COMEBACK SUNDAY: Rattle
The ComeBack: Rise Up • Sermon • Submitted
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· 30 viewsOur past is full of dead dry bones of yesteryear, but it doesn't have to be a weight as we turn our past over to God so he can turn what was once a burden into blessings.
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Transcript
PRAISE & WORSHIP
PRAISE & WORSHIP
INTRO INTO SERIES
INTRO INTO SERIES
Dry Bones Lesson with Marcie at Center Platform before Rattle!
Repeat conversation between Marcie & family member gives the sermon starter:
A sobering conversation when Sister-In-Law asked, “Do you believe that the great falling away has happened as the churches are more and more empty?
Marcie responds… It made me think how far we have come from Truth as Paul wrote to Timothy.
2 Tim 4.3
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.
and Jesus says...
Matt 24.11-13
And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Question?
Why does the church seem to be dry, dead, and in a sense of disbelief?
Marcie shares from Bible Revival that has stirred her heart...
Bible Revival: Recommitting Ourselves to One Book Chapter 1: A Revival of Learning the Word: Confronting Distractions, Priorities, and the Pretext of Being Too Busy
Stacey Irvine ate almost nothing but chicken nuggets for fifteen years
Stacy Irvine
A famine of Bible knowledge.
We ARE LIKE DRY BONES—filled with so much information and knowledge that we are disjointed from true relationship with the creator of the universe.
🎶INTRODUCE “RATTLE” the song.🎶
LESSON —GRAB YOUR LIFE SHEETS
Pick up the Presenter Controller for PPT
Introduce Ezekiel 37 with Focal passages...
In the Spirit=In a Valley with our Sovereign Lord
Ezekiel 37.5
Ezekiel 37:5 (NLT)
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!
The dry bones represent Israel and their deadness and loss of hope to get to their home country
(loss of hope and no future —)
Jer. 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Our Hope is based on “What the Sovereign Lord says...”
He holds our Hope and Future
He has plans to put life in us again.
In the same way, this valley...
represents the church today as many have lost hope in authority, even in God’s appointed authority in ruling over our land and the authority the church possess as the Body of Christ, thus churches are closing across the country because of dried up faith, disbelief, and fear to live again.
One Major take away that we must stress is this is about relationship and not a formula to be followed.
Being obedient to God‘s direction, to speak and prophesy to our own deadness—and dry bones, releases power to bring what was dead, dry, and decaying back together.
Eze. 37.7
Ezekiel 37:7 (NLT)
So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.
The bones were not just dry—they were very dry and sun bleached. The bones needed God’s Word spoken over them.
So, we need to know...
HIS AUDIBLE WORD...
HIS WRITTEN WORD...
HIS PROPHETIC WORD...
We simply don’t value the Word of God today as many Christians have in the past. There are two reasons why we don’t value the Word of God:
We question it’s Sufficiency
We question it’s Clarity
Bible Revival: Recommitting Ourselves to One Book Breathing the Atmosphere
if you find that you are passive toward the Bible, that you don’t value it the way you know Christians should, you may be inhaling the hazy air of a generation that is skeptical toward the possibility of God speaking authoritatively through a written text.
A generation that generally distrust authoritative.
BREATHING THE ATMOSPHERE of a GENERATION THAT DISTRUSTS GOD’S WORD CAN BE FATAL TO OUR FAITH.
DAVID WRITES...
PS. 19.7-8
7 The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8 The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.
Jesus is the New Testament example:
Jesus spoke to Lazarus and told him to come forth out of the grave. To live Again.
DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN:
Andrew Wommack story...
SOME KEY SCRIPTURES THAT SHOULD BE ENCOURAGING TO US FROM GOD’S WORD TO PUT OUR TRUST IN HIS WORD:
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
… and DEATH FROM LIFE!!
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
We have bones together with flesh and skin, but NO LIFE.
Ezek. 37.9
Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’ ”
BREATH IN THE BIBLE...
Breath in the Bible has a creative element as it signifies Life.
Gen. 2.7
Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
It also signifies commissioning with Power.
Jesus breathed on his disciples when he commissioned them before he ascended into heaven…
John 20.21-23
Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
So the Holy Spirit is the enabler as we see Jesus speaking over his disciples to go into all the world. That hasn’t changed today!
Ezek. 37.10-12
Ezekiel 37:10–12 (NLT)
10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
Thus, if we try to do life without the presence or enabling of the Holy Spirit we would be missing true life. It’s like we would be bones, muscle, tendons, and skin yet still missing the breath of LIFE.
THINKING TO TAKE ACTION WITH
Identify an area in our lives that is lacking breath.
Maybe it has been put back together but it is still lacking life, lacking the touch of God or lacking vitality.
We need to accept the enabling and empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives through God’s Word.
If we don’t accept this life we are like the Seven Sons of Sceva.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Ezek. 37.14
14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’ ”
HE WANTS TO GIVE US THE HOLY SPIRIT
Ezek 36.26-27
26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
Luke 11.11-13
11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?
12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not!
13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR SINFUL NATURE HAS NO POWER OVER US
Rom. 8.1-2
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
Rom.8:9
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
Before LIFE comes and before breath enters, the body has to come together.
What has been separated, disconnected and alone has to be reconnected to the body to form a whole.
Before new life enters to revive and restore the church to be the glorious bride that Christ will return for, we must first be gathered, reconnected, rejoined and unified.
PERSONAL ACTION
Do we have relationships or some area that we would say needs to be reconnected—a disjointed part of the Body?
It’s not just about Me--it’s about We!
Heb. 10.25
25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
RETURN TO THE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND THE LOCAL CHURCH IS BIBLICAL
I believe that the coming together of bones speaks prophetically into the return to a relationship with God with those who have turned away.
Will you believe with me that this year, we will see a return of God’s people and
believe with me that this year we will see a revival among the people to God?
ACTION
Who do you know that used to come to your church but left for whatever reason?
COVID
Hurt feelings
Someone else left or
No apparent reason—busyness.
Contact them this week with an invitation to come with you to church.
We Must Speak LIFE again…LIKE
Lord, I pray you would cause life to come into the situations that I have given up on. Reignite the hope within me that has been lost. Secure my anchor to you.
BIG PRAYERS FOR A BIG GOD:
What are you believing to see?
Is it small - just enough to live a small life with minimal impact? Or are you believing God will help you to see an exceedingly mighty army raised up?
QUOTE
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - the first female president in Africa, was quoted as saying,
“The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.”
AND WE SERVE A BIG GOD THAT CAN HANDLE BIG BODACIOUS PRAYERS.
CHALLENGE
Are WE willing to believe God could use US to achieve great things?
Are WE willing to believe God can turn our impossible into probable?
Are WE willing to believe God could use US to spearhead an exceedingly great army?
LAST ACTION
Hands on approach to increase engagement:
Make bones to put on the table to list dry areas in peoples lives.
Write down your dreams in a journal.
Generosity Moment
Generosity Moment
2 Cor. 9.7
You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
Updates
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