Walking and Evangelism

On Friday morning, my postman delivered a padded manila envelope. I suspect that many of my pastoral colleagues have or soon will receive similar packages. Inside was a fancy pedometer and a USB cable. As part of the East Ohio Conference’s effort to reduce health care costs and improve the health of its clergy, they have joined with Virgin Health Miles, allowing pastors to earn cash incentives for keeping track of their daily steps.

As it arrived, I was working on my sermon for the week on rethinking evangelism. My guess is that at least a few of you have read Bill Hybels’ book, Just Walk Across the Room. The book challenges the reader to think about how they define evangelism. What if evangelism was as simple as walking across the room and introducing yourself to someone you don’t know? Rev. Hybels suggests if -10 is used to describe someone living for themselves and 0 is the point of salvation, then success in evangelism is any movement towards the right (towards 0). The average person takes about 10,000 steps every day. My pedometer is a constant reminder of that fact. But what if just a few of those steps could be used to make an eternal difference in the life of someone else’s life?

That, says Bill, is what Christ did. He left his circle of comfort (i.e., heaven) and, walking across the cosmos, He was born on earth so He could lead us to eternal life. Romans 5:8 sums it up pretty well. Like the adulterous woman in John 8, Jesus finds us in sin, deserving death, and instead he gives us new life as He says to us, “You are forgiven. Go and sin no more.”

There is one other point that needs to be stated. “The single greatest value in any evangelistic endeavor is to be in tune to and cooperating with the work of the Holy Spirit.” We need to walk when he prompts and stay put when he is silent. We speak when we feel so directed and remain silent when we don’t feel his guidance. To stay in tune, we need to be in prayer and carefully listen so we may discern that still small voice.

So as I count my steps and strive to be more intentional about my health, I pray that some of those steps will help others move towards spiritual life that will last forever. Maybe you will be challenged to do the same.

Revival: Misconceptions, conditions, and marks of true revival

Misconceptions:

Not earthly source. True revival comes from God.

Not emotionalism and enthusiasm. Not about feelings and hype.

Not evangelism. More than telling others about Christ. That's only part.

Not education. It’s more than knowledge. We're already educated beyond our level of obedience.

Not enlargement. A church does not necessarily grow in numbers during revival.

Conditions

1. Consciousness of need. (Rev. 3.14-18 "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation: "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.' You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. ) Do we like the Laodicean church fail to see the need for revival.
2. Firm belief in revival (Matt. 21.22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.") Have we asked for revival?
3. Recognize that God desires revival (Is. 48.18 O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea) God’s desire for us is for us to prosper.
4. Strong sense of urgency (Rev. 3.20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.)
5. Earnest desire to be revived (Look at the day of Pentecost. They were gathered together in prayer seeking God’s revival. Do we desire revival so much that we go to prayer to pursue it?)
6. Willingness to pay the price (Earnestly following God will cost you something. Are you willing to count the cost? Are you willing to give up all that you have, all that you are, all your aspirations and desires, to be revived by the power of God? It is not something that is lightly undertaken.)

Marks of (2 Chor. 7.14)

1. Brokenness (confessed Sin, Humility)

2. Beseeching (pray, meditate on word, seek God’s face)

3. Burden (will of God, needs of community, desire to reach lost)

4. Behavior (obedience to God’s commands, turn from sins)

John Wesley, “Give me 100 Christians who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen. They alone will shake the very gates of Hell and set the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth”

I feel like Abraham talking to God: If we don't have 100, God, is 50 enough? What if we have 20? How about 5? Do we have five people who will seek God's face with everything in them, and resist sin with the same? God, can you start with one? Here I am, Lord, use me.

How Hot Are You?

It’s good to be back from vacation. Several people have asked how our time away was, and I guess you could sum it up in one word: HOT! As I thought about that this week, I wondered if there were a thermometer to measure our spiritual intensity, how hot would you and I be? The Bible word for being hot is zeal (literally translated “to boil”). If 1 is cold and 10 is hot, what number describes your relationship with Jesus Christ? If you are 5 and below, then you are lukewarm.

Jesus, David, and the heroes of faith were eaten up with zeal for the Lord. They were earnest and zealous for the God, having a fervent mind, an indignantce towards the devil, a warmth towards one another, and an energetic pursuit of the things of God.

John Wesley said, “If you’ll get on fire, people will come and watch you burn.” When I read that, my first thought was a picture in one of my college textbooks of a Buddhist monk who had set himself on fire in the street as a protest. That picture will forever be burnt onto my mind. Are you and I willing to be so sold out for God that our acts of loving kindness burn a permanent image on the minds of others?

When we have that zeal within us, we’ll find that we are so grieved for those who lacks the good things of God in their life that we have to act and share with them. The Bible says those who don’t have a zeal for God are poor, wretched, naked, blind. . . Have you ever seen a picture of a homeless person? There are people who are very well off physically, but spiritually, the are that homeless person. There are many people in churches this morning who have every outward appearance of zeal, but inwardly are starving for something.

