Dry Bones Series

Series: Come Alive in 2025

Illustration – fake bones all over the one side of the stage!

Scripture Text for Series:

Ezekiel 37:1-14:

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ ”

New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Eze 37:1–14.

Introduction:

Have you ever been to a graveyard? How about a graveyard after a flood?

There were many reports of caskets, bodies and bones floating down the rivers from the floods that took place in North Carolina after the recent hurricane swept through the region. But seriously how do graveyards affect you

How do you feel when you walk through a graveyard – as a kid we used to visit a graveyard by our house at night – we would joke with each other about whether we could find a ghost or not. We would sneak in and see if we could catch a glimpse of someone coming to life again? But we never saw that happen! We never saw anyone come back from the dead!

Reminds me of a funny story: WORKING LATE IN THE CEMETERY

Late one dark night, two men were walking home after work. They were tired and desperate to get home, so they decided to take a shortcut through a cemetery.

They got to about the middle of the graveyard, and they were startled and stopped moving. There was a terrifying noise, "TAP-TAP-TAP" coming from the shadows. It sounded like someone was trying to get out of something like a grave. Trembling with fear, they spotted an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one of the headstones. They were relieved and walked up to the man working late in the cemetery:

"Hey Mister," one of them said after catching his breath. "You SCARED us half to death. We thought you were a GHOST! What are you doing working here so late at night?"

"Those fools!" the old man grumbled. "They spelt my name wrong!"

Pause for effect!

Another graveyard story:

One graveyard we visited regularly as kids was down the road from my grandma and Pap Kolling’s House where they lived, they lived out in the country outside Carnegie Pa... The cemetery was the local one and has been around for a very long time. We would walk through the graveyard LOOKING AT THE TOMBSTONES AND IMAGINING WHO THESE PEOPLE HAD BEEN- THINKING WHAT THEIR LIVES MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s– in all my years of walking through that graveyard in the morning, at night and during the day I can say I have never anyone come back to life.