That seems hard to believe. My figuring is correct that it's
been six years since I've been the congregation here at plans
road that would make Joey about five and Serena about three the
last time we're here. But I believe that's right, so
good to be here and it's so good to see the family of God at this
place. I received a I was having a
visit by phone with a sister the other day and told her about our
plans to come here. And she asked me how the
congregation was doing and I said well, you know what, I
think the congregation here at plans road is one of the hottest
places in the Brotherhood not that.
You're the biggest congregation but that you're working, you're
growing, you're growing spiritually and you're growing
numerically and so it's exciting to be here.
Sometimes I go to a meeting not knowing how it's all going to
go, but Confident this week with your enthusiasm and your
interest in spiritual things, your interest for the Lost,
they're going to have a great meeting.
I'm certainly going to do my best to do my part in presenting
the word of God to you clearly and forcefully in a way, you can
understand it. Our text this morning, we're
going to take from Revelation chapter 22.
We're going to read just one verse and that'll suffice for
our introduction. This morning, revelation 22
verse 17 later. In our lesson, we'll be talking
Quite a bit from Ezekiel. The 37th chapter one of the most
fascinating chapters to me in all the Bible.
Revelation 22 verse 17. And the spirit and the bride,
say come, and let him who hears say come and let him who
thirsts, come whoever desires. Let him take the Water of Life
freely. You've heard it said you can't,
you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
And as a good friend of mine used to say, but you can make
him thirsty. And that's what we want to do
this morning. We want to make you thirsty for
the Water of Life, you know. There are a lot of areas in
which the idea of being all wet is used to express something -
something that you want to avoid.
It's a derogatory or derisive term.
Term. Describing one who is completely
mistaken. All wet is used in England to
describe someone who's weak or unassertive or indecisive.
In Texas where I grew up, there were wet counties and those were
counties, where alcohol was consumed freely and sold without
any, any hindrances that all and then there were dry counties and
the dry counties were the places that you thought was the best
place to live, but in the context of our lesson this
morning, what we want to avoid is being dry.
Want to go to The Living Water. We want the Living Water welling
up within our hearts and in our lives.
This morning. When asked the question, we want
to explore the question we want. I want you to explore the
question. Are you dry?
As you go through the New Testament and learn more about
God's will and you study about the illustrations, the imagery
the symbols, the analogies that you see in the Scriptures, it
appears as if in creation God already had in mind.
The analogies that he would use in the comparisons that he would
use because they fit so beautifully.
And they are so powerful. And the one that we're noticing
this morning is certainly no exception.
Want to give a little background, a little bit more
background than I usually do too.
The analogy that the the symbol that we're going to be looking
at a very material symbol, but one that carries such spiritual
weight and is used. So in so many places in the old,
and as well as the New Testament, we're going to be
talking about this morning is zekiel and drive Bones from
Ezekiel chapter 37, but I want to set this up by noticing how
God through creation and the critical ongoing need of all,
living things 4. Water sets up so beautifully,
the compelling picture. There, it's amazing.
How many processes on Earth, require water, but we want to
talk for just a couple minutes about our need as human beings.
Are you aware today that 75% of Americans with all that we have
with all of our wealth? Walk around dehydrated and 37%
of Americans. The Thirst mechanism is so weak
that it is often mistaken for Hunger.
Even mild. Dehydration will slow down one's
metabolism as much as 3%. One glass of water will shut
down midnight. Hunger pangs for almost 100% of
the dieters, studied in the University of Washington study.
Yeah, we won't drink enough water.
A lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue,
preliminary Research indicates that 8 to 10 glasses of water a
day. Could significantly, he's back
and joint pain for up to eighty percent of those who suffer with
those ailments. I'm here, 2% drop and body
water. Can trigger fuzzy, short term,
memory trouble with basic math and difficulty focusing on the
computer screen, or the printed page.
And we don't drink enough water. Drinking five glasses of water,
daily decreases, the risk of colon cancer by 45%.
It can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79% and one is 50
percent less likely to develop bladder cancer.