In Revelation 3, John writes (beginning in verse 14): 14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

What does this have to say to us today? First, we all fall into one of three categories: cold, hot, or lukewarm (v. 15). Second, the lukewarm person is not easy to spot. They have the outward appearance of a Christian. They say of themselves “I’m rich, I don’t need anything. I’m satisfied.” That sounds a lot like the mantra of today’s American.

Now the Devil comes to deceive us in 2 ways. If we are cold, he tells us that we will never amount to anything. That forms within us a defeatist attitude. We begin to say over ourselves, “ I am a worthless little person. I can not get ahead. I know I will fail.” This type of attitude will keep us from fulfilling the potential that God sees in us. If we are lukewarm, the devil whispers in our ear, “everything is fine, you can take it easy. You have arrived.” The lukewarm Christian looks at those in the world and says to him or herself, “I’m not so bad. I’m better than they are.” Be wary of that voice, for God’s voice will never tell you that you’re better than someone else.

For someone who is lukewarm, God offers the following advice:

1. Buy gold of God that has been tried by fire. I heard the same thing on the radio this week. Buy gold. What does that mean. There are so many things in our lives that have no lasting value. The story is told about Dr. Dobson when he had heart surgery. He honestly thought he was going to die as he lay on that table. And he said at that moment, it did not matter how many books he had written, how many academic and professional awards he had won, how much money and possessions he had amassed. In that moment where he faced the prospect of his life ending there were only three things that mattered: who he loved, who loved him, and what he had done for Christ. 1 Corinthians 13 says in the end of it all only these three remain: faith, hope, and love. To buy gold means to infuse your life with those things that have an eternal value. Scripture reading, quality time with family, time spent in praise and worship as you draw closer to Christ. How much time today will you whittle away with trivial pursuits that have no lasting value? Buy Gold.

2. Get white raiment. This speaks of the blood of Jesus and the righteousness of Jesus. I looked hard for a picture for the power point this week. It’s hard to find a picture of a person wearing white. Most of those I found had a cigarette in their hand, needed more clothes, or had something spilled on their white clothes. As I thought about it, those very problems plague us as well. We can’t trust our own works to justify us, for our doubtful habits continue to ruin the picture; nor can we trust the law to justify us, for our goodness under the law never quite covers enough of us. In both instances, our sinful nature tends to stain our righteousness before we get very far. Only the holiness of Jesus that he gives to us through the cleansing of the blood can make us spotless before God. When God looks at us, he doesn’t see us, but he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is like a great big robe that covers us.

3. Get some Eyesalve. If I were to update this, I would say, we need to get glasses to correct our vision. We need to see as God sees, to have vision for lost souls in our area. We need to refocus our vision off of ourselves and look for what God is calling us to do around us. During his ministry, Jesus healed a blind man. (see Mark 8:22-26) He spit in the man’s eyes and laid hands on him then he said, “Do you see anything?” The man replied, “I see people as trees that are walking.” This scripture illustrates the problem with our vision, and it is two-fold. First, we tend to focus only on ourselves, unable to see beyond our needs and wants to consider others. After an encounter with Christ, however, the man could see others, just not as they were. One commentator says of this passage that we often treat people as trees. We look to see what good they can be to us. When I served at Stafford, the trustees had three trees taken out. They were pretty scrawny trees, giving no shade. They were fruit trees, but they remained fruitless. So they were cut down. Too often, we look at other people that way. We ask ourselves what the person can do for us. We fail to realize that every person is of sacred worth to God, regardless of their past, their present, or their future. If we saw the lost as Christ sees them, then we could not help but improve our witness to those who are lost, for they are priceless to God.

The passage concludes with two pretty amazing verses. In verse 19, the Spirit tells John that God doesn’t bring this rebuke because he’s mad at us, but because he loves us. He just wants to see us be everything he’s made us to be. So in the next verse, he extends an invitation to us. If you are lukewarm, Christ is standing at the door to your heart this morning. He says to us, “Open the door, and I will come in and live within you. And you can live in me.”

HOW HOT ARE YOU THIS MORNING? Are you full of zeal for God? If not, then I invite you to come and ask God for gold, for white clothes, and for better vision. He loves you this morning and wants to see you full of zeal for him.

Answers in Abundance

Note: This sermon is based on Chapter 2 of David Jeremiah's book, "The Prayer Matrix"

Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

A man went to heaven and saw St. Peter sitting in a room full of filing cabinets. "What’s in the filing cabinets?" asked the man "They are full of all the unclaimed gifts and blessings that God was prepared to give his children, but that they failed to ask for," Peter answered, “and one drawer has your name on it.”

Some of us will be amazed in eternity to realize the potential ministry impact we could have had, and the blessings we could have known, if we’d only asked for them.

