Welcome to The Cyber Church - Eufaula, Oklahoma Pastor, James C. West  -|-  This Sermon published May, 1997

Is the hand of the Lord on YOU?

Ezekiel 37:1-10  The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, [there were] very many in the open valley; and, lo, [they were] very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but [there was] no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Ezekiel said, "The hand of the Lord was upon me."

Have you ever felt the hand of the Lord?
Joshua felt the hand of the Lord and it was MIGHTY!

Joshua 4:24    That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it [is] mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.

The hand of the Lord can fling the stars into orbit. It can part the Red Sea. Here the hand of the Lord had parted the waters of the Jordan river and brought the Ark of the Lord to safety.

The Philistine people of Ashdod felt the hand of the Lord and it was HEAVY!

1 Samuel 5:6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, [even] Ashdod and the coasts thereof.

It can hold down Pharoah's mighty army. It can calm the fiercest storm. Here the hand of the Lord smote the worshippers of Dagon with emrods.

The Philistines had taken the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon. They set it next to Dagon. And Dagon FELL ON IT'S FACE! So they picked him up and the NEXT morning Dagon had LOST IT'S HEAD! There was only a stump left! And God smote the people with emrods.

SO Ezekiel was set down in the midst of a valley of DRY BONES. He looked all around. The valley was full of VERY dry bones! The bones had once been living men, MIGHTY men. But now they were dead. Their bones were dry and brittle! And God asked, "Can these bones live?"

Jesus raised Lazarus, but Lazarus had only been dead three days!

Paul raised a man who had fallen while Paul was preaching, but that man had only been dead a few minutes!

BUT these men had been dead so long that their bones had been picked clean. Bleached dry in the burning sun. They were VERY dry!

And God said, "Can these bones live?"

The Christian world today is just like that! There is no power, no life. Satan has taken the world and THE CHRISTIAN HAS LET HIM!

We don't want to work. We don't want to worship God. We don't want to go to Church. We're afraid people will laugh at us. We just don't care any more!

Ninety percent of the Christian community is dead! Our bones are dried up!

And God asks, "Can these bones live?"

Ezekiel said, "o Lord God, Thou knowest!" And God said, "Prophesy, and I Will do as you prophesy."

"Proclaim it to be and IT WILL BE!"

Then Ezekiel prophesied to the dry bones.

Have you ever thought, "What's the use?", "These bones are dead!", "This Church is dead!", "These people are DEAD!"

But God says, No matter how hopeless it seems, No matter how dried up and dead it looks, No matter HOW DRY THE BONES - PROPHESY!!

And Ezekiel prophesied.

And there was a noise. A shaking! When you obey God, something happens! You can't keep it hid, it's too loud! There was a whole lot of shaking going on!

And something started happening there in that valley! And something will start happening in your Church. Something will start happening in your Family! In your own life!

But ezekiel looked, and those bones, those dead dry bones began to MOVE! Oh, the great excitement when you see the first stirring of God as He moves on a people!

Every bone knew where it belonged! The ankle bone fastened itself to the shin bone.

The knee bone joined the thigh bone. Every bone found it's proper place!

There are dead bones in the Church, but when GOD moves they will all find their place! All the bones came together. GOD CAN BUILD A CHURCH IF WE CAN GET OUR BONES TOGETHER!!

He will put muscle and flesh on the bones! He will put skin over it all!

Some of us are that way now. We have our bones together. We have muscles and flesh.

We have the skin holding it all together. But there is still NO LIFE, NO BREATH!

We have been brought down, slain by the enemy! Some of us have been killed by our own friends! Our own families!

Some of us FEEL dead! But God says, "Prophesy! Tell the wind to come! Tell the breath to breathe LIFE into those dead bodies!"

And the Breath of God (The Holy Spirit) will Breathe on them and new life will spring up! That tired old defeated body will stand up on it's feet! And as they come to life, one by one, they will gather together and MARVEL AT BEING ALIVE!

Where there was defeat, there will be VICTORY! Where there was fear, there will be COURAGE! BRAVERY! Where there was a people who were dead, there will be A GREAT ARMY OF GOD!

If you want to live, God will not let you stay dead. He will set you in proper order. Put all your bones in their proper place. Put muscle and flesh and skin on your body. Then He will BREATHE THE BREATH OF LIFE into you and make you an exceeding great army!