If they'll do something as simple as drink, five glasses of
water, Funny about us, isn't it? Even though we are aware of the
great physical need that we have for water.
And we're aware of the physical benefits of water.
Many of us will stubbornly go through our lives.
Maybe our entire lives refusing, to increase our water
consumption. We're not going to drink more
water. We're not going to do it doesn't
matter what it means or what the benefits might be.
And you know what? As we're going to see.
That's true spiritually, too. We need, we know we need the
Living Water to be what we need to be. but we avoided We don't
get enough dehydration symptoms generally become noticeable,
after two percent of one's normal water.
Volume has been lost. And initially, of course, when
experiences thirst and discomfort, then eventually,
there is a loss of appetite and dry skin athletes may suffer a
loss of performance of up to 50% with dehydration.
They may experience flushing low endurance, rapid heart rates and
elevated body temperature, and then a rapid onset of fatigue
symptoms becoming increasingly severe with greater what water
loss, once heart and respiratory rates.
Begin to increase the body, temperature continues to rise.
Because of decreased sweating at around five to six percent water
loss. One might become groggy or
extremely sleepy experience headaches, dizziness nausea
seizures fainting. Sunken eyes and may feel
tingling in one's limbs with 10 to 15% fluid loss, muscles
become spastic, Shin skin, May shrivel and wrinkle Vision made
them and then delirium sets in losses.
Greater than 15% are usually fatal.
Judge Lynch of the Massachusetts Supreme, Judicial Court, argued
that death by dehydration was cruel and violent.
In his opinion, in a 1986 case reminds me of Psalm 22, reminds
me of the was a prophecy of the crucifixion.
Some of the things that Jesus experienced, remember what he
said on the cross at one point. I thirst.
This is part of what made? What Jesus went through.
So agonizing and so cruel. That reminds me of Psalm 22, but
listen to this, the process of death by dehydration part of
what happened to Jesus, the mouth dries out and becomes
caked, or coated with thick material.
The lips become parched and cracked the tongue swells and
might crack the eyes recede back into their orbits and the cheeks
become Hollow. The lining of the nose May Crack
and cause the nose to bleed. The skin will hang loose on the
body and become dry and scaling. The bladder will Burn the
stomach lining dries out in the sufferer will experience dry
heaves. And perhaps vomiting the body
temperature becomes very high, the brain cells dry out causing
convulsions, the respiratory tract will dry out and the thick
secretions that would result could plug the lungs and cause
death. At some point, within five days
to three weeks. The major organs, including the
lungs heart, and brain would give out and the patient died.
No one normally lives more than about five or six days without
water. Rather, lengthy discussion on
water and our need for water, and the effects of not having
water, I think it's important. Are you thirsty yet?
Go with me to Ezekiel chapter 37.
Keeping this in mind. When it comes to physical
dehydration, one of the greatest one of the greatest dangers
about dehydration is that people are often unaware when they
become dehydrated and you probably heard this said to, if
you wait till you get thirsty to start drinking water, you're
probably already dehydrated. Keep that in mind because that's
what happens to us, spiritually. Before we know it, we are
spiritually dehydrated. And we're in danger, and the
devil has got as it were his hand around our throat and we're
not aware of it. Ezekiel 37.
Read with me this very interesting.
Fascinating Passage. The hand of the Lord Came Upon
me and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and said me
out in the midst of the valley. And it was full of Bones.
Imagine that this this massive ossuary above-ground graveyard
if you please. Can you imagine as a preacher?
What is God doing with me? Taking me to this place, whether
it's in Vision or actual a real-life place or some
discussion over that God's taking you there.
But it's giving me the creeps. What am I?
What am I here for? What are we doing?
God. Read on verse two, then he
caused me to pass by them all around.
And behold there were very many in the open Valley and indeed
they were very dry. So it didn't just take the
preacher. The prophet to this valley of
dry, bones and said, look at it, but he has him walk all around.
These bones and has him noticed that they're dry and they're not
just dry, they're very dry. Verse 3.
