Come Alive!

Opening Illustration:

According to a gallup poll in April of 2019, from 1937 until 1976 church membership in the United States was 70% or higher. From the 70s through the 90s the number was 68%, so just a modest change. But over the past 20 years, the number of people who claim to be a member of a church has drastically decreased from 68% down to 53%.

The author of the article says that “The decline in church membership mostly reflects the fact that fewer Americans than in the past now have any religious affiliation. However, even those who do identify with a particular religion are less likely to belong to a church or other place of worship that in the past.”

It’s no wonder then that 70% of churches in America have either plateaued or are declining.

In his book “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” Thom Rainer claims that by 2022 or 2023 a total of hundred thousand American churches will close their doors if nothing changes.

In his book “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” Thom Rainer claims that between 2022 and 2023 a total of hundred thousand American churches will close their doors if nothing changes.

The epidemic of declining, plateaued, and at-risk churches is widespread, affecting multiple denominations, including our denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Despite the SBC’s substantial investment of financial and material resources into planting new churches, statistics show that the SBC is still losing churches. In fact, the 2019 Southern Baptist Convention Annual report showed that despite planting over 900 new churches, the SBC ended the year down 88 churches.

Historically, South Carolina has carried the mantra of being the buckle of the so-called Bible belt, but according to Dr. Rudy Gray, the editor of the Baptist Courier, 88 percent of Southern Baptist churches in South Carolina are either plateaued or declining.[2] Al Phillips, the Director of Missions (DOM) for the Greenville Baptist Association, states that "About 20 [SBC] churches [in South Carolina] close each year and up to 200 are expected to close within five years."[3] As a matter of fact, 64 percent of the churches in our own Greenville Baptist Association are declining or are dead and that is despite the fact that Greenville County is home to the first, second, and sixth fastest growing populations in the state.

The story of churches in South Carolina is no different. According to Dr. Rudy Gray, the editor of the Baptist Courier, 88 percent of Southern Baptist churches in South Carolina are either plateaued or declining. Al Phillips, the Director of Missions (DOM) for the Greenville Baptist Association, states that "About 20 [SBC] churches [in South Carolina] close each year and up to 200 are expected to close within five years." As a matter of fact, 64 percent of the churches in our own Greenville Baptist Association are declining or are at-risk of closing. Those numbers are despite the fact that Greenville County is home to the first, second, and sixth fastest growing populations in the state.

One of the questions that I have been studying as I work on my Doctorate in Church Revitalization is, why? Why are so many churches at-risk of closing? There are a multitude of reasons but former LifeWay President Thom Rainer says some of those reasons are, The Church has no community-focused ministries, lack of clarity as to why the church exists, the church refuses to look like the community, the idolization of eras gone by, , no evangelistic emphases and more. Often times these sick churches are where they are because their hearts are infected with a variety of corporate and personal sins and, as we all know, sin without repentance leads to death.

Unless the Lord intervenes, these spiritually dead churches will die and the influence of the Christian church in America will dwindle to nothing. We think things are bad now, imagine what our nation would look like if there were no Christian Churches remaining?

This morning, I want to speak with you in two ways.

Again, there are multiple reasons I can offer you today as to why these churches are where they are, but one stands out above the others. They are dying because they are no longer taking the message of the gospel to the lost. As much as I care about helping dead churches come alive again, I care more about helping spiritually dead people come alive through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is because if a dead church is to live again, and it can, it must be filled with people who have been made alive with Jesus, and messengers who are taking the gospel to the dead.

I want to speak with you corporately.

I want to speak with you personally.

Corporately, meaning Monaghan Baptist Church as a whole and your path moving forward.

Personally, meaning you as an individual, and what happens whenever someone comes to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

With these thoughts in mind this morning, let’s look at a well known passage from the book of Ezekiel. In we read the story of how God used the prophet Ezekiel to deliver the message of His resurrecting power to the spiritually hopeless, dry bones nation of Israel.

Read

In this passage God gives Ezekiel a message of hope for him to deliver to the Jews, and I believe this same message is relevant for struggling churches and individuals today who believe God is finished or has abandoned them. It is a message of hope, salvation and restoration.

To understand what is happening in this passage we need to take a trip down Israel’s memory lane. During our brief journey, keep in mind that Israel was a nation of people who found themselves in a constant cycle of rebellion against God. The cycle was something like this: They rebel; God judges them. They cry out for mercy; God forgives them. They experience a revival and enjoy a time of physical and spiritual peace; then rebel again.

