From Bones to Breath -- Robert Madu
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ÉducationTranscription
00:00:00Oh, I feel God's presence in this place today. It's different when we come to the
00:00:07factory in Deep Ellum. It's different. It's different here today. Hey, I'm so
00:00:12glad that you're here. Can you give me a wave again if this is your first time
00:00:15ever to Social Dallas? Can I see your hand? First time ever. So glad that you're
00:00:19here. Welcome. So glad you're here for real. Thank you. Thank you for pulling up.
00:00:25Thank you for finding the venue. Can I tell on you? Can I tell on the pastors
00:00:29on the pastor's wife? She woke up today and headed towards Gillies. Amen. That's
00:00:35how we get down on these streets. We don't even know where we're meeting and
00:00:39we leave the church. So give yourself a hand for making it.
00:00:44Oh, if you're visiting with us, you need to know that every single year we shape
00:00:52our year with the word and our word this year is unshakable. We just believe that
00:00:57a shaky world needs an unshakable church and every single Sunday of this
00:01:02year we've declared Hebrews chapter 12 verses 28 through 29 and we're gonna do
00:01:07it today in Deep Ellum as one big family. Some people gonna do it from memory.
00:01:11Don't be impressed. They've been doing this since January, okay? So we put it on
00:01:15the screen for those of you who don't know it but come on let's read it with
00:01:18loud, uplifted, caffeinated voices. You ready? One, two, three. Do you see what we've
00:01:25got? An unshakable kingdom and do you see how thankful we must be? Not only
00:01:32thankful, deeply reverent. Torching all that needs to burn and he won't quit until it's all
00:01:47clear. God is fire. Y'all sound good. Y'all sound good. And then today we are ending
00:02:01our series. We've been in a what? How many weeks has it been? I don't know. Y'all
00:02:05know I don't know. It's been a long time. We've been in a series called Lessons
00:02:09from the Valley and this is the climactic conclusion of this series. Has
00:02:14this series been a blessing to anybody? Have you been blessed by this series? You
00:02:19can go on our YouTube page, Social Dallas YouTube, like, share, subscribe. All those
00:02:23messages are still there but this is the final message in this series and
00:02:28maybe the most famous valley. So go with me to Ezekiel 37 today. Ezekiel 37 and I
00:02:36want to look at verses 1 through 10. Ezekiel 37. We'll start at verse number 1
00:02:43and then we'll land at verse number 10. I'll give you some time to find it
00:02:48especially if you got a paper Bible. Ezekiel is in the Old Testament. Ezekiel
00:02:54chapter number 37 and we'll start at verse number 1. If you're ready to read
00:02:59say yeah. If you need some time say hold up. Well, that's a lot of hold-ups. Lord,
00:03:07okay. I'll wait for you. Ezekiel 37. It declares, the Lord took a hold of me and
00:03:17I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He
00:03:26led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were
00:03:30scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he
00:03:35asked me, son of man, can these bones become living people again? Oh sovereign
00:03:44Lord, I replied, you alone know the answer to that. Then he said to me, speak a
00:03:50prophetic message to these bones and say, dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord.
00:03:56This is what the sovereign Lord says. Look, I am going to put breath into you
00:04:02and make you live again. I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with
00:04:08skin. I will put breath into you and you will come to life. Then you will know
00:04:13that I am the Lord. So I spoke this message just as he told me. Suddenly as I
00:04:19spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body
00:04:25came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then I watched as
00:04:31muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies
00:04:36but they still had no breath in them. Then he said to me, speak a prophetic
00:04:42message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, this is what
00:04:47the sovereign Lord says. Come, oh breath from the four winds. Breathe into these
00:04:51dead bodies so they may live again. So I spoke the message as he commanded me and
00:04:57breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet.
00:05:04A great army. It's good stuff. Did you notice in the text, he had to speak the
00:05:13prophetic word not once but twice. My sister is here. What's up Ashley? He had
00:05:22to speak it twice. First he prophesied to the bones, then he prophesied to the
00:05:30breath. I want to preach today at the factory in Deep Ellum for three and a
00:05:34half hours. Kidding, to the visitors. They're like, is he for real? From this
00:05:40thought, from bones to breath. From bones to breath. Look at your neighbor one last
00:05:47time and say, oh neighbor. Don't be afraid to talk to your neighbor. Come on, say
00:05:52neighbor. You're about to go from bones to breath. Just in case that neighbor was
00:06:00stuck up, find another neighbor. Find another neighbor. Come on, say other
00:06:03neighbor. I'm telling you, you're about to transition from breath to bones or
00:06:12rather bones to breath. God can do it either way if he wants to. See, I just
00:06:23gotta keep moving. Just gotta keep moving. Father, thank you for your Word. Speak to
00:06:28our hearts today. Oh God, thank you that you come that we may have life and life
00:06:34more abundantly. It is the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That
00:06:40being said, favor your team, America's team, the Dallas Cowboys, to defeat every
00:06:47stealer from Pittsburgh today. In Jesus' name, everybody said amen. You may be
00:06:54seated in the presence of the Lord. I felt that. From bones to breath. Social fam, several
00:07:08years ago, several years ago, not long after I graduated from Bible college, a
00:07:15dear friend of mine called me on the phone. His name was Robbie. Robbie Grunwald.
00:07:20Shut out, shut out. He called me up and he said, hey Robert, I need a huge favor, man.
00:07:26Please say yes, which don't you hate when people do that. Don't tell me to say
00:07:30yes till you ask me what it is. He said, man, I just got hired at this church in
00:07:36Pennsylvania. They just made me the youth director at the church. He's like, I just
00:07:41found out that I've got to do their youth camp like in two weeks. It's my
00:07:45first youth camp. He's like, please bro, do me a favor. Would you come and preach
00:07:49our youth camp? I said, come on man, you know I got you. Absolutely, I'm there. This is my
00:07:54boy Robbie. This is my roommate, my sophomore year of Bible college. Robbie
00:07:58and I went to church together. Matter of fact, we went to the same youth camp
00:08:02together and we were youth camp directors at the same youth camp that we
00:08:06went to. Now, this is important to the story because I don't know how you
00:08:10experienced youth camp, but our youth camp was amazing. We had incredible youth
00:08:15camp at my church I grew up in and this is my concept and Robbie's concept of
00:08:21youth camp because we actually went to the beach for youth camp. Yes, we did. We
00:08:25went to the beach. Went to Maui. Can you believe that? Went to the beach. Yeah, yeah.