And he said to me, son of man. Can these bones live?
I imagine Ezekiel be like most of us.
He doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't understand and maybe
doesn't know exactly what the right answer is.
So I answered O Lord God you know, verse 4.
Again he said to me prophesy to these bones.
So first he's he's taking his equal to this place and he's had
him walk all around these bones. Yes, Lord I see they're dry and
they're very dry. But now he wants the preacher to
preach to the dry bones but like any man of faith and strange
having a request is this is he's going to preach, he's going to
preach exactly what God tells him to preach.
He's going to preach the word. And say to them old dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord, thus says, the Lord God of these
bones. Surely, I will cause breath to
enter into you and you shall live.
I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon.
You cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall
live. Then you shall know that I am
the Lord. Quickly on the messages, we get
in this story is that God could bring the spiritually dead to
life talking about is will see shortly.
These are God's people but God's people can dry up and need to be
brought back to life and God can do that.
The Sadducees you remember supposed to believe in God
supposed to believe in the Old Testament?
They denied that God could bring the dead back to life, but it's
quite clear here. Oh, yes.
God can do this. So, I prophesied as I was
commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise and suddenly a
rattling and the bones came together, bone to bone.
I see here, also the idea of division and, and within the
body, things being healed in a bringing together.
Indeed, as I look the sinews, and the flesh come upon them and
the skin covered them over, but there was no breath in them.
The bodies had flesh, they had muscle, but they weren't alive.
Also, he said to me, prophesy to the breath prophesy, son of man.
And say to the breath, thus says, the Lord God come from the
Four Winds o breath and breathe on these slain that they may
live. So, I prophesied, as he
commanded me and breath came into them and they lived and
stood upon their feet, an exceedingly, great Army.
This suggests to me. what God can do with so little And with
something that seems so weak and so powerless it suggests to me
potential and it suggests to me the potential Within Me and the
potential within you and the potential within us all of us
together. We can be like a great Army.
And God can do that through your weakness and through my
weakness. He did it here with just a pile
of dry bones verse 11, then he said to me, son of man, these
bones are the whole house of Israel.
That's right. That's God's people, these
represent and this story represents the people of God.
They weren't like they were supposed to be.
They weren't living. Like they were supposed to be
God, wasn't the center of their lives.
Oh, they were God's people. They were the chosen people but
they weren't living like it. They were so caught up in the
things around them, the world that to God, they were like dry
bones. They indeed, say, our bones are
dry. Our hope is lost and we
ourselves are cut off. They were discouraged, they were
downtrodden. They were depressed.
No wonder they had straight away from the Lord therefore prophesy
and say to them. Thus says the Lord God, behold
on my people, I will open your Graves and cause you to come up
from your Graves and bring you into the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
When I have opened your Graves on my people and brought you up
from In your Graves. Listen here, verse 14.
Certainly speaking about what's going to happen through Jesus,
in the New Testament, I will put my spirit in you and you shall
live. I will place you in your own
land, and you shall know that I, the Lord have spoken it and
performed it says the Lord. What a beautiful passage power.
There's power in that inspirational, isn't it?
This morning brother sister, are you?
Dry. I'm asking myself.
I need to ask myself. We need to ask ourselves about
that from time to time. How are we doing spiritually?
I'm not talking about some superficial check, we do that
sometimes. We need to do a complete
physical on our spiritual selves.
Call it a spiritual if you will, but we need to do it when you
take a deep look inside, we need to take a close look at where
we're at and in which direction we're going.
As one man, put it it's important where you are today
and it is and it's great that you're here at the house of the
Lord. It's important where you are but
it's more important. What's more important is the
direction in which you were headed, where you go, are you
dry this morning again? One of the greatest dangers of
dehydration is that people are often unaware that they are
becoming dehydrated and you could be dehydrated this morning
spiritually dying. And not be aware of what is
happening. Or adversary, Satan wants to
fill you up with the saltwater of sin, the lust of the eyes,
the lust of the Flesh and the pride of life.
He wants to suck the life, spiritual it right out of you.
