When God Speaks Life into Death

-Self Help industry is a 12 billion dollar a year industry by itself. You add in drugs, alcohol, technology, all the material possessions that we buy and the pharmaceutical industry. and you have a number that no one can calculate, only gues in it wiould be in the 100s of billions if not trillions. But it took a poor galilean carpenter from Nazereth to tell us where true success is really found. Where a truly Blessed life comes from. And you wont find this is any self help book, no motvational speech. But there may be a reason that Jesus is worshiped by billions of people two thousand years later, the man from Heaven knows what he is taling about

We are

Matthew 5:3–8 ESV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:3–11 ESV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

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Today we are going to look at when you find a blessing in brokeness. Let me ask you a question have you ever been to the place where you feel like you are absolutely broken. Have you ever been to that dark place where it seems like all hope is lost, that there is nonthing that could ever bring joy and hope to your life?

Jesus began bythis sermon by sharing deep truths about te keys to the Kingdom. he started off with spritiual bankruptsy, Until we get to the place where we see that we are absoluted in debt to God Almighty we will never truly lay a hold of heavenly riches. Yes we can play the game, we may get by with talent and charisma, but we will never have supernatural power that comes through the Spirit of God until we see our need for jesus Chrsit and His death upon the cross.

But the second key to the Kingdom Jesus says blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.... There is a promise here that you can lay hold of child of God. And that is when you are ran through the ringer, you are not alone. That there is purpose behind your brokenness. That all things will work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

Now the promise is not rebellious that when they mourn they will be comforted. No the promises of God are only applied to those that have entered into a covenant with the Almighty, hence the first Be attitude bleseed are the poor in Spirit for their is the Kingdom of God.

The word that is used here for the word mourn is the a word that speaks of the deepest kind of human sorrow and brokeness. The kind that humanly speaking there is no sort of remeduy or fix. No amount of human ingenuity can solve this type of pain. No amount of worldy councel can bring comfort to this wounded soul. But there is one that can comfort at the deepest level possible.

First is the wound of sin-

This wound is is caused by our sin or maybe someone else’s sin combination of the two. Now sin brings utter destruction to the human soul. It festers with [pride and causes the heart to become callous. And when a child of God sins and it is un-confessed sin.

it begins to take a toll on you emotionally. It wioll take a toll on your physically. Studies tell us that over 85% of all Er visits are induced by stress. It called Psychosymatic illness. And Jesus said blessed are those that mourn. Now alll man-made religions have a pseudo solution to sin. You have the works based religons by which you try to make up for sin by doing good. The problem is that God is recording all of our works, whether good or evil and there is a day of judgment coming. Or two man made religions attempt to just absolve you from feelings of guilt all together. This is the case in most Eastern religions. Through Transubstantiation Meditation. But listen Gods word tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins.

I have good news if this describes you this morning. You have things in your past that you just can’t get past, There is blood available to you. the blood of Christ, and there is no stain to deep, there is no sin to horrible that that blood of the sinless lamb of God cannot lift. His blood is the best disinfectant to filthy, festered wounds. And Blessed are them that morn for they will be comforted.

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

2. Wound of Sorrow. Now unlike the sin of guilt the wound of sorrow is not a dirty wound. It is a clean wound. It is a wound that is not caused by sin, but caused by loss. And for this wound God’s word speaks of the oil of gladness. Time will not heal the dirty wound of sin, but time and the oil of gladness that is applied by the Holy sirit will cause this wound to heal properly.

Now this mornign whatever category you fall into I have good news. I wnat to tell you about the God that heals and heals completely. This morning we will be looking at the Old Testament in .. The Valley of Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1–14 ESV

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.” 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.” 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. 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.”

Ezekiel 37

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive Introduction

Now Ezekiel the prophet is God’s man, and so he is carried by the Spirit of God into a very strange place. God brings him into a valley. And in that valley there has been a tremendous battle. And many people have been slain in that particular battle. The battle had taken place a long time ago, because now there is nothing but bones strewn in the valley. It is a valley of dry bones. And Ezekiel looks at these bones. Perhaps over here there is a skull that is lying in a crushed helmet, and over here is a bony hand still gripping a rusty sword, but the bones have been picked clean by the birds of the air. They have been washed by the rain; they have been bleached by the sun; and now they are baked, and they are very dry, scattered all over that valley.

God asked Ezekiel a very important but from our human perspective a very absurd question can these bones live?

Ezekiel 37:3 ESV

3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”

Now before we get to caught up the interpretation of this passage is to the House of Israel. It was a prophecy that in the last days God would gather His people from all over the world and bring them back into the Land of Israel. He would call them from the four winds of the earth. Now this prophecy was made about 2600 years ago and we have witnessed the regathering of the Jewish nation from every corner of the earth. Keep in Mind that from

Ezekiel 37:3

The Roman army led by Titus conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple at 70 CE. Jewish people were then exiled and dispersed to the Diaspora. In 132, Bar Kokhba organized a revolt against Roman rule, but was killed in a battle in Bethar in Judean Hills. Subsequently, the Romans decimated the Jewish community, renamed Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina and Judea as Palaestina to obliterate Jewish identification with the Land of Israel (the word Palestine, and the Arabic word Filastin originate from this Latin name).