For seventy years, under the Kingship of David and his son Solomon, the twelve tribes of Israel were united as one Kingdom. Following Solomon’s death, the northern tribes of Israel cut ties with the southern tribes of Judah because of in fighting. Keep in mind, that Jerusalem was located in Judah.

For the next 300 years, Israel continues the cycle of rebellion and reconciliation to God. During this time, the Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah warned the Jews about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, unless they repent, seek God’s forgiveness, and return to Him. The prophets’ warnings fall on deaf ears, and Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C. It is at this point the Jews are under complete control of the Babylonian empire leaving them desperate and hopeless.

When Ezekiel has the vision of the dry bones, he is living with other Jewish exiles in Babylon. Word has reached them about Jerusalem’s fall, and they are devastated by the news. The temple is gone. Jerusalem’s gates are gone. Jerusalem is gone. They are separated from their families, they are under another nation’s control. I’d imagine some of them were thinking “Had God finally had enough and abandoned them?” “Is this the end of their people?” I would imagine a complete sense of hopelessness had set in for them.

In my conversations with Dr. White and Danny, I know that at one time Monaghan Baptist Church had great influence in the Monaghan Mill village as you ministered to the needs of the people in the community.

I know that i this building was once full of people and the church was thriving.

But somewhere along the way, something happened and things began declining. I don’t know what those things were, but they did. And now all of you who remain are asking, like the Israelites did when they were exiled and their capital city in ruins, if God is done with Monaghan Baptist Church? I want you to know this morning, that based on what we are about to look at together, there is hope for Monaghan Baptist Church. God is not done with your church.

In this morning’s passage God gives Ezekiel a message of hope for him to deliver to the Jews, and I believe it is a message for all struggling churches today who believe God is finished with them. I also believe it is a message for people who have never considered walking in a relationship with Lord.

In this morning’s passage God gives Ezekiel a message of hope for him to deliver to the Jews.

In this morning’s passage God gives Ezekiel a message of hope for him to deliver to the Jews, and I believe it is a message for all struggling churches, and struggling people today who believe God is finished with them.

(Vs. 1-2): Tell us that God places Ezekiel in a prophetic trance and carries him out to a large valley. As God moves Ezekiel all around the valley he notices three things: (1) There are a lot of bones in the valley, leading Ezekiel to understand that he is witnessing the result of a great catastrophe that was most likely caused by a battle; (2) the bones are laying on the surface of the valley having been left there for savaging buzzards. As a priest Ezekiel would have been greatly disturbed by this sight because of the importance Jews placed on properly preparing the dead for burial; and (3) the bones are very dry which helps Ezekiel understand that the bones had been in the valley a very long time.

Ezekiel sees a horrific picture of death. The people whose skin once covered these bones have been left hopeless.

This past Monday, January 27, was Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was also the 75 year anniversary of the liberation of the Jews from Auschwitz. It’s believed that some 6 million Jews were senselessly murdered during the Holocaust. I am not going to show any Holocaust pictures this morning because they are so violent in nature, but whenever I read these verses in Ezekiel, I imagine the field the prophet saw resembled the pictures many of us have seen of murdered Jews during the Holocaust.

In the opening of this sermon, I gave you some difficult statistics regarding the health of churches in America, South Carolina, and in Greenville. Metaphorically speaking, many of the churches who fit those statistics look a lot like the scattered bones that Ezekiel sees in this passage. There is no organization to them. There is no common mission, no vision, no life. Their facilities are crumbling because they don’t have the budget to keep up with simple maintenance. When someone walks into those church facilities they can tell, just like Ezekiel could tell, that something terrible has happened.

Some of you know someone that whenever you hear about what is going in their lives, they resemble these dried up bones. Life’s circumstances and bad choices have left them scattered and lifeless. They believe all hope is lost. Maybe that is one of you here this morning. Back before Christmas, a young man came to our church and he told our secretary that he wanted to speak with the pastor about being saved. Our Senior Pastor wasn’t available so I spoke with him. I sat and listened to this young man as he talked and what came out of his mouth was some of the strangest nonsense I’ve ever heard. It did not take me long to realize the young man was using drugs. I shared the gospel and prayed with him, but as he walked away I knew that unless he sought help for his drug problem, his life would remain a mess much like those dead dry bones Ezekiel was seeing.