And some Christians today and maybe some that are here today
are allowing the Devil to do just that the devil wants you to
become so self-absorbed. And all this world has to offer
that. You forget about what really
matters and then to you neglect, who and what you should be
focused on this morning. There may be Christians in this
room who were just like that pile of dry bones.
And when God looks at you, He sees nothing but dry bones,
bones that are very dry. What are some of the symptoms?
if you have dry bones this morning, there's your life seem
empty. Hopeless dry has your
relationship with God. Dried up your relationship with
your brothers and sisters. How is that?
This morning? That's a symptom.
If you don't see your brothers and sisters during the week, if
you don't talk to them, if you don't communicate with them, if
you don't have a relationship with them, it's a symptom, your
bones are going dry, you're becoming dehydrated if you're
dry it. Maybe because you haven't been
to the Fountain lately, you may be suffering from dryness and
spiritual stagnation, your spiritual life, may be as dry.
And lifeless as the Sahara Desert, you may be suffering
from From emptiness and spiritual dehydration.
And what I'm asking you this morning is when was the last
time that you and your private life in your prayer closet, so,
to speak poured out, your heart to God In Prayer, Not just going
through the rituals not just saying that same recorded prayer
that you've got memorized. But I mean, pouring out your
heart to God not just going through the motions But your
heart was totally centered on the Beauty and the benefits of
talking to God in prayer and of what he's done for you and for
your family through Jesus Christ.
If it's been a while, no wonder, you feel dry, no wonder, you
feel empty people of Israel. The house of Israel knew that
something was wrong. They just didn't know what to do
to fix it. They'd become nothing more than
just a pile of dry bones. They were just a bunch of
spiritual skeletons up, a big pile of skulls and crossbones.
The devil had his mark on them and they never even knew what
was going on. They got to the point where they
weren't doing anything because they couldn't do anything.
How is it with you today? Have you dried up
evangelistically? Meeting starts today.
There, maybe even somebody here. Who'd forgot.
There was even a meeting going on this week.
That happens a couple times, maybe more in a congregation.
This should be one of the highlights of our year because
the church this this shining bright light this light house.
If you please that keeps the light shining throughout the
year is now focused on this week.
For these eight days, we are going to shine the light
brighter and in a more concentrated fashion than we
have done. Everybody needs to be a part of
that. But you can be a part of that,
what you've been thinking about the last week and last few
weeks, I know some of you because I've heard from you,
this is the highlight of the month.
One of the highlights of this season is getting ready for this
meeting. Going to talk to people been
talking to people about the meeting, going to invite people
going to bring people to the meeting.
Those people back then they couldn't Influence People.
They couldn't even influence their own children because they
were just a big pile of calcified clubs exposed for all
to see. And if it's been a while, since
you poured out, your heart and prayer.
And if you're not praying without ceasing and you you were
dry. You are dehydrated, whether you
know it or not, you need to go to the rock.
You need some Living Water. How do you know if your dry?
How do you know if you're spiritually dehydrated Check
what you're doing. when you're not working, and when you're not
sleeping, If you're working over those 50 or 60 hours a week,
you're probably working too much.
Where's the Lord fit in to your time?
What are you doing during your what we call sometimes free
time? So many Christians are just
wandering and stumbling about in a desert of selfishness and
slothfulness, why are we growing in some congregation?
You've been growing here, but you could probably grow more.
If more people were on fire, like they should be and many
congregation. There are members of the Lord's
Church who wouldn't attend a regular weekly Bible study.
If the Apostle Paul was there to conduct it.
That's dry. That's dry, brother, that's dry
sister, and in most congregations, there are
Christians. So, busy going about With other
things in life. So busy gorging themselves,
spiritually, speaking on the carbonated caffeinated, corn
syrup e, colas of this world that they can't make time for
any more than just a sip or two of Living Water on Sunday
morning brother sister. If that's you, you're dry, you
need to do something about that, you're dehydrating yourself
spiritually. When you look in the mirror this
morning, You probably look the same way you did last week last
year, but there may be a different you today than there
was last year or a few years ago you're changing on the outside.
