Scripture: Romans 10:16-18
Jesus – My son – it is time to get
up! Jesus did not say, oh just 10 more minutes OR I don’t want to go to school today, OR Ah
Dad, I don’t want to go to church today.
When God the
Father told Jesus to get up early that Easter morning – He got up! He did not walk out of the tomb – he got
beemed out, evaporated and rehydrated out, back to the futured out – Somehow,
when God said Jesus get up he got up and got out but not through the stone
door.
Matt 27:57-28:7
As evening approached, there came a rich
man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given
to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it
in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in
front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. The next day, the one after
Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir,"
they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three
days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until
the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell
the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be
worse than the first."
"Take a guard," Pilate
answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you
know how." So they went and
made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day
of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There
was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and,
going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his
clothes were white as snow. The guards
were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for
Jesus, who was crucified. He is not
here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He
has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will
see him.' Now I have told you."
It is
interesting to think about how creation came into being – God spoke and
creation came into being. That means that even the potential of creation had
the ability to hear. Jesus, dead as he was had the ability to hear (ok, the
bible doesn’t say HOW Jesus was raised from the dead but it seems to be God’s
modus operandi.) What I am saying is that unless we can first hear from God,
there is no way we can do what God is telling us to do. We cannot receive blessing or instruction or
power if we can’t hear him. Living a
Spirit-filled God empowered life begins with listening to and hearing what God
has to say. Our Unique Journey cannot be
the one God has planned for us if we can’t hear him. Luke 4:16-21 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the
synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to
him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed
me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back
to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were
fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today
this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Romans
10:16-18 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says,
"Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
So, Jesus
somehow heard God say “It is time to get up!”
and he got up and out of the tomb – that is the Unique Journey of Easter. Scripture is filled with resurrection stories
– there are several people in the Old and New Testament that were raised form
the dead – most notably, also out of a tomb – was Lazarus. Somehow dead Lazarus heard Jesus say, Lazarus – it is time to get up (ok Lazarus, come forth)
But there is an OT resurrection story that seems just too impossible to
believe. It is found in Ezekiel 37…
For over 100
years, God’s people had been sealed in the tomb OR had been in Egyptian
captivity. God brought them into the Promised Land, and gave them a land and a
King, and made them a nation. BUT … they turned against God, and God allowed
them to go into captivity once again.
Nebuchadnezzar
and his Babylonian army invaded Israel. They had reduced Solomon’s Temple to
ashes, and had taken many of the Jewish people back to Babylon as captives.
This is the condition that Ezekiel is in. The nation of Israel is DEAD. BUT …
God has something to say if the people have ears to hear.
Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Lord came upon me and
brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the
valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all
around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they
were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can
these bones live?”
So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the
Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you
shall live. I will put sinews on you and
bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall
live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’
So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as
I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came
together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I
looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them
over; but there was no breath in them.
Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to
the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and
breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an
exceedingly great army.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut
off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O
My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves,
and bring you into the land of Israel. Then
you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My
people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall
live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the
Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’”
What do we hear
from this story on this Easter Sunday?
1) GRABBED
BY GOD “The hand of the Lord was upon me”
In the Message – this prophecy starts off God
grabbed me.
What are the things that grab
you? What do you hear and then respond
to?
· Are you grabbed by a fresh passion to live a life sold out
for Jesus?· Are you grabbed by God’s Presence in your times at church?
· Are you grabbed by God’s heart for the lost, the broken, the hurt, the lonely, the hungry, the naked and the thirsty?
· Are you grabbed by God’s power, refiring your faith in the power of God, the power of prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit?
· Are you grabbed by God’s Word, to wrap itself around your mind, infuse itself into your thinking and direct the unique journey of your life?
· Are you grabbed by God’s Challenges. Do you refuse to live cursed by mediocrity, surrounded by self-imposed limitations and adopting a victim mentality?
· Are you grabbed and changed by a changeless God?
· Are you grabbed by God’s love, his acceptance, his valuing of you and rest fully in the fact that your identity, your purpose and your unique journey is fully found in Him?
How do allow yourself to be grabbed by God?
Before anything else, you must
what? LISTEN! Can something DEAD hear?
2) Can
these Bones Live?
Ezekiel is faced with a seemingly
hopeless situation. God asks him a very
interesting question. “Son of man, can these bones
live?”
Ezekiel looks
out over the carnage. Bones are lying everywhere. Not all nice and neatly
arranged. They had been ravaged and torn apart by wild animals. Then they had
been exposed to the elements for any number of years. The bones of individual bodies were scattered
everywhere. Ezekiel ponders His answer. Of course had it been anyone else asking the question, the answer would have been obvious.
Ezekiel’s first thought was probably what yours and mine would have been. Are you joking?
These bones have been lying here for years. What do mean, “Can they live?”
Then Ezekiel remembered who was speaking to him. The LORD – Yahweh – The self-existent one.
Then he gives his wise answer…“O Lord GOD, you know”
He answered that way because as far as he could see, the situation was plainly and desperately HOPELESS.
And yet, in faith, he recognized that NOTHING IS HOPELESS WITH GOD.
God, this situation is in your hands.
The God of the Impossible
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.
When Sarah was 90 years old and God told her that she would bear a son, He reminded her…Gen 18:14 Is anything too hard for the LORD?…
God reminded Jeremiah…Jer 32:27 I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?
The angel Gabriel reminded Mary…Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Jesus encouraged His disciples…Matt 19:26 …With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Maybe there is some area of your life that you would describe as being a valley of dry bones.
1) Maybe it’s your marriage.
2) Your finances – debt
3) Your dreams
4) Family Relationships
5) Your health
6) Your attitude
7) Your Faith and your Spiritual Journey
8) The call of God on your life
Can these bones live
Only you know Lord. If you right now have a valley of dry bones in some area of your life: the word of the Lord for you right now is
Ezekiel 4:4-6
Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these
bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the
Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you
shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with
skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am
the Lord.”
The breath of God,
the wind of the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples right after Jesus was resurrected
and ascended into heaven. Acts
2:5-33 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation
under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in
bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly
amazed, they asked: “Aren’t
all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us
hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites;
residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both
Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the
wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one
another, “What does this
mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had
too much wine.”
Peter Addresses the Crowd. Then Peter stood
up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me
explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not
drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was
spoken by the prophet Joel:
“‘In the last
days, God says, I will pour out my
Spirit on all people. Your sons and
daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will
dream dreams. Even on my servants, both
men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood
and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will
be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and
glorious day of the Lord. And everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
“Fellow Israelites,
listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by
miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you
yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and
foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by
nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from
the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on
him. David said about him: ‘I saw the
Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not
be shaken.Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”
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