Sermon- Is there Hope?
- Think with me, it has been over 4 months & going on 5 since we closed our church, &
went online. I never thought there would be a time that I would be away from the
church building. Now it’s been almost 5 months, & it seems that the virus knows no
end.
- My studies haven’t changed, but the connection that i get as we talk about our
studies is missing. It’s very much like the Spirit feels incomplete.
- With that idea, think of how it would feel to be completely ripped from your home.
You no longer have a place to live, & the land that you have called your land is gone.
Many of your friends, & family have been taken away. You may never see them again.
- Today’s message comes from the time of the Babylonian captivity. Somewhere in
this time of 70 years, God gave Ezekiel a prophecy to give. This Prophecy is one
of Hope, & it’s a reminder of who God is.
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
5 Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.
- The Prophecy Ezekiel is proclaiming, is the prophecy of the millennial reign of Christ.
Israel has been shut out of their own land for so long. Even now they don’t possess
the land that is theirs.
- The Temple Mount has a mosque built upon it, & not the temple.
- Many Jewish people are returning to Israel today for the first time, but they have
always known this land is my land.
Q- Should we lose hope?
- It has been 2,606 years since the Israelites were taken from Judah in 586 B.C.
Notice how Ezekiel called the bones, very dry bones. They had been dead a long
time. Now God will resurrect them!
- At just the right time, we will be together again.
Prayer
- Think of what God told Ezekiel to do for the dry bones. He said, prophecy (tell the
bones) Hear the Word of the Lord!
- Remember Who is greater than death itself!
- Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
- The Power of God! When God formed us, from simple dirt. He breathed life into
our nostrils.
Genesis 2:7
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Look at something though! The bones were formed for The Ezekiel, but they were
not alive yet.
- God Then tells Ezekiel to prophecy to the wind in verse 9, listen again.
Ezekiel 37:9
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
- The wind is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life!
- Listen to the Spirit’s description at Pentecost,
Acts 2:2
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
- The Spirit that flows across all of this earth, & has been here from before time began,
has been called to bring life to all that would breathe Him in.
- Listen, John 3:8
John 3:8
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
- Every person walking this earth isn’t complete until the Spirit of life enters them!
- From Him comes Hope!
- We will always feel frustrated, & lowly. Until we are unified with God’s Spirit,
because from Him flows life!
- I know there are times we feel down, but think of how that changes when we
open this Book, or we talk to it’s Author.
- The attitude changes because we feel the thing the Spirit has, Life. The Spirit
cannot have death, it’s not possible!
Q- Now Why should we have hope then?
- If There is no death, there is no reason for us to not have hope!
- There’s nothing to fear!
- We have hope, because we know God will bring us together. We are His! We are
unified in His Spirit, & not even death itself can separate us!
- I know that we are tired of being distant, but think of the moment we finally
return.
- Imagine the rejoicing, that’s still to be for the Jews. The Jewish people will look
back at their own graves, & walk into the land that was promised to their father
Abraham.
- For them it has never been an idea of, if we have this land. It has always
been, when I receive this land.
- It’s a promise, & Listen Here’s our promise.
Revelation 2:7
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
- To He That overcomes. Think about what that means.
- To him that overcomes sin. That’s any person who is filled with the Victor, Jesus
Christ, will eat of the tree of life.
1 John 5:4-5
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
- For every Child of God, we will enter, & enjoy eternity.
Q- I can’t find much reason to be depressed in that, can you?
- So, as I begin to close with my last scripture. Hold onto the words Paul wrote from a
prison cell.
Philippians 4:4
4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
- We must continue to shout the victory, because we are victorious!
- This is what Paul called for as he wrote to the church of Philippi.
- In this one letter he wrote the Greek words for joy and rejoicing sixteen times in
only 104 verses.
- That’s God’s message for us today. Rejoice, & have Joy. His Spirit is with us, &
one day we will be together once again!
Prayer
