Beloved this evening I want to make a disclaimer and that is that God can bring dead things back to life. See beloved this is a missing jewel in the church today, the drawing of a man or a woman that would dare come to God and boldly ask for the impossible. Today church is filled with very spiritually intellectual religious super spiritual sinners rather than God fearing, bible believing Christians. I serve a God that is able to move mountains, raise the dead, heal the sick, allow the lame to walk and the blind to see but most of all I serve a God that is a miracle worker. A miracle is something that God can do, that we cannot do. What miracle awaits your life this evening?
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. 9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’”
Here in our scripture beloved we have the resurrection of souls from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, to a holy, heavenly, spiritual, and divine life, by the power of divine grace. This speaks to us of the resurrection power of God in those areas of our lives that are dead, that have lost hope that have been afflicted by the sting of sin. And in this scripture we have the promises of God. This evening there are some if not all yet maybe even one precious soul that’ll hear this lifeline promise and that beloved is that God can speak life into dead things and cause them to live.
1st Point “Dry bones”
In our opening text we have the prophet Ezekiel listening to the word of God given to him, he is taken in the spirit into a place where there are many dry dead bones. These bones have no strength in them, if you walked on these bones they would crack into pieces. No strength, no life no hope. So God takes The man of God to this place and shows him all these dry bones.
1 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
These bones have been there for a long time, they were brittle, weak, they had no strength, and yet here is God in His majesty that takes the man of God into a valley of dead dry bones. Here we have this truth, God takes the man of God into a situation that bothers God, here we have a community of dead people, they are fighting a losing battle, they are walking aimlessly and they are losing their lives and are going to be left for dead.
Look at our lives for a moment, we were once like these dead bones, we were weak and dismantled, dysfunctional and had no power to do anything within our own power. And yet God would take a man and place him into a valley of dead things and ask the question, Can these dead bones live?” There is no hope all seems lost and defeated there are marriages that are in shambles, kids are acting rebellious, maybe medical conditions that seem incurable, maybe financial errors seem impossible to overcome, see whatever it is, it had the power to suck the life of God out of you and God wants to give it back to you.
2nd Point “The promise of life”
12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’”
I the Lord have spoken it and I will perform it. Throughout our bible we have this hope, this promise that we know that is sure and true. God said it He spoke it and He will perform it. These promises are not broken promises yet we see in our scripture, as God keeps His covenant with Israel.
The same is with us, God will keep His promise with you, He will will never leave you nor forsake you. See beloved God wants to impart His spirit in you. He wants to recover you and restore you back on the line of battle, the battle that will save a community, a family, a marriage, a precious soul that is crying out for help. He wants to breathe the very breath of God in you so you can live.
The promise we have is sure and is true, and this being the promise of life, beloved let us look at this in a way we could understand. We first spoke of dry bones, before salvation these dry symbolize the condition of man without Christ, life is brittle, life has no connection of joy, hearts are broken and dark, full of nothing, all is death, void, empty nothing that'll be worth living. God looked upon these situations and looked for a man that'll have the faith of a mustard seed, faith that goes beyond what the situation looks like a man that'll trust in the Lord and speak life into those dead things.
Talking about speaking promises of God into hopeless situations and seeing results. God has a plan that will not derail it will not be stopped, the question is do you want to see these plans come to pass or will just see your current situation and be discouraged and intimidated by the current condition or will you dare to trust God and speak life into those dead things? Remember family members that have struggled for years are looking for answers, the addict is awaiting deliverance, the drunkard is seeking joy and release from there prison of regret and shame, the broken hearted is waiting for true love that'll only come from the miracle worker Himself Jesus Christ. Promises were not meant to be broken, cause when God created the Heavens and the Earth He looked and said it is good.
3rd Point "Healing comes with a new life"
Jeremiah 33:6
Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
This is the truth of the matter we have been in the wrong war for so long that some of us have died in the wrong battle field, in the beginning portion of scripture God took His servant to a battle field of dead soldiers, soldiers that died in battle, I dare say we fought of battle of broken hearts, battles of words that brought death, killed our spirits and our desire to live life, battles of family curses and discouragement's, and now God wants to breathe life into those dead bones so they can start living.
10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
This is what you will be for others a great army protecting the very lives of those that you hold dear. This army that once was dead now has life, but within this life they have experience so they can see what others cannot, listen to me your past pains and your past failures have been your greatest teacher and now that God has breathe the very breath of life in you, you can now start to live for the purpose you were intended to.
Now that God has given you new life don't waste your time not living but live by fighting for the ones God has given to you to protect by giving them the same Christ you were given. Start living and start stepping into all God has for you by living for Him first. He has a plan for you. Now!