00:08:29No, I'm lying. Galveston. Still a beach. We would go to the Galveston Beach. This is
00:08:36what we did at youth camp. You know, during the day you're playing games. Red
00:08:39team, blue team, purple team and then you go into the ballroom of a hotel that you
00:08:44are staying at. You have service in that ballroom. I got saved every single week
00:08:49of the youth camp and this is my concept of youth camp and this is what I'm
00:08:53thinking when my friend, who I went to Bible college with, said,
00:08:56come preach my youth camp. I flew into Pennsylvania. I'll never forget it.
00:09:00He said, I'll pick you up from the airport. He pulls up in the church van at the
00:09:05airport with the kids in the back of the van. I'll never forget it.
00:09:10I'm in Pennsylvania. I get on the church van. As soon as I get in,
00:09:12this kid comes to the front. Hey, are you our speaker? I was like, yes.
00:09:15Back up, Cody. Just go. All the way back. It was a scary ride,
00:09:21driving in this van to the youth camp. And y'all, we were driving for an hour.
00:09:26We drive two hours. We drive for three hours and all of a sudden we go on this
00:09:33little road that's kind of off to the side and we're winding down this road and I'm
00:09:37looking around. I'm like, this is odd. I don't think there's any hotels in this
00:09:41area. And we get to a wooded area and we stop. I'll never forget it.
00:09:46I'm still scarred. We stop and he says the scariest words I've ever heard in my
00:09:50life. We're here. I said, huh? We're here. He's like, we're here.
00:09:54All of a sudden, all these kids exit the van. They go to the back.
00:09:58I see them getting tense and start setting up tents. I said, whoa, whoa, whoa,
00:10:02whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Robbie. I said, where in the world is the hotel,
00:10:05man? This is, where are we at? He said, bro, I told you it was a youth camp.
00:10:10I said, Robbie, don't play. Don't play. You went to the same youth camp I went to.
00:10:14This is not youth camp. We're supposed to be at a beach.
00:10:17We're supposed to be at a hotel. You know I don't do tents.
00:10:19This ain't youth camp. This is youth camping. There's a difference between youth
00:10:22camp and youth camping. How you going to put me out here in the woods?
00:10:26This look like a movie where the black dude gets killed first.
00:10:28Why do you have me out here in these streets? He said, man, my bad.
00:10:31I'm sorry. This is the way that you youth camp here. He's like, grab your tent.
00:10:35I said, no, no, no. I'm not grabbing my tent. I'm going home.
00:10:37He's like, but wait a minute. You're preaching tonight. I said, no, no, no.
00:10:40I was preaching tonight. You got to figure out something at this
00:10:43Kumbaya camp in the woods. I'm going back home. And I got in the van,
00:10:47and I went home. I left them. That's not true. I didn't.
00:10:52Somebody was like, really? No, I stayed. I stayed. I didn't sleep in no tent.
00:10:57I slept in the van. And I hated every minute of it.
00:11:05I didn't like the environment. But I will say that the camp was powerful.
00:11:11Several young people, their life got changed that week, even though I didn't
00:11:16like where I was. And I remember that moment because I learned a very critical
00:11:23lesson that I believe is pertinent to our text today. And that lesson is this.
00:11:29You don't get to quit your God-given assignment just because you don't like
00:11:34the environment of the assignment. You don't get to pick and choose what
00:11:41assignment from God you are going to take just because it's not aesthetically
00:11:46pleasing to you when you get there. You don't get to quit on your assignment just
00:11:51because you don't like the environment of the assignment. Can I take it further?
00:11:56You don't get to walk away from your purpose just because you don't like the
00:12:00benefit package of the purpose. I don't know who this is for today,
00:12:04but you need to understand that your calling and your comfort are not
00:12:08mutually exclusive. We live in a culture where everybody thinks that if God really
00:12:13called me to it, then it should be comfortable. It should be convenient.
00:12:17I should like the way it feels. And I came to tell you that is not true at all,
00:12:20that God will often call you to something that does not feel comfortable,
00:12:24that you do not like. And he wants to see, can you be faithful to what I called you
00:12:29to even if you don't like where I called you to because I am more committed to the
00:12:34calling that I am to your comfort and your convenience? I didn't expect to get a
00:12:40whole lot of amens right there because we have a comfort crisis in our culture today.
00:12:46That is the new cocaine. It is comfort. Everybody is looking for comfort and
00:12:52people think that if it's God's call on my life, then I ought to like the
00:12:56environment to which he called me to. I love Michael Easter who wrote a book
00:13:01called The Comfort Crisis, and he says this, and I quote,
00:13:04most people today rarely step outside of their comfort zones.
00:13:09We are living in progressively sheltered, sterile, temperature-controlled,
00:13:15overfed, under-challenged, safety-netted lives. And often, your destiny will be on
00:13:22the other side of your discomfort. And if you're always looking for comfortable
00:13:27environments, you might miss out on your assignment. Here's the question.
00:13:31Can you fulfill your assignment in a foreign environment? Let me bring it to the text.
00:13:37Can you get your vision in a valley of dry bones? That is what is before us in our
00:13:44text today in the book of Ezekiel. Let the church say Ezekiel.
00:13:50The book of Ezekiel is a strange book. The book of Ezekiel is a bewildering,
00:13:55baffling, apocalyptic, mysterious book. Y'all, I'm telling you,
00:14:00the book of Ezekiel is different. It is completely different than any other book
00:14:04in the Old Testament. Often when I preach, I am trying to elicit hunger for the Word
00:14:09of God in you when I preach. You'll hear me when I preach it sometimes.
00:14:12I'll say, ooh, read it when you get to the crib. I don't know if I want to say that
00:14:15about Ezekiel because Ezekiel is different. As a matter of fact,
00:14:18I can take a poll today at the factory and ask people, what is your favorite book
00:14:22in the Old Testament? I'm willing to bet anything not one of y'all will be like,
00:14:26Ezekiel. I got my life verse in Ezekiel. Ezekiel is different. It is mysterious.
00:14:32Ezekiel is filled with visions from the Lord. Ezekiel was filled with apocalyptic
00:14:38literature. There are things that Ezekiel prophesied that still hadn't even come
00:14:42to pass today. It is crazy in the book of Ezekiel. Can I just say it like that?
