Nehemiah - Lesson 4

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)