Dry Bones O-270 RR-752 C-264 Pastor Laurie DeWitt Rev 3:14 ""And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:" 15 ""I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot." 16 ""So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." 17 ""Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;" 18 ""I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." 19 ""As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent." 20 ""Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." 21 ""To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." 22 ""He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."' "" What is your response to that message? How do you see yourself in relationship to it? Where do we find another church that will come out and publicly say that they, the true church, are wretched, miserable, blind, and naked? And what kind of message is that to give to people that you are inviting to join in this congregation? Are you glad that it is in the Bible? When you consider it, it is a little strange, isn't it? That's like a political party going public that they are not that hot, but inviting you to join them anyway. Definitely not a good move as the world goes. But how does God see it? There's a fascinating passage in the Book of Ezekiel that I want to focus on today. Ezek 37:1 "The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones." 2 "Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry." 3 "And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know."" 4 "Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!" 5 "'Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live." 6 ""I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD."' "" 7 "So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone." 8 "Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them." 9 "Also He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."' "" 10 "So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army." 11 "Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!'" 12 ""Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." 13 ""Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves." 14 ""I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it," says the LORD.'"" Does this have a message for 20th century man, or is it just some mumbo-jumbo, that makes a good song? Remember 1 Cor 10:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." So the fact that they have been recorded for us indicates that there is a message for us. First I want to ask you, how many characters do we find in this story? I find three. And where is the setting of the story? A great valley. A place where there has been great death and destruction. A stage that God is about to work on in a mighty way. And what do we find in this theater? Bones. Not just any bones, but dry, very dry, dusty, dead bones, bleached in the desert sun, and mixed up and scattered. The kind of bones that people might have gathered and smashed to fragments for fertilizer. If there had been any people. But there were not. Just bones. A whole church full. And then some. Just to make sure that Ezekiel knows the exact situation, Jehovah says. "Walk among the bones, and see that they are indeed very dead." When the Lord sees that Ezekiel knows beyond a doubt the situation, He asks the prophet a question. "Can these bones live? Can life be brought into this congregation, these heaps of dry bones?" Ezekiel replies "Jehovah you know." Then God Almighty tells Ezekiel to prophecy, to preach to these dry, dusty, dead bones. "Talk to these dead bones, these remnants of people who are going nowhere and doing nothing. Tell them what God Almighty has to say. Tell them what I am going to do for them." Now, we are not told the prophets reaction at this point. I can imagine that given he was a human being, that his first reaction was, "These old bones can never live again. I would be wasting my breath to speak to them." But, nevertheless, Ezekiel said, Old, dry, dead, dusty bones! God has something very special in mind for you. He is going to sort you out and bring you back together. He is then going to restore your physical being, then is going to breath life into you again that you might know Jehovah." As Ezekiel, in an act of faith, begins to preach to the bones, behold, marvelous things begin to happen. The bones begin to shake, and the whole valley sounded like a giant rattlesnake, as the bones hit against each other. And wonder of wonders, the bones begin to get together with the other bones that had once formed a body. And then the tendons and ligaments, fascia and muscle, organs and skin and hair come upon the bodies. It was indeed a marvelous sight. And it all seemed to come together. But once all the bodies came together, there was again deathly silence. There they were. Beautifully formed bodies, ghostly , able to go through the motions of living, but not really living. Having a form of humanity, but not fully human. "Preach again, prophet. This time preach to the wind. Call the wind (ruach), and say 'Breath come from the four corners of the earth and inflate the lungs of these slain, these walking dead who have been killed by the enemy of God, that they might live.'" And the wind came, filled the lungs of the dead, and they came to life. 11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, Let's update this verse a little bit. Maybe I can be so bold. Then God Almighty said to me, preacher, these bones represent the church at ____________. I have heard them say, we are weak, we are small, and our hope is lost, we are all by ourselves. What is the message that God Almighty has for us? "Listen my people, I will open your graves, and make you My special people. I will bring you to the promised land. And you will know that I am Jehovah when I have done this." Do you want to know how He is going to do this? Do you have any idea? Jehovah says "but I will save you out of all your dwelling places, where you have sinned, and will cleanse you: so shall you be my people, and I will be your God, and you will all have one shepherd: will also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. That gives us the result, but still doesn't tell how it is going to happen. There's only one way that we are going to receive what we need for these changes to take place. That is through the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit calls us from a life of sin. Particularly the greatest sin of not knowing Jesus as we should. Rev 22:17 "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." He calls us into a new fellowship. Phil 2:1 "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies," 2 "Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." He calls us to minister as Jesus ministered to people. Then the Spirit transforms us into new beings. 