Eric Walsh - From Dry Bones to an Army: How to Thrive in 2021 (Sabbath Service 01-9-2021)

you wanna see [Music] we have a high priest up in heaven hallelujah oh hallelujah he's our defender before the father in the temple made by god not man [Music] hallelujah [Music] investigate him [Music] [Applause] he steers with him in the sanctuary up in heaven he makes provision for me in the sanctuary [Music] he's purifying heaven's temple [Music] hallelujah oh hallelujah in preparation [Music] he's [Music] this is in the sanctuary up in heaven [Music] he makes provision for me in the sanctuary at the mercy seat in the holy in the holy of holies [Music] in the sanctuary in the sanctuary up in heaven he makes provision for me [Music] in the sanctuary in the sanctuary in the sanctuary [Music] in the sanctuary he seals my bond with him in the sanctuary [Music] he makes prohibition for me in the sanctuary [Applause] in the sanctuary [Music] in the sanctuary in the sanctuary so happy sabbath church family it's good to know that god has given us a high priest is working on our behalf in the sanctuary start by saying happy new year to everyone and um uh as as relieved as everyone is but the last year is over this one has already started out to be a kind of a doozy um we'll talk more about that in a minute uh but um you know god is uh working us through some things and um i think uh it's more than ever a time of preparation for god's church i think that is what is what what really is is being impressed upon the people of god that we are to be preparing for what is coming upon the earth because there are a lot who will be shaken out as these movements continue to happen a scripture reading is taken from ezekiel uh 37 verses 11 and 12 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 verse 12 says therefore prophesy and say unto them thus saith the lord god behold o my people i will open your graves cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of israel oh 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 our message this sabbath is entitled from dry bones to an army from dry bones to an army how to thrive in 2021 how to thrive in 2021 let's pray father god we thank you for this opportunity to study your word lord i ask for an extra outpouring of your holy spirit right now i pray in a special way right now lord for angels that excel in wisdom and strength to be given charge over this place bind the enemy remove the distractions break the yokes that are upon your people father god as your word is preached our hearts and minds would be fertile soil for the truth of your word now make me once again lord a simple nail upon the wall upon that nail lord i ask that you hang a portrait of jesus christ let eric walsh not be seen or heard now father instead instead lord allow us to hear a word from the throne room of grace this is our prayer in jesus name amen we're gonna come from the book of ezekiel today one of the most interesting books in the bible in my opinion um one arthur described an author uh has a book um i'm trying to remember the exact title as i was doing the research um and basically calling ezekiel the book of the weird and the absurd it is a very strange book here's a man that doesn't give he's not like jesus that gives a parable he acts it out he goes and lies down next to ant's nests and does all kinds of strange things in this book he doesn't have normal prophecies like four-faced beasts appearing in wheels inside of wheels to this day the people in area 57 looking for um looking for uh aliens still say that ezekiel star saw a spaceship it is an interesting book but it is a powerful and timely book ezekiel 1 sets the stage and i'm going to give you some backdrop before we get into the part of the book that i really want to highlight um so that we get to know ezekiel a little bit better in ezekiel 1 and verse 1 it says now it came to pass in the 13th year in the fourth month and the fifth day of the month this gives us most scholars believe ezekiel's age he was about 30 years old he says as i was a among the captives by the river kibar that the heavens were opened and i saw visions of god in the fifth day of the month which was the fifth year of king jehoiakim's captivity so you would remember it and then the second wave i'll show you a diagram of this in a second um in the second wave of of um of of captives being taken from judah um jehoiakim the king after only reigning for three months is taken captive ezekiel goes with that batch and he does he's not like daniel who goes probably around 10 years earlier he goes when they're looking for people to work and so some believe that ezekiel actually the river that he's gonna this river keyboard he mentions is one of the canals and tributaries designed by the babylonians outside the wall of the city where they grew in a very fertile place um grew their food and ezekiel who was a priest in the house of god is now lowered to the level probably of one who simply lives to dig and maintain canals but as he is there don't miss this church as he is there working by the canal the bible says that the heavens open up and while ezekiel is doing the monotonous demeaning work of a slave he sees a vision of god he gives us the timing there and in verse 3 he says the word of the lord came expressly unto ezekiel the priest the son of buzi the land of the chaldeans by the river kibar and the hand look at this last part here and the hand of the lord was there upon him see some of you think that you have not climbed high enough in life to be used by god you think that you have to have some exalted position or some uh some some uh long years of education in order to be a tool fit for god now obviously we believe in education and we know that many of the the folk in the scripture are quite well educated like paul but i want to submit to you that even if life has left you digging canals by the river kibar god's hand can be placed on you here ezekiel beaten and downtrodded surrounded by ten thousand other captives who are longing for home uh they are depressed and hopeless here