The Spirit’s to Restore Hope, Ez 37, Kathy Martinsen

Uh, as she as she comes up, I just I

just want to take a poll. I took a poll

with the men this weekend. This is me

being a little vulnerable. Um, how many

of you noticed that my fly was down all

service last week? Just just be real. I

see that hand. I see that hand. Yeah.

Thank you. You would have told me. We

took a poll about like there was this

big debate about like do you tell them,

do you not tell them? You know, and and

I was like, you got to tell them like I

can make a joke about it. like how can

you possibly take me seriously with the

fly down and it's not my first time so

it's going to happen again I promise

you. So I I say you tell them uh no

matter how bad or inconspicuous it is.

Um are you with me? You tell them early.

Yeah.

Thank you. I I feel loved and seen and

heard. Um and so if if it's any of you

next time it happens, just shout it out.

Um you're not going to Well, it will

embarrass me a little bit, but I'd be

more embarrassed to know it didn't

happen. So on that note, this is my

mother. Um this woman, this woman met

Jesus when I was three years old and uh

was the catalyst in our family that

shifted, you know, her her family line

in generations. And my my brother and I

only siblings um are forever changed

because of the way that she discipled

us. And our series is on disruptive

disciplehip. And we've been going

through a series on that. We did not

give her a a uh specific of what you

need to to do in this series partially

because it's kind of awkward to tell

your mother what to do when you invite

her to come in and speak on something.

But but in light of our series, I just

want you to receive from someone who has

lived her life discipling u her kids,

but also discipling people. She's one of

the most passionate and pure-hearted

people that I I've ever seen. And I

don't have to say that just because

she's my mother. and uh you're going to

be deeply blessed by her love for the

word, but also her passion for the

spirit to move. So, if you wouldn't mind

stretching out your hands and just

blessing her, receiving her as a gift of

God um to minister to us this morning.

Holy Spirit, we just invite your

presence to to to go before us to to

minister through your word and uh and

through my mother. Thank you for the

impact she's had on my life and

countless others. We invite you to move

this morning and we honor you for what

you are doing in our community, in our

city, and beyond. It's in Jesus name.

Amen.

Thank you, son. I love that guy. You do

too, don't you? He's amazing. He and his

wife, what he's done, what they've done,

what you've done with this church is

just the word that comes to me is

electrifying. That's the word that just

came to me, electrifying. It's amazing.

The prayer time back there where I got

to see the hearts of a lot of you core

prayers intercessors was so stunning, so

beautiful, and you just preached my

message in your prayers. It was

incredible to see your hearts. So I

bless you, Frontier. I love this church

and I love my son and his wife and his

family and I feel so honored to be here.

Um I just want to say as a little caveat

I had warned Christian because I told

him the story of

Awtoer somebody asked he was a gray man

of God a giant right and somebody asked

him once a very serious theological

question you know it's like what do you

do like the last thing before you go up

to preach and he said I check my

fly he's been warned

[Laughter]

Okay. Well, I want to take you on a

little uh journey

back in time to January

7th,

2025. You all there? 7 o'clock p.m. I'm

sitting down at my computer. I'm getting

ready. Literally, my my hand is raised

like this, ready to touch Zoom to go on

a prayer call with our church. And I get

a phone call and it's from Christian. I

look at it. It's from Christian. Now

Christian. So I thought I need to answer

this. So because he sees me. It's true.

Um so but I I knew it must be something

if he's calling me. So I answered it and

he said, "Have you have you heard about

the fire?" And I said, "Yeah, I know

about the Palisades fire. It's

terrible." He goes, "No, there's another

fire. There's an eaten fire right by

you." I looked out the door and it's

like this big black smoke. It's like,

"Oh, okay." So, Sveta and I were running

around like chickens with our heads cut

off trying to because we were not

prepared. And I think I grabbed I

grabbed a pair of underwear, no change

of clothes, just you know, just the

essentials like my vitamins, my

supplements, my my, you know,

medications, my Thank you. Um, just you

know, hardly anything. And we ran

because Christian is saying, "You got to

get out. you got to get out now. So he I

said, "Where do we go?" He goes, "To our

house." So we goes first to their house.

Sue's got pictures ready. The kids have

suitcases packed. They are ready

compared to us. It was kind of funny. Um

anyway, we only stayed there a short

while because the fire was right there.

And so Tommy called. He said, "You're

coming down there." We went there. Then

we went to a hotel. And then we went to

Chris and Sue's house. Then we went to a

hotel. And then we went to Chris and

Sue's house. sixth move and we're like

and the Lord opens up a place through

some dear friends. They have a guest

house on their property and they invited

us to come stay. So that's where we are

still now. We're still in exile, so to

speak. But some of you have had far

worse. Some of you lost your homes. At

least our house is standing and our

stuff is there. It's just not back yet.