00:14:46It's weird. It is a weird, weird book in the Bible. It's interesting because you
00:14:51have to understand that even Jewish rabbis, whenever they were training young
00:14:55pupils, they would tell them, don't read the book of Ezekiel to the age of 30
00:15:00because of the deep mysteries that are in the book of Ezekiel. But I'm going to do
00:15:03the best that I can today and try to break down this text that is found within the
00:15:08book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a young man who was born to be a priest.
00:15:16That was the lineage of his family, but he ends up functioning as a prophet.
00:15:21How in the world does somebody who was born to be a priest end up functioning
00:15:24being a prophet? Because you don't get to pick the environment of your assignment.
00:15:30Here he is supposed to be functioning as a priest in the temple, but yet there is no
00:15:34temple for him to function in because the book of Ezekiel is exilic literature.
00:15:39This is where he is writing to a people who have been taken from their home.
00:15:44They are in exile. They are in Babylon. They've been taken captive,
00:15:48and Ezekiel has been given the assignment to preach and to prophesy to a people who
00:15:53are far from home. They've lost their place of home. They've lost the temple.
00:15:59Y'all, it's one thing to be in tents out in the camp and at least have the hope of,
00:16:03I'm going to go home like I did. It's a whole other thing when you get out
00:16:07there in the camp with the tents and God says, hey, this is home now.
00:16:12This is where the children of Israel were. They were in captivity and God,
00:16:16watch this, strategically put them there. God says, the reason you have been taken
00:16:23captive is because I orchestrated your captivity. Your disobedience to me is what
00:16:31got you in the position that you're in. It's quiet in this Presbyterian church
00:16:37today because we don't like that aspect of God's character, do we?
00:16:41We only like the aspect of his character who's like, oh, come on in.
00:16:45It doesn't matter what you've done. Come get a hug and come get some love.
00:16:48I'm a God of grace. It's okay. Come under my wings as I cover you.
00:16:53Yes, he has grace, but he's also a God of holiness.
00:16:57He's also a God that has a standard. And all of a sudden, the children of Israel,
00:17:01through years of rebelling against God, find themselves being sold by God
00:17:08into captivity. Ooh, that's a scary but safe place to be.
00:17:14I would rather obey God and never have to go into captivity, but if I do get sold
00:17:18into captivity, at least I'm under his hand. At least it's his hand that put me
00:17:23there. And this is where the children of Israel are. This is who Ezekiel is
00:17:27prophesying to. If you study the rebellion, you can really categorize the rebellion
00:17:33in three categories. It was their idolatry, it was their immorality,
00:17:39and it was their ingratitude. That's what got them in a place of captivity.
00:17:45I'm saying one more time for the people in the back. It was idolatry,
00:17:48it was immorality, and it was their ingratitude. How many know that is a
00:17:53trifecta of apostasy that is still alive today? It's a slippery slope.
00:18:00The enemy would love for you to fall into idolatry, which will ultimately lead
00:18:03to immorality and ultimately lead to ingratitude towards God.
00:18:08Idolatry is whenever you put something above God. It is when you find your
00:18:14fulfillment and your identity in created things rather than the creator.
00:18:20That idolatry will ultimately lead to immorality because whenever you
00:18:24disorientate your worship, all of a sudden, you will find yourself
00:18:28in the behavior that follows whatever you actually worship.
00:18:32So, idolatry always leads to immorality, and then that immorality always leads
00:18:37to ingratitude. Because whenever you live in a moral, you're living for pleasure,
00:18:42and you're doing whatever you want to do. And you are never going to be grateful
00:18:45for what you feel entitled to. This is too heavy. I should have gave y'all
00:18:50some bubble gum. And so, ultimately, you'll go to this place of ingratitude
00:18:56towards God. And it is a slippery slope that the enemy still uses on people today
00:19:01to get you to elevate things equal to or above God in idolatry,
00:19:05which will lead to your immorality, which will ultimately lead to your ingratitude.
00:19:10And this is what you see all throughout the book of Ezekiel. And Ezekiel is the
00:19:14prophet who has to speak against the children of God and let them know,
00:19:18this is why you've got here. No wonder his name means God strengthens.
00:19:22It takes the strength of God to bring hope in a hopeless situation.
00:19:26It takes the strength of God when you're the only one standing for righteousness
00:19:31when people have been unrighteous. It takes the strength of God to be light
00:19:36in the midst of darkness. And this is the prophet Ezekiel. It's interesting
00:19:42because his story opens up with all these visions from God, these visions.
00:19:48I'm telling you, y'all, don't go to the crib and read Ezekiel.
00:19:51Y'all, when you see these visions, you think Ezekiel is smoking on something
00:19:55with these visions that he has. I'm telling you, Ezekiel 1, it opens up
00:20:00with him getting this vision that has all these animals, these four creatures that
00:20:05have four faces, and they got wings, and then they got little hands underneath
00:20:10the wings. Y'all, this is weird. Stephen King, M. Night Shyamalan,
00:20:13stranger things, stuff. This is a vision that Ezekiel is getting.
00:20:17And then all of a sudden, you see a throne, the throne of God,
00:20:21and the glory of God is emanating from the throne. This is the vision that Ezekiel
00:20:26gets, but we see something different. Often, the throne of God would be
00:20:30stationary, but that's not what Ezekiel sees. Ezekiel sees the throne of God,
00:20:35and there are wheels on the throne of God. And on the wheel, there's a wheel
00:20:39inside of the wheel. Now, we're talking about rims, dog.
00:20:42The rims are in the book of Ezekiel, and then on the wheels are eyes everywhere,
00:20:47eyeballs on the wheels, on the throne of God. And if you read the book of Ezekiel
00:20:52from a surface level, it looks like this dude has lost his mind.
00:20:55It looks like he's been smoking something. It looks like the vision makes no sense
00:20:59at all. Why would the throne and the glory of God be on wheels with eyes?
00:21:03But when you dig down deep into the text, you remember that he's in a foreign land.
00:21:08He's in Babylon. He didn't pick the place, but God had him in the place.
00:21:12And in a place that he wouldn't have picked for himself, he gets a vision of the
00:21:15throne of God that's sitting on some wheels with eyes. What are those eyes saying?
00:21:20That your God is omnipresent, that your God sees everything.
00:21:24Why is the throne on wheels? Because God is trying to let you know that
00:21:27my presence cannot be relegated to one place. I can show up anywhere.
00:21:32I can show up when you're in Babylon. I can show up when you're in Jerusalem.
00:21:36My glory can shine when you got freedom. My glory can shine when you're stuck
00:21:40in captivity. My glory cannot be relegated to one place.
