Dry Bones Dancing, Part 2

If you are consistently dry, empty, hopeless, something is spiritually wrong. Dr. Tony Evans says the Lord is ready to raise you up and rejuvenate your spirit. And you'll be able to say, like David, the joy of the Lord is my strength. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. If your spiritual life feels as empty and lifeless as an old skeleton in the desert, Dr. Evans has some good news for you today as he explains how God can restore you to the point where you feel like dancing.

Let's turn to Ezekiel chapter 37 as he begins our lesson. There is an anonymous poem that says, first I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. Then I was dying to get married and have children. Then I was dying for my children to grow up and get out. Then I was dying to retire.

And now I'm just dying. And suddenly I have realized I had forgotten to live. Many among us are dying, looking for that next thing to happen that we hope will give us the life we're having trouble finding. We're suffering from dryness and spiritual stagnation, where our get up and go has gotten up and gone and we don't know where to find it.

If dryness is your normal state, something is spiritually wrong in your life. Such was the situation among God's people is real in the Old Testament. The problem is stated for us very clearly in verses 2 and verse 11 of chapter 37. Ezekiel says, he caused me, God caused me to pass among and around about and behold there were many on the surface of the valley and lo they were very dry. Bones, mere skeletons. Verse 11, God says in his explanation, Son of man these bones are my people, the whole house of Israel. And they say, so we got talking bones. Our bones are dried up. What does it mean to be dried up?

Our hope has perished and we are completely cut off. Israel was suffering from spiritual emptiness, dryness. Ezekiel is supernaturally escorted to an estuary, a place where bones would be gathered in the nation of Israel before final burial. These bones had been left to bake in the hot sun.

We're not just told that the people died. But the bones were on public display and it makes a point to let us know these bones were very dry. In other words, they had been in this state for a long time. It had become a way of life to be dry. These bones all configured, confused and jumbled together like pieces of a puzzle in a box. Nothing connected, nothing attached.

In other words, there was chaos. Verse 11 explains what dryness is. How do you know if you're dry? You're dry because you don't see hope. Verse 11 says there was no hope. Many of God's people today, as God's people back then, are drowning in a sea of hopelessness, surrounded by a land called emptiness.

The skies are always cloudy. No light at the end of the tunnel and when you finally believe you've seen some light, it's an oncoming train. Many of God's people are living under a perpetual fog of despair under overcast skies. It's not simply that we are tired, it's that we've become tired of being tired. So devastating was this reality that God asked Ezekiel a question in verse three.

He says, Son of man, can these bones live? In other words, it's so bad for so long. Can anything be done to fix this situation of dryness? Ezekiel says, God, only you know whether this can be fixed.

In other words, if you're asking me, I don't have an answer. The reason why they were dry in a hole called the valley for an extended period of time is that, watch this now, disobedience had created distance and distance had created dryness. Disobedience had created distance and this distance from God had created dryness. They started off in their own land.

They rebelled. God exiled them to the other nations so they are now removed from fellowship with God and during this time of removal, because of their disobedience, they dried up. Therefore, if you are dry, it's because you're distant. And if you're distant, it's because you're disobedient.

You with me? If you are dry, I know we all have dry moments, but if you're living in a valley of dry bones, every day you wake up to dryness. That means that there is a distance that has occurred. If your ability to dance again and dancing in the Bible is always used of celebration and rejoicing, there's no celebration on the inside as what's normal and dryness is the exception.

If dryness is the norm and dancing is the exception, that's because there has been distance between you and God and there's only one thing that causes distance and that is disobedience. Pluto is a very cold place to be. It's frigid on Pluto 12 months out of the year because it's so far away from the sun. Distance has made it cold and frigid. Mercury is hot, blazing hot 12 months out of the year because it's so close.

Distance to the sun affects temperature. Some Christians are Pluto saints. They live their lives in a far land. They're in the orbit. They're just not close to the center. Others are Mercury saints. They live close to the sun so they're always aflame.