It all has to be cleaned. But some of

you lost everything. And I am so sorry

about that. It's and you're still in

exile, too. You're still away from

what's familiar and where you know what

you had before. And it's not fun. But I

want to talk today about a people, the

Israelites, who really knew exile.

So I want to take you back to 7:21

BC when uh when the northern kingdom if

you remember after Solomon's reign

Israel was divided in two because of

disobedience and became the northern

kingdom with 10 tribes the southern

kingdom with two tribes Benjamin and

Judah so God had been warning the people

through the prophets over and over again

about their idolatrous adulterous

behavior. how they'd been profaining his

name and they'd been warned and warned

and warned and they were not taking

notice. They weren't listening. They

weren't hearing the word of the Lord.

And so the northern kingdom went into

exile and they were scattered among

those nations. And then Judah, the tribe

of Judah along with Benjamin, the

kingdom, the southern kingdom of Judah,

uh didn't learn from that because just

over a hundred years later, they too

were captured this time by the

Babylonians. And they were taken in

three deportations to

Babylon. And in the first deportation

was Daniel and some of the elites.

Remember that. Second deportation

actually Ezekiel the prophet was taken

along with 10,000 others. And then the

third deportation is the date that we

really are more familiar with. Some some

are. And that is um what is that date?

586 BC. That's the reason that's

familiar is because that is actually

when the real fall, the complete fall of

Jerusalem when it was totally sacked and

the temple was burned down and that that

it was just everything was in

ruins. So this is the backdrop to to the

message today what we're going to be

looking at. I've entitled this message

the spirit's power to restore

hope. So who was Ezekiel? Ezekiel was

both a prophet and a priest. He was born

in the priestly line, but he never got

to function as a priest because he

didn't come into his 30th year till he

was in exile and there was no

sacrificial system. There was no temple.

So the priests weren't able to function

in the way they would have of course uh

before. But he was he was really

uniquely positioned as prophet and

priest to really minister to both the

practical and the spiritual needs of the

people.

um his ministry was from around 593 BC

and then it continued about 20 years. So

about five years into the exile, his

exile, he was called to be a prophet. So

I'm going to summarize before they put

the words. Yeah, that's just the title.

Before they put the words up, I'm just

going to tell you the story and then I'm

going to go through it verse by verse.

Okay, so this is probably one of the

most familiar passages in Ezekiel next

to the preceding chapter. Um, and it's

the dry bones. How many have heard of

that? The dry bones chapter, right? So,

I'm just going to tell you the story.

So, Ezekiel is brought by the hand of

the Lord, by the spirit of God, and he's

set down in the middle of a valley. And

in this valley, he looks around, and

it's just covered with bones. They

aren't even connected to each other.

They're just scattered bones covering

the valley floor. And the Lord takes him

around among those bones. And then he

asks him a question. He says, "Son of

man, can these bones

live?" Ezekiel, we don't know how he

reacted exactly, but he said something

very interesting. He just said, "Oh,

sovereign Lord, you

know." And then the Lord told him to

prophesy to those bones. But first he

said prophesy over them to tell them to

hear the word of the Lord. And then he

said tell them that I'm going to bring

life. I'm going to breathe life into

them and I'm going to cover them with

senue. I'm going to bring the bones

together. Cover them with senus. Cover

them with with flesh and and with skin

and they're going to live. So he does

that. He he obeys and he does that and

the bones come together and all those

things happen except he looks and it's

like they're just dead corpses. There's

no life. There's no breath in them. So

then the Lord says, "Okay, now prophesy

to the breath. Call the four winds and

say, "Live, come into them, breath, and

live." And so he did that and lo and

behold, they they came to life and they

stood up and they became this mighty

army. So then in the last few verses,

this is where the Lord kind of explains

the meaning. He says, "Son of man, these

bones are the whole house of

Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried

up. Our hope is lost. We are indeed cut

off." Therefore, prophesy and say to

them, "Thus says the Lord God, behold, I

will open your graves. I will raise you

from the graves, oh my people, and I

will bring you into the land of Israel.

And you shall know that I am the Lord

when I open your graves and when I raise

you from your graves, oh my people. I

will put my spirit within you and you

excuse me shall live and I will place

you in your own land and then you shall

know that I am the Lord and I have

spoken. I will do

it. So I'm going to walk you. if you'll

come with me. I want you to use your

sanctified imagination and we're going

to walk through this valley together

with Ezekiel. So, I want you to come

with me and imagine the Lord has just

put his hand on you and he's just taken

you by the spirit and he's just put you

down in the middle of this valley. So, I

want you to look around and I'm going to

go through the verses. So, if you want

to put the verses up on the board, that

would be great to follow along with.

