Be turning to the book of Ezekiel, the 37th chapter. I'm going to be honest with you, Brother Bill. When you called me and asked me to preach the night of the revival, I began praying and the Lord just kept taking me back to this scripture. I tried different scriptures to preach and the Lord just wouldn't free me from it. I'm just going to give in and give it over to the Lord. This is a very familiar text. Let's begin reading in verse 1, chapter 37 of the book Ezekiel. The hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. and caused me to pass by them round about. And behold, there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again, he said unto me, prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live. And ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, There was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above, and there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesize, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, and exceeding great army. I want to preach for just a little while tonight on the thought, dry bones. Dry bones. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, Lord, we come unto your throne of grace tonight, knowing, Lord, that if you don't show up, there won't be any preaching. Lord, I thank you for the moving of your spirit that we felt already in this service tonight. But now, Lord, we come to the preaching of your word. Lord, I pray that the words that I speak tonight will be directly from your throne. Lord, that they will not be words from Justin, but words from the throne of God. Lord, speak to us in a mighty way tonight. Lord, we need revival. Lord, we need revival in a mighty way. I need revival, Lord. Freedom needs revival, Lord. Pigeon Creek needs revival, Lord. Lord, our country. needs a great revival. Lord, challenge us tonight. Move us tonight, Lord, through your word. We'll be careful to give you the praise, and the honor, and the glory. In Jesus' name we pray, and all of God's children say, amen. Amen. I realize tonight. that Ezekiel was given a vision from the Lord. A vision concerning Israel. At this time, Israel was under Babylonian captivity and literally was a dead nation. But Ezekiel received this vision from the Lord and I believe that not only is it a message for Israel, but I believe It's a message for the church age that we are living in today. You see, Ezekiel's vision depicts God's power and God's promise to restore and to revive a dead people. A revival, if you will, a reviving of that which was dead. Ezekiel tells us that he being the preacher or the prophet of that time, the hand of the Lord was upon him. If there ever were a day that we need the hand of God upon the man of God, it's in this day and hour. We find that the hand of God was upon Ezekiel, and God carried him or led him out into the wilderness, if you will, by His Spirit. And I could park there just a little bit on how we need to be led of the Spirit in all that we do. Amen? Amen. You know, the sad thing is in this church age that we're living in, I'm afraid, Brother Darrell, that we have learned how to have church without the Spirit of God. And we've become content in church after that manner. But here we see God was leading Ezekiel into the wilderness, into the desert. And it says that He set him down in the midst of a valley. And this valley was full. of bones. Now that might seem odd, but I believe there's some symbolism there. He was brought to a valley of death. Something that once was alive, but was now dead. I know that this is prophesying concerning Israel, but I believe also we see many valleys of dry bones in the church world today. See, it says that He caused him to pass round about them. The Lord commanded him and had him walk around those bones, continually walking around those dead, dry bones. Ezekiel tells us that there were very many in that valley. And he goes on to say, and lo, they were very dry, telling us that it had been that way for quite a while. And I have a sad testimony tonight. I'm afraid it's been that way for quite a while. Remember back, some of you older ones, how church used to be and how it is today. I believe we can say, without stretching the imagination too far, that in this church age, Johnny, a lot of the churches are nothing more than dry bones. He walked about these bones and saw that they had been dead. They had been dry for quite a while. And if you will, you see a picture here of a valley of defeat, a valley of death, a valley of what once was. Brother Darrell, when we look at the churches today, I'm afraid we see just a skeleton of what the church used to be. You see, I can remember when you had as big a crowd on Sunday night as you had on Sunday morning. And now you're lucky if the church has a service on Sunday night. Come Wednesday night, The people were faithful to be found in the house of God. Not so in this age. Dry bones. Death, defeat, failure. As Ezekiel walked through this picture in his mind of walking in this valley, God asked him a question. He said unto Ezekiel, son of man, can these bones live? God asked him a question. He said, is there any hope for what you see? I would ask you tonight, is there any hope for our churches today? Charles? Yes, sir. In Christ. In Christ. Maybe. Ezekiel answered the Lord, and he said, O Lord God, thou knowest. That was an affirmative. He was saying, Lord, you know they can. I'm glad tonight to know that there is hope for the church. Aren't you? I'm glad that no matter how bad it may get at Pigeon Creek, or how bad it may get at Freedom, or First Baptist in Van Buren, or Mulberry, First Distilling, there is hope! There is hope! He said, can these bones live? Can they be revived? Can they recover? Ezekiel gave the affirmative. Yes, Lord. You know they can. Again, he said unto me, prophesy upon these bones. Aren't you glad tonight that God has a word for dry bones? Amen? God had a word for these bones. He instructed Ezekiel, preach to those bones. Preach to those that are dead. Preach to those that are dry. Prophesy unto them. He says, say unto them, all ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Amen. Literally. That word here goes to obey. The church doesn't like to hear that nowadays, that we must obey the word of the Lord. But that's what will bring revival. Amen. That's right. Amen. If we as individuals, if we as churches will obey the word of God, we can see revival. Amen. Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. That word breath in the Hebrew literally means spirit. He says, I will cause spirit His Holy Spirit. There's a lot of spirits in the church world today. But God here is speaking of His breath. His Holy Spirit. He says, I will cause my spirit, literally, to enter into you. And ye shall live. Amen. Some might think that this is starting to look like a Pentecostal message. It is. But you know what? It's a Free Will Baptist message, too. It's a Southern Baptist message, too. It's an assembly of God message. It's a message for freedom, for Pigeon Creek, for Van Buren. First Baptist, Mulberry Assembly. Any other churches represented here tonight? 71. 71. It's a message for 71. Because you see, it doesn't matter what name is over the door. Dry Bones is Dry Bones. You can't tell a whole lot of difference between a dry Pentecostal bone and a dry Free Will Baptist bone. A dry Southern Baptist bone. What else we got here tonight? A dry regular Baptist. No matter how you look at it, dry is dry. Dead is dead. And so. If it feels a little Pentecostal, jump on. That's a little bit. There you go. He says, and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you how we need God to breathe upon us. He says, I will put breath in you, and ye shall live. And ye shall know that I am the Lord. You see, God wants recognition. When we glory, the only thing we can glory in is Him. Amen? He says, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. You see, there will be a witness of His Spirit. Amen? When we have the Word of God and the Spirit of God, He says, so I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, oh, let me just put a quarter in the parking meter here just a second. Oh, that we would have men of God that would preach what God has given them. Amen? Amen. Too many times we're afraid that the Word of God might offend, that it might upset some people. So if you get upset tonight, take it up with Brother Bill. Because he's going to have to deal with you after I leave. I may never get invited back, but that's all right. I want to preach what God has given me. You see, I beg to comment that there's a lot of churches today that have found out how to have church without God's Spirit. It kind of reminds me, and by the way, when you attempt that, there's not going to be a lot of life in that, as we're seeing in the text here. But I seem to remember hearing about a Free Will Baptist church that called 911. There had been a death of one of the members in one of their services. The responders went down to the church, and they hauled out 20 people before they found The one who was hit. You see, Ezekiel said, so I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise. How many of you know that when God gets in the mix, amen, something starts happening? Amen. There's generally a commotion. There's generally a little bit of noise. And that's why I like to hear a little bit of noise in the church house. That tells me that something's happening. Amen? And so it says that he heard a noise. There was a noise. And behold, a shaking. God wants to shake things up in this day and hour. Amen? Amen. So there was not only a noise. But there was a shaking and the bones came together. Bone to His bone. I say hallelujah that the preaching of the Word will unite. Amen? It will bring that which was disjointed That which was torn apart, that which was dead and dry can become together again. Can come together again when you have the preaching of the word. Amen. Cute little stories won't do it. That's right. All the commentaries you can stack up on the pulpit won't get it done. But the Word of God, it can bring people together. Amen? Amen? And so, here we see the bones begin coming together as Ezekiel preached to that which was dead, to that which was disjointed. He says, And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above." The Word of God also covered you. Amen? Amen. Amen. So we see a coming together and a covering because of the preaching of the Word of God. But there was still something lacking. It says, was no breath in them. I'm afraid we have some churches in that same category tonight. Although they don't mind sitting and listening to the word, they'll all come into agreement with that. But there is no life. There is no life because there is no breath. There is no spirit. Amen? Well, you're thinking about it, I can tell. That's a positive. Because if you start thinking about it, you know things might start happening. You know? It says, Then He said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind. prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God. Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. how we need the Spirit of God blowing across our churches tonight. You see, Brother Bill, there will be no revival until you have both Word and Spirit. A coming together of the two, that's what will bring revival. What will bring life to a dead, dry bone church? And we fight it so much. The true life of the church only comes from word and spirit. So I prophesied as he commanded me. And the breath came unto them, and they lived. I say, thank you, Jesus. And stood upon their feet an exceeding great army. You see. Preachers, I'm afraid we're seeing a lot of dry bones in the church today. Oh, you can recognize those dry bones. One of them is that old finger-pointing bone. You know what I'm talking about? You preachers, you preach with me tonight. You know what I'm talking about. Those old bony fingers that point and say, uh-huh. Blame this one and that one. Yeah, pointing fingers all over the house. Or it could be that old tailbone, Johnny, that's been sitting and sitting and sitting