Theme: The Valley of Dry Bones - 2012-02-29

Title: God raising an army

Message:

Ezekiel 37:1-28

1. Ezekiel says the hand of the Lord was upon him
2. He was carried in the Spirit of the Lord
3. He was set down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones
4. He was caused to pass by them and around them
5. There were many in the open valley
6. They were very dry I love this chapter because there is so much in it there is something for those who have become dry in their relationship with God and they need a new touch they need someone to prophesy over them as would Ezekiel in this prophetic word.
7. He is again called son of man
8. He is asked the question ‘can these bones live?’ what a statement, here is a man who is taken to this valley of dry bones, they were very many and they were very dry and he is asked this question of the Lord.
9. He is canny in his answer
10. ‘O Lord God you know.’ He doesn’t make a rash statement, he knows the Lord well enough not to be rash in His presence but to answer in the wisdom the Lord has given him and he answers in a way that puts the ball back in the Lord’s court.
11. The Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy upon these bones can you imagine you are sent to preach somewhere by the Lord and the place is dry, the place is dead, but you have been given a message by God and you are to prophesy on these dead dry bones. It would frighten me, but knowing that the Lord is with me I would have to do it. I have preached in places were they were so dead that they forgot to bury them, but for some reason he was given the opportunity to preach there and not only that was asked to go back, later I found the people liked me preaching because they were stirred, but I am sure there were many others who preached there and stirred their hearts.
12. This was his message
13. ‘O you dry bones hear the word of the Lord.’ Nice introductions not one of those that lasts for 20 minutes are more, but straight into the message, and not only that to call this strange congregation ‘dry bones’ and then to say to them ‘hear the word of the Lord’ that is some beginning to a message and we know that such a message would be hard to give, because this was Ezekiel’s first time in this fellowship, he had not been there before, the possibility of him returning to this fellowship would depend on his opening words.
14. The 2^nd point of this message
15. I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live no one knows how long this fellowship had been there, they were lifeless, they had become so dry there was no life in them whatsoever.
16. The message was stirring
17. 3^rd point the Lord would lay sinews upon them these are the things that help our muscles to work, since these bones had no muscle, they had lost their strength, the Lord is saying He will give them the means by which they would be strengthened.
18. 4^th point He would cover them with flesh every fellowship needs a covering and the Lord said He would do this, once He had the muscles in place He would cover the dry bones.
19. 5^th point this one emphasises the point of putting breath in them and they would live
20. Ezekiel prophesies as he is commanded
21. And as he does
22. There is a noise things happen when there is a Godly noise, Acts 2 tells us of the noise of a rushing wind when the Holy Spirit comes. What a reaction to the word of the Lord, there is a noise, those dry bones began to respond, after years of being dead and bleached they were beginning to respond.
23. There was a shaking how much does the church need shaking today, they have lost the sound of the noise of the word of God, but when that comes in they are shaking. When the Apostles prayed in the room in Acts 4 it says there the place was shaken, how we need that shaking today, we have allowed ourselves to get into those dead ruts and dead places and we have forgotten what it is like to be shaken by the word of the Lord.
24. Bones came together bone to bone the body cannot function unless it is united there will be no come together unless the Lord does the word through His word. The word that Ezekiel brought, brought this fellowship together. Bones that had been separated for years were coming together, some fellowships are like that nothing is happening in them because they are not together but they need the word of the Lord to bring them together.
25. When Ezekiel prophesied it happened because it was thus says the Lord he seen the bones come together he seen the muscles and the flesh come on them, but there was no breath in them, sometimes we bring words to resurrect the deadness of souls, but even after that there is no life in them there is no Spirit in them. I have seen that how quickly people forget about the Holy Spirit, we may have gotten them to a point of being raised up from their deadness but we need to see them being Spirit filled. The disciples had seen the resurrection of Jesus, but they had no life in them because they were afraid they hid in fear. As far as they were concerned there was nothing more they could do, Jesus taught them further for 40 days and then told them to wait until they were endued with power from on high and then they would become fearless and they would become alive in Christ they would know resurrection power.
26. So he was to prophesy unto the wind
27. He was called son of man
28. He was to say to the wind the dead dry bones were one congregation now it was the turn of the wind to be prophesied to.
29. Thus says the Lord
30. ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live.’ What a prophetic word that we could be doing with today, what a word that would bring life to the church if the people would only believe if the people would only allow God to minister to them and those dry bones that deadness would be turned into life. The phrase is ‘that they may live.’  I know what I want to see I want to see the church alive again in Christ alive again in the Spirit function as it ought in the world we live in. I want people to talk about the church being alive and on fire instead of the things it does. Sometimes in fellowships we are more caught up with the works than we are in the Spirit. These dry bones had come together they could function as a body but they would not be alive in Christ.
31. When he prophesied it  came as he said
32. These once dry bones stood upon their feet an exceeding great army I once heard people speak about church as being a hospital as being a place were people would be safe, but Ezekiel says it is a great army. These bones had been very dry, they now had come together to make a body of people, but they were lying down, they were at ease as it were because they had become comfortable to be bodies again. But when the Spirit of the Lord came they stood to their feet, and became a mighty army. They stood to their feet prepared to battle, they were now Spirit filled and ready for war ready to go forward in the Spirit.
33. This symbolism had to do with the whole house of Israel
34. Because they had said ‘our bones are dried.’
35. ‘Our hope is lost’
36. ‘We are cut of for our parts’