Verse one, the hand of the Lord was upon

me and he brought me out by the spirit

of the Lord and he set me in the middle

of a

valley. So he's transported by the

spirit. We don't know if it was a real

thing or if it was just spirit. It

doesn't really matter. The valley was

full of bones. Verse two, and he led me

around among them. And in the Hebrew is

means around around. It's like

thoroughly around. He led him all around

among those bones and there were very

many on the surface of the valley and

behold they were very dry. So I want to

point out a couple things. They were

very dry. That means they'd been dead a

long time. It also they were on the

surface of the valley. These bones were

unburied. The Jewish culture considered

it a shameful thing to have a body

that's not buried. and it was considered

a pollutant to the land. What a picture

of what the people had been doing among

the nations. They had been polluting and

defaming the name of the Lord by their

idolatrous, adulterous behavior. And

this is a a stark picture for them to

see that valleys were often where

battles were

fought and they symbolize often

spiritual death and despair, judgment

and defeat. It's a place where there's

no human help. So, it's a great

backdrop, isn't it? A great canvas for

God to work and do what only God can do.

It's a great place for resurrection.

Resurrection doesn't take place in the

palaces, in the thrones, and in the

temples. Takes place in these lifeless,

desolate places. And that's exactly what

this was. The valley here in Ezekiel 37

is the lowest point. It represents the

lowest point in human

hopelessness. They had lost all hope.

Maybe Ezekiel felt that too. But I think

that the Lord had him walk among those

bones in such a way to really get in

touch. You know, you've heard that that

uh phrase, walk a mile in the other

person's moccasins or shoes. That's

that's what came to me. I just feel like

he took him around around in this valley

of bones because he did that with me as

I'm studying it. I felt like I was

walking around and around in this valley

trying to trying to get the heartbeat

both of God and of the people. And

that's what I think God was doing with

Ezekiel. He wanted him to empathize,

have compassion for the people, to

really understand where because he's a

priest, really understand, but he's got

to know God's heart, God's mind, because

he's a prophet. He's got to give the

word of the

Lord. So, this was a

process.

Um, so the Israelites were so hopeless

because they had lost their whole

identity as a nation. Remember, they're

a covenant people that God raised up

like no one else in the world. He gave

them his word. He gave them the temple

and the sacrifices. He gave them his

presence. The shikina glory was in the

holy of holies in the temple. They had

this system where they could have their

sins atoned

for. They had God. They were his people.

There was no nation on earth like them.

They had a covenant with the living God

and it was

powerful. But they had defamed his name

so much that they'd lost all of

that. And so the question comes from

God, son of man. This is verse three.

Can these bones

live? Have you ever been asked in the

middle of a desperate situation? Has God

challenged your faith? Has he asked you

in the middle of that situation, "Do you

think I can do it? Do you think my

promises are

true? Do you think they're true for you?

And do you think they're true in this

situation?" He has that question for us

often. Whenever you're facing a

difficulty, there's a question from the

Lord. If we'll listen, if we'll hear the

word of the Lord, if we'll remember our

true identity. See, the Israelites had

forgotten their identity. They'd

forgotten that they were blessed with

all those things. Not just for

themselves to go, "Nah, look at us." But

they were blessed with that to be a

blessing, to be a light. Do you remember

Genesis 12 where God comes to Abram and

that's when he makes that big covenant

with Abram? He gives him the promise and

he said, "I'm going to bless you to be a

blessing."

That's the whole point. And there was a

while when the Israelites knew that when

Solomon dedicates his temple, if you

read that prayer, he understood that.

May the nations see your glory through

us. But they lost sight of the word of

the Lord and the spirit of the Lord.

They let it go and they became instead

of God focused, they became

self-focused. Have you ever done that?

That's a temptation for us every day.

Are we going to stay God focused and

really put him first? All the promises

we have on this side of the of the

cross. He says if we'll put him first,

all these things will be added unto us

as

well. We have nothing to fear.

So when he says son of man, I just as a

caveat that that term is used 93 times

in the book of Ezekiel for Ezekiel.

Where else is that used in the Bible so

much? Jesus is called son of man and son

of God. There's so much foreshadowing in

these in these passages here of what's

to come, the new covenant and the

fulfillment of the word that we're

hearing today.