You may look the same but your soul is shrinking, it shriveling
up because you've not had the Living Water.
You're not getting to the Living Water.
Like you need to. You need to go to the well.
You better get back to the well soon before.
It's too late. While he can make your dry bones
live. How many people here today?
Have been saying, you know what? I really need to start reading
the Bible every day. How many times that happened
during a meeting? Or maybe a cyst?
Maybe a brother has a shared with you from the pulpit and
probably, you know, when you start reading the Bible daily
and you say yeah you know that's right and you start up and you
go for a week or two or maybe three weeks and you go back to
the same old self. We need to stick with it.
There's some things that you knew, you know, you need to be
doing you to get at it. You stay with it.
You stay keep feeding yourself, feeling yourself.
With the Water of Life. There's somebody here.
Maybe today. Who's been saying, you know, one
of these days. How do you obey the gospel?
I need to get my sins washed away.
I need to get in the water but you've been putting it off.
You take care of that, you take care of that today, there's
probably somebody here that in some other way, there's some
things going on in your life that are wrong that you need to
fix and you know, you need to fix them.
You just say well I'm going to take care of that one of these
days. Days.
You need to turn that one of these days into today.
You need to come to the Fountain.
You need to come for The Living, Water need to stop playing games
with God, and get to the Fountain.
Let's go back to our text verse 2.
Back to Ezekiel, 37 verse 2. Then he caused me to pass by
them all around. And behold there were very many
in the open Valley. And indeed, they were very dry.
I get the idea here that when we're dry that we discuss God,
we disappoint God, we upset God, we disappoint, Jesus verse 3,
And he said to me, son of man can these bones live?
So I answered O Lord God, you know.
The preachers optimistic. If God says, these bones are
going to live, he believes it, but from where he look, he's
looking these bones are awful, dry, you know, God you tell me,
It's our job as leaders and teachers spiritual leaders as in
our homes, father's to be optimistic and to be positive
and stretch forward and reach forward.
Ephesians 3 verse 21 says that you're able to do exceedingly,
God is able to do in you exceedingly, abundantly above
all that we ask or think. Are you weak today?
God wants you, strong Ephesians 6, verse 12.
He didn't want you to be a Christian wants to be a strong
Christian, and he can make you a strong Christian.
If you let him Why are you so dry today?
If you're dry, you have a dead marriage.
Is your marriage dying? God doesn't want it that way.
You know, the world is overrun with divorce adultery divorce,
remarriage and divorce, and remarriage and divorce.
And remarriage, that's not God's way.
But sometimes in our homes, we think we're, okay?
As long as we're still married, But a relationship is dying or
dead. That's not God's way either,
that's not the way God ever intended for it to be.
And if that's the way it is in your marriage, your bones are
dry. Need to go to the well, What
about your relationships within the body?
Some people, some people say, well, I just don't feel like I'm
a part. I feel like I've kind of been
pushed out to the edge. I don't feel like I'm a member
of the body. And sometimes when I watch and
when I listen to way people, behave and interact with their
brothers and sisters, I'm not surprised the way they feel that
way. Need to go to the well, Matthew
7 verse 12, The Golden Rule. Do you treat your brother the
way you want to be treated? You talk to them, your sister,
the way you want them to talk to you, sometimes.
We don't, no wonder our relationships are dying.
If you don't want others to be hypercritical of you, if you
don't want others to be backbiting about you or on, you
don't do that to them. How are you treating other
people? Do you just use people, or do
you really care? If you invest your lives in
other people, do you support them?
Do you help them? If not, you're dry, it's not
what Jesus wants out of you. God looks down, he sees dry
bones and he's disappointed and he's disgusting.
Go to the well are you cuddling sin this morning, is there some
begetting sin that like a blood sucking leech is sucking the
life right out of you? I can kill a marriage, it can
kill any relationship with your brother or sister, you need to
repent if that's you this morning.
You need to repent of your dry, bone ways and come to the
fountain. Know this.