for years. You'd think there's a sitting hen or something. You know? Nothing but dry bones. Just that tailbone sitting. Or it could be that jaw flapping bone. It's always got something to say about somebody. And they just flap and flap and flap and flap. That's not the only dry bones we see in the church today, John. There's even some wish bones. I just wish somebody would do something. I wish he wouldn't preach so long. I wish We could get out by noon, just one Sunday a month. Lord, I wish she could sing better. Anybody know some folks like that? You know, those wishbones. Now, this is the one that's probably going to get me out the door tonight. You want me to catch you? Yeah. That's those old hip bones that do nothing but hold down that wallet. You know what I'm saying? That wallet ain't seen the light of day because that hip won't get off of it. Protecting it, you know? Those are nothing but just dry bones. Amen. But you let the Word of God get hold of some of those. The Word of God and the Spirit of God. My goodness, that wallet will start opening up because that hip bone moved up off that hip. You know? You get the Word of God and the Spirit of God going, well, that old wishbone, they don't wish no more. They just go and do it. Amen? They don't wish for somebody else. Or they don't wish bad on somebody. You know what? They got a whole new attitude. Amen? You let the Word of God and the Spirit of God move in your services, that old jaw-flapping bone, it'll start sending up praise to Almighty God. Amen? You get the Word of God and the Spirit of God flowing in the church, that old tailbone goes into action, you know? That old pew don't smell as bad, does it, Gerald? Because that tailbone got up off of it. Amen. Amen. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I know. And that old finger pointing bone, it becomes a hand lifted. Amen. Pointing to the one who deserves our attention. Amen. Amen. And you know what? You might even see some bones you hadn't recognized in years. You get the Word of God and the Spirit of God flowing in a church, you might actually see some knee bones show up around these altars. Amen? You might not have to beg and plead when you give an altar call and everybody just sits back. But those knees lock up and they start walking down to that altar, knowing that they need to be doing some praying. Amen? You get the Word of God and the Spirit of God flowing in a church brother trough, you might even see some backbones showing up. Amen? What has happened to the church? We've lost our backbone. The church is no longer the force that it used to be in our communities. Used to, schools wouldn't think. Wouldn't think twice. about having some activity on Wednesday night. That's right. That's right. Because they knew they would experience the wrath of the churches coming against that. See, we can look at our nation today and see that the church has lost its backbones. But you get the word of God in your church. You get the spirit of God flowing in your church. Your church will grow a backbone. Amen? Hallelujah! Is it alright to say hallelujah? Well, yeah! Well, glory! There you go! You don't have to be afraid. Amen? When you follow... You know what? My former pastor told me I was his assistant pastor for a number of years. Before he retired, he set me and the other assistant pastor down. He was kind of our mentor. He told me, he said, well, he told us, he said, boys, he said, the best piece of advice that I could ever give you before I leave, he said, is to follow God. Just follow God. He said, when you follow God, He said, you'll never go wrong. You'll never go wrong. Church, we need to follow God. Amen? If it means getting a backbone, get a backbone. If it means hitting your knees, hit your knees. If it means turning loose of your wallet, turn loose of your wallet. And I didn't come to preach that, really, but hey. You know, God didn't put us here just to build up a bank account. We're supposed to be reaching out and doing. Working for the Kingdom of God. How did I get off on all that? Church, just very simply put, we need the Spirit of God back in our churches. Amen. I can remember I'm, well, I'm the baby of this bunch that's been preaching this week. I'm 61. But I'm old enough to remember when there used to be shouting in the church. I'm old enough to remember seeing altars filled. I was getting there. Did God give you this message or did he give me this message? I can remember tears on the altars. Amen? I can remember. I remember a grandma knelt by my bed. and poured her heart out to God, praying over me. That's something that a young man doesn't forget, Charles. That's right. I remember the puddle of tears on the old linoleum floor, tears that were shed for me and for my family, that we might come to God, that we might be saved. What has happened, church? We've given up the Word of God, and we've shunned the Spirit. And look where it's got us. Free Will Baptist churches that are struggling to keep their doors open. Assembly of God churches that you couldn't tell them from a Presbyterian church sometimes. And I'm not demeaning the Presbyterian church. But it used to, you could tell the difference. You know what I'm saying? Church, shame on us. And I stand taking that shame as well. Shame on us that we've allowed it to get this far. I didn't come to make a lot of friends tonight. I'm probably going to leave with fewer than what I came in with. But that's OK. I've shared the Word tonight. I've shared what I felt like God would have us to hear. You see, we look for revival. It will never come until we preach the Word and until we allow God to breathe His Spirit once again upon the church. Stand to your feet tonight. Sister Elaine, would you come and just play something on the piano if you feel led to sing, that's all right too. I want to ask you something. I want everybody to look up here at me. Look at that. Because this is nothing we need to be ashamed about. Do you love your pastor? Amen. Do you love your church? Are you concerned enough to come down and pray?