Intro: the family cat had been run over and Tommy was heartbroken. His mother to ease his pain said, Tommy, don’t feel bad, our cat is in heaven. Tommy looked at his mom and said, why does God want a dead cat in heaven? This is good theology, God isn’t into dead things. Years ago there was a movie called Night of the Dead, then there was dawn of the dead, then another movie called Zombies. God wouldn’t go see any of those movies, because God isn’t into dead things.
Tonight, I want to give you that as my title:
God Isn’t Into Dead Things
Ezekiel 37:1-10
Ezekiel is taken by the Spirit and has a vision of a valley of bones. It says they were dried up bones, meaning they had been dead for a long time. God asks Ezekiel, can these bones live again? Tonight, God wants you to be alive. He wants your spirit man to be full of life and power. Here are four keys to coming alive in God.
I. Believe It Can Happen—v.1-5 God asked Ezekiel can these bones live again. We live in a society of dried up bones. But the first key to coming alive is to believe that you can.
a. there is always hope in God—no matter where you are at tonight, no matter how dried up you are in your spirit, you can come alive. I am here to speak to the bones, come alive in God.
b. No matter how long you have been down, God will raise you up. There are no hopeless cases with God. If you have been dead spiritually for a week, or for many years, God can lift you up, God isn’t into dead things.
Ill) years ago I had a friend named Ed Williams who was a very hard man. He had gone through a lot of hurts in life and just had become bitter. I tried to talk to him about the Lord but he said he wasn’t much into religion. One night he started talking about the Lord and it blew me away. He had surrendered his life at a Bible study at the trailer park where he lived.
c. Sometimes you have to die to live. I have met a lot of people that until they hit the bottom, they never look to God to lift them up. Don’t live in your past, don’t use the excuse that I could never live for God because too many people know about the years when I was dead.
II. Get Some Meat On Them Bones—7-8
God putting life back into your bones is only the first step. You need some meat on your bones. Not only is God not into dead things, but He needs more than a spiritual skeleton to do the work of God.
a. prayer puts meat on your bones—if you want to be spiritually strong, you have to pray. Prayer strengthens your spiritual man. Every time you go to God in prayer, it is like a 64 ounce bottle of Spiritual Power Aid.
b. The Word of God is our daily bread. I have a friend who went on a Cheerio’s diet. He ate Cheerio’s every meal. He lost a lot of weight because Cheerio’s won’t put any meat on your bones. To many Christians have a Cheerio’s diet, they don’t get into the Word of God, so they stay a spiritual skeleton, or stay spiritually dead, and God isn’t into dead things.
c. Praise/Worship—another way to put meat on the spiritual bones is through praise and worship. As you praise and as you worship God, you are building up your Spiritual man.
Ill) Charles Atlas Story—was 98 pound weakling and a bully stole his girlfriend at the beach. He went home, lifted weights, 6 months later he went back to the beach, beat up the bully, got back his girlfriend. He had meat on those bones. If you are tired of the devil kicking your life around, put some meat on your spiritual bones.
III. Get The Spirit Blowing On Your Bones—9-10 after the bones stood up, and had meat on the bones, there was one thing missing, the breath of God so the bones could move.
a. you need the Holy Spirit working in your life to move in the right spiritual direction. If you don’t let the Spirit take control of your life, your spirit man will go nowhere.
Ill) one day my next door neighbor noticed that I had pulled my
Cord on the lawn mower 20-30 times with no start. He asked, got plenty of fuel, I said yes, checked the oil, I said yes, so he brought over a can of spray called super turbo carb starter---he sprayed two shots into my carb and it started on the first pull. Sometimes we need some spiritual super turbo starter of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
b. The Spirit of God raised the bones up—if you want to make a stand for God, it will take the Holy Spirit to give you the strength. Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord.
c. When the bones came to life, and they got meat on them, and they got breath in them, they became part of an army for God. God wants to give you life to be part of a spiritual army for God.
Close: tonight, if you are dead, dried up, living in a valley full of bones, God is here to give you life. God isn’t into dead things. So come alive by faith, come alive by the Word, come alive by the Spirit of God.
Ill) years ago we had a man here at Bethel that was in a plane crash and laid in a coma for 8 months. Then one day he came out of the coma, and was fine. I asked him what was it like to have been in a coma 8 months. He said, it seemed like one second the plane crashed, the next second he came out of the coma, 8 months he said, I didn’t recall a thing. That is what it is like to be spiritual dead, you don’t have a clue to what is really going on, and when you receive the power of God, it is like the lights get turned on.
God isn’t into dead things, so come alive in the Spirit of God.