It's Disobedience that creates dissing.
You feel like you're distant from God.
You feel like he's not really with you.
It's Disobedience somewhere in your life, distance creates
dryness and drifting and backsliding.
If you're dry this morning, it may very well be because there's
too much distance between you and God.
You got to get the sin out, you got to get the sin out of your
life and Let Jesus come in. Most dead bones will rise.
We all have dry moments, but if you're living in the valley of
dry bones, if you've lost the joy of your salvation, if
dryness is the rule and rejoicing is the exception, it's
probably because their sin somewhere in your life, maybe
there's a relationship that, you know, you need to do something
to fix and you've not done it. You've been stubborn, you've
been proud. I like the way Tony Evans
elaborated on this idea. He says Pluto is the ninth
planet from the sun and it's cold on Pluto.
It's so cold because it's so far from the Sun s un Distance makes
us cold Mercury is so hot because it's so close to the
Sun. Our distance to the Sun.
Affects our temperature and that's true.
Also spiritually, the closer you are to the Sun.
S 0n, the warmer you become How warmer you, how warm are you
toward the members of the family of God, that's an indication of
how close you are to the Sun. The question, we're asking this
morning is, do you have the living water?
Do you have Jesus? And are you feeling yourself up
with Jesus Christ? His word?
His will and his ways. If not brother or sister, you
are spiritually, spiritually, dehydrated, your dry, your dry
bones. And that's not what God wants
you to be, but you don't have to be that way.
You don't have to die, you can come to Jesus Christ.
There's a happy. Ending to the story, no matter.
How dry you are, no matter how dehydrated you are, no matter
how deep you are in the valley of dry bones, or how long you've
been there, God can bring you back.
God could put flesh on you, spiritually speaking.
He can put the breath back in. You, he can set you on higher
ground and you can go back to the Fountain.
If you just decide that you will listen to John 4 verse 14, Jesus
speaking. But whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him will never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him will become a fountain of
water springing up. And everlasting God.
God wants for you to have the Abundant Life, The Good Life.
If that's not the way your life is.
If you're dry. Because you need to go to the
Fountain. You need to go to the well,
Something else you're talking about, dryness dehydration,
there are people today pulpits in this city on televisions and
on radio stations. Who are dehydrating The Plan of
Salvation taking the water right out of the Plan of Salvation.
You know what? That's like.
You know how effective that is? And taking care of sin.
I'll tell you how effective that is.
That's like you going home today and you putting in a load of
laundry and do your washing machine and you unhooking the
water. What's gonna happen?
You know, how to get those stains out.
And when you take water out of the Plan of Salvation, you can
be sure you're not going to get the stains of sin out of your
life. That's what's going on in the
world today, that won't work. You got to put the water in
Jesus said in John 3 verse 5 except a man be born of water
and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
There's water in the plant can any man forbid water.
See here is water. What doth hinder me to be
baptized? There's water in the Plan of
Salvation. So if you have per ticket per
taken of one of these plans of Salvation that is taken the
water out. That's no good.
The stain of sin is still there. Need to go to the fountain.
Need to go to the water. You'd have your sins washed away
and the watery grave of baptism. Even the Apostle Paul had to go
that route and Acts 22:16. He was told and now why tarriest
thou arise and be baptized and wash away?
Your sins? Calling on the name of the Lord
if you're dry this morning. Maybe because You're still not a
Christian. You tried to get saved at some
point in your life, but somebody took the water out, put the
water in, then you get in the water wash.
Those sins away, gotta put the Flesh on those bones.
Put the breath in your life. You can be alive and you can
serve God and you can please God and you can stay At the
fountain, there's someone here this morning who straight away
from God. Who's left, the fold won't you
come back? Get the sin out of your life?
If you've never become a Christian, you've tried some
kind of substitute or shortcut Plan of Salvation, come to the
water. The water, the spirit and the
blood. The Bible says, in first John
five or six through eight, the water spirit and the blood.
These are the three witness they'll bear testimony to your
salvation. We thank you for listening to
our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.
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