Scripture Text: Exekiel 37:1-14
In This particular text in Ezekiel we find God and the prophet Ezekiel walking through a valley of dry bones... the dry bones refer to the people of Isreal, who have become spiritually dead and have "dried up", and have not been good hearers of the word of God... And God stops Ezekiel in the middle of the valley and asks a question, and then tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones... Ezekiel prophesizes to the bones and with a rattling they begin to come together & get flesh & tendon on them, and God breathes new life into them. Then they say in verse 11: "Our hope is gone... We have been cut off.." And God ultimately makes a promise to them that he will bring them up out of thier graves, and they will live again." Ahhh, but that hopelessness expressed in verse number 11 bothers me, but even more so the question God asks Ezekiel in verse number 3 gets me, and that’s where I want to land in today, and if I could for just a few minutes I would talk from the subject of that question, and I myself would ask it... "Can I Live Again?"
Mmmm... My Brothers and my Sisters, I am convinced today beyond a shadow of a doubt that at some point in time in our lives, all of us have asked ourselves the question... Can I live again? Maybe it was after a death of a loved one, a heartbreak, a heartache, a good friend stabbing you in your back, financial probllems, kids acting up, sickness, hurt, and pain.. It could bne from a multitude of things, but all of us have been there at one time or another in life, where we feel like we’re in a dry, dead place, and God is nowhere to be found... And if you haven’t well then baby just keep on living and one day you will... Ahhh and I asked the Holy Ghost "Well what would make a person get to a point in thier lives where they would ask this very question... And the Holy Gohst told me that it would be this thing called hopelessness.. And so I thought for just a few minutes we should talk about this thing called hopelessness...
First of all, hopelessness means "To have no hope." Well, what is hope? I’m glad you asked.... Hope as defined in the word of God is Defined as "The desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God’s help." So basically you give up the search for a future good." Ahhh, But not only that hopelessness also means "Incurable"... or to say you feel as if basically your situation, your circumstances, and/or your life as a whole will NEVER get any better than it is right now. You feel as if you’ll never be fully cured of your past hurts, pains, heartaches, and heartbreaks, and that it can & will only get worse... "If it ain’t one thing it’s another." And the last thing hopelessness means and then i’m going to get to the text is..."Having no possibility of solution, impossible." Ahhh, but how many of you know, we serve a God in whom ALL things are possible! I didn’t say some I said ALL! "I can do ALL things through Christ which strengtheneth me.", He is ABLE to do EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY above that which we ask for and or think! Ohhh, thank you Jesus! HA HA! I feel the Holy Ghost, Can I get to the text & get outta here, cause i’m about to lose my mind?
Look at the text, Ezekiel, chapter 37, We’ve got God, setting Ezekiel up in a valley of dry bones, verses one and two... Ahh, I need to stop right there and tell you that sometimes in life, you’ve gotta go through some dry places, you gotta go through some valleys, and sometimes in life some things are just gonna die, you’ve got to go through some low times in life, where it seems like nothing is working & no one is around, & you just feel like giving up & not living again... Ahhh look at verse number 3,huh, God asks Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel says, Only you know Lord." Some of you may be here today asking the same question, "Can my dead bones live?" Well i’m here to tell you, "YES THEY CAN!!! Look at the text... (Read verses 4-6.) God says, "Then you will know that I am the Lord." He had to give the breath for these bones to live... Can I tell you something? In order for you to live again, you’ve gotta get hooked up, with the ultimate source, the breath of life, Jesus The Christ, through him & him alone can you live again! The Bible says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches, aopart from me you can do NOTHING!" Only through God, Verses 7-8 say (Read text). It is possible, for you to look alive & like you’ve got it all together, but for you to be spiritually dead! The text says "Skin covered them, but there was no breathe in them." Some of us are like that right now, we come to church all dressed up and smelling good on the outside, wearing our $300 suits and dresses and that Calvin Klien cologne, but we’re just as dead and stinky as a 3 day old dead body on the inside! Ohh I wish somebody would help me up in here! Verses 9-11 say (Read scripture) How many of you all here today feel like that? Hopeless & cut off? Well I got good news for ya!
Ya see I kept on reading, huh, and in verse number 12, God says Ezekiel, "You tell Isreal, that i’m going to open up your graves, and bring you up from them, and verse 13 says "Then you will know, that I am, the Lord!" I hear God saying, for some of you all, it’s ressurection time! It’s time, huh, to live! It’s time! to GET UP out of your graves! Get up out of your dead places! Get up! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP ! GET UP! Ohh, I feel the spirit of God, about to break out, in this place! Can I keep it real, huh, for about one more minute, huh, I need to keep it together, huh, and tell you, one more thing, then i’m gonna go crazy.. Look at verse 14, God says, "I will put my spirit in you, and YOU WILL LIVE!" I need to help somebody today, whose at a crossroads in your life, you’re asking, the question, "Can I Live Again?" Well, i’m here to tell you, huh, no matter what you’ve been through, no matter what you’re going through, YOU CAN LIVE! I know it hurts, I know it hurts, I know, you’ve been stabbed in the back, I know, it feels like ain’t nothing going right, I know, you’re pained up, burdened down, heart broken, heart ached, feel betrayed, feel sad, feel lonely, feel depressed, and you feel, like all hope is gone, but baby hold, on, just a little while longer! I know, you lost your joy, your hope, your passion, your love, but TAKE IT BACK! Take back everything, that the devil, ever stole from you... It’s YOUR’S! HE CAN’T HAVE IT! You can, live again! Huh, Just trust God, believe God! And get up, huh, out of your graves! Can I keep it real, huh, and tell you, just one more thing, and then i’m going on home, i’m closing, the book! But sometimes huh, you’ve gotta speak life, back into your own spirit! You can’t rely on every body else, to do it for ya, huh, but sometimes, you gotta do it for yourself! So I dare you, don’t look to your nieghbor, huh, on your left, to your right, in front of you or behind you, but point to yourself, and begin to tell yourself... "I CAN, LIVE AGAIN! Heart live, mind live, body live, spirit live!" And now, that you’ve talked yourself, right on up, huh, outta your grave, I dare you, don’t wait, ’til the battle is over, but give God, huh, a crazy, ressurection praise, worship him, praise him, magnify him, lift him up! He’s worthy! Yes he is! YES HE IS!! SHOUT YES! SHOUT YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can.. live again:-)
