OUT OF THE GRAVE INTO GREATNESS

Ezekiel 37:1–10 KJV 1900

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

INTRODUCTION:There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the really great man is the man who makes every man feel great. — G.K. Chesterton

What?

The valley was not a beauty place

The valley is not your final destination (1)

Psalm 23:4 KJV 1900

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

I need somebody to understand something today. The valley is real. I am not going to stand up here and pretend that valleys do not exist. I am not going to give you a soft, comfortable, feel-good word that dismisses your pain. I know some of you are in a valley right now. A real valley. A deep valley. Some of you woke up this morning and you were not even sure why you got out of bed. The valley is real. But here is what the Word of God says about the valley. Here is what I want you to anchor in your spirit today. Turn with me to Psalm 23 and verse 4. The Bible says — and I love this — "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." — Psalm 23:4 (KJV) Did you catch that? I want you to see one word in that verse. One little word that changes everything. The word is THROUGH. Not "in the valley." Not "stuck in the valley." Not "buried in the valley." But THROUGH the valley. The valley was never designed to be your address. The valley was designed to be a passage. A corridor. A hallway you walk through — not a room you move into!

God carry him into the valley: It was an assignment

Hand of God was upon / you are not alone

Ezekiel did not go into that valley alone. God's hand was upon him. And I want to declare to every person in this building today — you are not alone in your valley! The same God who carried Ezekiel into that valley is the same God who is walking with you through yours. He sees every tear you have cried. He sees every sleepless night. He sees every door that was slammed in your face. He sees every promise that seems delayed. And He has not forgotten you! One of the enemy's greatest tricks is to make you feel invisible in your valley. To make you feel like God has forgotten about you. Like He has moved on to somebody else. Like He is blessing everybody else but you. But that is a lie from the pit of hell! The Bible says in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." God has not moved. God has not looked away. God has not abandoned His plan for your life.

2. The power of prophesying to your situationNow we have established that the valley is not your final destination. But now I want to ask you a question: what are you doing in the valley? What are you saying while you are in the valley? Because your next level is connected to what comes out of your mouth while you are in the low place. Look at what God told Ezekiel to do when he was standing in that valley of dry bones. He did not tell him to cry. He did not tell him to run. He did not tell him to sit down and accept the situation. He told him to PROPHESY. "Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD." — Ezekiel 37:4 (KJV) God could have breathed life into those bones all by Himself. He did not need Ezekiel's voice. But He chose to use Ezekiel's voice. He chose to partner with a human being who would open his mouth and declare what God said — even when the situation looked impossible. Even when the bones were dry. Even when there was no natural evidence of life. God said — open your mouth and prophesy!

Proverbs 18:21 KJV 1900

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

This is why you need to know what God said about your situation. Because if you do not know what God said, you will just keep repeating what the enemy said. You will keep rehearsing the diagnosis instead of declaring the healing. You will keep rehearsing the debt instead of declaring the provision. You will keep rehearsing the failure instead of declaring the comeback.

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV 1900

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Isaiah 54:17 KJV 1900

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

I want to challenge you today. Stop talking about what you see and start declaring what God said. Prophesy over your finances. Prophesy over your health. Prophesy over your children. Prophesy over your marriage. Prophesy over your ministry. Prophesy over your business. Because death and life are in the power of the tongue — and I believe you want life!

When God’s breath enters greatness happens

And that is exactly what God wants to do in your life. He does not just want you to survive. He wants you to rise. He wants you to rise into your greatness. But the key — the most important key — is the breath of God. It is the Spirit of God entering into your situation and breathing life into what has been dead. Turn with me to Romans chapter 8 and verse 11. I want you to see this. The Bible says, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." — Romans 8:11 (KJV)

Greatness not self madeWe live in a culture that celebrates self-made greatness. Everybody wants to be self-made. Self-sufficient. Self-powered. And I understand the desire for achievement and excellence — there is nothing wrong with working hard and pursuing your goals. But I want to submit to you today that the greatest version of you is not the self-made version. The greatest version of you is the God-breathed version. Look at those bones in Ezekiel 37. They could not put themselves together. They could not breathe life into themselves. The rattling and the shaking and the coming together — none of that happened by the bones' own effort. It happened because the breath of God came. And when the breath of God came, ordinary bones became an exceeding great army

Philippians 4:13 KJV 1900

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

When the breath of God enters your situation, things change rapidly. Look at those bones. One moment they were scattered, dry, and lifeless. And then the breath came — and they stood up as an exceeding great army. That is a rapid transformation. That is a suddenly moment. And I believe today is somebody's suddenly moment! When the breath of God enters — greatness rises

Inspirational Charge — Rise and Walk in Your Greatness

Now I want to give you an inspirational charge before we close today. I want to talk to every great person in this room — the ones who have not fully risen yet. The ones who are pressing. The ones who are fighting. The ones who refuse to let what they are going through be the end of their story. This charge is for you. I want to tell you about something that happens in nature that speaks directly to what God is doing in your life right now. Think about what happens when a seed is planted in the ground. To the outside observer, that seed looks dead. It is buried. It is covered in darkness. It is surrounded by cold earth. Nothing seems to be happening on the surface. If you did not know any better, you would say that seed is gone. Finished. Over. You might even walk past that ground day after day and see nothing — and begin to wonder whether anything was ever really planted there at all.

But underneath the surface, something miraculous is taking place. That seed is breaking open. Its outer shell — the very thing that once contained it — is cracking and giving way. And from that breaking, from that seemingly dead and buried place, a root begins to push downward and a shoot begins to push upward. Reaching. Pressing. Fighting through the weight of all that dark earth. And one day — one glorious day — it breaks through the surface of the ground. Not as a dead seed. But as a living, growing, powerful plant stretching toward the light. That is your story today! You have been in the ground. You have been in the dark. You have been covered up and pressed down. People may have written you off. You may have written yourself off. But what they called your grave was actually your germination. What they called your ending was actually your beginning. What they called your defeat was actually your transformation. And today — today — you are breaking through! You are coming up! You are rising!