The Spirit Give Life - Dry bones
Notes
Transcript
Video Even there
1 Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.
5 You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.
6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I live at the eastern horizon
or settle at the western limits,
10 even there your hand will lead me;
your right hand will hold on to me.
Welcome
Welcome
Creed
Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Worship
A new series
A new series
This week we start a new series called the Spirit brings...
Last week was pentecost and if you took anything away from that message I hope and pray that it was simply that the HS is in you and he wants to do more with you and through you that is the case today.
In this series I wan to look at why the HS is so important to us, today in our live, in our situations, in Covid and out of Covid.
but let’s start with this...
video - Them Bones
You will be familiar with the song
Well, your toe bone connected to your foot bone Your foot bone connected to your heel bone Your heel bone connected to your ankle bone Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone Your leg bone connected to your knee bone Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone Your hip bone connected to your back bone Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone Your neck bone connected to your head bone Now hear the word of the Lord Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around Now hear the word of the Lord
But how many of you remember hearing this verse, I certainly don’t
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones Ezekiel connected dem dry bones Ezekiel connected dem dry bones Now hear the word of the Lord
and Ezekiel is where we are going now.
If you have your bible then turn to Ezekiel 37:1-14
The Situation
The Situation
1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by his Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. 3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I replied, “Lord God, only you know.”
Our view of a situation
He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. Bones that were very dry indicated that death had taken place long ago. Hence, life was obviously beyond resuscitation
Dry bones are a metaphor for a downcast spirit in other biblical passages (Pr 15:30; 17:22).
We may be in situations that we feel are long dead,
Or have hope and dreams that a shirlled and dry.
Or pars of our lives are about as fruitful as a pile of bones
Ezekiel was aware that God had the power to raise people from the dead But these bones were dry, meaning that the flesh had decayed. This seemed to make resuscitation impossible.
Which makes the question can these bones live? hard but what a great answer.
The best answer ever: “Lord God, only you know.”
And God did know - God revels his will or his promise for the situation
The Promise
The Promise
4 He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
Prophesy
Tell Forth the Word of God
Tell the Future
God see your situation too, your life, as we read in Psalm 137 at the begging
but we have a part to play in our restoration too.
The Obedience and the Action
The Obedience and the Action
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
1 John 2:3 NASB95By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
Ezekiel did as the Lord commanded, He did not hesitate, There was faith there
“There are two types of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then have it your way.’” - C. S. Lewis
We are daily asked to decide which of these two ways we will go - God’s or Ours.
The simplistic would say, it is simple God’s way is always best.
But the reality is that God’s way is often difficult to accept, or seems improbable. rarely do I ever understand what God is doing with me, through me or for me as I walk in obedience. often it is not until much later. I am quite sure that I won’t understand the impact of what Father God is doing in me until we get to glory.
But obeying God is crucial.
The process of growing in grace starts with learning to obey Him when I don’t understand Him.
Faith is exercised when we obey Him when we don’t understand the path to the end.
We have our part to play in our situations and Ezekiel had his but the key player in this story is not Ezekiel , it is the Holy Spirit
The role of the Holy Spirit
The role of the Holy Spirit
8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.
HS as bringer of life
HS as bringer of life
The role of the Holy Spirit as a bringer of life is central today.
The Nicene Creed states that we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life. We believe he proceeds from the Father and the Son. We believe that he alone is to be worshiped and glorified with the Father and Son. And yet, we often reduce the Holy Spirit to an impersonal force that can be conjured up to flood and fill the atmosphere. The giver of Life can often be neglected, and his presence taken for granted, since we are constantly dependent on him.
Through the bible we see the HS bringing life in two ways. Direct and Indirect.
Direct we see in Creation
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
6 The heavens were made by the word of the Lord,
and all the stars, by the breath of his mouth.
7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
a reminder that in both the OT and the NT the Holy Spirit is conveyed by they word Ruach and Pneuma - both meaning spirit and breath and wind.
Direct was seen on the day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:1-4
1 When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.
and here in Ezekiel
This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!”
The Holy Spirit brings life in to the situation Directly He is the bringer of power.
