Resurrecting God

INTRO

Good morning, if you have Bible this morning you can turn to Ezekiel 37 where we get to look at one of the most famous stories in the book of Ezekiel.

Kid’s I’m glad you are here, and I think in God’s perfect timing that you are here for this weeks message because it is important and really cool.

Now, I kind of wish you were here for the judgmental prophecies to the nations where we got to talk about sea dragons and monsters, but maybe you can ask you parents about that another time.

Today we get to look at skeletons coming alive! How cool is that!

So I brought some illustrations of bones here in this box here of human bones…i’m just kidding.

Let’s pray and then read about this incredible story.

BODY

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.”

Okay kids, watch this to see that your parents have been listening while you go to kids rock. Parents, Ezekiel was training to be a… Yes, and in case you didn’t know this about priests, they did not want to be around bones or dead things. That would have made them impure, meaning they would not be able to go into the temple and worship God. So, to se the scene for this story that you have heard many times before or for the first time today you need to see that

EZEKIEL BEING AROUND BONES WOULD HAVE BEEN A HORROR MOVIE FOR HIM

Now, it would be a horror for many people, but specifically Ezekiel who should not even be close to dead things would have had the thought of “what am I doing here?” Why am I around all of these bones of death and they are all dry so they must have been here for a while, so they are really dead! Why does God have me here? Which wouldn’t have been the first time Ezekiel was asking these questions. He probably was asking these questions when he was taken from his home in Jerusalem and taken as a slave over 800 miles to go live in a foreign land of Babylon. He probably would have thought this when God called him to be a prophet to this rebellious and stubborn people that would not listen to him. He probably would have thought these thought when God asked him to make bread over a poop fire! Oh did your parents not talk to you about that? Okay, ask them later.

But it makes me wonder, kids and parents. Have you ever had this feeling of what in the world is going on? Maybe it isn’t a horror movie feeling like Ezekiel is felling but more a simple question of, “God, what are you doing?” Well, you are not alone in that and what God does next for Ezekiel is actually helpful for us today. So let’s keep reading.

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

So God tells Ezekiel to prophecy, the speak God’s word over these bones. Now hold on one minute. Why doesn’t God just do that? Isn’t he able to just talk to the dry bones and have them live? Why does he have to use Ezekiel? We will come back to that question in a moment, but the thing that we REALLY need to see here is what God says says he will do when Ezekiel prophecies. Let’s make this really simple

GOD WILL RESURRECT THE DRY BONES

Do you know what resurrect actually means? It literally means taking what is dead and bring it back to life. Ezekiel, this horror show that you are in right now, this valley of bones, this exile, will be resurrected and life will be here again. The bones will get sinews, then flesh, and skin and breath.

POP QUIZ! When was there a time where there was a person, but they were not alive until God put breath in them? Adam in the garden, he was formed by God but was lifeless until God breathed life into him. These bones are new creations. This is amazing! But it is one thing to hear that God will do something and another to actually see it, right? So will Ezekiel do it? Have you read ahead? Let’s see if he believes God and does what God told him to.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then 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 the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

So Ezekiel does it and it happens! How cool! But then there is part 2 his prophesying. He now has to speak to the breath. What in the world is happening here? The four winds? Well we first have understand this word “Breath”

BREATH CAN MEAN WIND, SPIRIT, OR BREEZE IN THE BIBLE.

It is an interchangeable word but the important thing here is that God’s breath, Spirit, or wind had to come to bring these people to live. On their own, they were just bones turned to bodies, but when God’s Spirit comes, they are a great army. But who is this great army and why would it be encouraging to Ezekiel and the Israelites in Exile hearing this message?

11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”

So God explains the whole vision to Ezekiel and why he put him in these weird horror movie where he needs to prophecy. God has heard the people speaking. He knows that the (THIS IS IMPORTANT) the people of God are hopeless and dried up. Like dry bones, he understands how they feel. And he brings a remedy. He send’s Ezekiel to speak his message and then to send His Spirit to fill his people to be not just alive, but an army. That is amazing, isn’t it! These people who feel hopeless and dried up like dead bones in a valley are going to be resurrected! This is like every the blueprint for every good superhero movie, right? Resurrection!

But what I really want to point out to us is to look at this text not just for “how does this apply to me?” but what is this text saying about God. Because we will get to the first question but it will be more in depth if we ask the first question first. So let’s look at what we learned about who God is in this story and how it affects us today.

WHO IS GOD IN EZEKIEL 37?

GOD IS NOT AFRAID OF HOPELESS SITUATIONS

God puts Ezekiel in this horror movie/hopeless situation because he is not afraid of these situations.

in Romans 15:13 he is called the God of all hope. He is hope, he can take any hopeless situation and breath on it so that it is no longer dead.

But how since we don’t have Ezekiel to prophecy over us? How can we hear a message of hope in our hopeless situation if we don’t have might Ezekiel to speak God’s word to us? But we have each other don’t we? And we are actually commanded to prophecy, which is a spiritual gift, and to speak life and build one another up, right? So look at the person next to you and say you can be like Ezekiel!

This weeks story with TJ. God puts people in our lives and he puts you, even you kids, to speak into hopeless situations. The question I have is are we willing? Are going to look at the valley of dry bones or are we going to look at the God of all hope? Prophecy today!

GOD IS STILL RESURRECTING TODAY

He takes dead things and brings them to life, it is the foundation of our faith. If he doesn’t do this, then we are all dead in our sins and Christ is not raised.

Jesus before raising Lazarus from the dead tells Mary “ I am the resurrection and the life.” And he is the one we follow.

If he can raise a whole nation that has been turned into dried up bones, he can raise you today. He can give you life in your soul that you have not felt for a while or even ever.

God gives us His Spirit

Kid’s, I got aggressive last week with the parents about this because I think sometimes we can make Christianity about how much we can do. We can white knuckle, persevere, and even read our Bible 100 times but not actually be walking in the Spirit. I so desire this for myself, for my family, and for this church family. To truly walk in the power of the Holy Spirit that God gives us.

Remember, this is the people of God, not unbelievers, not demoniacs, God’s people that needed to be raised and filled with the Spirit of God.

So how do we do this? I don’t have a program, a book, or even a message on how. Which is good because God is not programatic. But one thing I do know about God, is that when we ask His will, he acts. May not be in our timing, or even the way we excpect him. Because in all honesty, I don’t even know what to expect, but I think we should seek him together this morning.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to 1) fill you personally 2) fill your family to walk in the gifts and fruit of the Spirit and 3) to fill this church with His Spirit so we can honor Jesus with all our lives.