they are and as ezekiel is wondering what their fate would be would they ever see jerusalem or zion again my bible tells me that god opens the heaven i don't care how dark the day is for you god still can open the heavens to show you what he has in store for you so just to give you some more background i i love this stuff here is the the story of the life uh in a sense of ezekiel you see he's the green bar here in about 597 he's a part of the second deportation to babylon um the first deportation is when daniel went so daniel went a few years earlier seven years according to this chart some say 10 years but just he went earlier they were very much contemporaries and i have to believe that daniel and ezekiel would have known each other quite well in a sense there's no way that daniel and the three hebrew boys would have been elevated to the top of the kingdom the way they were by the time ezekiel is brought in captivity and not recognized that the man of god was working where he was working i believe they probably knew each other but as you can see uh as as from josiah where would a light where where jeremiah uh started his ministry during this reign you can see that at this time there was a plethora of prophets there were so many warning israel warning judah of what was to come yet the people would not listen and you can see i love this diagram you can see jeremiah's life here and you can see um all of the years the seven years the jews are in exile here's the here's ezekiel's ministry and daniel these are really their ministries not their life and you can see that these guys all at the same time are preaching for the people and here's what's interesting during the 10 years between daniel's captivity and ezekiel's captivity there are there arose among those in jerusalem many many false prophets all of whom were saying don't worry god is not going to allow this to last long in fact one false prophet says we're there it's only going to be two years and god kills the false prophet here they are all preaching a warning that judah and jerusalem must repent for their sins what were their sins if you read the books of isaiah jeremiah ezekiel uh and even the the prayer daniel gibbs of repentance you start to see that there is a pattern of sins that really caused the fall of the people of god one of them is they began to worship the idols of the nations that surrounded them the other if you look at ezekiel 16 is that they began to get proud and neglect the poor and the needy where they were in fact the bible gives us the story of this captivity in second kings chapter 24 and verse 8 jehoiachin was 18 years old when he began to reign he reigned in jerusalem just three months his mother's name was nahushta the daughter of el nathan of jerusalem and this king again did that which was evil in the sight of the lord according to all his fathers had done at the time the servants of nebuchadnezzar king of babylon came up against jerusalem and the city was besieged the nebuchadnezzar king of babylon came against the city and his servants did and his servants did besiege it and jehoiachin the king of judah went out to the king of babylon he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his officers and the king of babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign and he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the lord and the treasures of the king's house and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which solomon king of israel had made in the temple of the lord as the lord had said and he carried away all jerusalem look at this and all the princes and all the mighty men of valor even ten thousand captives and all the craftsmen and smiths none remained who was left in jerusalem the bible says the poorest sort of the people of the land it's interesting the sins of jerusalem was one of the big sins was they neglected the poor they overlooked the poor they vaunted themselves against the poor they committed usury against them and abused the poor and when captivity came the captives must have liked the clothes that the the people that weren't poor were wearing they must have liked the way that they they did their hair and kept their skin looking fresh because that's who they took and it was a brutal journey if you can imagine the wealthy and the royalty of judah being taken captive they had to walk a terrible distance 10 000 at the time of ezekiel and they couldn't just cut straight across here because you wouldn't want to walk through a desert so they had to go up and around the fertile crescent up and around this area and then back down and here you see this here there's lake there's the river key bar way down here south of the of the city of babylon which is up here here is where ezekiel finds himself trapped between the city of babylon the sea is actually to the south the persian gulf and the desert to the other side it is a hopeless and terrible situation ten thousand of god's people leaders skilled people are now reduced to servants and slaves you can only imagine what it must have been like for even the priest ezekiel manny said never got a chance to function as a priest because he was taken captive when he was there was no temple but the bible uh and the spirit of prophecy give the hint that ezekiel becomes more of a pastor daniel is moved up into a position of privilege and influences nebuchadnezzar directly jeremiah is left behind as kind of the cleanup guy trying to see if he can get them to repent and turn to god for those who have not been taken captive but ezekiel gets the almost in my opinion maybe the most difficult challenge of trying to keep hope alive among the 10 000 captives can you imagine what sermon do you preach when you're now slaves of a foreign government when all your life you heard the story of moses being delivering the people from egypt or joshua's victory over the people of the land of canaan what what sermon do you preach now when finally jerusalem is in ruins and and all that you thought was sacred is taken the vessels of the very sanctuary have been captured