Introduction:
Do we need Revival? I know the answer to every church
is that we need revival. But many people do not know how to bring about revival
first in their lives and then the city. Many Christians want revival in their
church but they are not ready to be revived themselves. God repeats in His word
that revival can only happen if we return to His truth. When My people return to Me, When My people
turn from their wicked ways, turn from their sins, and call upon My Name.Then I
will hear, then I will heal, then I will set you free, then will I pour out My
Spirit upon them.
The Dictionary defines revival as the restoring of a
near dead being to life. Revival is when the church has a renewal in obedience
to God’s will. Revival is when individuals have a renewal in their relationship
with Jesus Christ and they begin to share Christ with others. Revival is when
people begin to be convicted of their sins and they confess and surrender their
lives to Jesus.
We have two types of people, one is the group who pray for
and desire with all their heart for God to send revival. The other don’t want revival to come to their lives or to the church. Why do some
people hate revival? Because they do not want to get loose of their idols.
Their idols may be their work, their sinful old life, their pride, their
business, their family, what so ever that they put before God. God has chosen
us to share the truth and promises of our Lord Jesus Christ. The truth is that
anyone who refuses Jesus is heading to a hell of fire which is unquenchable
(Mark 9:44). As Christians, we need to tell the world that without Jesus, if
you leave this world you are going for swimming. But it is not swimming in cool
water or river; it will be in a lake of fire. That is why we need revival in
our heart and in our country. The church today has turned its back away from
God and is not telling the story; people holding on to their pride, popularity,
power and we have forgotten our mission. Some are accepting fornication, others
homosexuality, others on abortion, some on gambling as a way to raise money.
What is happening to God’s church today?
We need revival because we begin to
die at birth. We were death since Adam's sin. Relationships break down, sickness
comes and bad things come up in our minds. I needed reviving and you need it
too. God wants this earth to mirror heaven that is why you are called to show
the light to this world.
a)
Many churches today are
sleeping giants
We are comfortable with our social gatherings and we
are doing nothing that pleases God. Many churches today look like they are
alive but they are dead. Jesus revealed this to the church in Sardis , “These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the
seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you
are dead.” Revelation 3:1 Sleeping
giants are temporary death and they need a kick on the buttocks for them to
wake up from slumber. But a dead church is already in the graveyard, already
buried in the earth. Can life again enter into it? In other words, can a dead
church be revived? What do we need to have these sleeping giants wake up? They
need to understand their desperate condition which is prompted by divine prophecy
hence producing a dynamic army.
b)
Revival starts by a
desperate condition vs 1-2
The Lord starts by showing Ezekiel a
great vision of a large valley with many bones which are dried, hundreds of thousands of bones. The vision is simply terrible, frightening,
and even ghastly. God says to Ezekiel, “Son
of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel (verse 11a).” These are
the ten northern tribes who were in exile by Assyria and those in exile by
Babylon. God showed them as dead people with dry bones in a grave yard. Their
situation was like that of the church in Sardis. They were as if they were
alive but they were dead. Is it the same for the church in Cameroon today?
Many of our churches look alive but they are dead. Nothing is happening, the
only thing that is happening is picnics and meetings and social gatherings.
There is no great conviction to souls such that every Christian is yearning
for the word and for lost souls. We love celebrations when we have done
nothing.
Ezekiel says the bones were very dry
vs 2b. These bones have been out in the open blistering sun
for a long time and all the marrow and life sap had been drained from them.
This is a picture of utter hopelessness and desolation. The people of Israel felt like that- hopeless
and God also sees them hopeless. Is there then not any hope for them? Is
any kind of revival out of the question? For Israel? For the church today? For
us? When God’s people find themselves in a hopeless situation, does that mean
that all hope is lost? Can revival still come? The answer is “Yes!” but not
from our side, but from God’s side. It is when we feel desperate and hopeless
that we can genuinely seek God’s help. Some of us sing “my help comes from you Lord”
but they never seek the Lord for help. We are our own masters and we think we
can do everything on our own. Revival starts with feelings of hopelessness.
c)
It is also prompted by
divine prophecy vs 3-7
Though things look hopeless, God has not finished with
his people yet. As Ezekiel wonders in these dry bones God asks him a question, “Son of man, can these bones
live?” (Ezekiel 37:3) What a strange question! This kind of question is
just telling us that God is not satisfied with the desperate condition of
Israel. The same is said of our church today. God is far from being satisfied
with what our churches are doing today. He is far from being satisfied with
what you as the temple of the Holy Spirit is doing today. Ask yourself if you
are satisfying God in your life. You are like dry bones and God wants you to
live. Ask your neighbor “Can these bones live?” Point to yourself and ask your
neighbor. Surely he has no answer for you. What do you think about yourself?