(Vs. 3-4): As Ezekiel is taking in the horrific sight, God interrupts him with an odd question. He asks the prophet, “Can these bones live?” To which Ezekiel responds by telling God that He is the only one who truly knows if the bones can live again. Remember, the idea of the dead coming back to life was just as foreign and almost unbelievable to the Jews in Ezekiel’s day as it is to us in our day. So here’s what we must understand about Ezekiel’s response. His response shows us that he understands God’s sovereignty over life and death, so he casts himself entirely upon the will and the power of God. Ezekiel knew that only God could make those bones live again and it was His decision alone as to whether or not He was going to allow them to do so.

Dr. Bill Henard, of my professors at Southern Seminary, writes this about God’s question to Ezekiel, “The question of the moment is the one asked by God of Ezekiel, ‘Can these bones live?’ Ezekiel’s answer resonates with most who love the church, ‘LORD God, only you know.’”

While Ezekiel’s answer was true, we must understand this about God. He is the God of life. The entire redemptive story of God sending Jesus to save us from our sins proves that He wants all to live because He is the God of life, not death. When He originally created humanity, He expected His creation to follow His commandments because they loved Him the same as He loved them. But that is not what happened, and death entered the world. When death entered the world, a great chasm developed between God and His once perfect creation and that chasm of death still exists today.

While Ezekiel’s answer was true, we must understand this about God. He is the God of life. The entire redemptive story of God sending Jesus to save us from our sins proves that He wants all to live because He is the God of life, not death. When He originally created humanity, He expected His creation to follow His commandments because they loved Him the same as He loved them. But that is not what happened, and death entered the world. When death entered the world, a great chasm developed between God and His once perfect creation and that chasm of death still exists today.

God, in His infinite wisdom, knew what it was going to take to build a bridge for His creation to cross, but He also knew only He could do it.

God, in His infinite wisdom, knew what it was going to take to build a bridge for His creation to cross, so that we could be reunited with Him. That’s why Ezekiel’s question makes complete sense. Just like God knows what it takes to reunite mankind with Him, He also knows what it is going to take for at-risk and declining churches to live again.

(Vs. 5-10): God tells Ezekiel to command the bones to hear His Words and live. In verse seven, we see that while Ezekiel is delivering the message to the bones, he watches in amazement as the bones begin to rattle and come together in their proper places. Ezekiel witnesses the formation of new muscles, new tissue, and new skin forming over the once dead and dry bones. But then the process suddenly stops. The reformed bodies have everything they need to live again, except one essential ingredient, breath of life. That is when God tells Ezekiel to command breath to enter the bodies so they may live again. Ezekiel does as commanded and the once horrific sight of a valley of death is now an “exceedingly great army” full of life.

God answered Ezekiel’s question with a resounding “yes!” they can live again and they did! Wow! What an amazing and majestic moment for anyone to witness.

God is the giver of life and by His power alone any church that resembles the valley of the dried bones in Ezekiel’s day and any person whose life resembles those same bones can live again.

says, “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

says, That God does not need “anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things...”

says “For with You is the fountain of life...”

The same God who gave life to the dried bones can give life back to Monaghan Baptist Church, and to anyone who is spiritually dead.

(Vs. 11-14): God reveals to Ezekiel the meaning of the vision he has just witnessed. The bones represent the current condition of Israel. They are hopeless, and without life in them. But God promises that He is going to revive them and return them to the land He promised their ancestors long ago. He’s going to do it so they will know that He has not forgotten them and that He will always keep His promises. He is telling them, that He is not finished with them.

About 50 years later, in 536 B.C. the reconstruction of Jerusalem begins to take place when the first group of exiles begin rebuilding the temple. The prophecy is completely fulfilled in 444 B.C. after God uses Ezra to setup a new administration based on Jewish law and Nehemiah leads the process of rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem.

There are two questions I feel we need to answer this morning in relation to this story.

I. Spiritual Deadness is Humanity’s Condition by Nature

In Ezekiel’s day, the dry bones in the valley represented Israel, but in our day, they represent all of humanity’s nature. Since the time of Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden mankind’s nature has been bent on disobeying God’s commandments. This was true for the nation of Israel and it’s true for us today. By nature, we are prone to evil as we rebel against God.

a. Paul says in , “I know that no good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

In our flesh, meaning apart from the work of God’s Holy Spirit, there is nothing good about us.

b. Paul goes on to say in that when, “the mind [that is focused] on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

c. says that all Christians were once “dead in our trespasses and sins.”