So, if it weren't for the fact that the

sovereign or the Lord is asking this

question, can these bones live? It would

sound ridiculous. But it is the

sovereign Lord. And it it looks like

Ezekiel pauses and he realizes, well,

no, man could not ever do that. But, you

know, God isn't so limited. So, he

answers, "I said, oh Lord God, you know,

as if only you could do it." and only

you could know because you're God and

I'm not. Good answer,

Ezekiel. He knew God was not so limited.

And in verse four, Ezekiel now becomes

not just someone who's who's kind of

there as a spectator onlooker, but he

becomes now a partner, a team with God

because God tells him to prophesy over

these bones and say to them, "Oh dry

bones, hear the word of the Lord." Try

to put yourself in his place. Speaking

to dry bones sounds ridiculous, doesn't

it? I remember I was at first I was

thinking, was he was he like really

timid? Oh, dry bones, you know. Was he

kind of uh hear the word of the Lord?

Was he was he sort of like this is so

weird? I don't think so. And the reason

I don't think so is because I had an

experience once way back when I was in

seminary a couple of decades ago. I I

had an amazing experience in seminary. I

loved it. My major was theology and my

theology professor was stellar. But when

I took my one of my New Testament

classes, they were teaching something

about Jesus that I felt was undermining

people's faith. There were I don't

remember exactly what it was. I wish I

wish I did, but I don't. But all I

remember is I was so deeply disturbed

about it that I went home and I was

praying about it and I was thinking

about it. And all of a sudden I was

reading one day in Ezekiel

37. And the spirit of the Lord came upon

me so powerfully that I became like

Ezekiel. No one was home. So I was free

to just let God use my voice, use my

body. And he did. I just surrendered to

him and I just he I felt like he was

saying, Kathy, I want you to prophesy to

the seminaries, to the dry bones in the

seminaries all over the states, all over

the world. Prophesy to the dry bones in

those seminaries. And so I did that. I

prophesied just I read the word of God

and I the spirit of God met and and it

was so powerful. I feel the thought I

had was this is resurrection

power. I was experiencing resurrection

power. Do you know it lives in us?

Because the spirit of God lives in us.

The same power that raised Jesus from

the dead lives in us if we are believers

in Jesus Christ. Do we realize what we

have? The Israelites forgot what they

had at this moment. Do we realize what

we have? And are we living in that? And

are we honoring the Lord? Are we showing

to the world who God is? There is a

phrase that is repeated uh in the book

of Ezekiel 60ome times and that phrase

is and you shall know that I am the

Lord. That is the theme of the book of

Ezekiel. All the things that he has the

prophet Ezekiel doing, he becomes a

prophetic act over and over again. and

he prophesies to them all the things

that that he is doing are either so

Ezekiel or the na or Israel or the

nations whether they're enemies or not

so they'll know that he's the

Lord I was thinking about that I was

pondering why does he want them to know

what is what is is he egoentric what is

that it's like no far far from that he

doesn't think as man thinks he is not a

self-centered god if you have that idea.

Dispel it right now. This is a God who

has given everything for his people. God

so loved the world that he gave his only

begotten son. His love is for the world.

So everything he has given to the

Israelites was for the world. But

everything he's given to you and me is

likewise for the whole world. It's not

just for us. Are we realizing? Are we

realizing our testimony? Our light is

either shining or it's dim because we're

walking in the flesh. When we walk by

the spirit, our light is shining bright.

When we make ourselves accessible and

say, "Here I am. Choose me. Holy Spirit,

come. My heart is

open. Rest here. Stay. Don't just visit

but stay here in my life so that I can

show the world how amazing both powerful

but incredibly merciful and kind our God

is. This God has given everything not

just for me but for the world. And so he

still cares about the world. But I want

to show a couple of important things

um even about my uh my little rendevous

with the prophetic there and and

prophesying and that is that it takes

both the word of God that's the

prophesying or preaching the word of God

hearing the word of God. But that wasn't

enough because we see here that there's

no breath in them. And so I'm kind of

getting ahead of myself. We'll get

there. But we're going to see that just

the word alone without the spirit isn't

enough. Remember it says the letter

kills. That's the word without the

spirit. It kills. But the spirit gives

life. We've got to combine. So I saw

it's hard for me to do with a microphone

in my hand, but I saw the word here as

this colonel coming together with the

spirit here. And as they met and

married, life began. was like the moment

of conception. Literally, there's a

spark of life, they say. And that's what

I think happens when we have the word of

God and the spirit of God and they meet.

And that's what I love about this

church. It's both word and spirit. It's

got to be to really have the balance

that we

need. So, I want to point something else

out.