Ezekiel was also very careful in his answer to the Lord. He did not say
the dead is dead and it is impossible. Ezekiel answers, “O Sovereign Lord
(all-mighty, all-powerful), you alone know.” That is, “I know that with you,
Sovereign Lord, there are no impossibilities. You can make the humanly
unthinkable and impossible possible. You spoke the word in the beginning and
creation came into being. You led the people of Israel through the impossible
to cross Red Sea. In the wilderness you provided bread from heaven and water
from a hard rock. With you, Lord, everything is possible. Even dead and dry
bones can live. Just say the word.
Then God says to Ezekiel, “You say the word: Prophesy! Prophesy
to these bones and prophesy to the wind.” Just repeat what I tell you to say,
no more and no less. Just act in obedience to the voice of the Lord. That’s
still the task of the preacher today. Speak the word of God! Preaching is not
just telling interesting and captivating stories, although at times stories
have their proper place. Preaching is not lecturing on some dogmatic truth.
Preaching is speaking the word of the Lord, echoing what God says!
Ezekiel just did as the Lord commanded. In verse 7 we read, “So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I
was prophesying, there was a noise....” As a result of Ezekiel’s preaching,
something happens. There is movement in these lifeless bones. Noise here could
represent people coming together. Bones to bones because of God’s word.
d)
Finally produces a dynamic
army vs 7-14
The revival as prophesied by Ezekiel occurs in three stages: from bones to
bones, from bones to life beings, and from life beings to a mighty army. The
first stage is from bones to bones. When God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy, he
must have felt a bit silly. Speaking to dead bones is like preaching to empty
pews. However, when Ezekiel proclaimed, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord,”
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.”
So the bones became corpses, but still dead, for the prophet adds, “But there
was no breath in them.” (Eze 37:7-8). Perhaps we’ve been preaching and only
gathering corpses in Boko. Why is the door-to-door evangelism not moving as
expected? Why are some youths discouraged by others as if God called them for
other people? Are you coming here because of the youth leader? Or the pastor? Or
the Appointed deacon? Or the choir leader or who? Are you sure your motivation
of being here is God?
God said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the breath … 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.” Just as in Genesis 2:7 God breath into the
ground to give life to man. Only the Holy Spirit can enter his breath into dead
corpses and make them 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.” That
once mighty army which bones were scattered on the huge battlefield is once
again revived and restored. “Like a mighty army moves the church of God!”
As a result of Ezekiel’s prophetic preaching the graveyard comes to life.
God has done the humanly unthinkable. The impossible has become a reality.
After this prophecy Israel experienced a revival and returned and rebuild the temple
and temple worship started again.
Although temple worship still continued in a brand new temple built by
Herod the Great, dead formalism had set in. The bones had become bodies, but
there was no spirit in them. By the time of Jesus, religious skeletons by the
name of Pharisees and religious teachers of the Mosaic laws were walking around
in Jerusalem. This is how Jesus described them: “Woe to you Pharisees, because
you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without
knowing it." (Luke 11:44). And on the Day of Pentecost the four winds
came, the Breath of the Holy Spirit swept through the temple halls and a
heavenly fire erupted and those who had been dead before came to life again. On
that first day of Pentecost no less than 3000 persons received this new life
from the Spirit of God. Revival had happened in the graveyard.
Can it still happen today? Is genuine spiritual revival still possible for
dormant and sleeping giants? Is new life still possible for Sardis-like dead
churches? The answer comes from God in Genesis 18 after Sarah laughed at what
she thought was a ridiculous suggestion for her to have a child at age of
nine-nine: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). Before his
ascension into heaven Jesus told his disciples to “wait for the gift my Father
promised, which you heard me speak about.” (Acts 1:4) But we are to wait, for
to wait is to pray, to pray fervently, and to keep on praying until the Breath
of God comes upon us with mighty Pentecostal power. But you may be wasting your
time praying if you have not yet received Jesus in your life. I call on you to
make a decision right now. Dry bones can live again. If you were alive to
Christ and now you know deep in you that your spiritual life is dead, this is
the time to revive yourself and be returning to God.
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