00:21:44My throne is on wheels, and it'll show up anywhere.
00:21:47I wish somebody in Social Dallas would testify that the glory will show up
00:21:51at the factory. The glory will show up at Gillies.
00:21:55The glory will show up at Stroud Square when 300 people get baptized in an open
00:22:00heaven and go from death to life, and his glory will show up because it's not
00:22:05relegated to a building. His throne is on wheels.
00:22:10I wish somebody that knew his glory could show up anywhere,
00:22:13would take at least 10 seconds and give God the best praise that you got.
00:22:17His glory. Look at this guy. Got a throne on wheels.
00:22:28Thank God that his presence is not relegated to one place.
00:22:35He can show up anywhere. Ooh, he can show up at Target if you'll
00:22:39praise him in Target. He can show up in that cubicle with that
00:22:42coworker that gets on your last nerve. I dare you, just one of those days,
00:22:45just to turn up the volume of your worship right there in the cubicle and start
00:22:49giving God praise and watch his glory show up.
00:22:53So Ezekiel gets a vision of the glory of God and his throne on wheels.
00:23:01He gets another vision in Ezekiel chapter number 3.
00:23:06Gets another vision, and I love this vision because the glory shows up in this
00:23:10vision too. Matter of fact, let's look at it.
00:23:12Ezekiel chapter 3, it says, then the Lord took a hold of me and said,
00:23:18get up and go out into the... Into the who?
00:23:23Into the valley, and I will speak to you there.
00:23:29Ooh, let's pause. God speaks in valleys.
00:23:35If you didn't get anything out of this series, that's something to take hold
00:23:37right there. That God does not just speak on the
00:23:40mountaintop. If you will tune in your ear to what he's
00:23:43saying, he will speak to you in the valley, and I will speak to you there.
00:23:48So I got up and went there, and I saw the glory of the Lord just that I had seen in
00:23:53my first vision. That's the one with the eyes and the
00:23:55wheels, by the Kibar River, and I fell face down on the ground.
00:24:02Ooh, I like that. I like when God gives you a vision in
00:24:08the valley, and the vision is of his glory. Ooh, I love Ezekiel chapter 3.
00:24:13Give me the valley, give me his glory in the valley.
00:24:17I like valleys for the glory in Ezekiel 3.
00:24:22I don't like Ezekiel 37, where you put me in a valley, not with glory,
00:24:30but with dry bones. I'm cool with the valley that has glory.
00:24:37Give me chapter 3 all day. Chapter 37, why in the world would God
00:24:44lead me to a valley full of dry bones? Y'all, it's October.
00:24:54Y'all know Party City had him in the front aisle.
00:24:57I had to, I had to. Why in the world would God, watch this,
00:25:08take me and strategically allow his spirit to lead me to a valley of dry bones?
00:25:17Question, does the spirit of God always lead you to places you want to go?
00:25:24You say no, but I am confused. Because every time I hear people talking
00:25:28in church about where the spirit led them, it's always to these beautiful,
00:25:31palatious places. It's always, it's always like, it's always like a Cabo,
00:25:37it's Cracker Barrel. It's always somewhere beautiful with beaches
00:25:41and biscuits, and God always, the spirit always leads you to a raise.
00:25:45I mean, anytime you don't like somebody, oh, I feel like the spirit is leading me
00:25:49on to something else. The moment somebody at church actually
00:25:52tries to tell you that that's actually not the culture here, oh, see,
00:25:55I'm leaving. I feel the spirit leading me to another
00:25:57church. It's one year, you've been on your eighth
00:25:59church this year in Dallas because the spirit has led you to another church.
00:26:03How does the spirit only lead you to places you want to go?
00:26:10Because when I read the Bible, the spirit leads people to places they do not want
00:26:15to go. The spirit leads people to environments they would not have picked
00:26:21for themselves. The spirit leads people to youth camps where
00:26:24they thought they were going to be at a hotel and a beach, and they're sitting
00:26:27on a van trying to get killed by a bear. That's where I find God leading people.
00:26:33If God always leads you to places you want to go, you must be better than a whole lot
00:26:37of people in the Bible. You must be better than Jonah where the
00:26:40spirit led him to go preach the gospel to some Ninevites.
00:26:44Yeah, the people that you don't like, guess what?
00:26:46Your haters need the gospel too. And Jonah had to realize that God will lead
00:26:50you to places you don't want to go. And even when he tried to fight it,
00:26:54God said, okay, you don't understand. I speak fish.
00:26:56I will make sure you get to the place that you're supposed to go because my
00:27:00spirit will lead you into places you wouldn't pick for yourself.
00:27:05You better talk to the Apostle Paul who wanted to go into Bithynia and wanted to
00:27:10go to Asia, but the spirit would not let him go to where he wanted to go.
00:27:15Instead, the spirit led him to Macedonia. And when he got to Macedonia,
00:27:20there was no welcome committee saying, we're so glad you're here.
00:27:23He did not get an honorarium. Matter of fact, they threw him and his
00:27:26partner Silas in a prison after he had been led to a place that he didn't pick
00:27:31for himself. But in that prison at midnight,
00:27:34when he could have complained, when he could have said, God,
00:27:36I'm sick of this. When he could have said, God,
00:27:38I shouldn't go through this. Instead, he decided to start giving God
00:27:42praise. And God said, that's the sound I'm
00:27:44listening for right there. I want to see somebody that'll go
00:27:47wherever I tell them to go. And even when they get in a dark place,
00:27:50they still know how to give me praise. And that's why the presence of God got in
00:27:54that jail and broke them through.
00:28:03Does the spirit only lead you to places you want to go?
00:28:09Do you only get visions that just so happen to fit your own things you like?
00:28:16I just don't find it in the Scripture. Peter gets a vision.
00:28:20He gets a vision of all these unclean animals.
00:28:24And his little kosher self is like, oh, God, no, I can't eat that.
00:28:28That's unclean. And God says, don't you ever call
00:28:31something unclean that I call clean. And the spirit led his little Jewish
00:28:36behind right to Cornelia's house. And he got a revelation that the same
00:28:43Holy Spirit that moved in you is moving in Gentiles, too.
00:28:49Does the spirit only lead you to places you want...if the spirit only leads you to
00:28:54places you want to go, you're better than Jesus. Because the spirit led him
00:29:01into the wilderness, still had the water coming off of him from the Jordan River
00:29:05of baptism. And the spirit led him into the wilderness, where for 40 days,
00:29:12he was tempted by the devil. The Bible says that the hand of the Lord came.