You want to know what's wrong with them because ain't nobody supposed to be hot all the time. Most of us don't live on Pluto. Most of us don't live on Mercury. Most of us live on Earth where it's hot and cold, where we're up and down, in and out, where we are not consistently cold, we're not consistently hot, we're just up and down.

It's all about distance. God says because you disobeyed, I had to exit myself from you. And when I exited myself, the further the exit, the drier you become.

So if you're real dry, Pluto dry, you're a long way away. You can always know how close you are to God by how long you're dry or by how consistently you're hot. When they were home, they started worshiping idols. And when they were exiled, they kept worshiping idols. All the while going to church, praying, worshiping, and doing the religious thing. How can you go to church 52 Sundays out the year, 52 Wednesdays out the year, read your Bible verse every day and still be dry?

There is an idol somewhere. If you are spiritually dry for an extended period of time, it's disobedience that's led to distance, that's created the dryness. And God gave two words that would raise dead bones from a valley, two words, New Covenant. He describes that in chapter 36, verse 26. Moreover, I give you a new heart and a new spirit within you. And I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues.

And you will be careful to observe my ordinances. This is a description of what the Bible calls the New Covenant. In chapter 37, the first thing he tells them is to prophesy to these bones. Verse 4, prophesy over these bones. To prophesy for Ezekiel to declare the word of God, to say to these bones what God is saying to these bones. Don't take these bones to the doctor, prophesy over them.

Don't take these words to the spiritual mediums, prophesy over them. Declare to these bones the word of the Lord. He said, I did that, verse 7, and there was a noise. And behold a rattling and bones came together, sinews or muscles were on them, flesh grew on them and skin covered them. He said, I proclaimed the word and there was some movement going on. He said, when I began to speak some words, I began to hear some amens. When I began to speak some words, dry folk were beginning to laugh. When I began to speak some words, there was some movement going on, there was some twisting, there was some jerking, there was some rattling. The word by itself connected stuff that was unconnected. Simply by the bones hearing the word, rattling took place. Things that were disconnected became attached, but there was a problem. He said, because even though I gave the word, verse 8, there was no breath in them. Gotta stay with me now. He said, I preached the word and there was a whole lot of shaking going on.

But it was lifeless movement. You can come hear the word of God preached to you forever and a day. You can jump up and shout and feel bones coming together. You can sing all day, I looked at my feet and my feet look new.

I looked at my hands and they did too. You can say all day, pastor, you preach the day, I feel so much better. But the Bible by itself can only make the connection. It can't give you the breath. You don't live without breath.

You can be a body in a coffin attached, but without life. Many of us came here today with no breath. We'll leave here today having heard the Bible and think we're alive because we feel better till the skin get dry again. Because it takes more than hearing the prophecy and knowing the prophecy or being under the hearing of the word in order to remove the dryness from your life. So he says, in addition to prophesying the word, telling them what I said, he says in verse nine, prophesy to the breath, O son of man, and say to the four winds.

And remember what I just read you? He says, I'm going to put my spirit within you. When Dr. Evans continues our message in just a moment, he'll explain how God can bring us back to life from the inside out.

Stay with us. Jesus said that others will know we follow him by our love. Love shows up in unity, unity at home, at work, at church, in the community, and across the nation. It's the keystone of our spiritual victory as a church and country. Unity is best began through the power of prayer. Get practical help to release the blessing of unity in your life and in our land with Dr. Tony Evans' new book, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart, Powerful Prayers to Unite Us in Love.

Visit tonyevans.org to get your copy today or anywhere Christian books are sold. This great collection of spiritually empowering prayers and devotions will teach you how to come together with fellow believers and overcome envy, fear, doubt, isolation, worry, and more. We want to help you heal the divisions in your life and experience what real Christian fellowship is all about. So for a limited time, we're packaging a copy of Stronger Together, Weaker Apart together with the 14 full-length messages in Tony's current teaching collection, Turning a Nation to God, and making them all available as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to help support Tony's work here on the radio and around the world. Without your assistance, this ministry wouldn't be possible, so we're excited for this chance to support you as you support us. Visit tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222 and make the arrangements before this special offer runs out. That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that information for you after part two of today's message.

