An Exceedingly Great Army (11th Anniversary at BAC)
Ezekiel 37:1-14
It’s that time of year again ... the time that strikes fear into the heart of every high school student from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island. It’s EXAM time. As I was thinking about this last week, my mind raced back to my most dreaded exam ... I think it was grade 10 Biology.
Now it wasn’t the dissection of various types of worms, frogs and sundry living things that bothered me, it was remembering how to label all the diagrams and the incredible memorization of all the lists. One of the lists we had to memorize was called, “The Characteristics of Life”. Let me give you five of them:
• All living things have order and can not live in and of them self
• All living things must acquire energy ... or more simply, they must eat
• All living things respond to their environment while maintaining the integrity of the original cell
o This is known as HOMOSTASIS
• All living things grow and develop
• All living things reproduce
Now, correct me if I’m wrong ... I don’t think that Jesus suffered and died so that we at Bradford Alliance Church might become a really cool company ... an organization that has great books and records and a first rate building on the south-east corner of Bradford. As much as these things are good, it is not what the Church has been called to be. Unfortunately, that’s what many churches have become ... a building and some rules. Any wonder people say that church is boring, dead and dry?
• I believe that God has ordained His Church to be alive ... to be a LIVING ORGANISM. Do you agree? Then just perhaps, these “Characteristics of Life” should be found in the Church and in her members. Today, as we look towards our 11th Anniversary, do we find ourselves being more about “DOING” churchy things than “BEING” a living, breathing “ORGANISM” ... more about a “BUILDING” than about being “An Exceedingly Great Army”.
o I believe God wants to speak to us today ... in fact ... I believe that God wants to prophesy over our dead, dry bones and make in us ... “An Exceedingly Great Army”
But I’m going to ask your permission first ... can I speak into your life today ... can I speak God’s Word into your bones and God’s Spirit onto your flesh so that you can live again?
• Please pray with me right now that God would breath in us life as we look into His Word this morning
Let’s read Ezekiel 37:1-14
Ezekiel was taken by God to a valley … a virtual battlefield … full of bones and God commanded Ezekiel to go into the middle of it …
Notice two (2) things with me:
o There were LOTS and LOTS of bones on the surface of the battlefield (valley)
They were unburied and open to public view
• This was a disgrace ... no self-respecting people would allow the bones of their people to be left out in the open to rot and decay
o The bones were VERY dry
They were in an advanced state of decomposition
• They had been there a LONG time
God Asks the $64,000 Question ... “Can these bones live?”
Is there any hope for all of these dead, disgraced bones?
o The natural answer is no ... there is no hope ... the bones are too far gone!
o But this is not the answer that Ezekiel gives God
Ezekiel says, “Sovereign Lord, only you know.”
• What incredible faith!
o As far as I know, Ezekiel had never seen dead bones come back to life and I don’t think scripture had ever recorded such an event before
Ezekiel placed his faith in the God of the Impossible
The begging question for those of us who feel spiritually tired, even dead is this:
o Can I ever live again? Can I feel the same as I used to feel when I first came to this place ... oops, I mean when I first became a believer.
I want to be like I used to be ... when I would do anything and go anywhere for God
• Is there any hope for me?
o Yes ... God wants to speak to your bones today!
God’s Word is Spoken ... “Dry bones; hear the word of the Lord!”
God commanded Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones
o Now let’s face it ... this is a ridiculous command ... “prophesy over these bones”
What if someone saw Ezekiel speaking to dead bones ... what would they think?
• What if God asked something ridiculous to you ... something that would make you look silly if anyone saw you?
o What if God asked you to join a Life Group ... or the Worship Team ... or to help in VBS ... or to pray for a neighbour ... or to tell your neighbour about Jesus ... or to invite him or her to Church ... or to love and forgive your neighbour ... or to be baptized ...
Maybe that’s not a fair question, after all, He really did command you to be baptized
Ezekiel obeyed God’s command and spoke God’s Word
o Notice the responsibility on the bones ...
The dry bones had to HEAR the Word of the Lord
The dry bones had to RECEIVE:
• The BREATH of the Lord
o Literally – SPIRIT or WIND of the Lord
• The BODY of the Lord
o Muscles, tendons, sinews ... God’s strength
o Each part joined together to make up His body
When the bones OBEYED, they RECIEVED the Spirit and they became the BODY God called them to be!
God’s Plan is Realized ... “An Exceedingly Great Army”
Remember my grade 10 Science lesson on the Characteristics of Life? Perhaps they apply to the kind of Life God wants to put inside of us.
All living things have order and can NOT survive in and of them self
Am I trying to live the Christian Life on my own? When I have a burden, a financial or a family concern, do I carry it myself? Do I regularly meet with other believers or do I keep to myself? Do I attend Church regularly?
All living things must acquire energy ... they must eat
Am I regularly reading God’s word ... feeding on it ... meditating on its truth?
o Deuteronomy 8:3 says:
“So [God] humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. He did this to teach you that mankind cannot live by food alone, but also by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
• We are not nourished by feeding our own appetites, and the “good life” does not consist of what we wear or drive or eat
o Real life comes from a total commitment to God, the one who created life itself
So be nourished by God’s Word
All living things respond to their environment while maintaining the integrity of the original cell
Are the pressures and the things of this world changing you and making you more like the world or are you responding to the changing world and holding strongly to the truth of God’s Word?
o Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father without me.”
This is a timeless, changeless truth ... Am I keeping to that truth?
All living things grow and develop
Have I grown in my faith since I first believed?
Do I trust Jesus more today than when I first believed?
All living things reproduce
Have I ever shared Jesus with anyone or have I ever introduced someone to Jesus? Am I truly LOVING GOD and LOVING PEOPLE?
o Am I making disciples of Jesus Christ?
Our Response to God’s Word
Are your bones dry? God’s plan for dry bones is this:
Come alive again! It’s time to become “An Exceedingly Great Army”
o GOD’S PLAN FOR OUR DRY BONES IS THE SAME
Earlier, you gave me permission to SPEAK the Word of the Lord
o So, on the authority of God’s Word, here it is:
“Dry bones of Bradford Alliance Church, I want to breathe New Life into you. I want to put muscles, tendons, sinews and flesh on your bones. I will make you strong again. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live. I will make you an exceedingly great army here in this land and beyond.
And you will know that I am the Lord – I have spoken and I will act declares the Lord.”
• For the one who has ears to hear, let them hear and obey what the Spirit says