1 Cor 6:11 "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." I particularly like the way that Isaiah said it, Isa 44:3 "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:" 4 "And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses." Kind of goes along nicely with the dry bones, doesn't it? Then the Holy Spirit makes us holy. 1 Pet 1:1 "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia," 1 Pet 1:2 "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." We will deal with that some more in prayer meeting. Then the Holy Spirit makes us victorious in Jesus Christ. Ezek 11:19 "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:" 20 "That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be m y people, and I will be their God." This is to the point that 1 Cor 2:16 tells us "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." Obviously that is not something that we are able to do. It is always and forever the work of the Spirit of God. Then the Holy Spirit stays with us and keeps us until the coming of Jesus Christ. Heb 13:5 "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."" 6 "So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"" That's what God is waiting to do for these dry, dusty, dead, bones scattered here in this church. Do you believe that He wants to do that? Do you want Him to do that for you? But we need to remember that it is the Spirit of God who is doing all this on our behalf. Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. I don't often do long quotes, but I feel that this one is very important. Ellen White wrote: Just prior to his leaving his disciples for the heavenly courts, Jesus encouraged them with the promise of the Holy Spirit. This promise belongs as much to us as it did to them, and yet how rarely it is presented before the people, and its reception spoken of in the church. In consequence of this silence upon this most important theme, what promise do we know less about by its practical fulfillment than this rich promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, whereby efficiency is to be given to all our spiritual labor? The promise of the Holy Spirit is casually brought into our discourses, is incidentally touched upon, and that is all. Prophecies have been dwelt upon, doctrines have been expounded, but that which is essential to the church in order that they may grow in spiritual strength and efficiency, in order that the preaching may carry conviction with it. and souls be converted to God, has been largely left out of ministerial effort. This subject has been set aside, as if some time in the future would be given to its consideration. Other blessings and privileges have been presented before the people until a desire has been awakened in the church for the attainment of the blessing promised of God; but the impression concerning the Holy Spirit has been that this gift is not for the church now, but that at some time in the future it would be necessary for the church to receive it. This promised blessing, if claimed by faith, would bring all other blessings in its train, and it is to be given liberally to the people of God. Through the cunning devices of the enemy the minds of God's people seem to be incapable of comprehending and appropriating the promises of God. They seem to think that only the scantiest showers of grace are to fall upon the thirsty soul. The people of God have accustomed themselves to think that they must rely upon their own efforts, that little help is to be received from heaven; and the result is that they have little light to communicate to other souls who are dying in error and darkness. The church has long been contented with little of the blessing of God; they have not felt the need of reaching up to the exalted privileges purchased for them at infinite cost. Their spiritual strength has been feeble, their experience of a dwarfed and crippled character, and they are disqualified for the work the Lord would have them to do. They are not able to present the great and glorious truths of God's holy word that would convict and convert souls through the agency of the Holy Spirit. The power of God awaits their demand and reception. A harvest of joy will be reaped by those who sow the holy seeds of truth. "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Special Testimony to Our Ministers. No. 2 -PR- 03 -PG- 23 Today, I ask you, is it time that we ask for, no, is demand too strong a word, the power that has been promised to God's people to do His work? If it is not, then when? What are we waiting for? What on home earth is more important than our heavenly home? What songs could be sung sweeter than those sung by heavenly choirs? Brothers and sisters, Lift up your heads, for our redemption is at hand. And God in pleading with us to ask for the gifts that He has promised. Those gifts that will prepare us for that day when Jesus returns. Those gifts that will be given us so that we can carry the good news of salvation to our communities. Before we pray, would you like to hold up your hand with me and say. "Father, we want the gift of your spirit. We claim your promises. Please fill us. Shall we pray; Father, forgive us for our timidity. Forgive us for not recognizing what you want to do for us in our lives and in our church. And father, give us holy boldness to reach our and claim the treasures of your Spirit. These things we pray.... ..........................