(6/8) I am excited to have this opportunity to share the word of the Lord with you. I want you to get your hearts open, your mind ready, because it is Pentecost Sunday and I want to teach from the book of Ezekiel a message entitled From Death to Life. In fact, before we turn to the word of God, I wonder how many of you have ever witnessed a dead person come back to life? Chances are the majority of you haven’t, and yet the truth is that is exactly what we witness every time we watch a person except Jesus into their lives as their Lord and Savior. We literally watch them receive new life, or to use the term that Jesus used, be born again, when they received the gift of salvation and forgiveness.

Today, we are going to launch into the book of Ezekiel where the prophet witnesses an extraordinary vision of God’s ability to bring dead things back to life. This prophecy or revelation is not just of historical significance but it is amazingly relevant to us today as we explore how God brings about transformation in our lives through his son Jesus Christ. As you turn in your Bible to the book of Ezekiel, chapter number thirty-seven, we are going to read verse one through twelve. I know it’s a lot of verses, but I want you to get this word, and so get your heart ready, because this is the word of the Lord, and each word is important.

"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry" (Ezekiel 37:1-2).

"He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!" (Ezekiel 37:3-4).

"This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 37:5-6).

"So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them" (Ezekiel 37:7-8).

"Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet — a vast army" (Ezekiel 37:9-10).

"Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel" (Ezekiel 37:11-12).

This is the word of God, but in order for us to appreciate the depth and the richness of this Scripture there are some things we must understand. First of all, Ezekiel is at his very core and essence a prophet of God. He is considered one of the five major prophets in the Old Testament. And even though he writes in a beautiful poetic language the situation he describes is far from beautiful.

In this vision, Ezekiel finds himself in a valley filled with dry bones, symbols of death and hopelessness. This scene mirrors the spiritual condition of many today, lifeless, hopeless, and without purpose, disconnected from God. And so we need to be careful not to hear this through years of traditions, childhood songs at Bible camp, and recognize that these bones represent areas in our lives that seem to be beyond repair; broken relationships, lost the dreams, or spiritual emptiness.

Jesus often spoke about this hopelessness, the human condition, apart from his saving work. He tells us that we can in fact move from death to life,

"I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die" (John 11:25-26).

Ezekiel brings us to a valley full of dry bones, bones that were very dry, and I’m not sure that Ezekiel himself fully understood what he saw, but there were two things that stand out putting the text in context.

Number one, the dry bones represented an army that had been defeated and when they were revived, they stood up on their feet as a great army. However, the last two verses explain that this is bigger than an army, this is the house of Israel, and the scattering of the bones is how they will be scattered around the earth. But the Lord says at the end of that time,

"This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel" (Ezekiel 37:12).

And so, this is not just poetry, not just storytelling, this is prophecy, a vision of the destiny of God’s people Israel. The text has at its core a prophetic utterance over the dry, parched, barren, dead religion of Israel as they are scattered all over the world. But more importantly, it’s not just Israel, it’s that we might understand the word of the Lord to us, recognizing the struggle not just of a nation, not only in history, not only in terms of prophetic relevance, but there is a struggle that can take you out.

Now, maybe some of you have never lost a fight, but that is because you were never in a real battle. If you were in a fight that lasted long enough and it got hard enough you would know what it’s like to give up with exhaustion. And honestly, it’s easy to find parallels in our own lives, struggling with our kids, fighting for our relationships or our marriage, wrestling to keep a business going. But the Bible says that when Ezekiel got down to the valley of the dry bones, they were so bad that when God asked him,

"Son of man, can these bones live? He said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know" (Ezekiel 37:3).

In other words, Ezekiel was the prophet of the Lord and he wasn’t even sure that they could make a comeback.

Let’s go deeper now from the context and apply it to your situation. Some of you have lived long enough, gone through things bad enough, where you were so beaten, so scattered, so broken and fragmented that you didn’t even know whether you would ever smile again, be able to pull yourself together enough to fight another day. And so, you were scattered and your mind is over here, your heart is over there, your body is over here, you’re just scattered all over, and you can’t even remember what happy felt like. Your dance is gone, your joy is gone, your song is gone, and I’m not just talking about losing your job, I’m talking about going through so much that something inside of you dies and you wonder if you’ll ever get back up again.

Maybe you have seen someone like that, they’ve experienced great tragedy, health complications, gone to prison, facing a divorce, and they are heartbroken. Have you ever lost your desire to fight, where you didn’t care what you wore, whether you brushed your teeth, or how you combed your hair? It’s possible to be down so low that you feel like you’ll never get back up again, even despairing of life itself.

The apostle Paul talks about a time that was so painful, so deep, so discouraging that he said,

"We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life" (2 Corinthians 1:8).

In other words, he says, I didn’t even want to be here anymore.

I know some of you are listening to me and you feel like you don’t need to hear this, because everything is going wonderful right now, but I want you to remember this message because there are some things in life that can wear you down coming at you one after another after another until after a while you get so tired, because you can’t fight everybody all the time, twenty-four seven, and so you finally give up.