and are now being used by a heathen king i want to submit to you that they were in a very pickled predicament and it seemed as if there would never be a way out in fact one of my favorite psalms is actually a billboard top uh top 100 hit as a reggae song and don't worry i won't sing it but i will read the psalm this was actually a hit it's the oldest actually the oldest lyrics ever to make the hunt the billboard top 100 is psalm 137 an old jamaican singer sang by the rivers of babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembered zion we hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof look at verse three for they carried for they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying sing us one of the songs of zion can you imagine what it was like for ezekiel the psalmist is telling you not only were they slaves they were asked and required to entertain and make them laugh and to sing it was a hopeless bitter situation verse 4 of psalm 137 says it like this how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land psalmist then says if i forget thee o jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning in other words let my right hand lose its skill if i do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if i prefer not jerusalem above my chief joy let me tell you something this is prophetic because we are now at the rivers of babylon we now live captives in a world that is darkened and let me tell you what satan wants to do is what he tried to do to daniel and the three hebrew boys and they had to push back against in the in the first two chapters of daniel uh what he's trying to do is get you to like the things and ways of babylon so much that you're willing to sing their song in their land that you're willing to partake in their entertainment that you're willing to be a part of babylon the psalmist warns you listen if you forget zion if you forget for us as christians as modern-day israel if you forget the kingdom of the living god he says it would be better that your tongue got stuck to the top of your mouth if you prefer the chief joys of this world over that of the new jerusalem the situation for them gets tough and i would imagine hopelessness begins to set in and for many as we heard before we had the prayer today hopelessness is really where much in america is right now many in the world are in a place of direct and complete hopelessness and we'll talk more about that in a second but i want to make it plain to you that the guy writing this book and preaching these sermons also had to deal with hopelessness one of the toughest things in the book of ezekiel is this passage right here ezekiel 24 15 through 18 it says also the word of the lord came unto me saying son of man behold i take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke yet neither shalt thou mour nor weep neither shall thy tears run down what is he talking about here all of a sudden ezekiel the one thing you have left in captivity that you love the one desire of your eyes is going to be removed with a stroke suddenly it's going to happen look at this he says then you can't mourn for bear to cry make no mourning for the dead bind the tire of thine head upon thee and put on thy shoes upon thy feet and cover not thy lips and eat not the bread of men and look at what happens in verse 18. so i spake unto the people in the morning and that even in the evening my wife died and look at this last part of it and i did in the morning as i was commanded ezekiel isn't just removed from the position of priesthood in jerusalem and in the temple he does not just watch the disgrace of his people as a foreign invasion vading army marches out the smartest and wealthiest of his land and makes them stand by canals and dig to make sure that the oppressors can eat ezekiel is not just suffering the difficulty that comes from being a captive in a foreign land a hostage against his will not knowing the fate of his homeland or the rest of his people ezekiel is not only hit with all of that on top of that the one desire ezekiel has left in this life his wife god warns him in a stroke she'll be taken away from you and you can't even mourn told you this is a strange book where god asks ezekiel to act things out and when you begin to dig into it the reason for this is god is saying listen judah was my wife israel was my wife and she has been taken suddenly and god is saying listen just as many of you are not mourning what you have lost spiritually because of your sins just as you are not mourning are all that you have lost and all that has gone from you as judah and as israel as the very chosen people of god god is saying through how ezekiel behaves here he's saying to his people uh you will not be lamented or mourned for ezekiel had it tough five years about afterwards ezekiel begins his ministry when ezekiel starts his ministry at around 34 35 years of age jeremiah when he starts at 30 jeremiah's 46 daniel's around 28 years old when ezekiel starts to really try and put the thing back together he is deep into the time in oppression and this is where we jump into the verses to focus on in ezekiel chapter 37 verses 1 and 2 is one of the most storied scriptures in the bible ezekiel 37 verse 1 says the hand of the lord was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones it caused me to pass by them round about and behold there were very many in the open valley and lo they were very dry when by the time ezekiel recovers from the loss of his wife and he settles into this thing one of the visions that he's given one of the profound visions that he's given is one of dead bones in a valley the spirit carries him and here ezekiel is forced to see this the the valley of bones and and all of the death and destruction in fact the bible makes it clear as we just read in ezekiel 37 and verse 2 the bones were very dry making the point that there was no coming back these bones hadn't just been dropped they speak to the condition of god's people dry bones not just dead people now they're dry bones they have rotted they have been corrupted