Sermon for March 29, 2020

Good morning everyone,,, watching by video this morning.

Again we are trying our hand at videoing this sermon and hopefully we will continue even after all of this is over since we are beginning to figure out how to do these things.

This morning I'll be reading Ezekiel chapter 37 verses 1 through 14.

I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

God had just announced in chapter 36 that Israel would be restored to her land in blessing under the leadership of David her king. However, this seemed remote in light of Israel’s present condition. She was “dead” as a nation—deprived of her land, her king, and her temple. She had been divided and dispersed for so long that unification and restoration seemed impossible.

1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. 3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I replied, “Lord GOD, only You know.” 4 He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” 7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord GOD says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army. 11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them: This is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, My people, and lead you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am Yahweh, My people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. I have spoken, and I will do it.” This is the declaration of the LORD.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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This morning as we begin,,, I want to give God the thanks and glory for all of the different sermons that were posted on the internet last Sunday.

As a pastor,,, I really enjoyed listening and watching everyone's videos after our service was over.

I'm also sure that I wasn't the only one videoing a sermon for the first time.

But even more than that,,, was the ability of more people to see and hear God's message than ever before.

Some possibly that might never have set foot inside either Oakdale or Seminary church,,, or any number of churches that had their sermons aired online.

I'm always reminded of where it says:

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

This virus is terrible,,, but God is making it possible for thousands and thousands of people to hear His message that otherwise wouldn't have paid any attention to it last month.

That's the God that I love,,, the God that will take whatever this world has messed up,,, and make something good out of it.

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As I said at the beginning,,, in chapter 36,,, God has announced that Israel would be restored to her land in blessing under the leadership of David her king.

But this seems impossible because of the condition of the country.

There was no hope,,, they weren't able to do anything to help themselves.

It kinda reminds you of some of the same situations we are facing today doesn't it?

Let's look at these verses and see if they can help us in our daily walk with God.

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Verse 1 says: 1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.

In this vision Ezekiel was set down in the middle of a valley that was full of bones.

My Bible Knowledge Commentary says that these bones represented Israel's present condition,,, or the way that they felt about their situation.

They felt hopeless,,, lifeless,,, like there was nothing they could do.

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Verse 2 says: 2 He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry.

These were bones that had been out in the elements for a long time.

There was no flesh on them,,, everything edible had been cleaned off by the wild animals.

They would have been scattered by the animals while they tried to gnaw everything that they could get off the bones.

The bones had become white from the sun baking down on them.

They would have been very dry and possibly brittle.

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Verse 3 says: 3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I replied, “Lord GOD, only You know.”

God was obviously asking Ezekiel something that was humanly impossible,,, in other words,,, there was no way that anyone could have brought these bones to life.

But,,, we as Christians know that with God,,, all things are possible,,, so we know that only God can accomplish what is humanly impossible.

My Faithlife Study Bible says that God isn't asking Ezekiel if he believes people can be brought back to life since this is something that he would have been familiar with from the experiences of Elijah and Elisha.

But from the fact that these were bones that had been there a long time,,, were scattered and separated from one another.

In this verse,,, Ezekiel gives the only answer that he knows to give.

He's not sure if they can or not,,, but he knows the one that does know!

That is something that he is very sure of,,, and it's something that we should pay attention to as well!

No matter what question we may have,,, we can be assured that God has the answer.

It may not be the answer we want to hear,,, or in the time that we want to hear it,,, or it may be an answer that is withheld for any number of reasons,,, but just know that God has the answer,,, and that's why we should always turn to God first,,, instead of as a last resort for answers,,, like we usually do.

But Ezekiel says,,, “Lord GOD, only You know.”

And we get God's answer in the following verses.

(9:22)

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Verses 4 through 8 say: 4 He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” 7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Now,,, I don't know how many of you like horror movies,,, but this seems like the beginning of a really good one,,, if there is such a thing!

In case you can't tell,,, I'm not a fan of them.

After thinking about this,,, I went back to my commentaries and looked up when this was written and it was before there were very many horror movies written I'm pretty sure!

Ezekiel's prophesy covered the years of 593 to 571 B.C.,,, give or take a little bit,,, either way,,, a long time ago.

So,,, I'm just guessing that this could be where some ideas came from,,, for horror movies maybe???

Anyway,,, I'm getting way off topic here.

So going back to the scripture,,,

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy concerning these bones,,, to hear the word of the Lord,,, He will put the breath of life into them,,, He will put tendons on you,,, make flesh grow on you,,, cover you with skin,,, and God will put the breath of life into them.

So Ezekiel does all of that,,, just as God told him to do,,, and the bones rattle and come together,,, and form bodies,,, but there was no breath in them.

There was no life yet.

As in all things,,, there is no life,,, without the breath of life,,, which comes from God,,, and especially these bones,,, that would be even more obvious,,,

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So in verses 9 & 10,,, it says: 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord GOD says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.

(12:03)

Now,,, after God has allowed the breath of life to enter them,,, they come to life and stand up,,, a vast army.

My CSB Study Bible says that the four winds probably indicates the full power of the entering breath since the winds come from every direction.

The picture reminds us of the creation event, where the Spirit of God hovered over the raw elements of the world, transforming it into a world that we could live in,,, found in .

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Verses 11 through 14 say: 11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them: This is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, My people, and lead you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am Yahweh, My people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. I have spoken, and I will do it.” This is the declaration of the LORD.

(13:22)

According to my CSB Study Bible,,, in verse 13,,, God adds a new element to the dried bones by stating that He will open the graves and take them from their place of burial,,, demonstrating the reality of national rebirth.

demonstrating the reality of national rebirth.

Just as the events in the vision were miraculous, so will be Israel’s restoration.

The vision showed that Israel’s new life depended on God’s power.

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The simple meaning of this vision to the people of Israel was one that was given to overcome discouragement from their Babylonian captivity.

The main spiritual lesson,,, is one of hope in God,,, not in themselves.

God is showing them that He can bring them help from places that they would never dream of,,, but they must trust Him and put their faith in His power,,, not their own personal power!

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Which brings us to our problems of today,,, problems that we as a nation cannot solve on our own.

Problems that have led to our own discouragements.

And I'm not just talking about coronavirus problems either,,, although that is definitely top of the list right now,,, but the problems that we have with our country being divided and without hope,,, even before the coronavirus problems.

(14:46)

We have become so discouraged that we have forgotten that there is anything or anyone that can help us,,, just like the Israelites in this vision.

(14:55)

But God is trying to tell us that there is hope,,, that He is still here,,, His plan is still in place,,, and through His strength,,, we will get through this.

We are like the Israelites,,, we keep looking inside ourselves for answers,,, when our answer is above!

Raise your voice in praise,,, and give God the glory that He deserves because He will bring us out of this!

With all of us being shut up in our homes,,, it has given God a chance to talk to so many that were just too busy before to listen.

I learned just how many more were able to listen to my sermon just because it was posted on Facebook live,,, something that I've thought about doing for a long time now,,, but never seemed to make the time to learn!

Now,,, because of all of this,,, I had no choice,,, I had to learn how.

Be sure that as we continue to be separated from one another,,, we should always be connected to God,,, and through Him,,, we are always connected to each other.

As the days of isolation continue,,, be sure that we spend them in prayer and fellowship with God.

Please be sure that this quiet time isn't wasted time.

God is telling us that there is hope!

He's still in control,,, but we really need to stop,,, and truly,,, truly,,, listen while we have the chance!

(16:19)

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