After Jesus instructs us to ask, seek, and knock, he gives us some amazing, unconditional promises. Look at what it says: everyone who asks . . . receives! He who seeks. . .finds! And to him who knocks, it will be . . .opened! Do you see any loopholes? Does he say anywhere that God answers some prayers but not others? Does it say that he only hears some prayers? NO!!! God’s guarantee for us is this: he hears and answers every prayer. Ask and receive, seek and find, knock and watch the door open – these are ironclad promises. I know that there are other passages that lay out further guidelines for prayer – things like praying according to God’s will, praying in Jesus’ name, and praying in the Spirit. But the fact remains that in this passage, Jesus strongly teaches the profound effectiveness of simply asking – without weighing down the process with our restrictions.

In his book With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray says it simply and powerfully: “God means prayer to have an answer.” Look at the biblical witness: Prayer opened the Red Sea, brought water from a rock and bread from heaven; prayer made the sun stand still, brought fire from the sky, and overthrew armies; prayer healed the sick, delivered the oppressed, and raised the dead. Things we think are impossible, God does when people pray.

I read the true story of a mother whose young daughter took ill one morning at school. After the mother picked the girl, she called the doctor and described the symptoms. He said that there was a rash of flu-like afflictions. He couldn’t see the girl until the next day, but suggested an over-the-counter medicine that the mother could pick up to help her.

The mother got her daughter to bed, told her she was to the store for the medicine, and hurried from the house.

She rushed to the store, purchased the medication, but when she returned to the parking lot, she discovered that she had locked her keys in the car.

Her first response was to call her daughter and tell her she would be a little longer than she had expected. He daughter told her, “Mommy, get a coat hanger. I’ve seen on TV how they just stick a coat hanger down the window and unlock the car door.”

The mother went back into the store and was able to get a wire hanger, though she had serious doubts about her ability to open the door with it. But being a woman of prayer, she was not put off. She simply lifted her need to God. “I don’t know what to do, Lord. My keys are in the car, the doors are locked, and my daughter is at home sick. I’ve got this hanger, but I have no idea what to do with it. Please send someone to help.

As she finished praying, a car pulled to the curb and dropped off a passenger not five feet from the woman. This must be God’s answer to her prayer. The man didn’t look like the kind of person God would typically send, in his ripped jeans, arms covered in colorful tattoos. But she said, “Sir, can you help me?”

“What’s the problem,” he asked.

“I locked the keys in my car. I got this coat hanger, but I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Lady,” he said, “where’s your car?”

She took him to it, and after bending the hanger, quickly used it to pop the lock. The overwhelmed mother threw her arms around the man and gave him a big hug. “You are such a good man.”

“Lady,” he said, “I’m no good man. I just got out of prison.”

As the man walked away, the mother prayed, “Thank you, Lord. You sent me a professional.”

Why does God answer any of our prayers? Oswald Chambers, in his typically pointed style, writes: “There is only one kind of person who can really pray, and that is the child-like saint, the simple, stupid, supernatural child of God; I do mean stupid.” I don’t want to speak for you, but I guess that means I qualify as someone who can pray! Chambers goes on to say that it is nonsense to try to use mental reasoning to explain why God answers those “stupid” prayers. He answers not because of our earnestness or our suffering, but because of Jesus’ suffering. The mystery of why God answers our prayers is wrapped up in the answer to why he redeems us through the cross – it points to an infinite love that is far beyond any human explanation.

R. A. Torrey has written some of the best books on prayer. He says, “when I realized what real prayer meant, realized that prayer was having an audience with God, actually coming into the presence of god, and asking and getting things from him, it transformed hi s prayer life.

Before that, prayer had been a mere duty, and sometimes a very irksome duty, but from that time on prayer has not been merely a duty but a privilege, one of the most highly esteemed privileges of life.

Before that the thought that I has was, “How much time must I spend in prayer?” The thought that now possesses me is , “How much time may I spend in prayer without neglecting the other privileges and duties of life?”

As we get deeper and deeper into this thing called prayer and begin to experience the presence of God, I hope that you too will begin to find it one of the highest privileges in your life.

Six Things To Do When Going On A Road Trip

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As Christians, we all want to be at the center of God’s will for our lives. As I began to reflect, I came back to this verse. To understand the will of God, we are to renew our minds. How? Prayer and Scripture. But too often, this leads to frustration. How many of you have ever made a New Year’s Resolution to read the entire bible in a year or to pray for one hour every day? What happens? We get up an hour earlier, and we do really well for a while. But then we miss a day. So we do twice as much to catch up. Eventually, it becomes an immense burden.

And that’s where the frustration comes in. That is when I realized that we are coming at the whole thing wrongly. Where in the bible does it tell us we are to read the bible in a year or pray for an hour every day? You see, when we use that approach, prayer and study of Scripture become burdens that the enemy uses against us, making us feel inadequate. Instead, we need them to be there to empower us...to transform us. The problem comes from our view of prayer and scripture. We need to realize that prayer and scripture reading is really two parts of a single conversation. Read Word, (find out what God is saying) then pray! How do I start to pray? It’s easy. Just let him start the conversation in the word. To do this, we need to approach reading the bible differently also. We need to quit reading for distance and begin to read for depth. To illustrate this, let's look at the analogy of a road trip.