Ezekiel’s reaction mirrors our human response to such situations where we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. We can relate to those moments where we have felt incapable of change and lose hope and a future restoration. But God’s response to Ezekiel reveals his power and his willingness to transform even the most lifeless circumstances.

God commands Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, speaking life into what was dead, he says say to them,

"Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life" (Ezekiel 37:4-6).

In the same way, God is speaking his life-giving word into our lives through the Gospel. It is his Word that has the power to transform and revive those areas and situations of our lives that you may see as dead and lifeless.

As Ezekiel prophesies there was a noise, he said, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!" And there was a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone, but there was no breath in them.

In other words, they came together, but there was still no life in them. Just like it was in John chapter 20, on the evening of Jesus’ resurrection verse nineteen says,

"The disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. When Jesus came and stood among them" (John 20:19).

And so, these are the disciples that had scattered, they had denied Jesus, and they are hiding because they have lost hope. The Bible says,

"Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22).

In that moment the Holy Spirit went from being with them, to being in them, they were transformed, they were born again, but Jesus wasn’t finished yet, he wants to take it up another level. And so,

"He gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised" (Acts 1:4).

Now, those of you who know your Bible understand that a verse must be understood in context or the verse can be misused and not properly applied so I want to set the context for a moment.

After saying this Jesus ascended to heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the Father in glory. And so, the church has been birthed, Jesus breathed life into them, they were the body of Christ, the church is a living organism. Now the training wheels have come off and the disciples have to ride this thing by themselves. The only problem is that Jesus didn’t leave them a manual, he didn’t tell them exactly how to do it, just to wait because they would need power.

Just over a week later, in Acts chapter 2, the Bible tells us,

"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" (Acts 2:1-4).

In other words, the members of the body had come together again, they were all together in one place, and it’s the breath of God again. This is the promise of the Father which the prophet Joel spoke of saying,

"The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to himself" (Acts 2:39, NASB).

And so, this was a promise given for the last days, including the whole church age, this whole period of time from the ascension of Jesus to his coming again in glory.

The main feature of this promise is the unleashing of a previously limited dimension of the Holy Spirit’s power for ministry in the believer. But Jesus last instructions to his followers was the promise:

"You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses" (Acts 1:8, NASB).

This promise of the Pentecostal experience remains in effect today, and the baptism is in the Holy Spirit has been repeated in the lives of millions of Christians around the world empowering the church to be his witnesses. Like those first disciples, we still need the power of the Spirit of God to fulfill our calling to share the good news about Jesus and make disciples of all nations.

You see, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not just so that you can have greater intimacy with God or a special prayer language. You can have all that but it is also so that you can have a bold, powerful, and effective Christian life. And yet, if we are honest, the challenge for many of us today is to continually surrender to that which we have received as the apostle Paul encouraged us,

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25, NKJV).

We are a Pentecostal, devil stomping, Holy Spirit filled church, and yet for many of us we struggle with surrendering to the Holy Spirit.

And so, if you want to walk in the Spirit, seeing more evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power in your life, you will want to work on your relationship with the Holy Spirit. And you cultivate intimacy with the Holy Spirit, not by trying harder, but by yielding to the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, and keeping in step with the Spirit. As you let go, giving the Holy Spirit control, letting him take the wheel so to speak, at that moment you truly become free as you let the Spirit live through you.

In Acts chapter 2, what we see is the expression of that complete surrender to the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. As the Holy Spirit came to rest on each of them, their prayers and their praise turned into a declaration of the wonders of God. Jesus said,

"These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well" (Mark 16:17-18).

This is the fruit of Pentecost, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the prophets talked about it, Jesus talked about it, the apostles talked about it, and this is the normative experience of the church down through the centuries. We see in Acts chapter 8 when Peter and John prayed for the Samaritan converts,

"They received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17).

And again, in Acts chapter 9, Paul was baptized in the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 10, Cornelius and his friends were baptized in the Holy Spirit. And again, in Acts chapter 19, when Paul placed his hands on the Ephesians believers,

"The Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19:6).

This is Jesus empowering his Church to be the body of Christ, to do the greater works that he said we would do. And today, on this Pentecost Sunday, I believe Jesus wants to baptize people in the Holy Spirit, and there are those of you here today whom Jesus is looking to connect with you in a deeper and more intimate way.

As we close, I want to encourage you to make room for the Holy Spirit, surrender to the Holy Spirit, believing that God is going to touch you in a powerful way this morning. The only requirement to receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit is repentance and faith, Jesus promised,

"How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13).

And so, as we turn our hearts to heaven, would you lift your voice in praise and ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Just like the first disciples obeyed Jesus’ command to stay in the city, to wait on the Holy Spirit, and so they prayed and waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit. And so, would you seek the Lord with me, let’s surrender to him, confessing our sins and drawing near, giving our lives to him in the mighty name of Jesus.

Read Part 2

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott