“MIRACLE HELP FOR THE NEW YEAR”

Ezra 8:21-23

True Story of a WWII A Bomber pilot and crew whose lives were miraculously saved – / On a bombing run over Japan they came under attack by Japanese fighters. Pilot said “My God, there are too many of them. Men, I know some of you don’t believe, but I’m going to pray. A crew member said, Hurry & pray Captain, b/c there’s more bogeys at 6 o’clock. 3 other American bombers blew up in flames. Bullets ripped through skin of plane/ fuel tanks were hit/fuel was leaking; The pilot led the men in the Lord’s prayer / As the very moment he finished praying / the attack broke off. When they landed safely, a Major came & said we intercepted a Japanese radio message & don’t understand it: The pilot said we are attacking a bomber but can see angels standing on wings w/swords on fire & We are breaking off our attack!

Our text: Ezra recognizes they need miracle help

Ezra 8:21-23 21Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. 22For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” 23So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.

I. A NEW YEAR

A. Our text is a transition point

1. Moving from a negative past into a new future / a better future

a. Context: 70 years of exile/after nation destroyed: Now they can go back to Jerusalem/rebuild the temple

2. That is the desire of many people: If only things could be different next year

a. 1 Chronicles 4:10 10And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

In Argentina, people shred old documents and papers, then throw them out of the window like clouds of confetti. They shred everything before the curtain falls on the year, to symbolize leaving the past behind.

B. The question is how can things change – how can we have a different new year?

1. A new year begins with recognition:

a. The way things have been/the way things are right now / I don’t want them to be that way any more

1. Jacob wrestled with an angel / Said I need things to change in me/in my situation

2. For some 2022 was not a bad year / for some it was worst on record

a. Doesn’t matter which camp you fall into / can we all agree we want something MORE for this upcoming year?

b. Will take saying “The way I have been approaching things will not work” … if I want a new future

1. 22 His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.”

a. They were saying / Our disobedience brought destruction / they came to conclusion / we cannot live that way any more

2. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over, but expecting a different result

c. If there are things in our lives that shouldn’t be there: They need to go

1. 1 Samuel 7:3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lordwith all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

d. If we are doing things displeasing to God that are hurting us – we need to repent and change

1. Acts 3:19 repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…

Story of A Palestinian Christian Pastor grew tired of offering communion in his congregation / because he knew that many of his parishioners not just didn’t get along / he knew some of them genuinely hated each other / Some had not talked with one another in years / even decades / bore grudges dating back to the previous generations / One Sunday he locked and barred the doors of the church with the people inside / He told the congregation that he had no intention of starting at the service / giving communion, or unlocking the doors until those at odds with one another confessed their sins / offered forgiveness, and made peace

After a stunned silence, a policeman got to his feet, confessed his wrongs and asked forgiveness. Others followed. When the Lord’s Supper was finally celebrated, it was no longer a mockery. It was a celebration in which members of the congregation recognized one another as the body of Christ.

C. But in order for things to change in the new year - We are going to need supernatural help

1. 22 “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, NCV “Our God helps everyone who obeys him,

a. The hand of God: God at work in human situations/human lives (I thank God he is working in my life)

I don’t want to think about life without God’s help / His working

b. OT: Numerous times it speaks of the Hand of God/Hand of the Lord

1. Always speaking of God at work: Literally doing something supernaturally to help

II. THE SUPERNATURAL PATH

A. Ezra shows a path to getting God involved in our lives/situations: Fasting

1. 21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.

a. Fasting is going without food – (but it’s more than a weight loss plan) / something more / Going without food… WIHLE PRAYING

2. Ezra knew that fasting will bring an added dimension of supernatural help and power

a. Biblically people didn’t fast every day – but when they need and extra dimension of help

1. Matthew 17:21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

a. Jesus give insight / This is a larger demon / a larger problem than usual: You need extra help through fasting

B. We need to understand the purpose of fasting

1. 1st purpose of fasting is humility: 21 that we might humble ourselves before our God

a. We get into trouble by trying to be the gods of our own lives: We run lives our way

1. Idolatry is trusting in human preference / human effort

a. If you can go through your days / weeks / year without prayer / times of fasting / you are saying I don’t need God’s help

b. I can do this on my own /

b. Fasting is an outward expression of an inward attitude: It shows we know we need God!