Six things to do when going on a road trip

1. Fill up your tank. You need gas to get where you’re going. Spiritually, that means asking the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us while we read. Without his guidance, it just won't make sense. Begin with a short prayer: God, let your Holy Spirit teach me from Your word today. Amen.

2. Choose your road. If you want to go to New York, you might want to go East instead of West. In the same way, you need to be intentional about picking your starting place in scripture. The story is told about one man who used the “Point and read method” He let the Bible fall open and pointed – it said, “Judas hung himself” Well, he tried again – “go and do likewise.” We need to read the Bible in context and to do that we need a starting point. If you don’t have a favorite book to start in, try starting with a gospel like Mark or John.

3. Slow down and take in the scenery. Too often, we miss the scenery in a hurry to reach our destination. When we read scripture, don't worry about getting to the end of the chapter or even the end of the verse. Read slowly and look at the scenery. Use your imagination a little bit. Can you hear the crowd? Can you smell the fish on the sea shore? Can you see the crowd pressing in on Christ? Try to engage your senses when you read and look at the scenery.

4. Pull off at a scenic viewpoint. On a road trip, these Historical markers or particularly stunning part of nature. When a particular verse or phrase really grabs your attention, stop. Focus on that verse or phrase. Try putting the emphasis on different words and see how the meaning changes. Try putting it in your own words.

5. Take a picture of yourself. What does this particular passage or verse seem to say to you today? Is it speaking to you? What is it saying? Write it down so you can preserve it, just as a picture preserves a moment on a trip.

6. Send a postcard home--Move into prayer. God spoke, now just tell him what you heard, where you've been, and what you saw. As things come to mind, put them into the prayer. Again, it doesn’t have to be a long prayer; rather, it should just be a natural extension of your study.

(Actually there is a step 7.) When you've said all you need to say, go on to the next scenic viewpoint. Go back to step 3 and continue reading until you get there. When a verse or phrase speaks to you, move into prayer and tell God about it.)

When you begin to read like you take a road trip, you will quit worrying about how much you read or how long you pray. Instead, you begin to bring the joy back into the time you spend with God. This type of reading not only allows us to discern God's will, but it also brings about pronounced changes. Thought-life changes, passions change, outlook changes, motivation changes, in fact, if we renew our minds, we will be transformed.

Creative Evangelism

The story is told of a famous Christian evangelist who was on a flight back from a major pastor's conference. Exhausted from his week, he was looking forward to the long flight from the west coast back to New York. He had with him the latest book by his favorite author and was hoping to finish the book by the end of the flight. As he sat down in the middle seat of three, he noticed that the window seat was occupied by a businessman, who was intently reading a magazine, and the aisle seat was open. Just before the plane took off, a young, teenage girl sat down next to him. As the plane taxied for takeoff, he began to read his book, ignoring everyone else. He had just finished the forward and began the first chapter when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Turning, he found the teenage girl staring at him intently. “Did you brush your teeth this morning?” she asked. “Yes I did,” replied the evangelist. “That’s good, ‘cause it's important.” Just a little confused, the evangelist went back to his chapter. He finished the first paragraph when he felt the tug again. “Do you smoke?” “No I do not,” the evangelist said. That’s good, ‘cause smoking will kill you.” Once again befuddled, the evangelist began his first chapter again. He finished the first page before he felt another tug. “Mister, do you know Jesus?” The evangelist smiled as he told her that he did indeed know Christ. The girl replied, “That’s good, ‘cause only Jesus can save you.” The evangelist smiled as he turned back to his book. However, he had barely found his place again when he felt yet another pull on sleeve. Pointing to the businessman, the girl said, “Ask him.” “Ask him what?” “Ask him if he brushed his teeth this morning.” The evangelist slid a bookmark into his book, turned to the businessman, and said, “Excuse me, my young friend here wanted to know if you brushed your teeth this morning?” The businessman looked a little confused, as he answered he had. The girl leaned across and said, “That’s good ‘cause it’s important.” The evangelist knew what was coming, but he waited for the familiar tug. The process repeated through the smoking, and to the most important question. “Sir, my friend here wanted to know just one more thing. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?” The businessman looked genuinely surprised. “I don't,” he said, “but I've wanted to for some time.” Church, that famous evangelist, who has taught thousands upon thousands to lead people to Jesus was going to waste the whole trip in his book, but because of the courage of a young girl with a plan to share her faith, the evangelist had the privilege of leading that man to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Do you have a plan for leading people into a relationship with Jesus? It was simple, but this young lady had a plan to tell people about Christ.

This last week at Annual Conference, Bishop Hopkins challenged us to share our own faith stories. He did it in a creative way. He had a runner come in with a relay baton, and share his own faith story—how God had changed his life. At the conclusion of the message, we were given our own baton, so we could each share with others how God has changed our own life! That is creative evangelism.