for so long so many generations of of foul kings so many generations of idol worshipers so many generations of rebellion against god of the of the oppression of the poor so many generations that spiritually god's people were like dry bones and let me tell you something coming out of 20 20 and going into 2021 it feels like we are in the days of ezekiel and these dry bones the world has no answer for what is going on in fact it seems like the situation ezekiel is in that when it seems like maybe something's gonna get better or there's something you can hold on to something worse happens let me tell you look at this is the coronavirus um worldwide uh i think this is the death uh graft the death rates are up shooting up one of my friends is a nurse anesthetist um that i went to open with at the loma linda uh university hospital where i trained and he was i was talking to him this week and he was telling me that it is like a war zone in california with covid he said there's so much death all day every day like it's it's difficult to even describe what he was telling me some people still think of it is not real i feel sorry for you if that's what you think and and you're not christian if you don't believe that god is going to allow pestilences that is what matthew chapter 24 and verse 7 says this is not i don't and i do not believe it's a punishment i believe it's a warning for the world and for the church and i've seen patience with this thing it is it is difficult and some people get it and they brush it off this mildly ill few symptoms some don't even have symptoms but those patients we see that get sick mercy it rattles their body from the crown of their head to the soles of their feet unable to breathe difficulty moving nausea vomiting diarrhea every challenge blood pressure that can't be controlled ultimately respiratory failure kidney failure and if not fixed in time death dry bones of a situation the whole world embattled by it and and of course when we said okay the vaccines are being released things are going to get better then they say wait a minute there's a new variant just when you thought it might you could see some light at the end of the tunnel and one of the articles i read this week said they're not a hundred percent sure that the new spike proteins which are these red things sticking off of the virus here they're not sure because that's where the mutation has happened they're not sure that the vaccine is going to be as effective on the variant strain as it was on the initial strain that the vaccine was the uh created for are you getting what i'm saying to you that even the hope that they're putting in front of us now there's issue and i'm not questioning the vaccine i'm telling you that based on the science the virus is mutating you can see the worldwide cases and deaths if it was just the virus if it was just a disease it would be one thing but it is the fallout last month 140 000 jobs lost in the united states alone and let me ask you this talking about dry bones and hopelessness if america is suffering like this what is happening in the developing world anybody really thought about what's happening in central south america africa southeast asia the caribbean how difficult must life be for those countries that depend on tourism and you know only a handful of people are traveling now dry bones macy's the big uh retailer going out of business permanently i read this week over the next few years they're going to phase out all their stores the world will never be the same in fact i read an article um uh um where they were describing that there are certain individuals and certain forces in the world that view this as an opportunity for a great reset see that's what nebuchadnezzar was doing he was going to reset the world nebuchadness would move people from where they were put them other places change the world into a babylonian image i want to submit to you prophetically and i don't have time to get into today that what you are watching is are certain powers trying to reset the world prophetically set the world up to be in a position to receive uh the mark of the beast in the in the form of a sunday law and and do away with our freedom of religion and rights to gather and worship on a sabbath i know it sounds outlandish may sound crazy to some folk but if you're reading carefully many have viewed this as an opportunity like nebuchadnezzar did to reset the world and of course this week one of the most startling things that happened we watched american democracy give one of the most embarrassing shows ever i thought it was fascinating all of this was going on and the truth of the matter is somebody's got to do something about our election system because the last two elections have been challenged pretty greatly or by both sides which i think you can we can all agree that there's been challenges on both sides somebody's got to do something about it but the idea of violence and pipe bombs and the things that happened this week four people died and then a fifth when when one of the police officers succumbed to his injuries this is america but my bible tells me in revelation chapter 13 that things are going to change in this country somehow this beast meaning this country this government this beast that had two horns like a lamb meaning that it had more of a christian demeanor somehow one day it is going to begin to speak like a dragon one of the ways you get an excuse uh to control the people is a pandemic from a public health standpoint you can put out all the laws that we have to follow there's one way you can do it but the other way is insurrection if your government can make the world and the country believe that somehow it must put down a firm fist in order to control unruly mobs and this has been a year 2020 up till now has been a a time of big protests and and damage of federal property whether it was in portland in that federal justice building there or whether it was in dc this week it doesn't matter both sides and this is why the adventist has to be clear not to take sides you've got to