1. 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

c. God is attracted to weakness: If you live like you don’t need God / He doesn’t help

Jim Cymbala Pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle / Early in ministry he grew depressed at the lack of results in the church / One night, 5 minutes into his sermon, he stopped and said, I can’t go on like this / He said, if we don’t see God help us…and began to weep and pray / Suddenly God began to move on people. One by one they came to the altar / An usher came rushing diwn to the altar and confessed he had been stealing money / It was a breakthrough / He learned that God is attracted to weakness / He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him /

Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power.

2. The purpose of fasting is to seek God 22 “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him,

a. Emptying ourselves of our flesh and taking time to be filled with God

1. Fasting must be connected to prayer (or else it’s just going hungry)

b. Seeking God: Philippians 3:10 that I may know him, and the power of His resurrection…

1. Psalm 84:2 My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

c. Seeking His will: What do you want me to do?

3. The purpose of fasting is to seek God’s power to overrule enemy strategies

Imagine: Everyone in the city knows an unarmed treasure train is going to be traveling in the desert / it’s why train robbers were so prevlant in their day / slow moving / unarmed train with gold / riches

1. Today: Criminals work up plans to steal things of value all the time / hope Diamond / jewelry / gold / vaults / Banks

a. The devil see’s you this way / he hates COG / WOG Devil seeks who he might devour / wants to steal / kill / destroy

b. The only way we can survive is if God overrules their plans: We need God to Bring His power to our situation

1. People here: The enemy has been at work in your life in the past year

a. You need the hand of God to overrule – defeat the strategies of hell

III. ANSWERED PRAYER

A. Our text gives great encouragement: God answered their prayer when they combined it with fasting

1. 23 So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer. We made it to Jerusalem safely

B. 3 areas of answered prayer

1. God showed them the way: 21 to seek from Him the right way

a. Direction: There probably were multiple routes they could take…perhaps God spoke and showed the safe one

b. Seeking His strategies: This year: What do you want me to do? What do you want our church to do? In my family? In my Marriage?

c. Specific areas of trouble in life: How can this be resolved?

2. God to helped their families: 21 and our little onesOur children need miracles!

a. Miracles of revelation: Some kids come to church – but are not saved; They need revelation!

b. Miracles of salvation: Unsaved family – God needs to save them

c. Miracles of protection: We live in a wicked world – focused on perverting our children We need miracles of protection

3. God helped them financially: 21 and all our possessions.

a. God promises protection in our finances

1. Malachi 3:11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts;

a. An enemy that tries to eat up your finances – I will rebuke/protect (this is what some of you need going into this new year)

b. God promises miracle supply in our finances: God has to overrule the natural circumstances

1. Times of inflation: God has to make up for/increase our finances so we can be blessed

a. Malachi 3:10 try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

b. Genesis 26:12-13 12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. 13The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;

Pritchard Adams served as a missionary to Haiti for 28 years / He was visiting Canada when he collapsed to the floor / An artery at the base of his skull had burst, filling the space between his skull and the thin membrane covering the brain (Nearly half of all people with a ruptured brain aneurysm die, And those who survive likely have severe brain damage)

Doctors performed surgery to stop the bleeding, but he had already slipped into a coma / They didn’t expect him to live through the night. By this time, people around the globe were praying and fasting for Prit’s recovery / Doctors warned his wife Dana that if Prit had a second aneurysm that he would not survive.

Two days later, he went into cardiac arrest, and he had a second artery explode in his head. His wife said, “I knew at that moment that Prit was slipping out of my hands and that if God did not intervene we were going to lose him. Immediately I stood by his bed and I started rebuking the spirit of death. I said, ‘No, you cannot come here. You have no authority in this place.’ And I just began to declare, ‘Live Prit, live Prit live Prit.’”

Doctors resuscitated Prit and began to prep him for the surgery to repair the second artery that had burst. But before they could operate something changed. “The neurosurgeon came in and he shook his head and he said, ‘Mrs. Adams, your husband is a perplexity to us. Three times now he has skirted death. We were getting ready, prepping him to take him in to do brain surgery to find out where the hemorrhaging was coming from and an hour ago he started to improve.”

Doctors were not optimistic about his full recovery. Cat scans showed the speech and motor areas of Prit’s brain were badly damaged and that he would have permanent and severe neurological impairment. Dana’s faith never wavered. She reminded God of His promise to take care of them. I said, ‘You said in the day of adversity that I could call on You and today is a day of adversity. I need You and I need You now because there is no hope there is no way my husband is going to come out of this unless You give me a miracle, Lord.’”

On July 27th, 23 days after the first aneurysm, Prit woke up and a few days later he started to speak.

Dana said “We prayed that he would start talking and when he started talking he wouldn’t stop.” Prit fully recovered… He walks two miles a day and is went back to minister in Haiti.

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