Before Christ left, he gave the church a great commission. He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28.19-20) This has become the great omission in many churches today.

At Adamsville, we have a mission statement. To paraphrase it, we are to:

Know Christ,

Grow like Christ, and

Show Christ to others.

Beneath every mission statement, there are core values, that is, those essentials upon which we refuse to compromise. We have a core value of Evangelism. When we evangelize, that is, show Christ to others, we are then to teach them how to go back out and evangelize others. The fact is, if the church were to grasps this concept, it necessitates steady, long-term growth.

How do we go about doing this?

1. Pray. The most important thing that we can do is to pray. This is not an excuse for inaction, but a necessary part as we ask God to prepare the soil of the person’s heart. (see the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

2. Learn the basics. I am amazed how many people don't know how to lead someone to Christ. This morning, I want to offer a very basic approach that we all can learn called the Roman Road. Write down these verses and put them in the front of your Bible. Put them in your wallet. Better yet, memorize them, so that you could use them to lead someone to Christ. (Rom 3.23 all sinned, 6.23 wages of sin and God’s gift, 10.9 confess and believe to be saved, 8.1 not condemned, 8.38-9 nothing can separate us from God’s love.)

3. Be Creative. Take time to use your imagination and see what unique ways you can find to broach the subject of Jesus with others. Consider your hobbies, your unique gifts and talents, and formulate your own plan of attack.

4. Don't be afraid of telling the truth. Non-believers often ask tough questions for which we have no answer. Be real. Don't try to act more holy than you are. Just be yourself. Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know, but I would like find out." Then resource. Ask your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, the saints that have been in the church for years. The truth is, we don’t have to have all the answers to be effective evangelists.

5. Offer them community. Remember, salvation is only the beginning of the faith journey. Invite them to church, to a bible study, or even offer to meet with them to read the Bible together. New believers do not automatically become disciples, they need to be in community!

6. Don't be afraid to fail. If we read scriptures carefully, Christ only had a 1-in-10 success rate. Don't become discouraged. Share your disappointments with others, as well as your successes. The testimony of the community will keep us from becoming "weary in well doing". 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Gal. 6:9). Further, you don’t know how your effort may have broken up the ground for someone else’s seed. What we often deem a failure, heaven sees as a major victory. (see Walk Across the Room, observation #3)

Can we lead people into personal, vital, and growing relationship with Jesus? Are we ourselves becoming disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the Good news with others? Let us find new and creative ways to share the good news with others.

A People in Exile

Ezekiel 11:14-25

I want to begin by saying that this sermon is does not originate with me. It comes from the notes I took a few years ago, when Rev. Chip Freed preached for the cabinet address at the East Ohio Annual Conference. The sermon is fitting, because in light of last week’s sermon, I have been asked why I think that we need to study the exiles and passages like Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones.

Have you ever gone from exaltation to exile? There was a story in the New York Times a few years ago that illustrates this feeling. David Anderson was checking out the full score for Handle’s Messiah. However, an input error occurred, and the library was left with no record of where the music had gone. November came, and with it, many requests for the music. A frantic search was launched, but the music was not found. You can imagine Mr. Anderson’s shock upon returning the music. The head librarian, who was standing at the desk began to yell at the top of her lungs, “The Messiah is here, the Messiah is here. . .” A New York Times writer was at the library and witnessed the event. He wrote, “Everyone looked with great expectancy, but after a few moments, it was back to business as usual.”

The Prophet Ezekiel understood this experience. After the golden age of Israel, the nation was in spiritual decline. The Northern kingdom went into exile, while Judah, under the leadership of young King Josiah, underwent a revival. Ezekiel was a revival priest! Yet as quickly as it came, the revival left. Josiah was killed at the hand of the Egyptians, and after a few years of exaltation, it was back to business as usual. Idols, fruitless tradition, and spiritual decline replaced the religious fervor. Then came the exile at the hands of the armies of Babylon.

Have you ever experienced this journey from exaltation to exile? Maybe it occurred from the church house to the car, or from the weekend into the work week. The exile for the children of Israel was not only exile from a place, but also an exile in spirit. The nation felt defeated: God has left us, we are without hope, and we have lost our very identity. It was more than temporary homesickness, as the psalmist points out in the 137^th psalm, giving us a sense of what was going on: by the rivers of Babylon . . . we sat and wept. We hung up our harps. how could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

I think a strong case can be made that we as a church are a people in exile. Oh, I know we aren’t living in a foreign land, but just ponder the possibility with me for a few moments. Walter Brueggemann, the great scholar of the exiles lists six qualities of a people in exile. See if any of these apply.

1. They are a community of honest sadness over the loss of what used-to-be. The glory years are remembered and romanticized. We remember the best of those times and forget most of the bad. Have you ever caught yourself remembering back to the good old days of church? Or maybe for you, it is remembering one particular pastor who you wish were still here. And we say things like, “Oh, those were the days!”