The point is this, just like the bones in the valley were dead until God revived them with the breath of His Spirit, people who are spiritually dead are incapable of life without God.

II. Spiritual Deadness results in God’s Judgment

There are two parts to God’s punishment for sinful man. (1) Physical Death, and (2) Spiritual death. Israel’s constant rebellion against God had to be punished. All of mankind was placed under the curse of physical death when Adam and Eve rebelled against God. The reality for us all is we are going to die. The field of science will never find a way to keep humans from death.

· declares that there is “a time to be born and a time to die…”

· states that “Man’s days are determined; [God has] decreed the number of his months and set limits he cannot exceed.”

· : Every man “is destined to die once and after that comes judgement.”

We will all experience physical death, but only the unrepentant will experience both physical and spiritual death.

a. say that those who follow the ways of this world, live by the “passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, [are] by nature children of wrath.” This means that those who live in unrepentant rebellion against God will be punished. The consequence of Israel’s rebellion was death and exile. Our punishment for unrepentant rebellion is both physical and spiritual death which will lead to an eternity in hell.

III. The Spiritually Dead Can Only Be Rescued by God

Read with me verses 3-6 once again:

· Notice in verse 4: ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’

· Vs. 5: ‘Thus says the LORD GOD to these bones: Behold I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.

· Vs. 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.” [4]

Notice also in verses 9-10 that it wasn’t until God allowed Ezekiel to call upon the four winds to “breath” life into the flesh and skin covered bones that they came alive again.

In Vs. 14 God tells Israel that He, “will put [His] Spirit within you, and you shall live…”

Spiritual death will only be avoided by those who have God’s Spirit present within them. God used Ezekiel as a messenger of hope for the people of Israel. God sent Jesus as the messenger of hope for all mankind. The only way the life-giving Spirit of the Lord lives within a person is through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

a. are, in my opinion, the most beautiful words in the Bible. “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[5]

1. What is it going to take for Monaghan Baptist Church to become a healthy and thriving church once again?

God brought the dry bones of Israel back from spiritual deadness because of “the great love which he” loved them and He sent Jesus Christ to rescue us from spiritual deadness for the exact same reasons. go on to say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God…” God’s gift to the Jews was restoring them as one nation to the land He promised to their ancestors. God’s gift to all of mankind is eternal life for anyone who believes in Him.

Two Applications:

There are two applications for us this morning:

1. To the Christian God is saying that He wants to use you to deliver His message of hope to the spiritually dead. Just like He used Ezekiel to deliver His message of hope to the hopeless nation of Israel, God wants to use you. For that to happen we must see people as God sees them.

How many people do you have some form of contact with on daily or weekly basis that are as hopeless as the nation of Israel was? When God looked at the people of Israel, He could have rightfully judged them for the spiritual deadness and left them in that condition. Yet, He sent a messenger in the form of Ezekiel and He offered them hope. God chose to bring Israel back to life and He used Ezekiel to deliver the message.

· says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that nay should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Who are the spiritually dead that God is calling on you to deliver His message of hope to? Earlier this year we celebrated a “Who’s Your One?” Sunday. On Sunday, September 15, we are going to do it again. Our purpose behind “Who’s Your One?” Sunday is not to have a one Sunday boost of numbers. It is to celebrate the work that God has done through you, His messengers of hope, as you lead some to Christ, and bring them with you on September 15th to celebrate their being made alive again in Christ. Our prayer is that you have already been praying for someone you know is spiritually dead. Our prayer is you will be like Ezekiel and deliver the message of Jesus Christ’s saving work on the cross so that the spiritually dead may live again.

2. To the hopeless, God is telling you there is hope for you in a relationship with Him.

Are you feeling like there is no hope for you this morning? God says your hopeless dead bones can live again!

Do you believe your financial situation is hopeless this morning? God says there is hope in a relationship with Him?

Do you believe your marriage is in a hopeless place this morning? God says your marriage can be made alive again when you and your spouse accept Him.

Do you believe you prodigal child is hopeless this morning? God says your relationship with that child can be restored again, and most importantly that child can come home to Him.

2. What is it going to take for someone who is far from God to find their way to His saving grace?

Are you caught up in some form of addiction that you believe it is hopeless for you to walk away from? God says His power can free you from that addiction.