Here's Dr. Evans. When God created, God spoke, let there be. But when God spoke, he also did something, it says, and the Spirit hoover over the waters. It says, God formed man from the, watch this, dust of the ground.

But then he had to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and then it says, and then man became the living soul. What I'm trying to tell you today is being under the Bible is fundamental but not sufficient. Rising verses is critical, but it won't change you. Going to church, listening to Christian radio, reading Christian books is absolutely wonderful, but you could still be dry bones connected rather than dry bones disconnected. Because in order to leave the valley, you got to have life, not just connection.

Bones that are connected with no life, that's a monster. And so he says in his explanation in chapter 37 verse 14, I will put my spirit within you and you will come to life. If there is no life in you and you know there is no life because you are ongoingly dry, that is because the Spirit of God either is not in you, therefore you're not a Christian, or he is in you but not at work for you.

If you are dry, it means you have not yet learned to live life based on the word under the control of the Holy Spirit. Because only the Spirit gives life, 2 Corinthians 3.16. Only the Spirit can make you come alive.

There is not a teacher you can listen to that can give you life. They can make you laugh, they can make you understand, they can motivate you, but they cannot give you life. Only the Spirit gives you life. So what he says is, prophesy the word, speak to the Spirit, prayer, and you bring those two together and then John 7, 37, 39 takes place, which God says, I will make my spirit like a well of water to keep you from getting dry. See, wherever you have water, you can't have dryness because it stays perpetually moist and wet, the humidity is high.

Athletes can know the fundamentals of a game, but still be stiff and mechanical. Appliances can have all the parts connected, but without electricity there is no life. It is the role of the Holy Spirit, the living Spirit of God, to take your dryness, connect it with God's life so you can have his life operating in you. The Holy Spirit's job is to make you alive.

If you've been dry for an extended period of time, your circumstances are dry, your relationships are dry, that is because disobedience created distance, distance created dryness, and only the Spirit of God can pull you out of that graveyard. And that means the most important issue in your life is your relationship with the Word of God and the Spirit of God and getting those two to work together. The New Covenant operates from the inside out.

Notice, the bones took on muscle, the muscle took on flesh. I will put my spirit inside you. Many of us are holding back what God wants to do on the inside. He gave you a new heart, he gave you a new spirit because he wants to give you a new life, and he wants a dynamic relationship with his spirit. And when he does, he says, you will obey me not because you have to, you will obey me because you want to. It will change your motivation. See, a lot of us are trying to obey God because we have to. And so we're miserable every time we obey.

Yeah, I got to do it. He says, but when my spirit is at work in you, do you want to? It's real simple.

It is when the Word of God is linked with the Spirit of God, when those two cross, when the intersection of what you heard about God causing the rattling is then yielded to the Spirit of God, giving him the right to execute it internally in your life. You have what you have, what I might call a spiritual Xerox moment. You take a piece of paper and you put it on the Xerox machine. You lay the paper on the Xerox machine because you want a copy. You push the button because you want what's on the Xerox machine to come out on another sheet of paper before it comes out on another sheet of paper. What happens is a light comes underneath and takes a picture of the piece of paper you laid on top.

The light then transfers what it photographed onto another sheet of paper so that there is a copy, an exact copy of what you put on top. When you come to church to hear the Word of God, it's like putting a piece of paper on top. You say, God, tell me, prophesy to me what I need to know and understand. But when you then take that information and offer it to the Holy Spirit for the purpose of transformation, the Holy Spirit does this. He takes a picture and the New Covenant says, I will write my words on your heart. So what God does is he takes a picture of the Bible, writes it on the heart and inverts it so that now the Word of God is starting from the inside out and not outside in. That's why your prayer every Sunday or every day when you read your Bible for that matter is, Lord, transfer this to my heart. If you are saved, if you have a new heart because you've accepted Jesus Christ, then you automatically have something to take the picture. Transfer this to my heart. If you've accepted Jesus Christ, you've got the fuel.