2. They have lost the old family place. They have lost their distinctiveness. Some here today are here because the family church closed. For others, it is a sense of familiarity slipping away--what ever happened to all the old hymns, the old church traditions, even what we used to call Christian morality?

3. People in exile are keenly aware of the power of despair. They wonder if their efforts make any difference at all. Are we moving forward or just spinning our wheels. I was shocked when I read recently of a pastoral councilor when asked about the problem with clergy depression remarked, “What problem. Depression is a normal and expected condition in pastors today.”

4. They question the absence of God. Have you noticed how we conduct ourselves at conference, at meetings, even in our church as though we do not need the presence of God to validate our ministry? If we simply have the right techniques, the proper approach, the appropriate attitudes, a reasonable study, then we can fix it all on our own. I recently talked to a pastor who was brought in to “rebuild” and re-grow a declining church. After talking to him about it, he shared about the techniques, strategies, and human effort that was going to be used, but he never mentioned God. Does God have to show up before we can have church?!? I hope so. . .

5. Blame games, finger pointing, and a great quest to find out who’s at fault emerges in light of the current circumstances. This doesn’t happen in the church, does it? Ask someone why Sunday School is in decline across the United States, and you will hear about busy families, mass media, apathy, impotent programs, hurt feelings, youth sports leagues, and any number of other excuses. That is not to say that any and all of these might not be contributing factors. But we always seem to want to point a finger away from ourselves. The source of the problem must be outside the church, we reason, since we, as the body of Christ, are nearly perfect.

6. There is an intensified preoccupation with self and self-concern. What we need, hope for, and want become the central concerns. God’s will is always secondary. We pray, “Thy Will Be Done,” and then wait to see if it fits our plans. Why is it that people leave a church? Is it because they are concerned with reaching the unchurched in the mission fields, because they see their gifts and graces needed to help a struggling congregation do effective ministry, or because their own personal, ego-based needs have not been met. Do we come to church for us or for God?

So here we find Ezekiel, a disenfranchised temple priest. What good is a priest without a temple? The temple is thousands of miles away, and Ezekiel is feeling worthless. Yet God showed up and declares “I want you to be my prophet to the exiles.” Megan McKenna writes, “Ezekiel was called to generate confidence in a people empties of life and breath fresh air into a people who had been crushed by history.” Oh Please, Bishop, appoint me!

What does God have to say to the exiles?

1. The first incredible word is that God goes with us into exile. God is our sanctuary in exile. Consider the Great Commission -- go into all the world. The last verse of that passage says Lo I am with you ALWAYS even to the end of the age. God does not live in a house of stone, but in the hearts and lives of believers. God joins us in our times of exile and we find that we don’t go to a place to experience God, but in God we find our place.

You see, like Israel, we sometimes think God’s in trouble. God is not in trouble. He doesn’t need our help to change the world. God does not need the vote of our council or PPRC to bless whomever God wants to bless whenever God wants to bless them. God has a lock on the position of Creator of the Universe and Author and Finisher of our faith. . .

Yet God allows us to participate if we are willing. He goes into exile with us, for in exile, we can minister the love of Christ to others who are lost in exile.

2. The second great truth God speaks through Ezekiel to the exiles is that if God is in exile with us, he can show us the way out of it! So don’t be afraid, Joseph, when your brothers stuff you down a well. I am with you. I’ll get you home. And David, when the odds are stacked against you and you have to face a giant with a bit of rag and five stones, don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Daniel, don’t worry about the lion’s roar; Shadrech, Meshach, and Abednego, don’t fret when Nebuchadnezzar throws you into the fiery furnace. . .Paul don’t be disheartened when you get thrown in jail for your preaching. I am with you, and I’ll bring you out! Brothers and sisters in Christ, when you are in the depths of despair, don’t lose hope. The Psalmist wrote “even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. . .for you are WITH ME.” God is with you, and He will bring you out!

How does God bring us out? It is not an outward activity, but an inward reality. God said to Ezekiel, I will give you a NEW HEART. Not just how we feel, but who we are. To the Hebrew people, the heart was the very center of your being and who you are. God says I’m going to give you a new heart. The way out isn’t cosmetic surgery. It isn’t a tummy tuck or a facelift -- it’s transplant surgery. God is not interested in just adjusting our activities, God is seeking to adjust our identities. God compares us to a house, and we often think God is just going to make us into a cute little cottage, but the reality is God’s building a palace and he intends to live there himself.

