Death Valley
Notes
Transcript
WE EXIST TO HELP PEOPLE KNOW JESUS AND FIND PURPOSE
BONES BY THEMSELVES ARE LIFELESS
You can’t tell what they liked — their personality — favorite vacation spot — They are also a little creepy
BIOLOGY CLASS — EVERYONE FAILED
OFTEN THIS IS WHAT LIFE CAN FEEL LIKE — JUST BONES
10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
YOUNG MAN TAKEN FROM JERUSALEM — EXILED TO BABYLON
10,000 total taken — EZEKIEL — PROPHET PREACHER — God’s people were stuck in their sinful ways.
THEY WERE CHASING BLESSINGS INSTEAD OF THE BLESS-ER
CHASE BLESSINGS = DRY BONES — IF WE CHASE THE BLESS-ER WE DISCOVER LIFE
GOD IS A GOD OF LIFE. NOT OF DEATH. NOT OF DRY BONES. BUT LIFE.
We grow up. One day we head off to college. Try to experience the life. Go to the bars. Sleep in different beds. Get the buzz. Graduate. Head to a job. Get married. Have kids. Make some money. Make goals financially. But something is still missing. You feel… dead.
1 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. 2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
EZEKIEL SAYS “GOD ONLY YOU REALLY KNOW”
Valley of Dead Sea — 1,300 feet below sea level. LOWEST ELEVATION ON EARTH — Battle long ago — Bones everywhere
THIS PASSAGE HAS TWO APPLICATIONS — ISRAEL JESUS HOLY SPIRIT
THE OTHER ONE IS A PRACTICAL ONE. ABOUT YOU AND ME. ABOUT YOUR SKELETON AND MINE. YOUR BONES AND MY BONES.
Could it be that we have some dead people here. Not literally but figuratively. Could it be that your marriage is dead. Future dead. Career dead. Friendships dead. Does that describe you? Feel like you’re in a valley of dry bones. Heart is beating… but you feel dead. The good news is what God can do. BECAUSE GOD IS A GOD OF LIFE
THE BONES WERE SCATTERED
FEET — What direction are you headed? Pointing to the right people? — Going the right places? — Where are you walking?
KNEE BONE — Prayer. Bowing before God. Conversation with God.
Tailbone — Am i Sitting and soaking? Or and I Sharing Serving and Sowing?
BACKBONE — Courage. We have a collapse of Courage these days — If you do nothing with your life then you’ll have no haters. STAND FOR JESUS. When I was in HS I decided to stand.
SHOULDERS — Responsibility — Everyone is a victim. Bible says WE have to bear responsibility for our lives.
THE HEAD THE SKULL — The Jawbone — What are you saying? Your language — Towards your kids, towards your spouse — Envy — Slander —
BACK TO EZEKIEL — HE’S TOLD TO PREACH TO THE BONES...
4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord!
6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” 7 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. 8 Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
THE BONES STARTED TO CLATTER
GOD’S WORD NEVER RETURNS VOID — GOD USES PREACHING TO COMMUNICATE HIS WORD — Foolishness of preaching — GOD USEES IT
Not just preaching though — God’s word through the Bible — Through Prayer — Though Worship — Through Preaching NEVER RETURNS VOID — We have to accept it and let it change us.
THEY REALLY MATTERED
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.’ ” 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.
That’s the Holy Spirit