You just need the pilot. God just doesn't want to give you information. He wants to give you revelation so there can be transformation inside out. How many of you have GPS systems in your car? They offer sight and sound. They will show you the map with a little dot as you move your car. As you move your car, it moves along the route that you are moving so you can see it right there. Then they offer a voice to guide you. The voice says, turn right 500 feet, next intersection. What's on the screen is verbalized specifically with the voice.

Just looking at the screen will show you general direction but not specific application. You need the voice for that. What God has in the new covenant is the word of God and the voice of the Spirit. See, all I can give you on Sunday morning are the general principles. I can't apply it to every individual gathered here. So you have to say, Holy Ghost, when I hear this general sermon, give me my specific application for me.

I need to hear your voice. This rising from deadness is what Jesus meant when he said, I have come to give you life. John 10, 10, and they give it to you more abundantly. New Covenant living. If you begin to intersect, not hearing the word, but the application of submitting to the Holy Spirit, giving him the right to transform the inner side inside of you based on his word, based on the promise of God in Ezekiel 27, you will be able to dance again. You will be able to live again. You will be able to rejoice again because you won't be waiting for stuff out here. The party will be happening in here.

And you'll be able to say like David, the joy of the Lord is my strength. In the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, pirates had stolen some goods only to discover that they were cursed by the captain for their theft. They could not get from under the curse. And whenever they walked around under the moonlight, they walked as skeletons. During the day, they look like regular folk, but really they were dead men walking. They were skeletons where the moonlight revealed it, acting like living folk because they were under a curse. Many of us today are living under a curse.

We look like we're okay in the daytime, but when we are living with ourselves, we know we're just bones in a valley. In the movie, they said there's only one way to solve this problem. They had to return the stolen goods and the blood of the captain had to be shed over it.

The problem is that the captain was no longer there. So how are we going to, even if we want to get rid of our sin, cover it over so we remove the curse? And they said, we'll get the captain's son and let his blood, since it's the same blood, flow over the curse so that the curse is reversed. The whole movie goes to the fact that the son's blood was shed over the curse. And when the blood was shed, the curse was removed. Two thousand years ago, God's son came down to earth and hung on a cross. His blood was shed over the curse of your sin. It wasn't his sin, it was your sin. And he said, if you bring your sin to me, my blood will cover it, I will remove the curse, and you can dance again.

If you've never brought your sin to Jesus and asked him to take it away, stay with us. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment to tell you how you can do that. First though, today's lesson was part of Tony's current series, Turning a Nation to God. As I mentioned earlier, all fourteen full-length messages in this two-volume collection can be yours with our thanks if you'll help us keep bringing you Tony's teaching each day with a generous contribution.

You'll receive the complete series on CD and instant digital download. And as a special bonus, we'll also send you a copy of Tony's powerful devotional book, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart. To take advantage of this limited-time offer, be sure to call for details 1-800-800-3222.

Resource team members are on hand 24-7 to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or make the arrangements and get your digital downloads right away at TonyEvans.org. Again, that's TonyEvans.org. Next time, Dr. Evans explains that there are two parts to revival, and being only half-revived doesn't get the job done. Right now though, he's back with this personal message for you. If you've been listening to the broadcast and you have yet to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, we can resolve that right now. I'm going to say a little prayer. I want you to pray it after me, but you've got to mean it for yourself. Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, and I know I need a Savior because I can't save myself. So, right now, I trust You alone because You died for me and arose for me to be my sin-bearer. You are now my substitute, and I'm believing You to forgive my sin and to give me eternal life. Thank You for the free gift of salvation that You have given to me. Help me to live a life to please You. In Jesus' name, amen. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.