Astounded

God inspired me to preach about a man with faith to accomplish impossible things if he could only imagine them. This man was in exile in a foreign country. He was poor. He was a servant. He was the guy who had to drink the wine before the king so he could prevent the king’s assassination. If the wine was poisoned then he would be the one to die. Nehemiah was called the cupbearer. He was also supposed to provide companionship for the king. He was trusted, but he was dispensable.

Some Jews who had been to Jerusalem gave Nehemiah a bad report. The Jews told him that Jerusalem was devastated from years of war and conquest. Some people would’ve said that it was too bad, but there was nothing that they could do. Nehemiah chooses to pray about rebuilding the destroyed city. The people of Jerusalem were exiled much earlier by the Babylonians. Now, the Persians had conquered the Babylonians. Nehemiah’s answer to his prayer was to ask the king for it all.

Nehemiah 2:1-9 said: “… when wine was brought for King Artaxerxes (agr-tak-SERK-seez), I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; 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, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it."

First, Nehemiah prayed to God of heaven so that he had the faith to ask for the impossible. He asked a Persian King who he served if he could go back to where his ancestors were buried and rebuild. He was pretty brave to ask for his freedom to go, but he went way beyond just asking for him to go.

The story continues: “Then the king… asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time. I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph (AY saf), keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

Nehemiah was willing to think that he could make a difference. Nehemiah was willing to pray. Nehemiah was willing to follow God’s call. The gracious hand of God was lifting up Nehemiah. God’s grace enabled Nehemiah to gain favor with the King to be able to receive the resources and time to rebuild Jerusalem that lay in ruin from many years of conquest. This story is about receiving favor from God.

If we are willing to believe that we can make a difference, pray, and follow God’s call. We will also find favor with God. Nehemiah was trying to rebuild a city. We are trying to strengthen and build our church. We also have to believe that we can make a difference. We have to believe that if we pray that God will answer our prayers and give his favor to our efforts. God will hear our prayers and we will be able to do the impossible. People will come to see how a small church is willing to grow when many people are afraid of the future.

In Nehemiah 2:17-20 says: Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work. There were people who told Nehemiah that it couldn’t be done. Nehemiah answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success.”

Nehemiah prayed for an answer to a distant problem. God’s grace enabled him to have favor with King Artaxersis. He gave all of the glory to God and knew that the God would give them success. I also know that the God of heaven will give New Hope UMC success. The gracious hand of God is upon us. We need to claim that God will allow us to rebuild our church into a place that is full of hope, love, and faith. Our church is also full of desire to improve the lives of our neighbors here on Old Forge Road and around the world. We must pray for our church that its mission and reach will grow.
This church must grow or die. We have decided to grow our church structure. Now, we need to be like Nehemiah. He prayed to God. God’s grace enabled him to accomplished things that were impossible without God being with him. We also need to pray that the ministry of our church will grow as well.

There are a lot of stories about Jesus in the Bible. Many times the people around Jesus are amazed about the knowledge, wisdom, and power demonstrated by Jesus. Jesus taught with authority. It was the authority that came from God, not from man. People were astounded that Jesus taught with confidence and strength that many of the leaders in the church did not have when they taught. Mark 1:21-22 says “They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.”

The next part of the scripture from Mark 1 is dealing with evil spirits. Mark 1:23-28: says “Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

It is unusual to talk about evil spirits in modern society, but Jesus understood the conflict between good and evil. The evil spirits also recognized Jesus and the threat that Jesus was to them. Jesus commanded the evil spirits to be quiet and then Jesus commanded the demons to come out of the demon possessed man.

Evil exists in the world today. We just don’t recognize it. We also have spiritual attacks usually when we are about to be used by God in a powerful way. Satan doesn’t bother with us if we are not a threat to him. If Satan is taking us for granted, there’s nothing that he needs to do.

Sometimes, when we are being attacked it should be considered a sign of encouragement because we are doing something for God which Satan doesn’t like! It is when we are doing the Lord’s work that Satan starts his attack. It is important to know that if we trust in the authority and power of Jesus Christ, we will be safe from all attacks. We must put our trust in the Lord.

In Ghana, I’ve see people who pay for the power of Satan. The power is placed into items called talismans. The talismans are rings, medallions, and sometimes it is a piece of cloth or other items. Names for people who pay for Satan’s power are witches or witch doctors. I’ve also come face to face with people who are demon possessed. In fact, I’ve had to study the scriptures to understand how to heal someone of a demon possession.


On my last trip to Ghana, we distributed food in a church in a village named Diane (Dee ah Knee). We have a lot of history in that village. Our mission team preached in Diani for the first time in 2005. A village elder told us that they had been praying for one year for God to start a church in their village. The elder thought we were God’s answer to their prayers. We saw God work in amazing ways. Two women who were blind received their sight through the power of prayer on that first night. A deaf woman was able to hear in the name of Jesus Christ.

We were back to preach in 2006. One lady who was blind died a few months before our return. The witch doctors told the people that if a Christian prayed for you that you would surely die. We had to explain that the lady had lived a long life – over eighty years, she regained her sight, and when she died she went to heaven. We built a basic church in Diani in 2007.

I preached in the church after the food distribution in October 2008. We also took time to pray for many people who came forward to ask for prayers. Finally, we prayed for all of the children at least once and some of them received several blessings. It was at the point in time when we were exhausted that a man possessed by demons came around to disturb the church service and to ask for prayer. We asked him if he really wanted to be free of the demon. He said yes.

We told the children to leave the church. Anyone who was weak in their faith was also told to leave and to go away from the church. We asked him to remove everything that had evil power. He had talismans around his neck, on his fingers, on his belt, and in his pockets. We asked him to remove every one of them before we could proceed. We asked him if he was willing to let go of the demons. Some people like to sit on the fence. They love the idea of Jesus, but they also love sin and evil. He said yes.

We cast out his demons into the abyss in the name of Jesus Christ. We saw an immediate change in the man. The weight from evil was lifted from him. We asked the man to burn all of the items containing evil. He made a fire and burned all of the trappings of evil. We have to choose whether we will serve God or serve evil. The young demon possessed man gradually turned his body to a place for evil. Gradually, evil had total control over him.

It was hard for me to relate to Mark 1:23-28 before my experiences in Africa. We can translate the experience back to home. There are many things that we hold onto that may be evil. We let small bits of evil to come into our lives. We may worship money, power, pornography, drugs, anger, hate, or our inability to forgive. Just like that man in Diani, our body is a place which we prepare for the Holy Spirit or it is a place where evil can seep into our lives. It is our choice.

Today, we have the choice to be like Nehemiah or the man who had demons. Nehemiah saw a need, prayed to God, answered God’s call, and was able to see the city of Jerusalem rebuilt while it was still in ruins. It takes a choice to decide which path to take in our lives. For us, I believe we will choose to follow the example of Nehemiah who hears about a need, prays to God, answers God’s call, and see’s God use us in amazing ways.