Never Changing God

Have you ever had a situation that has just felt out of control?

I remember when Liam was born Arika was induced we had a really rough time.

Because what ended up happening is they gave her the medication that begins the induction, but the issue was that Arika and Liam were actually allergic to the medication

Where Arika had a fever and worse then that Liams heart rate started to spike and drop

So for the next 8 hours the induction ended up being paused and instead two nurses were with us almost the entire night giving Arika oxygen and moving her around in certain positions to help get Liam as much oxygen as possible.

And not only that, but once Liam and Arika were stable, the pushing process was 5 and a half hours

Liam had a get vacumed out

Arika lost a lot of blood

And then afterwards Liam had to receive an IV

And all together we were in the hospital 6 or 7 days

And I know there are a lot of people who have had more traumatic birth stories then that

But regardless I remember during multiple times during this entire process calling out to God

And going God this situation seems out of control, in fact there is really nothing I can even do here, but I am giving this situation to you.

And if I am honest I can’t remember the exact prayer other than they were emotional,

But if I had to guess one thing that helped was while the situation was rapidly changing the God I was praying to is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Because the situation can change, but God would stay the same.

Was it still scary? Yeah. , Were their still some painful parts? yeah

But there is somthing beautiful where if we believe God was faithful a 1000 years ago, we know He is faithful in the situation

If we know God didn’t abandon his people 3000 years ago, we know he will not abandon us today.

And really today we are going to be looking at just some of the characteristics of who God is in the story we are in today and our response.

Because the truth is the section we are in today has a ton happening.

There are a bunch of kings, there is a takeover, and other things that go on and its easy to try and understand every single detail that is happening and it kind of just leaves your head spinning.

and we are going to look at the events briefly, but something much more important that we are looking at is what God is doing in the events, and what it tells us about Him.

Because we have situations that change, but we have a God who is constant in the middle of the change.

And really today we see a lot of change occur and it is negitive, because see the southern kingdom of Israel make a lot of poor choices

In fact we see that for the most part they continue this trend we have been in the past few weeks where they had kings that just did not seek God

We see them as harsh rulers

We see them seeking other gods

And not only that but the false gods at this time were harsh and we actually see one of the kings even sacrifice his child to a false god.

And this is a big issue, because this is these are the rulers of the nation which actually means that the people are following him and actually worse off.

And so you get this picture of really the Isralite people like this for a long time

And because of it they have faced punishment, but finally you get to this point where God speaks through a prophet named Jeremiah Where He tells the people this in Jeremiah 4:6-8

Jeremiah 4:6–8 NIV

6 Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction.” 7 A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant. 8 So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.

You know it would be easy to look at this and think wow, God is kind of a bad guys here.

I mean this is a little harsh, I mean they are just making mistakes right.

But what I want you to get is this was not just a mistake, but it was hundreds of years of them intentionally rebelling against God.

And as a result getting in a dark place where they are following these false gods that cause so much destruction.

I mean you even see a few verse later in Jeremiah 5:1 God evens says:

Jeremiah 5:1 NIV

1 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.

Basically if you can just find a person who is just a decent person thats honest and genuinely seeking truth (not even God) I will forgive the city.

I mean before I go any further I just have to say we serve a God who is merciful.

His grace is deeper then anything we can imagine.

Because our sence of grace is not supper deep.

A lot of time we are people that go well my spouse diden’t do the dishes like I asked, but its okay… I can forgive them.

It will be hard but God calls me to be a graceful person.

But whats amazing is God is willing to forgive this nation, even though they have turned away from him over and over again.

But its because we serve a God that is more merciful then we can understand.

But Its also important to understand that He is not just merciful but also He is just.

And a lot of times in a passage we get frustrated because God seems not merciful, and overly just, but really if God continued to allow this to happen He would not be just.

If God kept allowing child sacrifice to occur thats not just

Its kind of like how a couple years ago I got pulled over by the Buchanan Police department,

And it was because I forgot to put my new registration on the car and if you have ever gotten pulled over by the Buchanan police they are awesome, I mean they really are there to serve the public.

But they actually gave me a warning, but they told me “hey you need to put this on your car because next time we will have to give you a ticket”

And I said completely understand and gladly took my warning.

because while they were really graceful at some point the Buchanan police department will have to stop using time and energy pulling me over every week for my registration.

But you know while God is merciful, He is also just.

And it is not just because we are taking up His time or energy, but He is just because when we are doing things against his will its not just hurting us, but it is hurting others around us

And so in this story we see God step in, but you need to notice something, because there are consequences taking place, but a few verses further we get to see God’s heart here:

Because God is talking to the people through His prophet and it says this:

Jeremiah 13:17 NIV

17 If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

You know God is not just sitting their saying “I told you so…”

“You really should have listened!”