understand prophetically what's going on there is going to be a movement to give government more power i thought it was interesting the confederates armies never were able to breach dc and this week the confederate flag was walked right through the u.s capitol we are in a time of dry bones church some of you have dry bones in your personal life difficulties and challenges may be related to this to this pandemic may be related to other things but you're dealing with a time of dry bones life does not seem as it is what it used to be you you are dealing and facing challenges and obstacles and and even in your spiritual walk things just don't seem right you are in the valley of the same type of bones but i want to tell you that we serve a god who can take dry bones and make armies verse three of ezekiel says this and he said unto me god says to ezekiel son of man can these bones live ezekiel gives a good answer and he answered oh lord god thou knowest the spirit of prophecy says this kind of shows that ezekiel may not have been 100 sure of an answer but as he is in vision god shows him the valley of dry bones and i believe god asks ezekiel this question like he's asking you this question as you look at the world as you look at the nation as you look at the church as you look at your own life god is asking as you look at the dry bones around you can they live do you believe that it can get better are you stuck in hopelessness do you think that it is all over you your marriage or your relationship with your child your ability uh to to work and feed your family do you think god has given up and it's nothing left but dry bones well verse 4 again he said unto me prophesy upon these bones and say unto them o ye dry bones hear the word of the lord now that's an interesting thing to preach the bones now you make logical sense if you think about it there is no acoustic apparatus in a set of bones to hear stuff with but i want you to get that that is the power of the word of god it penetrates uh in such a way that even if the individual hearing the word of god is not acoustically connected to him my bible teaches me that god's word cannot go out and come back void if his word goes out even the dry bone so let me just let me pause right here and say why this story means so much to me right now because there are people in my life that i am fearful have gone so far from god that they won't come back i am worried that i have folk i love dearly that i weep over let me i was a sensitive kid in many ways and i remember i had one aunt who who i just alice loved her so much he took such good care of me but she would not go to church and and and she continued to do many of the things of the world even a little kid i could tell and i remember one friday night as my mother she would lead us in these powerful um worships on on on friday nights we would sit and read the scripture and she would explain to us the bible stories and then go to the spirit of prophecy to try and make it make sense and i remember one night we were talking about heaven and how beautiful heaven was going to be and how amazing it would be when we walked the streets of gold and i began to weep because i was so concerned that my aunt would not be there let me tell you something there are folk in your life that may seem like dry bones it may seem like it's a waste of time to try and reach them with the gospel of jesus christ i've been guilty of this thinking that some are too far to be reached by the word of god but this story reminded me that in 2021 it is a year that we must preach even to the dry bones verse 5 thus saith the lord god unto these bolds behold our cause breath to enter into you and you shall live it is prophesied while it's still a bone that it's going to live verse 6 god says and i will lay sinews upon you and will bring upon bring flesh upon you if you can see in your in your mind uh you can you can actually begin to to paint the picture for yourself that as god begins to talk in vision as ezekiel is the bones begin to stand up they begin to assemble themselves in proper order the vertebrae light line up the ribs come in and connect around them the shoulder bones then attach the arms start to form the legs attached to the hip bone which connects up into the vertebra the coccyx uh holds the whole swing together and and the bones begin to stand up as the bones begin to stand up the connective tissue starts to rise up and the muscle starts to be laying over the bones and and the cartilage finds its place until finally skin is wrapped over the entire body and i will lay sinews upon you and will bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you you shall live and you shall know that i am the lord so prophesy so i prophesied as i was commanded and as i prophesied there was a noise and behold a shaking and the bones came together bone to his bone and when i beheld low the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them above but there was no breath in them all of them were put together but there was no breath it was just a body standing there verse 9 then said he unto me prophesy unto the wind prophesy son of man and say to the wind thus they are the lord god come from the four winds o breath and breathe upon these slain that they may live what's interesting is god what god showed me i was reading this is revelation 7 says that there are four angels holding back the winds of strife and what god was showing me is that one of the ways that god turns dry bones into flesh and in the flesh into something active and living because of breath is because god allows them to pass through the winds of struggle and strife some of the difficulties you're facing is god his breath to be blown back into you that you might live verse 10 so i prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came unto them and they lived and stood up upon their feet my bible tells me that in this vision ezekiel sees them go from bones to the last part of ezekiel 37 10 where it says and they became an exceeding great army so guess what church you're not supposed to just stay