Well, let me let me read verse five and

six first. Um, so Ezekiel is commanded

to prophesy to the bones. He says,

"Behold, I will cause breath to enter

you and you shall live. And I will lay

senus upon you and cause flesh to come

upon you and cover you with skin and put

breath in you and you shall live."

Notice he repeats it. And you shall know

that I am the Lord. So, it's after these

things that God has done, we shall know

he's the Lord. I want you to notice this

isn't a message to

repent. This is all promise and all

God's doing. Isn't that interesting?

There are a lot of promises in scripture

that are conditional. If you do this, I

will do that. If then this is not this

is unconditional promise. It's all God.

There are things that we try to do in

our strength but we just can't. There

are areas where we've got to just trust

God because only there are things only

he can do. when I was suicidal years ago

uh after Christian was born because I

loved him so much and I couldn't stand

the thought of him having a black pit of

despair like I did and I thought the

only way he won't have it is if I take

my life and maybe can marry some nice

young woman without a black pit and

Christian will have a chance. That's how

the enemy lies to us you guys. That's

that twisted thing. And so I was

believing that and thinking, "Yeah, that

would be the best thing." And I was, but

God came and interrupted my revery

there. And he started speaking to me and

he said, "Kathy, what's wrong with you

is at the core of your

being. And there is no person that knows

what that is or can fix it." But he

said, "But I know you. I know everything

about you. I created you. I am life and

I can help you. And I I knew it was God.

I knew it was truth. I knew I had not

factored in. I had done all the

self-help, all the stuff I thought I

could do, and it hadn't gotten me

anywhere. And I had not once factored in

God. This was the word with the spirit.

You see, I'd had knowledge of who God

was and who Jesus was, but I didn't have

the marriage of the spirit with the

fullness of the word. And that's what I

needed. And I I left that that little

discussion, that little that little talk

with God, and I felt like hope had

pierced the

darkness. That hope is here today for

you. That's what this passage is all

about. Bringing life out of death. for I

was dead in my trespasses and sins. You

were all that way too at one time. Maybe

you're here today or listening today and

you're still in that place. That hope is

here for you today. That same life, that

same hope, that same merciful, gracious

God. It's something only he can do. You

can't do any of that. All you can do is

receive. Make a place in your heart to

receive it.

So it says he prophesied. I prophesied

as I was commanded and I prophesied as I

prophesied. There was a sound. It says

it was like a big vibration and the

bones came together bone to its bone.

And I looked and behold there were senus

on them. Flesh had come on them. The

skin had covered them but there was no

breath in them. So that sort of is

talking about the national restoration

of Israel. It's and it's like I was

before the spirit. It's like I was a

form, but there was no spirit of life in

me yet. And so they had become a form.

They'd come together and he was looking

at all these corpses, but no breath in

them. So God says, "Prophesy to the

breath, the ruach." And so I did that.

He said, "I will cause breath to enter

you." And that could mean wind or

spirit. I will put breath in you. That

was verse six. I'm showing you how many

times breath is used. Another word

that's repeated a lot. Verse eight,

there was no breath in them. Now verse

nine, 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. Verse 10. So I prophesied as he

commanded me, and the breath came into

them. They lived and stood on their feet

an exceedingly great

army. This is kind of reminiscent of

Genesis

Genesis 2:7

2:7 when God forms the man. Remember

Adam, from the dust of the earth, but he

was just a form until God breathes life

into him and he becomes a living soul.

So it was in this the preaching wasn't

enough. That was the forming but indeed

the marriage of the spirit and the life

came. So then the second part of this 14

verses is the interpretation. And you

know often scripture will interpret

scripture. That's what we have here. God

literally tells us who these bones are.

He says in verse 11, "Son of man, these

bones are the whole house of Israel."

Now that's something we pass over.

You've probably read that before, the

whole house of Israel. And we and we

sort of emphasize Israel. But as I'm

reading it for part of the 50th time as

I'm preparing, all of a sudden the word

whole is standing out. This isn't just

Israel. This is the whole house of

Israel. Remember at the beginning I told

you about the divided kingdom, the north

and the south. They hated each other.

They did not get

along. And they were very divided. That

is not God's will. That is not God's

purpose. And so he is saying that this

is the whole house. This is the entire

nation that I'm speaking to. And he

said, "Son of man, these bones are the

whole house of Israel, not just Judah

and the southern kingdom." And I think

it relates to Ephesians

Ephesians 2:14–16

2:14-16 when Paul writes um well, I'll

just read it. For he says, "For he

himself," he's speaking of Jesus, "is

our peace." Jesus doesn't just give

peace. He does, not as the world gives.