HS Bringer of Power
HS Bringer of Power
6 So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of Armies.
Jenny and the kettle. could have given up thrown it away and watched our life crash around us - sounds dramatic but I don’t function without caffeine and coming between Jenny and a cup of tea is a little bit like coming between a mother bear and her cub - except worse.
Could have expended effort - trying to fix it.
Could have sat an worried that we could not have a drink
We could have tried doing it our selves, lighting a fire under it.
In the end we made sure it was plugged in!
When our situations are not great what is our approach is it
denial
dispair
effort
abandonment
Or do we make sure that we are plugged into the God and let the Holy Spirt bring life
My Favorite Illustrations Holy Spirit
Unlike other kinds of power, we do not harness God’s spiritual power: we yield to it in faith.
The indirect way that the Holy Spirit brings life is seen in the story of Geneses too
Indirect: And God said, “Let the earth bring forth…” And the earth brought forth.
The direct bringing of life is immediate, situation changing, and act of creation or life giving
The indirect way the spirit works builds on this direct action to bring about the intended effect of the Father’s heart or us.
We see the direct and indirect work of the Holy Spirit in bringing life as we read on in Ezekiel
The Result
The Result
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.
The direct Action of the Holy Spirit is - the bones knitted together. The dead became alive.
The rotten and destroyed was enlivened. The situation that was without hope was was given life by the direct work of the Holy spirit.
The indirect way the HS gives life is shown in the v 10. …and they stood on their feet, a vast army.
The context of this passage in Ezekiel is that the Israelites were exiled, scattered and oppressed. Every time the tried to make things better an enemy would make things worse. God’s chosen people were in a situation of dispair
Psalm 137:1–4 (CSB)
1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.....
4 How can we sing the Lord’s song
on foreign soil?
Sums it up.
This vision given to Ezekiel gave insight that even though the situation was beyond his comprehension of restoration God had a plan...
The Resulting promise
The Resulting promise
Ezekiel 37:11 (CSB)
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
God intended to supernaturally restore the situation (that direct action of the Holy Spirit
And through the People - that’ army’ he God (the HS) Would continue to change the situation.
12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, my people, and lead you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am the Lord, my people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it. This is the declaration of the Lord.’ ”
Be invested in working with the Holy Spirit
Be invested in working with the Holy Spirit
placing things in God’s hands does not mean we can just sit beck
We will work hard ourselves but we know all our work is because of God’s work in us (1 Corinthians 15:10
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
Colossians 1:29).
29 I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.
This is obedience. This is how the indirect power of the Holy Spirit comes to play.
God works directly on our situations today and inirectly through Each of us by the Power of His Holy Spirit.
We can see our situations changed today.
The pattern for us to do this is within the passage form Ezekiel.
Be lead by the spirit
Be lead by the spirit
1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by his Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.
“The secret of spiritual success is a hunger that persists…It is an awful condition to be satisfied with one’s spiritual attainments…God was and is looking for hungry, thirsty people.”
― Smith Wigglesworth
We need to hunger and place it in Gods hads.
Place it is Gods hands
Place it is Gods hands
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I replied, “Lord God, only you know.”
.According to Romans 8:26–27 the Holy Spirit takes our inarticulate groanings and verbalizes them to the Father. Through the Holy Spirit of God who indwells you, a groan in your soul can be the most eloquent prayer you ever prayed.
Allow the HS to work by being Obedient and real
5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
Work with the Holy Spirit in all that we do. In all situations. We work with the Holy Spirit when he chooses to Work through us in extraordinary ways.
We work with the Holy Spirit in the ordinariness of our lives as he works through us to change situations. He does this as we We spend time with people, we organise church life, we speak the word, we extend hospitality – and as we do so, the Spirit works.
Conclude
Conclude
When the situation seems dead, and long dead - God can turn it around
The Holy Spirit is the bringer of life we need to be
Humble,
Dependant
and Confident
In God. As we let the Holy Spirit bring life and restoration For us and through us.
Video - All things new.
Prayer
Prayer
Your situation
Give it to God
Repent for trying to do it your way
Invite the life giving Holy Spirit to be in the situation
Invite the HS into you.
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