00:29:18He didn't have a choice, and took Ezekiel and dropped him in a valley full of dry
00:29:24bones. Allow me to use my exegetical imagination. Can you see this valley full
00:29:32of bones? It's interesting because God doesn't even just drop him off in the
00:29:37vision. He takes him back and forth throughout the valley, as if he says,
00:29:44I want you to see the full carnage of this valley. Here is Ezekiel being led by
00:29:52the Spirit of God to a dark valley that is full of bones. You understand,
00:29:58the valley alone would have been offensive to Ezekiel. In that culture,
00:30:02the epitome of dishonor was not to have a proper burial. But this valley of dry
00:30:07bones speaks to the fact that whoever was here did not get buried.
00:30:12They died in that valley, and their flesh was eaten by animals,
00:30:19bones scattered all over the valley. By the way, how many bones are in this valley?
00:30:25This seems to be the slaughtering of a massive army. You understand,
00:30:30the average army would have been at least 20,000 people in Ezekiel's day.
00:30:35Every single human has 206 bones. That is 4 million bones in a valley with no life
00:30:44in it. And God says, I want you to see it. It reminds me of us.
00:30:50You ever been driving and get stuck in traffic? And here you are in traffic,
00:30:55annoyed because you were already late. And as you're in traffic, you're like,
00:30:59man, this is ridiculous. Is it a wreck? Man. And all of a sudden,
00:31:02you're driving, you're stuck, you're stuck. And all of a sudden,
00:31:05when you get up to where the wreck is, you realize why everybody was driving slow.
00:31:13You was annoyed, they were stopping, and here you are. Wow.
00:31:20And you look at a car that has been turned upside down, and all of a sudden,
00:31:25you're wondering, what happened? Are they still alive?
00:31:30Ladies and gentlemen, this is the scene of these dry bones. Every bone tells a story.
00:31:41Bones are biographies. They tell a story of life that once was. Oh, you don't believe me.
00:31:50All you'll pass the watchers is forensic files and CSI. Dun-dun. It blows my mind.
00:31:58It could be a cold case, and they dig up a shallow grave, and they find the bones and the remains.
00:32:04And sure enough, from the bones, they can tell, oh yeah, this was her. This was him.
00:32:14Bones tell a story. Bones are the aftermath of a place that once had life.
00:32:23I know clearly that God is talking about the children of Israel who have been scattered
00:32:28and feel like they've been cut off. They are the bones. But can we keep it 100?
00:32:33Have you ever felt like your life was a valley of dry bones? That there is a place in your life
00:32:41that once had life, but all of a sudden, the life has become dry bones?
00:32:48Bones are proof that there once was life. Some of you right now, if you're honest about your marriage,
00:32:54it is a valley of dry bones. No communication. Disconnected and dry. And there used to be life.
00:33:05Oh, come on. It used to be life. Come on. I do the weddings. Nobody stands at an altar and goes,
00:33:09I give this like three years, but go ahead. It once had life. And all of a sudden now,
00:33:19you sleep on the couch. She sleeps in the bedroom.
00:33:22You've developed a dry bone system of no communication.
00:33:28What's funny is your gram looks like it's popping.
00:33:33Welcome to the life we live in today because you have curated this image of life and vitality,
00:33:38but in the crib, it's dry bones. Some of you, it is your financial situation
00:33:47that has become a valley of dry bones. There used to be a time you didn't even think about it.
00:33:52You'd be like, man, ship shopper, come on, door dash, bring it. Chipotle, $85. Come on, bring it.
00:33:59And now all of a sudden, one phone call from your boss, one change in the organization.
00:34:06Now you're looking at every penny and you don't know how you're going to pay your next bill.
00:34:11And it is a valley of dry bones. Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's just you.
00:34:20Can we talk about it? Have you ever felt like you were personally in a valley of dry bones?
00:34:26Have you ever felt disconnected from you? Psychologists actually have a term called
00:34:31disassociation. It's where you feel disconnected from your own thoughts and your own feelings,
00:34:37and you don't even recognize you anymore. And disassociation generally comes after trauma.
00:34:41It's the way we handle trauma. We just disconnect. And some of you, you feel like you're in a dry
00:34:48valley with no hope. It's a valley of despair. This is where Ezekiel is. And it is in this place
00:34:57that God led him to, that God then, after he makes him assess the situation, watch this,
00:35:04ask him a question. Now that you've seen the dry bones, God says, I got a question for you.
00:35:13Can I be honest? I got annoyed when I heard the question. Because if I'm in a valley of dry bones
00:35:18and God's going to speak to me, God, give me an answer. Don't ask me 21 questions when I'm in a
00:35:24dry place, okay? When I'm in a dry place, God, if you're going to speak to me, I need a word of
00:35:28encouragement. Say something like, these bones may endure for a night, but joy is coming in the
00:35:35morning. Give me a word of encouragement. Why in the world, in a dry place, would God ask Ezekiel
00:35:43a question? This ain't the place for questions. And yet God comes to him in a dry place, in a
00:35:50place of disconnection, and ask him a very critical question. Son of man, can these bones live?
00:35:58Again. God will ask you a question right at the moment of a dry place. He will ask you the right
00:36:06question. People think God has all the answers. I am convinced that God has all the questions.
00:36:11God will ask you the right question at the right moment, and understand when he's asking you a
00:36:16question, it's not because he's trying to get information. Don't forget, he's got eyes on wheels.
00:36:21He knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. God never asks you a question to get
00:36:26information, but he will ask you a question so that you can get a revelation of where you are.
00:36:32He wants to know, do you realize that nobody can fix this situation but me? Do you realize that
00:36:38nobody can bring life to this but me? Have you finally reached the end of yourself where you
00:36:43realize your friends can't fix it, your money can't fix it, your connections can't fix it?
00:36:48I am the only one that can bring life into this thing that is bad, and I want to know,
00:36:53do you know I'm the only one that can fix it?
00:36:59God wants to know, do you know he's the only one that can bring life into the thing
00:37:07that is dry? Some of y'all can't cry out to God yet because it hadn't got dry enough.
00:37:15You're in a valley of corpses, so you're like, oh, I'm good. I'm good. It's not that bad yet.