He gives peace. But Jesus is our peace.

What the heck does that mean? It means

that if you go to Jesus, if you abide in

him and you surrender to him and you do

the same, even though you might be in

disagreement, there's going to be peace

because the things that are not of Jesus

are going to fall away as you walk in

the spirit and now you add you and you

add we can have a whole church in union.

God honors that unity and there is peace

in Jesus. So what does the world need?

Jesus, you know, all those differences,

all those things will fall away, the

hatred, the hostilities. So he goes on

to say, "For he himself is our peace,

who has made us both one, and has broken

down in his flesh the dividing wall of

hostility, that he might create in

himself one new man in place of the two,

so making peace, and might reconcile us

both to God in one body through the

cross, thereby killing the hostility."

We're not going to go into these verses,

but if you look at the verses following

verse 14, God takes Israel, he tells

Israel to take two sticks. And he said,

write on one of it Judah and write on

the other one, Joseph. Because Joseph

represented the northern kingdom. And he

said, I want you to take the two and put

them in your hand and make them

one. God's heart is this

oneness. But there's more than that. So

the northern kingdom called Joseph

represents also the

Gentiles. Do you know in Christ there's

no Greek or Jew. That's Gentile or Jew.

There's no male or female. There's no

slave or free. We're all one in Jesus

Christ. So much of this that is being

prophesied here in Ezekiel, it finds its

fulfillment in Christ. But there's going

to be even greater fulfillment uh one

day.

So continuing in verse 11, uh he says,

"They say," this is God telling again

what the meaning is. They say, "Our

bones are dried up. Our hope is lost.

Indeed, we're cut off." Remember that

they have lost everything. They're

they're no longer a covenant nation.

They're no longer special and separate

and and they've lost their whole

identity and purpose. That's

devastating. Um, and so the nation

itself is is dead. Just like the bones,

it's dead. And it's going to take an act

of

God. You know, I feel like they were

wondering, "Will we ever be a nation

again? Has God left us forever? Does he

care about us anymore? If you ever

thought any of those things, does God

still care about me? I knew he did once,

but does he still? Is he still there for

me?

So then he said to me, "Son of man,

these bones are the whole house of

Israel." They're saying, "Our bones are

dried up. Our hope is gone. We're cut

off." So verse 12, "Therefore prophesy

and say to them, the house of Israel,

the whole house of Israel, thus says the

Lord God." And I want you to notice five

promises. There were five in the

beginning, and now there are five more.

Double

grace. And so here he says, "Behold, I

will open your graves and raise you from

your graves and raise you from your

graves." Those are two different things.

I will open your graves and raise you

from your graves, oh my

people. So he wasn't calling them his

people in the last few chapters. He now

is calling them, "Oh my people." It just

seems like he's left them. He has not

forgotten them. And he says, "And um and

I will bring you into the land of

Israel." Part of the covenant is the

land. I will bring you into the land and

you shall know that I am the Lord when I

open your graves and raise you from the

graves, oh my people. And I will put my

spirit within you and you shall live.

And I will place you in your own

land. And it some say cause you to rest

on your own land. Then you shall know

that I am the Lord. I have spoken and I

will do it, declares the

Lord. So, this great work that puts hope

right back in their hearts is all tied

to God's sovereign word and his spirit

coming together. I will put my spirit in

you and you will live.

This is the main point of Ezekiel that

nothing can overcome this national death

of exile but the word and the spirit.

Only God can do this and he can only God

can work through a brand new heart. So

what he had prophesied in uh chapter 36

just the chapter preceding this he says

I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm

going to take out your heart of stone

and I'm going to give you a new heart so

that you can obey me so that you can you

know do you know the first commandment

is love the Lord your God with all your

heart mind soul and strength. They

needed a new heart and a new spirit to

do that. So he had said he was going to

do it but he said I'm not doing it for

your

sake. I'm doing it for my name's sake

because his name had been so profained

among the nations. And again, why is he

doing it? For his name's sake, not

because of an ego trip, but because it

takes that for the nations to see his

power and his goodness. What a great

awesome God He is and want to know him,

too. We're to draw people to God through

our lives, through showing what a great,

awesome God He

is. So, the fullness of this prophecy is

yet to be fulfilled. Yes, they were

taken back. They had 70 years of exile.

They went back with Zerubbable. You

remember Nehemiah and and Cyrus gave

them the edict. They were able to go

back and and start doing that. But in 70

AD, the temple was again completely

burned down, completely destroyed, and

they were taken from the land. And they

never went back. They never had a land

again

until May 14th, 1948.