But he is saying my heart is breaking for you, because of the destruction that has taken place.

I mean think about it! Because if you have a kid, there is a good chance your kid at some point has done something wrong. (Adam is looking at me like “nope I do not know what you are talking about”)

But if they have occasionally they may have gotten a time out even.

but a parent is never happy giving their child a time out right?

Of course not, because we love our kids,

But really when we stray away God is caring and loving where He is not going well that stinks, but he is going “My heart is broken for you”

Because God is loving and caring, towrds us even when we are not towrd Him

I love this quote that I found from another pastor because it says:

“What you love will change the way you live (which we see happen to the Israelites) but how you live will never change the way you are loved”

Let me read that again: “What you love will change the way you live but how you live will never change the way you are loved”

God will love you even when you could care less and are going 100MPH in the oppisite direction.

I mean we serve a God who is loving.

And really for the remainder of this message I want to focus on the last part of the story here, because the last characteristic of God that we are talking about is that He is a redeemer.

And we are just going to sit at what takes place at the end of where we are today, because the things that Jeremiah said ended up happening and the nation is taken, basically destroyed and exiled to another land

And in the middle of this we see another prophet named Ezekiel who escaped and he ends up in this valley and I want us to see what happens, in Ezekial 37:1-10. It says this:

Ezekiel 37:1–10 NIV

1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin 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 it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

So God brings Ezekiel to this valley and the valley was full of bones and we need to understand that they are just bones, infact the passage mentions they were dry.

meaning these are not people who were alive recently but they have been dead for a long time.

And we see Ezekiel going back and forth around all these dead bones.

Just this really dark picture. This place of no hope.

I mean have you been at a place like this?

But what neat is in the middle of Ezekiel being in this lifeless area God comes to him and says can these bones come alive?

And Ezekiel’s response is great because he says God I don’t, know, but you know!

You know if there is life that can come out of it.

But whats really powerful here is that the dry bones actually represent where the nation of Israel is right now.

I mean things are destroyed, things have fallen apart. If you were to look at this nation from the outside you would say yeah that nation gone.

But I really believe that there are some of us here who would say there is an area in our life that feels like this.

I look at the relationship I have with my kid and it seems lifeless

My life as a whole feels purposeless and dry

I feel like this thing in my life is a lost cause

But something that is really interesting is God actually tells Ezekiel begin to prophesy life over these dead bones.

And something that is so interesting is a lot of times we associate prophesying with some sort of magical fortune teller thing, but really the truest sense of the word is that it is speaking truth.

And so in a sense God is telling Ezekiel these dry bones can have life and I want you to speak that into them.

And more importantly God is telling Ezekial to do this not to have some sort of cool trick for halloween, but because God wants Ezekiel to prophesy that if the God of the universe can bring to life these dead bones, don’t you think He can bring to life the nation of Israel.

You know if you are feeling like there is a dead area in your life, what would it look like before doing anything beginning to speak life life into the situation.

Before we say “its to late” what would happen if we said if the God of the universe can make dry bones come alive, maybe he can make this dry area in my life come alive.

Maybe this mistake I made can be redeemed

Maybe there is hope that my relationship with my kids can be worked out

If dead bones can come to life, maybe there is hope even in this medical issue I am having.

But I really believe we have a God who is a redeemer, in fact there is one verse I want to end on today and I am sure we all know it, but it is Jeremiah 29:11 and I want you to read this out loud with me. It says:

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

You know you might be stuck somewhere this morning.

Maybe its a health issue, maybe a relationship just seems stuck, maybe you made a mistake and feel like you are in exile.

But here is the thing we serve a God of redemption.

And I really believe if we are turning to God He is actively redeeming what is happening in our life.

And it is important to note that the Israelites were in exile for 70 years after this.

You there is a chance God is redeeming a situation and it can still be painful, but really the beauty of this entire passage is what I mentioned in the beginning that even if the road to redemption is a long one we have a God who is constant.

He is merciful

Just

Loving

redeeming

And best of all He has promised He will not leave you.

And this morning I do not know exactly where you are, but I believe whole heartedly that the God we serve can move in the situation you are in.

The situation may seem unstable but the God we serve will not change.

Maybe there is an area that feels dry this morning in your life, what would it look like to lay that area down to God.

And you should have recieved a postcard in your bulletin. I want you to write an area that feels dry in your life.

A place that feels hopeless, maybe its because of somthing you did, maybe its just somthing that happened.

But write it down during this song and I want to challenge you begin speaking life into that area through prayer for even just the next 30 days.

Because if we have a God who can bring life from dry bones

If we have a God that can overcome the grave and be resurected.

I believe that God can work in your situation.

Will you pray with me?