00:37:19You're in a valley that has bones that aren't dry. They're still a little moist, so you're like,
00:37:23oh, it's fine. It's fine, but can I tell you, keep on living. Life will bring you to a place
00:37:28where you realize nobody can fix this. No doctor can do it. No friend can do it. No family member
00:37:34can't do it. I can't survive this one through grandmama's prayers. I got to find some prayers
00:37:38of my own on this one right here. I can't survive this attack on the preacher's word.
00:37:43I'm going to have to get in the word of God myself. God will make sure
00:37:47you reach a place where you're desperate enough to cry out to him where you don't have a backup
00:37:57plan. You don't have anything but to respond the way Ezekiel responded. Son of man,
00:38:05can these bones live again? And look at Ezekiel's response. I want to meet Ezekiel in heaven and
00:38:12give him a high five for the dopest response to a God question in all of the Bible. Because
00:38:17Ezekiel doesn't say, no, they can't. No, they can't. God, this is too much devastation. This
00:38:28marriage can't come back together. I can't be free from this. This is who I am.
00:38:35He doesn't say no, which is proof that not all hope is lost.
00:38:40I'm hoping that somebody hadn't responded to the question of God.
00:38:43By no way life can come to this. He doesn't say no. He also doesn't say yes,
00:38:51which blessed me too. Because I've been raised in church. And boy, church people will spit out
00:38:57some Christianese to you real quick. Oh, I'm telling you, some of us, if we were in that
00:39:03valley, we're like, of course it can live again. You're the alpha and the omega, the first and the
00:39:08last, the beginning and the end. There is no God like you, Yahweh. There's not a doubt in my mind
00:39:14that you can bring these bones back together. I trust you. Boop. Yes, I do. And many of us,
00:39:23we hide behind spiritual language because we want to deal with the real issue that we're facing.
00:39:29We hide behind spiritual language and we put up this fake front because we think faith is to not
00:39:38feel. So I'm fine. No, I'm good. Are you sure? It seems like you're in a valley. No, not a valley.
00:39:46God's going to turn it for his glory. My story for his glory. I'm fine.
00:39:50Are you sure? God is good. I know he good. Are you good?
00:39:54I'm good. Hezekiah doesn't give a Christianese answer.
00:40:02Look at what he says. He doesn't even say, Lord, you know. He says, oh, sovereign Lord.
00:40:12Sovereign Lord, you know. Sovereign. Y'all, I got stuck on that sovereign because by saying
00:40:19sovereign, Ezekiel was confessing that this looks bad. I don't know how this can come back together
00:40:25again. I don't know how you're going to connect the femur to the patella. I don't know how that
00:40:30skull over there is going to get connected to this vertebrae over here. I don't know how you're
00:40:34going to fix it, but there's one thing I know. You are sovereign. You rule and you reign. This
00:40:39situation might be out of control, but God, I know your character. You are not out of control.
00:40:44Heaven is your throne. The earth is your footstool. I wish somebody would thank God for
00:40:49his sovereignty, that he rules, that he reigns, that God has never had a panic attack, that God
00:40:55knows who he is. He is sovereign. And I want to testify that it is his sovereignty some nights
00:41:03that has been my sanity because God, I don't understand it. I don't know why they walked away.
00:41:08I don't know how they could stab me in the back. I don't know why I'm going through this,
00:41:13but I know one thing. You are sovereign. You are in control. You are God and I am not. So,
00:41:19sovereign Lord, you know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how this comes back together.
00:41:33I don't know how you're going to make a way and provide the resources
00:41:37for a building. I don't know how we can meet the needs of a city that's dealing with all kinds of
00:41:45social issues that make me scratch my head. I don't know. But there's one thing I know,
00:41:50oh, sovereign Lord, you are in control and you know, you know. And when he said that,
00:41:59God goes, I can work with that honesty. Here's what I want you to do. Watch it.
00:42:05Ezekiel, I want you to stand over those bones and declare the word of the Lord.
00:42:12Ezekiel, don't get on Instagram and get an opinion poll about the condition of the bones.
00:42:18Don't give facts or stats about the bones. Here's what I want you to do. Don't give your opinion
00:42:23about the bones. Ezekiel, declare what I tell you to declare. Declare the word of God over those dry
00:42:30bones. Who am I preaching to today? Somebody is facing a situation that seems hopeless.
00:42:36It seems dark. It seems like it's a valley of dry bones. And God told me to tell you,
00:42:41you better square up your shoulders and start declaring the word of God over that. You better
00:42:46declare the word of God over that marriage and that the two have become one flesh. I come against
00:42:52every demonic assignment that's trying to destroy this marriage. You better speak the word of God
00:42:57over your child and declare that children are an inheritance from the Lord. Like arrows in the
00:43:02hands of a warrior, so shall my children breathe. I call them back to you, God. Speak the word of
00:43:09God over that dead situation. Speak it over that dead finances and say, he is Jehovah Jireh,
00:43:16my provider. My daddy owns the cattle on a thousand hills. My job wasn't my source.
00:43:22It was my resource. You are my source, God. Speak life. Speak life.
00:43:33Speak the word of the Lord over those dead dry bones. Can I give you a warning
00:43:46that when you start speaking life to bones, be prepared to look ridiculous.
00:43:56Be prepared for people to look at you like you have lost your mind because they don't understand
00:44:03how in the world are you speaking to something that is so dry, that is so dead. It is obvious
00:44:11to them that no life is there, but I dare you to just start declaring the word of the Lord like
00:44:17Ezekiel did because watch what happened. When he started declaring the word of God, all of a sudden
00:44:22there was a rattle. As he started speaking, then the rattle came. Oh God, some of y'all are waiting
00:44:28to hear the rattle before you start declaring the word of the Lord. It don't work that way, baby.
00:44:33You better start declaring the word of God and as you start speaking it, stuff will start shaking,
00:44:39stuff will start shifting, stuff will start moving in order, but you got to speak it before it ever happens.
00:44:50He starts declaring the word of the Lord and a rattle, a rattle, a rattle happened.
00:45:09Rattling. Bones start coming up. Don't forget, it's not like these bones were strategically
00:45:18laid as perfect skeletons on the ground. It's chaos everywhere, but all of a sudden
00:45:25as he's declaring the word of the Lord, bones start coming together. Things start getting
00:45:31connected. The toe bone found the foot bone and the foot bone finds the leg bone and the leg bone
00:45:38found the backbone and the backbone found the shoulder. All of a sudden here come a skull
00:45:43connected to a vertebrae. Stuff started moving after he was ducking as he was declaring
00:45:49because sometimes it looks crazy when stuff is coming together, but keep speaking. God, I feel
00:45:54your presence. Keep speaking the word. It's coming together. Keep trusting him. He's moving things
00:46:01together.