This is the real problem in the church. We want to make minor adjustments and revisions. We want to fix things. If we fix it they will come. Church it isn’t about what we do, but about who WE are. Kirbyjon Caldwell says, the number one reason people don’t come to church is because of those who do! If that’s true, then the only way to get those people in is to allow God to change those we already have. God says I’ll take your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Our heart of stone is first our inability to let go. For it is not by anything we do that we get this heart of flesh. It is not by any work we do that God transforms us. Rather, to receive this new heart, there is much that must be taken way. God will not take it, though, until we are willing to let it go. The second part of the heart of stone is our lack of passion. What happened to the passion in the church? Are we having a difficult time singing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? One secular writer visited a church where the congregation began the service singing “The Joy of the Lord is my Strength.” The writer’s only comment was, “Somebody needed to notify their faces.” Another story told of a church that had no children. Then a young family joined. Suddenly the services became noisy. So the elders of the church came to the pastor and said, “You need to tell them to keep their kids quiet!” So not wanting to offend the family, the pastor decided to address it in his weekly children’s chat message. Looking at those three small faces, the pastor asked, “Children, why should we be quiet during church?” The youngest looked up and said, “It’s because the people are sleeping.” What has happened to our enthusiasm? The story is told of Tony Campolo going to a meeting in a large city. His meeting was on 80th floor. And as he looked around the elevator, he saw a bunch of businessmen in their three-piece suits, looking like some of our congregations. So he said, “Lets sing.” And here’s the crazy part -- they did. He got off the elevator and was followed off by a famous CEO. Tony looked at him and said, “Are you going to the meeting on this floor?” “No,” the man replied. “My meeting is down a couple of floors. I just wanted to finish the song.” Church, God did the hard part for us through Christ on the cross. We just have to finish the song.

And as we close, I want you to see the results. What happens when we get this new heart? The glory of the Lord ascends from us. That is simply AMAZING. Every other biblical witness shows the glory of the Lord descending from heaven, but when we find the joy of God and allow Him to give us a new heart, then God is here with us. His glory is housed within US!

Friends we may be a people in exile, but with God, we can find our way out. All we need it to allow God to give us a new heart.

The Valley of Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14:

1. The hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord; and he set me in the midst of a certain plain. It was very full, covered in bones. 2. And he caused me to pass over them, all around; and I beheld the bones were very many upon the plain and they were very dry! 3. And he said to me, “Human, can these bones live?” And I said, “Lord GOD, only you know.” 4. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of GOD; 5. this is what the Lord GOD says to you dry bones: See! I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live. 6. And I will lay sinews and flesh upon you and I will spread skin upon you, and I will put breath-spirit into you and you will live again. Then you will know that I am GOD’.”

7. So I prophesied as he had commanded me; as I prophesied, there was a noise , and I beheld a rattling and the bones came together bone to bone. 8. And I looked again, and I saw sinews upon them and flesh had come upon them and he has covered them with skin, but there was no breath in them. 9. And he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath-spirit. Prophesy, human, and say to the breath-spirit, “Thus says the Lord GOD: come from the four winds, O breath-spirit, and breathe into these who were slain and they shall live.” 10. And I prophesied as he had commanded me. And the breath-spirit came into them and they lived. And they stood up on their feet, a very great army.

11. And he said to me, “Human, these bones are all the house of Israel. See! They are saying, ‘our bones are dried up and our hope is lost, for we are cut off.’ 12. Therefore, prophesy to them and say, “Thus says the Lord GOD: See! I have opened your graves and I will raise you from your graves, my people; Then I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13. And you will know that I am GOD, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. 14. And I will put my breath-spirit within you and you shall live. Then I will place you in your land and you will know that I GOD have spoken and have done it, says the Lord.”

Ezekiel was an exile in Babylon. And the passage begins, “The hand of the Lord was upon me.” This is an idiomatic expression for a trance-like state where God showed him the vision. In this vision, he is transported to a wide, full plain. Bones cover the ground for as far as the eye can see. And the prophet probably thought, God, why have you brought me to this unclean place? (A dead body is unclean and contact with one would make the person unclean.) Then God causes him to pass over them. The Hebrew translated around about is literally around, around. This gives the sense of a whirlwind, like Elijah, who was taken up in the whirlwind and a fiery chariot. As he cycles his way around this vast plain, he discovers two things about the bones: 1-- they are very many and 2-- they are very dry!

Then, God speaks. “Human. . .” “Can these bones live?” God is quick to remind Ezekiel of his role as creation. Ezekiel is pretty sharp, so he turns the question back on God. “God, only you knows." God isn’t about to let Ezekiel off that easily; he replies, Human, prophesy! “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord: this is what the Lord GOD says to you dry bones: See! I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live. 6. And I will lay sinews and flesh upon you and I will spread skin upon you, and I will put breath-spirit into you and you will live again. Then you will know that I am GOD’.”