dry bone you're not gonna just get life for the sake of getting life you get life to become a member of the army of the living god that is the purpose that's what we must each find in 2021 our role in this army then he said unto me son of man these bones are the whole house of israel behold they they say our bones are dried and our hope is lost look at that our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts verse 12. therefore prophesy and say unto them thus saith the lord god behold o my people i will open your graves cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of israel church i don't care how bad 2020 was i don't care how tough things are for you right now god is still in the business of raising folk up out of seemingly spiritual death setting them back on their feet verse 13 and you shall know that i am the lord when i have opened your graves o my people and brought you up out of your graves verse 14 and shall put my spirit in you and you shall live and i shall place you in your own land and you shall know that i the lord have spoken it and performed it saith the lord what is god really talking about he's not just talking about them getting back to judah after 70 years he's also speaking that some of us need to be looking forward to the new jerusalem god has a place for you in the new jerusalem he has prophesied that if you can come in line with him he has a place for you there is a chair for you at the welcome table there's a crown waiting for you a robe waiting for you god has made a room in his house for you and a mansion in the countryside for you i don't care how dark it gets no matter how hopeless it seems one of the reasons the bible explains heaven in such beautiful detail as my mother did that night when i cried for this for the state of one of her sisters the reason the bible does that is so that when this world gets dark you can look to the light of the future understanding that god has not designed us to live in a world of pestilences of pandemics of of of inflation and famine and difficulty and trial our god will use the wind of strife to purify our character so that we are fit to sit at the table alan white says it like this i'll read a little what she says on his passages the souls of whom we desire to save are like the representation which ezekiel saw in vision a valley of dry bones they are dead in trespasses and sins but god would have us deal with them as though they were living you hear that the folk this thing blew my mind i read this the folk that we think cannot be recovered god says do not look at them as if they're dead speak to them as if they're alive they are dead interested but god would have us deal with them as they were living where the question put to a son of man can these moses lives our answer would be only the confession of ignorance oh lord thou knowest to all our parents there is nothing to lead us to hope for their restoration yet nevertheless the word of the prophecy must be spoken even to those who are like the dry bones in the valley we are in no wise to be deterred from fulfilling our commission look at this by the listlessness the dullness the lack of spiritual perception in those upon whom the word of god is brought to bear we are to preach the word of life to those whom we may judge to be as hopeless subjects as though they were in their graves though they may seem unwilling to hear or to receive the light of truth without questioning or wavering we are to do our part we are to repeat to them the message awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and christ shall give thee light it is not the human agent that is to inspire with life the lord god of israel will do that part quickening the lifeless spiritual nature into activity the breath of the lord of hosts must enter into the lifeless bodies in the judgment when all secrets are laid bare it will be known that the voice of god spoke through the human agent and aroused the torpid conscience and stirred the lifeless faculties and moved sinners to repentance and contrition and forsaking of sins it will then be clear clearly seen that through the human agent faith in jesus christ was imparted to the soul and spiritual life from heaven was breathed upon one who was dead in trespasses and sins and he was quickened with spiritual life that would be profound if that was all where she stopped but she doesn't stop there she turns to us the church but not only does this simile of the dry bones apply to the world but also to those who've been blessed with great light they also are like the skeletons of the valley they have the form of men the framework of the body but they have not spiritual life but the parable does not leave the dry bones merely knit together in the forms of men for it is not enough that there is symmetry of limb and feature the breath of life must vivify the bodies that they may stand upright and spring into activity these bones represent the house of israel the church of god and the hope of the church is the vivifying influence of the holy spirit the lord must breathe upon the dry bones that they may live the spirit of god with its vivifying power must be in every human agent that every spiritual muscle and sinew may be in exercise without the holy spirit without the breath of god there is torpidity of conscious loss of spiritual life many who are without spiritual life have look at this church have their names on the church records but they are not written in the lamb's book of life they may be joined to the church but they are not united to the lord they may be diligent in the performance of certain set duties and maybe and may be regarded as living men but many are among those who have a name that thou livest and art dead unless there is genuine conversion of the soul to god unless the vital breath of god quickens the soul to spiritual life unless the professors of truth are actuated by heaven-born principle they are they are not born of the incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth forever unless they trust in the righteousness of christ as their only