Incredible, you guys. Almost 2,000

years. But God doesn't forget. It seems

that he forgets. What has he promised

you? What has he promised you? Maybe

it's been a prophetic word. Maybe was

something in your heart, something he

showed you, and you feel like it's never

going to go to pass. It's never going to

happen. He has not forgotten his

promises. God is a covenantkeeping God.

He keeps his covenants with Israel.

These things will happen to Israel. And

he keeps his covenant with you and

me. Isn't that awesome? Every time we

have the Lord's supper, we're reminded

of that covenant with our God. It's so

beautiful. When the fullness of this

prophecy is fulfilled, it's going to be

an amazing time. And when that happens,

they'll remember their identity and

they'll remember what Isaiah 42:6-7

Isaiah 42:6–7

says. God says, "I will take hold of

your hand. I will keep you and make you

to be a covenant for the people and a

light for the Gentiles, to open eyes

that are blind, to free captives from

prison, and to release from the dungeon

those who sit in

darkness." Who does that sound like?

Sounds a lot like what Jesus did,

doesn't it? It's everything Jesus did.

But he came from that line and they're

going to become one one day. And we can

pray for that. But in the meantime, the

church age, we are that light for the

Gentiles. We are the ones that are to

let that light shine for the other

nations to see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

So, I want to close with just a few

thoughts. We walked together through a

valley of dry bones today with

Ezekiel. We've seen that God is not

intimidated by the

impossible. He's not intimidated by what

man could never do.

He's not even intimidated by our

unbelief or even our

disobedience. He's still God. He's still

who he is. He is still someone we can

run

to. And he will breathe life into dead

places. Maybe there are some dead places

that you've thought of during this

message in your own life. Places that

are

scarred, places that are lonely,

deserted, places that just don't have

life. Maybe they've just become numb,

passive. We were praying about that

earlier. Passes places

that were kind of lost and cut off from

you because you forgot about them. But

you know what? God didn't. He hasn't

forgotten about those places because he

loves you too much.

to leave his promise in Israel or his

promise to you only half

fulfilled. He is at work. We may think

it's finished that that he's done with

us in that in that sense. Finished. Yes,

his work is finished on the cross, but

we may think he's finished with us, but

he is saying, "Oh, no. Oh, no. I'm not

done with you yet. I've got so much

more. I don't want to leave you where

you are because I've got so much more

for

you. So, why don't you just close your

eyes for just a moment? Is there a

keyboardist? If you want to come up and

just play real, real real softly, that

would be just awesome. Thank you so

much. So, let's close our

eyes. Remember, this vision was not just

for ancient Israel. It's for anyone

who's ever said, "My hope is lost," or

has felt discouraged, or has felt in the

land of darkness and has needed light,

has needed a refreshing breath, has

needed restoration,

revival. Where are those places in you

that need

that? What is the destiny God has called

you to, the purpose that he's designed

you for, that you you had an inkling of

at one time? Maybe he showed you really

clearly, but you've kind of lost sight

of it, and now you wonder, was that even

real? What kind of testimony to the

world are you living right now? Are you

walking primarily in the flesh or are

you walking by the spirit? We can only

obey God as we walk by the spirit. It's

that's his power, his word and his

spirit working in us to restore that

hope, to restore that life, the things

that are

dead. We've got to have his word and his

spirit

united bringing that

life. And are we living as the one new

man? Are we living in unity?

You can't. You're not responsible for

the the person over there who may or may

not choose that, but you are responsible

for your own

choice. Are you choosing to live out of

Christ in oneness with him? That the

world may know. That the world may

know. That the world may know. And that

world starts with your neighbor, with

your family, with your neighbor, with

your city, with your nation, and then

the

nations. God wants the whole world to

know that he is God. And he's a

gracious, powerful, loving, amazing,

forgiving God who wants to breathe hope

into your life right now.

So why don't you ask God to come and

breathe new life, breathe new hope into

those recesses, those dark places, those

aching places, those lost

places. Give him your hopelessness. Give

him your fear, your struggles, your

weakness, your

inability, your whole situation. And

receive the breath of life.

be be that receptive place where the

dove can

land. He has to have a place to land.

Remember when Noah sent out the dove and

he came back and came back until he

didn't. And when he didn't, it's cuz it

found a place to land. We can make a

place for the Holy Spirit both to land

and to settle, to make his home in this

heart. And it just takes the will. It

takes the yes. takes the turning to God

and away from ourselves and away from

our problems, away from the lies of the

enemy and toward God, toward

hope. Father, I thank you. I thank you

today for your message, for the power of

your word to restore hope in dry places,

to restore life in dead places.

I thank you for your powerful word that

combines with the spirit to bring life.