So Ezekiel prophesied. I looked up the word prophesy, and I made an interesting discovery. While it can mean the act of a prophet in word or vision, it can also mean anyone who speaks the word of the Lord. As he began to declare the words of the Lord, there was a noise -- a rattling -- a shaking -- and the bones came together BONE TO BONE! Can you see Ezekiel still spinning 35’ up in the air around the valley and suddenly the whole ground seems to heave? As he looks down, there is row after row of perfect skeletons. The foot bones are at the leg bones the leg bones connected to the knee bone . . . Have any of you ever sung that song? “The knee bones connected to the ______ bone, . . . them bones, them bones, them dry bones, now hear the word of the Lord.” And he looks again. Maybe he blinked, but suddenly the skeletons are covered with tendons and muscles and skin. As he looks, he makes this observation: there was no (ruah) in them. The Hebrew word ruah is translated as breath, wind, or spirit. The valley was full of perfectly formed bodies that lacked the breath of God that gives us life. If the vision stopped right here, those bodies would have decayed, the bones would have again been scattered, covering the ground, but God wasn’t through with them yet! Aren’t you glad that God finishes his work?

So God said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the ruah.” It came upon them, and they lived. And they stood up on their feet - a great army! This is all the house of Israel. But, there was still a problem. They were saying about themselves, “our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off.” So God says, “Speak to them and tell them I am raising them up from a pile of bones to a great army and I will bring them back into the Land of Promise!”

I want to quote this to you, because it sheds some light on this passage and I can’t say it any better than he did:

“The promises of their restoration and deliverance, which we have here in the latter part of the book, are for the encouraging of a humble faith. God had assured them that he would gather the house of Israel, even all of it, and return them to their own land; but there were two things that rendered this very unlikely:— I. That they were so dispersed among their enemies, and so dispirited likewise in their own minds; they are here, in vision, compared to a valley full of the dry bones of dead men. . . II. That they were so divided among themselves, too much of the old enmity between Judah and Ephraim remaining even in their captivity.” -Matthew Henry

If you're a student of the Old Testament, you know who Ephraim and Judah are. Judah was Israel’s second oldest son who was made the son of inheritance after Israel wrote Reuben out of that part of the will, and Ephraim was the oldest son of Joseph (Israel’s favorite son). Yet despite all the obstacles, God restored Israel.

What does this passage have to say to us? I’ve been in pastoral ministry for almost ten years. In that time, I’ve heard some say, “It’s dry times. We just don’t have the numbers we used to. Maybe it’s just time to close down.” I’ve heard others say, “We don’t seem to be gaining ground, our hope is gone.” I want to echo the words of my God--We aren’t heading for a pile of dry bones, but an exceedingly great army! But like the children of Israel, we are so divided among our enemies, so dispirited, and so divided among ourselves that we fail to live as the body of Christ in the larger context of the world. Often there is a long way to go from piles of bones we find to the great army God sees. So what does Ezekiel tell us about how to get there?

First, before anything else happened, the vision came. Without a vision the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18a) What does God want to do here?

Second, someone has to begin to speak what God has said. We need to understand the power of the tongue. We need to be confessing over ourselves what God has shown us; that “God is restoring the years the locust have eaten.” “People are lining up to hear the word preached at Adamsville United Methodist Church.” Speak it with faith!

Once we have the vision and the faith, the restoration can begin. I see four steps that the passage lays out, and they show us the way to restoration.

1. Bone to bone. Eph. 3:16 says we are to be jointly fitted together. Look at the person sitting on either side of you. How well do you know them? What are they going through? What part of the body are they--what are their spiritual gifts? Bone to bone speaks of unity in the body of Christ. We need to come together to accomplish the ministries God has for us.

2. Sinews and Flesh. This is the ability to move--muscles and tendons. It speaks of our doing the work of the kingdom. As God shows us ways to reach outside the church to the community, it will take people willing to do the work. Not salvation through work, but our faith brings about our work.

3. Skin. The skin layer is an amazing thing. First, it protects us from the physical wear and tear that our bodies endure. Have you ever had a bruise? That is your skin protecting the organs, sinews and flesh of your body. The second thing that our skin does is it protects us from all the airborne germs and viruses. Most of these maladies are stopped before they ever have a chance to affect our bodies because of our skin. (We also look a lot better with skin. A person without it would be pretty ugly). In the body of Christ, the skin layer is our prayer covering. We need to continually pray for each other. As we begin to move ahead in the work of the church, we can expect the enemy to try to thwart our effort with spiritual attacks. If we don’t pray, we’ll become prey for the enemy.

4. Ruah. On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the third person of the Trinity. We need to allow his spirit to be Lord and to empower us. Jesus told his disciples that they were to wait until they had the power...ruah.

There is an order to the restoration. One comes before _____, two comes before _________, . . . There is an order to restoration. Step one needs to come first. I’ve seen churches where the congregation can’t get along well enough to sit on the same side of the church, but they continually pray for the ruah to empower them. If the bones come after the skin, the body won’t be formed correctly; if the breath comes before the body is complete, it can not live.

So as we conclude, I want to ask you, “Can our church live?” Only you know, GOD. He says to us, “Prophesy - Speak my word, find your place in the body, exercise your faith and the talents I’ve placed within you, pray for one another, and allow my Spirit to breathe new life into you.” We are a great army waiting to happen. Are you ready to rise up and be restored?