SEEKING HOLY GROUND IN 2023: REVIVE

We continue our series Finding Holy Ground for 2023.  Even though we began with Moses and the burning bush, we have discovered that God is always willing to meet us on holy ground.  One of the grand benefits of being on holy ground is finding God’s transforming power for our lives.  It is evidenced by the experience of Moses. This week the sermon is Revive.  At times all of us are discouraged and disappointed by our lives, and the events around us. The Jaguars have given all of us an infusion of hope by winning games in the playoffs.  But what happens if they lose?   More and more people in American society are losing hope in our politicians, the news, the church, and ultimately their lives.  Yet, hope it still very much alive.  This week we turn to Ezekiel 37:7-14 and the valley of dry bones.  Babylon had conquered Israel and had taken many of the people of Judah to live in Babylon.  The was a common practice of a conquering nation.  God had told his people that one day they would return home, but they had given up on God’s promises and any hope of returning.  God was unwilling to let them remain hopeless!  God gives Ezekiel this vision of a valley of dry and lifeless bones being brought to life by the Word of the Lord!  This vision was not just for God’s people living in Babylon, but it is for all believers who are struggling to find hope!  The Word of the Lord through Ezekiel has the power to reconnect us and revive our tried, dying spirits with an infusion of eternal hope!  Our most earnest and sincere prayer is that you will sense the breath of God filling you with his Spirit as you read Ezekiel 37:7-14:

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. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. ⁹ 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, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet– a vast army. ¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: 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. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD. ‘” (NIV)