Only you can create life, oh God. And so

though we feel like scattered bones,

lifeless and without hope, you are the

God who speaks life. And you are

speaking life right now into every

heart, every mind, every body. You are

speaking and releasing your

life. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you,

Jesus. You are the one who breathes your

spirit into what we thought was dead.

So, we ask you, breathe on us again.

Breathe on us again. Revive our hearts.

Restore our joy. Renew our hope.

fill us so much with your Holy Spirit

that we live in such a way as to bring

glory to you and to your name and so

that the nations are drawn to you

through our lives. May it be so. May God

bless you all. The altar is open. I know

that there are beautiful intercessors

here who would love to pray with you

over here. And I would love to pray with

anyone who would like to pray with me.

I love you and thank you for listening.

God bless

[Music]

you. Why don't you stand and we're just

going to respond with a song of

[Music]

worship. Chronic hopelessness is the

condition of every single one of us.

Whether you've got something you're

completely aware of in the moment where

it needs hope, fresh life, whether you

have a loved one, a hopeless

situation, bring it before the Lord

right now and let's just respond in

worship and then we'll

[Music]

close. You give

life. You are love.

You bring light in the

darkness. You give

hope. You

restore every heart that is

broken. Great are you, Lord.

It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

breath in our lungs.

So we pour out our praise to you

[Music]

for great are you

Lord. You give

life. You are

love. You bring light to the

darkness. You give hope.

You

restore every heart that is

broken. Great are

[Applause]

you. It's your

breath in our

lives. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

breath in our lungs.

So we pour out our praise to you

[Music]

holy. Great are you

[Music]

Lord. Great are you Lord.

[Music]

All the earth will shout your praise.

Our hearts will cry. These bones will

sing. How

great are you,

Lord? And all the earth will shout your

praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones

will sing.

Great are you,

Lord. Let's prophesy.

When all the earth will shout your

praise, our hearts will cry. These bones

will sing.

Great are you,

Lord. Oh, and all the earth will shout

your praise. Our hearts will cry. These

bones will sing. How

great are you,

Lord? It's your

grace in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

grace in our lungs.

So we pour out our praise. Pour out our

praise. It's

your

ins. So we pour out our praise. Pour out

our praise. It's

your

ins. So we pour out our praise.

[Music]

You great are

you and great are you Lord.

Oh, we sing

great and great are you

[Music]

Lord. Great are you,

Lord. It's time we sing. It's your

breath in our lungs.

Oh, we pour out our praise. Pour out our

praise. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise to you.

[Music]

Holy. Just one final thought. These

people of Israel, the story of

scripture, our story, your

story is connected to a

God that's there in the

outpouring in the river when life is

good. But so much of the story is where

is he in the wilderness in exile when

the things that have happened to you

that shouldn't have

happened are your reality.

Where is the

hope? Not just for a moment or a decade

or a day

or

generations. And if God is still there

and that all of history has culminated

in the sacrificial act of

Jesus. If that is true, I can respond

with hope in my current challenges, in

my current realities with no hope. Last

night, uh, one of our men shared a story

of of how he

had been living in such a state of

glory, bliss, outpouring, renewal, life,

and then a decade, a decade of

hopelessness, brokenness, wilderness,

exile, searching with no hope.

And he is just now after a

decade starting to see where God

was. And I started

thinking I'm at the point in my life

where I I almost don't trust someone if

they haven't

seen the river of

God and been with God in the river, but

also been with him in the desert.

You don't really know God if you've only

been with him in good

times. Have you been with him? Have you

allowed him to be with you? Have you

found him because he's already found

you? But have you encountered him in the

in the hopeless places in your

life? That's when you know the kind of

God that you want to know in the good

times. He's not only there when things

are good.

[Music]

Let

that let that be the awareness of your

soul as you face whatever hopeless

situation you're facing today. We have a

team that is going to be right over

here. We would be absolutely honored to

partner with you in any hopeless

situation. If you just need

encouragement, you don't even know what

to pray for, we would love to pray with

you. Uh my mom's going to come over

there and join them. She would love to

pray with you. if anything that she

shared today just hit your

heart. Fresh life, fresh perspective,

fresh hope at every

circumstance. We claim your promises in

your word, the history where you've been

true. Thank you that your story gives

our story a purpose, Father. And we face

our week together under your covering in

the lordship of your son in Jesus mighty

name. And all God's people said, "Amen."

Amen. We just invite you to linger,

stay, come up for prayer, uh get some

coffee, don't rush off. We love you.

Have an amazing Sabbath and we'll see

you throughout the

[Music]