When we call upon the power of the Spirit of God, no one is without hope!

Will you pray with me?

For both the church and the individual, the answers are one and the same.

A Messenger

[2] Gray, Rudy. “Challenges for the Church.” Baptist Courier. November 12, 2018. Accessed June 9, 2019. https://baptistcourier.com/2018/11/editors-word-challenges-for-the-church/.

Notice in verse 4 how God uses Ezekiel to deliver His message. “Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’” And in verse 7, Ezekiel says, “So I prophesied as I was commanded.”

God could have easily revived the bones Himself, but instead He chose to demonstrate His power over death by using Ezekiel as the messenger. But it wasn’t Ezekiel’s words that made the bones come to life. It was the Word of God.

Some time in the future you will be responsible for calling a new pastor. It is vital that he be a man of God who listens and follows God’s commands and faithfully preaches God’s Word. Any man who stands in the Lord’s pulpit is required by Scripture to faithfully preach God’s Word.

Consider what Paul commanded Timothy when he said, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus…preach the word…” And back in chapter 2 verse 15 Paul tells the young pastor, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

The messenger of God must be a man who studies God’s Word in such a way that he will stand before the church where God has assigned him and correctly deliver God’s message to the congregation.

Why is this so important? Go back to chapter 4 and pickup at verse 3. Paul says, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

This past week when I was home sick with the flu, If I wasn’t sleeping, I was watching TV. Truly, sleeping and watching TV was all I felt up to doing from Tuesday afternoon until yesterday. There are not many newer TV shows I enjoy watching, so I enjoy watching reruns of the Andy Griffith show and the original Law and Order that came on in the 90s. Thankfully, we have two channels that run Law and Order marathons on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. So this past week, my days started with Andy Griffith reruns, and on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday they ended with Law and Order reruns. One commercial that ran several times throughout the day reminded me of why it is vital for our pulpits to be filled with men of God who properly preach the Word of God.

SHOW VIDEO CLIP

Some of you may have seen this commercial a time or two while watching TV. Peter Popoff is a German-born televangelist and con man. On his website, Popoff distorts God’s Word by writing, “You can experience divine favor, divine blessing, divine health, and divine power. Yes, Jesus said, ‘I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.’ It is God’s will for you to live an abundant life full of His blessings.” The distortion in this verse lies in the fact that Jesus is not talking about life on earth in this passage. Jesus is actually talking about how His sheep will remain faithful to Him and never follow anyone else but Him. Ironically enough just before the portion Popoff quotes from , Jesus says, “‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’” Jesus is referring to the gift of eternal life and the rewards that await His sheep in Heaven. What’s ironic is that Popoff is being used by the “thief” to attempt to “steal and kill and destroy.”

This is just one example of thousands where Popoff distorts God’s Word. For those of us who are Christ’s sheep, Popoff’s message is obviously wrong. There are other preachers who, like Popoff, distort God’s Word for their own gain. But they are much more subtle about it. The point is this, a true messenger of God speaks what God commands Him to speak and never dilutes the message.

This is just one example of thousands where Popoff distorts God’s Word.

Another example of this is what we’ve seen in recent years with churches who are being ripped apart by disagreements over the issue of homosexuality. The most recent example of this is the Methodist church. These churches have allowed false teachers in their midst who are preaching an unbiblical doctrine that is not giving life to the church, but instead is splintering God’s church.

False messages from people who claim to be of God lead to destruction. God’s ordained messenger will preach God’s Word the way God expects it to be preached, and that will lead to life. Life in the church, and life in the believer.

[3] Richardson, Anna, comp. “2018 Greenville Baptist Association Annual Report.” Director of Missions Report, 23. Accessed June 16, 2019.

God’s Spirit

Not only does new life in a declining church require a Godly messenger, it also requires God’s Holy Spirit. Following the bones coming together, and being covered with new muscles, flesh, and skin, Ezekiel realizes there is a problem. Look at the last sentence in verse 8. “But there was no breath in them.” The bones had all the necessary tools for living, but they were still dead. It’s not until after Ezekiel once again does what God tells him to do that God’s Spirit entered into the bones and they lived. Verse 10 says, “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.” Life requires the Spirit of God. In the Bible, whenever God’s Spirit comes upon an individual they are empowered to do things that otherwise they could not do. Left to his own abilities, Ezekiel would not have been able to give life to these bones.