00:46:09You see stuff coming together and all of a sudden his bones are flying.
00:46:16Ezekiel is ducking and declaring. Who's that for? Every once in a while you got to duck and declare.
00:46:24Duck was coming at me and still declare the word of the Lord. He's ducking
00:46:28and declaring and all of a sudden them bones, them bones, them bones, them bones.
00:46:43Y'all it's October. Party City had them. I had to. I had to. Any other month I had to.
00:46:51All of a sudden all of this
00:46:58became that.
00:47:03How does this become that?
00:47:10Declaring the word of the Lord, not your opinion, not what you feel.
00:47:18The declaration of God's word brought that which was chaotic into order.
00:47:28This is the system of God. That when you come under his word, it turns chaos into structure.
00:47:38That the word of God is a transforming agent. That when you come under it, stuff goes from chaotic
00:47:47to structure. That's what happened in Genesis. In the beginning God created the heavens and
00:47:53the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness, chaos covered the face of the deep.
00:48:00The spirit of God was hovering over the waters and God said, and as he spoke, the chaos turned
00:48:08into cosmos. Hear me today. Some of you are trying to live your lives outside of God's word
00:48:18and still have structure and peace and it doesn't work. You're trying to bring order and structure
00:48:27to your finances and you won't trust them with the time. You won't live a life of generosity,
00:48:32but you want structure in your finances. You want structure and order in your spiritual life,
00:48:41but you have other gods before him. The idolatry, which is what got the children of Israel in the
00:48:50place that they were. The idolatry of your career, the idolatry of your kids. Hear me, anything can
00:48:58be an idol. Idols aren't just evil things. Idols can be good things that you've made the ultimate
00:49:05thing and you've put it above God and God says, I will share my glory with no one.
00:49:15So God says, come under my word so that there can be order and structure.
00:49:22I wish that was the final step, but he prophesied twice.
00:49:27He prophesied twice. First prophetic word was to the structure, to the order,
00:49:35come under the word of God. The second prophetic word
00:49:43is to the breath. Because what good is structure and order with no life of the spirit?
00:49:49What good is structure and order without a spirit filled life? Ladies and gentlemen,
00:50:00this was the Pharisees. They had the first five books of the old Testament memorized.
00:50:07They had all the word structure and order, but still dead.
00:50:14This is how some of people's lives are, especially in Texas, in Dallas,
00:50:18the buckle of this Bible belt, the stronghold of religion. Here's what the enemy would love,
00:50:24you to just go through the routine of religion and still be dead.
00:50:31Come to church worshiping as dead as this skeleton. Come to church doing all the perfunctory
00:50:39things, a form of godliness, but you've denied the power thereof. Y'all, you can be a skeleton
00:50:48and be doing devotions every day in the word, posting it on your page, but there's no life.
00:50:57There's no vibrancy. There's no new real relationship with God. That's why you got to
00:51:02open up your mouth and say, God, I'm not just coming under your word, but Lord, I'm prophesying
00:51:07again. I need fresh wind. I need fresh spirit. Holy spirit, fill me again today. Come on. I wish
00:51:13you would get up on your feet even right now. Make that your prayer. Holy spirit, fill me again.
00:51:19Fill me fresh. I don't want to just go through the routine. I need a fresh infilling of the
00:51:24holy spirit. When that wind started filling those bodies, that is the Hebrew word ruach.
00:51:30That's the same wind that filled Adam and put the breath of lives on the inside of him.
00:51:35That is the same mighty rushing wind that built some believers in the upper room,
00:51:40and all of a sudden they started speaking in tongues as the spirit gave them utterance.
00:51:44You don't just need the bones. You need the breath of the holy spirit.
00:51:55From bones to breath, the order and the word is not enough. Holy spirit, if you don't breathe,
00:52:05fresh into me, I'm going to ask every head be bowed and eyes be closed today.
00:52:13Holy spirit, fill us again. Fill us again. When he prophesied to the wind,
00:52:25it went from bones to breath to an army.
00:52:31God is raising up an unshakable army,
00:52:37but this army cannot be stuck to religion and forms of godliness.
00:52:43We cannot have structure and systems and no fresh wind of the spirit.
00:52:51We need that second word that says, fill me again.
00:52:56It says, fill me again.
00:53:02Father, we declare over this house today an army that is filled with your spirit.
00:53:10Father, that means we have to be uncomfortable sometimes not knowing what the next step is,
00:53:16but we trust your spirit to order our steps. Holy spirit, wherever you lead,
00:53:24wherever you guide, we'll follow. We'll follow you.
00:53:29Fill us fresh. Fill us fresh. Fill us fresh. Come on. Would you just make that your prayer
00:53:33right now? Come on. Even right where you're standing, would you ask the holy spirit to
00:53:37fill you fresh again? Fresh wind. Come on. If you got a prayer language, just begin to open
00:53:43up your mouth and start praying in that prayer language right now. If you want to receive a
00:53:47prayer language, I believe even right now, God will fill you, fill you. Not anybody laying hands
00:53:53on you. He wants to fill you fresh again. Come on. Just begin to open up your mouth and ask the
00:53:57holy spirit. Fill me fresh. Fill me fresh. Fill me fresh. Fill me fresh. Fill me fresh. Fill me
00:54:04fresh. Fill me fresh. Fill me fresh. Come on. If you need the wind to fill a dry place,
00:54:24fill us up, Lord. Fill us up again. Come on. Make this your prayer.
00:54:41Dry bones, we prophesy. Disconnected things come together today. God, we prophesy unto the bones
00:54:50and we prophesy unto the wind. God, that dead things come back to life. God,
00:54:55raise up an army. Raise up an army that is filled with your spirit. Come on.
00:55:20Fill me up, Lord. Fill me up, Lord. Fill me up, Lord. Fill me up, Lord. Fill me up, Lord. Fill me up.
00:55:42Fill us up, Father.
00:55:51From bones to breath to an army.
00:55:57From bones to breath to an army.