security unless they copy his character labor in his spirit they are naked they have not owned the robe of his righteousness the dead are often made to pass for the living for those who are working out what they term salvation after their own ideas have not god working in them to will and to do of his good pleasure this class is well represented by the valley of dry bones ezekiel saw in vision you want to thrive in 2021 here's the thing make this a year of humility number one there is no such thing as an arrogant christian it is an oxymoron you can't be arrogant and christian at the same time this year asked for god to humble you number one number two i want to challenge you to create a prayer journal and plan that you will pray without ceasing that you will stay on your knees in god create a prayer journal and keep track of the blessings i have a book that i keep and i don't i'm not consistent with it but when i go back and read how god delivered me from things where i thought it was hopeless keep a prayer journal have a prayer plan study the bible with intention this year make it your your duty to study books of the bible like ezekiel or jeremiah and other books that you may often gloss over and not look into take the time get the sda bible commentary and go into the word of god and then reference back to the spiritual prop spirit of prophecy you don't have to cover massive amounts of information at once but if you just begin to open his word just as ezekiel saw in vision the breath of god will begin to to blow and the dry bones will begin to live and one of the things to pray for this year especially is this is the holy spirit itself to get to know the person of the holy there is a lot of rain that will fall a great move that is about to happen to god's people we should be praying for the work of the holy spirit on our hearts even now ask god to make your dry bones live then ask him to send you into the valley of other dry bones that they may live last thing from ezekiel i want to give you these few verses right here ezekiel 36 and verse 26 for this new year ezekiel says a new heart god speaking through ezekiel a new heart also will i give you and a new spirit will i put within you and i will take away the stony heart of your flesh and i will give you i will take away the stony heart of your flesh and i will give you a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them you shall dwell in the land that i gave your fathers and you shall be my people and i will be your god i will also save you from all your uncleanliness what's deep about this is something that uh morris vendon says in his um devotional um faith that works and this is my last bit of advice for 2021 spiritually what you find is that many of us never gain victory over sin because we spend all our time focusing on the sin we spend all our time trying to muster the willpower to conquer the addiction the bad habit or the character flaw and so we spend all our time thinking we can muscle through and don't realize as already read in the spirit of prophecy when we do that we can leave no space for god to work to do of his own good pleasure we're fighting the good f we're fighting a fight not realizing it's a fight we can't win what is the secret it's right here you need a heart of flesh you need god to give it to you and when god does that he will cause you to walk in his statutes keep his judgments he will make you a commandment keeping christian as long as you're looking at your sin what you're going to be is what you're looking at by beholding you will become changed this year i challenge you to turn your eyes upon jesus to look full in his wonderful face so the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace the secret to overcoming church is to keep your eyes fixed on him 2021 may not be the year when all the problems in the world come to an end 2020 may only have been an introduction things may get very much worse the global economy could collapse things could get worse if these if these variants keep coming out they could make vaccine after vaccine and can't keep up things could get worse where is your trust and hope are you standing by the river kidar wondering where god is are you standing in the captivity that babylon would have you uh in wondering where the god of deliverance is are you wondering if the dry bones will ever have life again i came to tell you that in 2021 don't worry about the world don't worry about the politics don't worry about what they're all doing you focus on the lord jesus christ there is victory victory in jesus this is that year a pivot year make your calling an election sure let's pray father god we thank you for this opportunity to study your word thank you for the book of ezekiel the lord even with its quote-unquote uh quirkiness there are such powerful truths that you have for your people lord even as ezekiel envisioned saw that valley of dry bones many as father look at our lives and just see nothing but dry bones help us to realize that you can make the dry bones into an army not just give the bones life you can make the bones an army father god let us realize that you are soon to return it is time for god's people to stop laying in the valley as if dead come alive by the power of the holy ghost let this year be a different year for us lord as we prepare for your soon return this is our prayer in jesus precious and holy name amen my closing hymn this morning is number 5 30. it is well with my soul 5 30 please stand [Music] my way is is [Music] [Applause] is is is is [Applause] is is [Music] is [Music] are you heads for the benediction father god we thank you for your word for your spirit i pray lord that as we enter deeper into 2021 we will enter deeper into you into your truth into your word and into your spirit as we leave this place today lord let us never leave your presence this is our prayer in jesus name amen you [Music]

Channel: Three Angels SDA Church

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Length: 62min 40sec (3760 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021