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Any person or church that is void of God’s Spirit is dead. But any person or church where God’s Holy Spirit is moving and active, is alive and thriving.

Ezekiel would not have been able to give life to these bones.

Notice in verse 9 that God tells Ezekiel to, “‘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.’” In the original Hebrew language, the word that is used here for breath also means “spirit.” That’s how we know God is telling Ezekiel to call upon the Holy Spirit to move. Just like told Ezekiel to call upon the Holy Spirit for power, He tells us to do the same. And the way we do that, is through prayer.

There are two occasions in the book of Acts where God responds to the prayers of the Apostles by powerfully sending His Holy Spirit. One of those occasions took place in a small room in Jerusalem, where the Disciples were waiting on the promised Holy Spirit to arrive (, ). While meeting and praying together, "suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting…And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (,, ESV). God used the loud sound of the Spirit’s coming to drive “devout men from every nation under heaven” (, ESV) to come together and hear the gospel preached for the first time. As a result, “those who received [Peter’s] word was baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” (, ESV).

Thousands of people would have never been saved on the day of Pentecost.

A second occasion when God's Spirit moved powerfully because of the prayers of the Apostles takes place in Acts 4:23:31. After healing a disabled man who laid near the gates of the Temple each day, Peter delivered another fiery sermon to those who witnessed the miracle telling them that it only happened because of Jesus. As a result, five thousand people were saved that day. However, because the Apostles credited the miracle to Jesus in such a public manner, they were admonished by the powers that be for talking about Jesus’s death and resurrection.

The next day, the religious council summoned Peter and John to question them about the healing of the disabled man. After sharing the gospel with the religious council, and being sent away so deliberations could take place, the council brought Peter and John back and informed them that they were no longer allowed to speak the name of Jesus.

Thousands of people would have never been saved when the Apostles were praying and the building shook drawing people to the place so that Peter could deliver the Gospel again.

Afterward, Peter and John returned to their friends to share with them all that had occurred. says that following the report, the group, "lifted their voices together to God and…" prayed. Verse 31 informs us that immediately after they prayed, “the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

Prayer leads to the empowering of the Holy Spirit and the empowering of the Holy Spirit leads to life.

We all love a good comeback story. One of the greatest is that of James J. Braddock—the Cinderella Man. As an entire nation struggled to overcome a devastating economic nosedive, this unlikely hero stepped into the role of a lifetime.A one-time contender for the light heavyweight title, Braddock hit a losing streak in 1929. Braddock’s claim to fame was that he’d never been knocked out. But when the stock market crashed in 1929, Braddock seemed down for the count. He struggled to win fights and put food on the table for his family. He eventually lost his house and his savings. No longer fighting in the ring, he fought instead to keep his family together. One day his former manager offered him the chance to stand in for the opener to the 1934 heavyweight match at Madison Square Garden. It meant fast cash and a chance to say goodbye to boxing forever. He didn’t even have to win. But things didn’t go as planned. Braddock won the fight. He became a symbol of hope for an entire nation fighting to pull itself out of ruin and back on its feet. And then on June 13, 1935, Braddock, a 10 to 1 underdog, won the heavyweight championship of the world. He made one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports.

A one-time contender for the light heavyweight title, Braddock hit a losing streak in 1929. Braddock’s claim to fame was that he’d never been knocked out. But when the stock market crashed in 1929, Braddock seemed down for the count. He struggled to win fights and put food on the table for his family. He eventually lost his house and his savings. No longer fighting in the ring, he fought instead to keep his family together.

One day his former manager offered him the chance to stand in for the opener to the 1934 heavyweight match at Madison Square Garden. It meant fast cash and a chance to say goodbye to boxing forever. He didn’t even have to win. But things didn’t go as planned. Braddock won the fight.

He became a symbol of hope for an entire nation fighting to pull itself out of ruin and back on its feet. And then on June 13, 1935, Braddock, a 10 to 1 underdog, won the heavyweight championship of the world. He made one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports.

Monaghan Baptist Church, I do not believe God is done with you so do not give up hope. You too can make an epic comeback. God will restore you to life and vibrancy within this community once again just like He gave life back to the Israelites as long as you follow His command and pray for His Spirit to empower you to do what only He can do.

On and on I could go about how God’s Spirit empowers people. Any person or church that is void of God’s Spirit is dead. But any person or church where God’s Holy Spirit is moving and active, is alive and thriving.

[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bible