Advent Hope: God Breathes Life into Dry Bones

A faith that even in the face of death, they knew that God would be faithful. And that was whether he delivered them or not. Those key phrases in there. Whether God answered their prayers the way that he wanted him to or expected him to or not, their faith remained solid. And they had a hope that was built on the truths of God's love and God's presence in their lives. So they pledged their allegiance to no earthly powers, but only to the one true God. [00:43:25] (36 seconds)  #FaithBeyondOutcome

Verses 4 through 10 of our reading tell of Ezekiel prophesying to the bones and saying exactly what God told him to say. And notice that Ezekiel doesn't fix the bones with his own words. He has to use God's words. And before anything changes, he has to obey what God asks him to do. Ezekiel doesn't act on his own. He acts through God, through hopeful obedience. And the result is new life, new breath, and new hope. [00:51:12] (37 seconds)  #HopefulObedience

Sometimes God's work in our lives is the building of the structure of our faiths, putting the bones back together. Don't mistake this with his absence, because the spirit breathes life. And suddenly there is a living purpose. Now if there are two overall statements or main ideas from this story that I'd like us to walk away with, they would be first that our hope is not in our circumstances, but in God's promise. And second, that God can revive what we think is death. [00:52:20] (39 seconds)  #GodBuildsFaith

Don't mistake this with his absence, because the spirit breathes life. And suddenly there is a living purpose. Now if there are two overall statements or main ideas from this story that I'd like us to walk away with, they would be first that our hope is not in our circumstances, but in God's promise. And second, that God can revive what we think is death. [00:52:29] (31 seconds)  #AdventHopefulLonging

So when we look around us and we accept our own bones or our own circumstances because they're not as dry as someone else's or they don't seem as hopeless or lifeless as other circumstances, we're finding hope in their circumstance but not in God's promise. But that true hope is trusting that God will be with us in the middle of the valley, in the middle of the bones, and that he will bring life to the most lifeless of times in our lives. We wait with expectation that God will be present in our own valleys and that he will speak words of life into them. [00:54:16] (43 seconds)  #HopeInTheValley

But that true hope is trusting that God will be with us in the middle of the valley, in the middle of the bones, and that he will bring life to the most lifeless of times in our lives. We wait with expectation that God will be present in our own valleys and that he will speak words of life into them. [00:54:35] (23 seconds)  #WaitWithExpectation

And then God can revive what we think is dead. In other words, just as Ezekiel saw God bring life into those dry bones, which was a promise that Israel would once again flourish with life after exile and captivity. We see God saying to us, he's not done. He's not finished yet. Our relationships, our dreams, our communities, our church, God isn't finished yet. Israel believed that their story was over, but God wrote a new chapter. [00:54:58] (40 seconds)  #GodWritesNewChapter

We see God saying to us, he's not done. He's not finished yet. Our relationships, our dreams, our communities, our church, God isn't finished yet. Israel believed that their story was over, but God wrote a new chapter. And friends, we are called at all times, but we can be especially intentional during this time of Advent to bring our dead things or our dry bones, relationships, our weary hearts, our uncertainties. We can bring those things to God. [00:55:15] (43 seconds)  #BringDryBonesToGod