God called me to share my life story with women all over Florida through The Women’s Connection and this Thursday will be my 24th club I have spoken at. I have even flown to Michigan to speak for God four times. I share that story with you to encourage you to run to God—He does hear and answer prayer.

When you receive bad news and are tempted to be discouraged and despaired, what will you do? I hope you will run to God.

That is what Nehemiah did. He had been in exile in Babylon all his life but he loved God’s beloved Jerusalem. So he asks some who had just returned from Jerusalem what it was like. He receives bad news; “the walls are broken down and the gates have been burned with fire”. Those words would have cut through Nehemiah’s heart. When he hears these words he runs to God. He runs to God in his sadness.

That is very important to note. He was sad! He was discouraged. That is what “to mourn” means. It is to feel or express grief or sorrow. There is a time to mourn.

Ecclesiastes 3:4  a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

When we receive bad news we must take time to mourn, then we must run to God. Sometimes we fast, always we pray.

Nehemiah fasted. What is “fasting”? Fasting is the laying aside of food for a period of time in order to communicate with God in a deeper experience. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:16-18 that fasting is to be between you and God alone. It is not something you do to be seen by others.

In Acts 13 Luke shows how, through fasting, Saul and Barnabas found the direction that God wanted them to take for their lives.

Isaiah 58:6 tells us to “fast” to: loose the chains of injustice, untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, break every yoke.

In Daniel 9 we are told to fast when disaster comes upon us.

And my favorite story is found in Jonah chapter 3.
On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”  5  The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.  6  When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.  7  Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  9  Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 10  When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
(Jonah 3:4-10)

When we receive bad news we must take time to mourn, then we must run to God. Sometimes we fast, always we pray.

What is prayer? Prayer is talking to God. Nehemiah prays often in this book and we can learn how to pray from his example.

First, We are to praise, lift up, God for who He is. Nehemiah praise God in 4 ways;
1. He is LORD (Jehovah)
2. God of heaven (Elohim)
3. Great and awesome
4. Keeps his promises

Prayer is talking to God. First we praise God for who he is, second, we are to confess our sins. Confess means “To disclose (something damaging or inconvenient to oneself)”. Nehemiah confessed his sins and the sins of the people. Nehemiah knew that if he did not confess his sins, his communication to God would be hindered.

King David a man who loved God, but was only human failed to keep God’s commands. He took another man’s wife and then he ordered the death of the man. He did not confess his sin and he tells us in Psalm 32:

32:1  Of David. …. 3  When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah 5  Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”– and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

Sin hinders our communication with God. Confession restores it. David said in Psalm 66:18-19
18  If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
19  but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.

After Nehemiah, (1) mourned, (2) fasted, (3) prayed, praising God and confessing his sin, he brought his request to God which was: that he would have success when he went before the king.

When we receive bad news we must take time to mourn, then we must run to God. Sometimes we fast, always we pray.

God is faithful, he is Jehovah- shammah, he promises to hear and answer our prayers.