00:56:02From bones to breath to an army. God, thank you that you speak even in a valley. God,
00:56:08we trust you. We trust you today, Jesus. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Come on. I want
00:56:13to do this. If there's a dead situation in your life that you need order and structure and the
00:56:20wind of the Holy Spirit to come to you, I just want you to get out of your seat and come find
00:56:23a place up here at the front. I'm just believing that as you move, bones are moving together. I'm
00:56:29believing that as you take a step of faith, God is moving on your behalf. Come on. Don't worry
00:56:33about what anybody else thinks. If there's a situation that is dry, if there's a situation
00:56:38that is dead, come on. We sang it earlier. This is a house of miracles. Get as close to this altar
00:56:43as you can and we're just going to cry out to God. Thank you, Jesus. Come on. If you got to walk down
00:56:50from the balcony and come to the front, come to the front. Holy Spirit, fill us. God, we speak
00:56:58to dead things. We speak to dry things. Come on. Get as close as you can. Get as close as you can.
00:57:08If there's a dry thing, if there's a dead thing, I want you to get as close to the front as you can.
00:57:14Thank you, Jesus.
00:57:38Come on. Open up your mouth and declare it.
00:58:08I still believe you're living. I still believe you're free. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I receive your vision. God, I believe your word.
00:58:38All things are good. I still believe you're living. I still believe you're free. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I receive your vision. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I still believe you're living. I still believe you're free. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I receive your vision. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I still believe you're living. I still believe you're free. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I believe your word. All things are good. I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I
00:59:08believe your word. I still believe you're living. I still believe you're free. God, I
00:59:27to the feet of Jesus.
00:59:29Everything in the name of Jesus.
00:59:33This is a house of miracles.
00:59:38We sing come alive in the name of Jesus.
00:59:43Come alive in the name of Jesus.
00:59:47This is a house of miracles.
00:59:52And we bring everything
00:59:55to the feet of Jesus.
00:59:57Everything in the name of Jesus.
01:00:01This is a house of miracles.
01:00:07Come alive in the name of Jesus.
01:00:11Come alive in the name of Jesus.
01:00:19Come on, as you worship, things are coming together.
01:00:21Things are coming together.
01:00:25As you worship, things are coming together.
01:00:28The bones are coming together.
01:00:30Breath is coming into those bones.
01:00:32As you worship, as you cry out to him,
01:00:35it's coming together.
01:00:38Yeah.
01:00:41In the name of Jesus.
01:00:47It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:00:54It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:01It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:04Yeah.
01:01:07Dry bones coming.
01:01:08It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:15It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:22It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:29It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:36It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:43It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:50It's gonna come all of a sudden.
01:01:56Thank you, Jesus.
01:02:00Father, thank you that you're taking us
01:02:02from bones to breath.
01:02:06God, I'm praying for my brother and my sister
01:02:08who needs the strength
01:02:11to speak your word over the dead things.
01:02:17God, I pray that we would have the strength
01:02:19to keep declaring till we hear a rattle.
01:02:26God, we trust you.
01:02:29You are sovereign.
01:02:33The situation might seem like it's out of control,
01:02:35but you are not out of control.
01:02:37You are in control.
01:02:39Oh, sovereign Lord, you know.
01:02:45You know.
01:02:47Only you know, sovereign Lord.
01:02:52We will continue to prophesy in dry valleys,
01:02:57believing that you're not only connecting to bones,
01:03:04but there's a fresh wind of your spirit breathing life.
01:03:11Thank you for your presence, Jesus.
01:03:19Thank you for strength to hope again.
01:03:25We're in the valley, but we have not lost our hope
01:03:29because we haven't lost you.
01:03:31You are our hope, Jesus,
01:03:35and you're with us in the valley.
01:03:39You'll never leave us, never forsake us.
01:03:44We stand on your word.
01:03:48I want to do one more thing just with heads bowed
01:03:50and eyes closed today.
01:03:54Let me say something that we've said for a long time
01:03:56and social, and that's you can always come home.
01:04:01Never want to have a service where we don't give somebody
01:04:03an opportunity to respond to Jesus.
01:04:10Maybe you've been trying to bring order and structure
01:04:13to your life outside of Jesus,
01:04:16and you wonder why it keeps falling and keeps failing
01:04:21because there's a God who loves you,
01:04:23who sent his only son to die on a cross for you,
01:04:29and to come under his word
01:04:33is to see your life go from the chaos to the cosmos,
01:04:39to structure and order.
01:04:40Doesn't mean everything will be perfect.
01:04:42We live in a fallen world,
01:04:44but it does mean that your soul has been saved and retained.
01:04:50So with heads bowed and eyes closed today,
01:04:52if you're here today, I don't care if it's just one person,
01:04:55man, you'd be worth it.
01:04:58Say, hey, I've never surrendered my life to the Savior,
01:05:01but today, today, I need to give all that I am to him.
01:05:09If that's you, I just want to give you that opportunity.
01:05:11Would you lift up your hand high enough and long enough
01:05:13to where I can see it just to say, hey, that's for me.
01:05:16I'm coming home today.
01:05:17I'm giving Jesus my life, yeah.
01:05:20I see hands all over this place.
01:05:24Man, thank you for responding when you hear him calling.
01:05:30Hear me, that's something that doesn't stop when this service ends.
01:05:36It's whenever he calls you, whenever he speaks,
01:05:38he just wants you to respond, to obey.
01:05:42Doesn't matter what it looks like.
01:05:45What if Ezekiel would have said,
01:05:47it's ridiculous to speak to these dry bones.
01:05:50It doesn't make sense.
01:05:52He would have missed seeing the miracle in the valley.
01:05:56Anybody else just respond to this Savior who loves you so much
01:06:00and say, today's the day I need to give him my life.
01:06:02Let me see your hand.
01:06:03Thank you, Lord.
01:06:04Can we pray this prayer as one big family?
01:06:06We're all going to say it, but especially those of you who responded,
01:06:10would you say this from your heart?
01:06:13Say, Jesus, I need you.
01:06:18I cannot do life without you.
01:06:22You are my life.
01:06:25So today, I'm responding to your word.
01:06:31And your word says that if anyone will call on the name of Jesus,
01:06:37they will be saved.
01:06:40Jesus, I believe that you lived the life that I was supposed to live.
01:06:47And you died the death that I was supposed to die.
01:06:52You took my place, so my response is to give you everything.
01:06:59Forgive me of my sin.
01:07:02Make me brand new.
01:07:05From this moment forward, I'm walking with you.
01:07:11From bones to breath to an army.
01:07:18In Jesus' name.
01:07:20Come on, somebody say amen.
01:07:23Would you give Jesus the best praise that you got?
01:07:29Oh, come on, praise him like there's an army in this place today.