Creekside Church Sermon of January 2, 2005 "Come Alive in 2005" Ezekiel 37:1-14	Rev. Dave Eis
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Once again we have come through another year. Let us continue to remember the gift of God's Son, the opportunities that lie before us as we ask the question, "What are we to do with this wonderful gift?" In reflecting upon the joy of Thanksgiving, the celebrations of advent, and bringing in the New Year, we become aware of our frustrations. Suddenly becoming aware that not every thing in life is as it should be, we can begin to feel a little depressed.

This leads me to take a look at Israel during the time of Ezekiel. All of Israel was in exile. The skilled workers had become slaves for the King of Babylon. The women were taken to cook and clean for the aristocracy.

Their symbols of worship destroyed. "How can I sing the lord's song in a foreign land? It was not just the post-holiday blues but it was a deep depression over many decades of being in exile. They had waited for years and decades for God to restore hope and joy to Israel. Have you ever felt that way?

The weeks following the first day of the year yields a larger than average season of blues and depression.

A young woman from Korea lives in this country because her husband was offered a university position that was precisely suited to his training and aspirations. But she is lonely. Her family and friends are thousands of miles away. The people at the church are friendly, She reports, "but all the English is faster than the books." The food in Tennessee is different from what she has always known. Many of the things she does automatically, such as bowing when greeting or leaving someone, are considered strange by those she meets and her well intentioned actions seem to separate her from potential friends. "I am happy for my husband," she says, "but inside myself I feel like the scattered bones Ezekiel say."

Have you ever attended church in a huge sanctuary with only a few people present? Have you been a member of a church that felt itself burdened by a large building and a declining congregation? I have. I remember a choir member, Charles, said at one meeting, "When I look out over the empty pews on Sunday morning, with just the faithful few scattered around, I think it must be how Ezekiel felt looking at the valley of dry bones. How can this church live?

A few years back, The Elkhart City Church of the Brethren faces that situation. We had declining membership and increased budget. How can this Church live became the dominate question. We made a series of courageous decisions that has led us to where we are now. The challenge lies before us, how we become alive in 2005.

In each of these situations there is no real decisions to make. It leaves us powerless. We know what we would like to have changed but we have no way of getting from here to there. It seems impossible to affect any substantial changes. But still the urge to live is still there. How can we go on living in a culture that warps and twists Christian doctrine to justify hedonism, materialism, and nationalism? How can we quietly stand by and be a part of a culture that can drain the flesh of our souls until we become like the dry bones that Ezekiel prophesied to. When God asked Ezekiel, "Mortal can these bones walk again," He answered, "O Lord God, you know." God alone knows what is going to happen. We can be sure that there will be many things happed that we have very little control over. Life happens while we are making the plans for something else.

Let us briefly look at events of recent months.

• The horrific tsunami that spread disaster to the countries that surround the Indian Ocean. Will Sri Lanka live again?
  
• The events in Iraq that kills and destroys. Can that country live again?

Let's go back to the story of when God showed Ezekiel the valley of the dry bones.

The Lord tols Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones. The Lord was merely using the talents Ezekiel already had. He was a prophet. He called home to do what was natural for him to do. God calls us to do what comes natural for us. Ezekiel could have said, "You do it." God works with and thru the talents we already possess.

Secondly, God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, use the talent you have, and he did.

There was a rattling noise. When he looked, those bones took on tendons and muscle and flesh. But, they were still bones with flesh. Then he told Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath. Ezekiel said, "Come from the four winds, O breath, (RAUCH) and breathe upon these slain." They all stood up and they were alive. Nut just alive but they began to dance around, as described in the Negro spiritual.

Where else in the Bible do we see the use of breath as an element of change? Wind equals RUACH, OR THE BREATH OF GOD, OR THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

• In Hebrew culture God was as close as the air that moved around them.
  
• Over 450 times the Bible uses the "R" word to describe the Spirit of God bringing change into the people who inhale the wind of God.
  
• THE CREATION
  
• JESUS FOLLOWING HIS RESURRECTION WITH DISCIPLES
  
• PENTECOST rush of a mighty wind.
  
• WHERE EVER WE ARE GOD'S WIND OR THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AVAILABLE TO US.

That spirit that is available to us all uses us as we are to accomplish his will.

WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN THE BONES?

• DO YOU SEE THE VALLEY OF BONES IN OUR OWN LIVE OR FAMILY?
  
• DO YOU EVER SEE THE VALLEY OF THE BONES WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR CHURCH?
  
• The litmus test for "ruach" is not measured by new members or the size of the church budget or architectural genius of a new building. But in being in touch with the Holy Spirit.

I do not know the specifics of how you are going to come alive in 2005. I do believe this, that you must breathe deeply of the Spirit Wind of God or there is no hope.

Listen to the words in verse 13 & 14; "You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves. I will put y spirit within you and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord."

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