Can These Bones Live?

Some people believe that when the Rapture takes place, that is, when Jesus returns and he removes His people or the church, that Baptists will be taken first in the Rapture. It’s biblical. The bible says the dead in Christ will rise first.I did hear about one Baptist church where an elderly man had suffered a heart attack and passed out. Someone called 911. When the ambulance and the EMTs arrived and went in the church, they had a difficult time finding the right man. They went through 6 deacons and a couple of ushers before they finally found the right guy.Those jokes might be funny if they were not so true about many of our churches today.

According to the Baptist Press of the SBC, “the statistic (re: churches in decline) has remained basically unchanged for 20 years, the number of declining Southern Baptist churches has increased by 6 percent from 17.6 percent to 23.9 percent. Plateaued churches now compromise 45.8 percent of all Southern Baptist churches.”

And According to Thom Rainer of Lifeway Research,

“Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year. That means around 100-200 churches will close this week. The pace will accelerate unless our congregations make some dramatic changes.”

That is the exact reason I have asked Chris Smith, our DOM for the Florence Baptist Association to join us this evening at 6 p.m. While we may be a declining church currently, we want to live! So, both our time together this evening with Chris, and this message this morning speaks to our concern of turning our church around. We want to turn Northgate from a declining church to a dynamic church!

Ezekiel understood what it was like to preach to a lifeless congregation. Open your Bible please to Ezekiel chapter 37 and stand just a moment as we read a few verses from God’s inspired word.

Ezekiel 37:1-10, NKJV, 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.

Ezekiel was a young man, twenty-five years of age when he, his family, and his nation suffered one of the worst disasters a nation or people can ever experience. You see, Ezekiel was carried off as a captive of war, (a POW, Prophet of War). He was deported to the country of Babylon, 900 miles from home. The armies of Israel and Judah lay dead across the valleys and deserts of the Fertile Crescent. The men that were left alive were carried off chained together by their necks like dogs or caged as wild animals and exported pass the rotting and putrefying corpses of their once proud army. This was the scene of Ezekiel’s day. Not a very peasant one. It was truly a dark, depressing and difficult time for all of Israel. Ezekiel and the rest of Israel had been in captivity for at least ten years when God gave to him this vision of the valley of dry bones. Essentially, this vision of the dry bones was given to interject hope in the midst of a hopeless situation, life in the midst of lifelessness and spiritual renewal in the midst of ruin.The promise given to Ezekiel and the people of his day is just as true and real for us today! With nearly 70% of our Southern Baptist Church plateaued or in decline, we need to experience spiritual renewal and revival as much now as any other time in the history of the New Testament church. Did you know that the word “revive,” means to live again, or to cause to live again? The word “Renew” means to make new again. And the word “Revitalize” means to restore that which is nearly dead to a fresh new existence. Revive, renew, revitalize can be used almost interchangeably. In this sermon I will be using these words over and over again.

So, what is God saying to us through Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones?

I. A CALL TO REVITALIZATION, Ezekiel 37:1-4

It Involves Divine Assistance, v. 1, the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me…God is the initiator of revitalization or revival. If our church is to experience revitalization, then God is the One who must do it! It all begins and ends with Sovereign God.

It Involves Divine Appointment, v. 1, and set me down in the midst of the valley…God chooses the place and the people of renewal. He chooses those who have met His conditions for revival, renewal or revitalization. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV) If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

We often quote this verse about the need for revival but also is true of revitalization!

It Involves Divine Assessment, v. 2, and caused me to pass by…To experience revitalization we must first realize how desperate is our situation. We are lifeless without Him! We are helpless, hopeless and hapless without Him. But with God, dead, dry bones can live again!

It Involves Divine Assignment, v. 4, prophesy to these bones…Someone has said, “There is no such thing as a prayerless revival.” I would also say there is no such thing as a revival without the preaching of God’s word or God’s truth! Church revitalization leans heavily on both prayer and the proclamation of God’s word!

T/S—Notice the second thing we see here. Not only a call to revitalization, but also a concern for revitalization.

II. A CONCERN FOR REVITALIZATION, Ezekiel 37:3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

God offered Ezekiel a part in the revitalization process. Ezekiel had enough common sense to know that bones bleached white by the desert sun were dead. Yet he also had enough spiritual sense to know that with God, all things are possible!

The Reverend Duncan Campbell, the man God used to lead the Hebrides Islands to Revival in 1949 said, “I personally believe in the Sovereignty of God in the affairs of men, but I do not believe in any concept of revival that eliminates man’s responsibility. God is the God of revival, but we are His instruments, His agents through which revival is possible.”

God offers us a part in revitalization as well. Ezekiel’s concern was a valley of dry bones! Do we have a concern for our dry bones at Northgate?

T/S—Third, there is a course for revitalization,

III. A COURSE FOR REVITALIZATION, Ezekiel 37:4-10

What course or pathway does revitalization follow? In other words, what is needed for us to experience church revitalization?

It begins (commences) with Prayer, (God will do nothing but in answer to prayer!)

It continues through Preaching, the foolishness of preaching, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

It consummates through the Spirit, “Breath” wind, spirit, breath of God

T/S--Finally,

IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF REVITALIZATION, Ezekiel 37:10

So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

A. Renewal, Ezekiel 37:12 (A spiritual renewal)

“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.

B. Restoration, Ezekiel 37:13-14 (A physical restoration, we will grow again)

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.’”

Conclusion:

Ezekiel faced a challenging Valley of Dry Bones. Here are Four valleys we fear the most:

The Valley of the Immensely Wealthy

The Valley of the Extremely Poor

The Valley of the Immorally Sinful

The Valley of the Inaccessible Youth

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