And for the next 1900 years it was easy to scoff at the Bible because everything prophetically revolves around the Jew and a land, the Land of Israel, but something supernatural took place in 1948 on the heels of WW2. After Hitler was defeated, the nation of Israel became a Sovereign nation after being exiled to the nations of the Worldfo the lat 1. 900 years.

Rogers, A. (2017). The God of the Impossible. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.It wiill lead to

A. Dead Bones

God Gives life to the Lost

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive B. Dry Bones

B. Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:2 ESV

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.

They were very dry.” () They were dry bones. That is, there is no meat and no marrow. They had been out there for a long time. Not even any moisture in these bones. If you wanted to raise a corpse, at least you’d like to have one that had some meat on the bones, wouldn’t you? But here are just bones. I mean no marrow or meat on the inside. They are very dry.

It depicted hopelessness

God give hope to truly Hopeless Situations

Rogers, A. (2017). The God of the Impossible. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.God give hope to truly Hopeless Situations

C. Depressed Bones

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive C. Depressed Bones

C. Depressed Bones

The bones are in a vallley. And valleys speak of depression.

Valley of sorrow

The Psalmist spoke of the valley of the Shadow of Death

And here is a picture of these bones in some dark ravine, in some gloomy valley, in a place not only of death and dryness, but a place of depression.

1. Smith County has the highest rate of suicide in all of Texas

2. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college kids only behind traffic accidents … We are not talking about kids that are underprivelaged

D. Disjointed Bones

And so, look. They were dead bones. They were dry bones. They were depressed bones. And they were disjointed bones. They are scattered all over. I mean nothing makes sense. There is no cohesion. Life is fragmented, because it is not life at all. It is death. And so here is a picture of dry bones. And you can just write over that picture just “impossible.” But God specializes in things that seem impossible

Ezekiel 37:9 ESV

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.”

After God speaks to Ezekiel and asks can the bones live? Ezekiel responds Lord you know. Lord you know. I want you to know this morning that God is the God of the Impossible. He is the God that can give life to dry bones. He is the one that can speak of the things that are not into existence. And if you and I are are going to see the supernatural we must believe. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Many of you before you came here came in shambles and piece by piece God is putting your life back together.

Now if God calls you to witness to your unsaved friends and neighbors—and He has—proceed with divine expectancy. Don’t you ever let the devil intimidate you and say, “It can’t be done,” “It will not be done,” “It is impossible,” “It is too hard,” “They have gone too far they are too dry,” “They are too hard,” “They are too scattered,” and “God can’t do it.” God can do it. But He is not going to do it if you believe He won’t do it. Believe God for a miracle, and proceed with divine expectancy. He is the God of the impossible.

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive A. Proceed with Divine Expectancy

Now if God calls you to witness to your unsaved friends and neighbors—and He has—proceed with divine expectancy. Don’t you ever let the devil intimidate you and say, “It can’t be done,” “It will not be done,” “It is impossible,” “It is too hard,” “They have gone too far they are too dry,” “They are too hard,” “They are too scattered,” and “God can’t do it.” God can do it. But He is not going to do it if you believe He won’t do it. Believe God for a miracle, and proceed with divine expectancy. He is the God of the impossible.

Rogers, A. (2017). The God of the Impossible. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.

Rgers, A. (2017). The God of the Impossible. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.

1. Smith County has the highest rate of suicide in all of Texas

2. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college kids only behind traffic accidents … We are not talking about kids that are underprivelaged

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Do you want your friend to come to Jesus? Not only must you proceed with expectancy; you must preach, dear friend, with urgency. Divine urgency! Hear the word of the Lord!

Now, my friend, listen. They don’t need a lecture; they need life. They don’t need to be organized; they need to be vitalized. Now it is not going to happen apart from the Word of the Lord. I’ll tell you why. Only life can beget life. Only life can generate life. Out of death life never comes.

Rogers, A. (2017). The God of the Impossible. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.

God brings wholeness out of brokenness

Conclusion-

And victory out of utter defeat

The tragedy of the Cross

There must have been a Hellish holilujah when the Son of God breathed his last on the cross. Hope had died. Hope was completely lost. the one that was supposed to restore the fortunes of Israel had been crucified by her own Leaders

i. When the wound comes from those closest to you

ii. When God is silent

a. He has a plan

b. Just because it doesn’t make since to you doesn’t mean it doesnt make sense.

Story of when You went to fight for custody of your son.

Do you feel like you are in a valley of dry bones? Maybe you feel like it in your marriage? That you can see that things are eroding, love is fading, romance has died long ago

Maybe you feel like its your past failures

John 14:16–17 ESV

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14

John 14:17 ESV

17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14

When God Speaks Life into Death

We are taking a look at the secrets to happiness and true success.

Blessed are the Broken

2 Different types of wounds that the Human Psche can take.

We need Divine Expectancy

We Need Divine Urgency