Breath

Welcome to Worshiping the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. We are making our way through a new series called More Than Words, where Pastor Robert shares how to read the Bible, experience miracles through it, and learn for the Word of God. Today, Pastor Robert is going to share with us how the Bible is aired. It's the very breath of God, and it brings understanding, order, strength, and life.

I know that this message is going to speak to you, so let's join Pastor Robert now. We're in this series called More Than Words. We talked about bread, that the Bible is our nourishing, sustaining, daily food from God. It's what nourishes us. We've talked about it as water last weekend, and this week, the title of the message is breath. The Bible is the very breath of God, and I'm going to show you that. So it's like air.

It's like food, water, and air, things that need to be sustained. We said, how long can you go without food? Most experts say 40 to 80 days. How long can you go without water? Most experts say, I said, seven to 14.

I reread that study. They say, actually, four to 14 days. So that's why many do a three-day water fast, if they were to do a full fast, only three days, because on the fourth day, you could start having difficulty. Okay, so I said, how long can you go without food? Well, maybe a couple of months. How long can you go without water? A few days. How long can you go without air? Not very long. A few minutes, maybe, right?

Okay. I think we have malnourished, dehydrated, and oxygen-depleted Christians. They're not eating their bread.

They're not drinking their water, and they're not breathing in the air. They're the breath of God, right? So let me show you why we call it the breath of God. 2 Timothy 3. Now, I'll get to Ezekiel 37 in a minute, okay? 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 says, all Scripture.

Now, before we go on, I want you to notice the word all, not some of it, all of it. All Scripture. And I underlined these five words because these next five words are one Greek word. They're one Greek word.

The next five English words. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Those five words are one Greek word, given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable for doctrine.

That's how what we build our doctrine on is not what's been told to us by other people or what someone says on the Internet, but what the Bible says. For reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now, that Greek word that those five English words are, that Greek word is thea nustos. It's like many English words, and I've told you before, many Greek words, it's made up of two Greek words, but it is one Greek word. Thea coming from the Greek word theos, which means God. Nustos coming from the Greek word pneuma, which means to breathe.

And this, which will actually, pardon me, pneuma means breath. And then nustos means breathed. So this word thea nustos means God breathed. As a matter of fact, one of the versions actually translates it literally.

It's the NIV version. It says all Scripture is God breathed. That's those five, given by inspiration, God breathed. Then again, pneuma, think about that Greek word breath, air. We have words today in our English language that come from that. Pneumonia means you have a problem with your breathing. Pneumatic means your power drill, your whatever.

If you have a pneumatic nail gun, it runs on air, pneuma, air. So that's where we get it from. So all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, but here's what we need to know.

It's breathed by God. Now, that's what we call the inspiration of Scripture. Inspiration. The word inspire literally means to breathe in. Now, it has a secondary meaning that we know, and that is to breathe an idea or motivation to do something into a person. Such as, I was inspired when I went to church, or I got inspired with this idea.

You see what I'm saying? But the literal word inspire means to breathe in. So we talk about the expiration of Scripture. It means that God breathed in His word into men as they wrote. But I like to add a word that maybe you've never even thought of about Scripture, and that's expiration. That to expire means to breathe out. Now again, it has secondary meanings, but it literally, the primary meaning is exhale. Inspire is inhale.

Expire is exhale. The reason I say this is God not only inspired the Scripture, which means He breathed it into the men who wrote it, but He expired it because He breathed it out to breathe it into them. Because the Bible says, look at this Scripture, 2 Peter 1.21 says, knowing this first.

Well, I wish Christians would understand, if you put this first, that this book's going to be first in your life, it'll change a lot in your life. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture, no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy, and he's talking about Scripture now, for prophecy of Scripture never, never came by the will of man. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

In other words, God, the Holy Spirit, God breathed out, expired, breathed out the word of God, and He breathed it into men, and they wrote as they were inspired or filled with the breath of God. And you have to know that because, listen to me, because the big deal now is the inerrancy of Scripture. You know, how can you say the Bible contains no errors?

I can tell you why. If it came from the mouth of God, it can't have errors in it. If you deny the inerrancy of Scripture, you will also have to deny the inspiration of Scripture.

Because you can't have it both ways. You can't say that it came out of the mouth of God and has errors because God's perfect and He can't error. So you have to deny both. And here's the thing, if you can deny, if it has errors, then you can pick and choose which parts you think are right. Which makes you God, and you're not.

And you all mind if I say a little something, a little more about this? I can't even believe the sheer arrogance of a person that thinks they can judge the word of God. As a matter of fact, you need to be fearful for your life because you don't judge this book, but you will be judged by this book one day. This book is going to judge you. And you better be careful what you say because this book, apparently, according to Scripture, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And here's one saying something that Jesus said, anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will never be forgiven him, not in this lifetime or in the age to come. I'm telling you, there's some people that need to shut up about the Bible.

You better be careful. Now, about three weeks ago when I hit this, I addressed the inerrancy of Scripture. And I know it's a hot topic, but I don't care. It needs to be addressed.

But I got some emails about it, you know. And one of them, a lady was sincere. I'm not making fun of her.

Please hear me. But she said, when she said, you know, how can Pastor Robert believe in the inerrancy of Scripture? So she said, what version is he using? It doesn't matter which version because inerrancy doesn't refer to translations. Inerrancy refers to the original language. And then we translate it. Now, some of you are watching in other countries, but many of us, English is what's going to be spoken in heaven, you know.

We're just so arrogant about that. But what about when it's translated into Japanese? Or what about when it's translated into German or Mandarin or some other language? So those are translations. So inerrancy never refers to the language it's translated into. It refers to the original documents when the man wrote it in Hebrew and in Greek.

That's what it refers to. But again, this letter went on to say, which version is he using? And then this is what bothered me. Because there is no doubt that there are some versions that contain errors.

Okay. What bothered me was, is this is probably a wonderful lady, maybe a schoolteacher, maybe a nurse, studied in some field, but not theology. But she read it on the internet, but she didn't say, because I read that there's no doubt. She said, because there's no doubt.

And yet she really doesn't even know what she's talking about. Let me tell you something about the Word of God. We are born again by the Word of God. Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed that lives and abides forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word will never pass away. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of God will stand forever. The angels' mighty strength watch over the Word to perform it. The Word will always return and will never return void, but will always accomplish what God wants it to.

It's life to those who find it, and it's health to their whole body. It's sweeter than honey, it's purer than gold, it's sharper than any treaded sword, it's divided between sword and soul and spirit. And the Word of God stands forever.

This book stands forever. Now listen to me. I can't make you believe in God. Matter of fact, the only way you can be saved is by grace through what? Faith. You're going to have to have faith to believe in God. I can't make you believe in God.

You're going to have to choose. I can't make you believe the Bible is the Word of God. But I'll tell you one thing. Once you believe in God, your life's changed. And once you believe that this is His Word, your life's changed. It's changed forever because you have a standard now, and you also have life.

This is life. This is what I'm trying to tell you. So Ezekiel chapter 37. All right? I did about right on that introduction. All right.

I thought that was a good introduction to a message. All right, Ezekiel 37. We're going to read 10 verses. So there are 10 verses here, and then we'll just quickly go through four points about them.

All right? Verse one, the hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. Please notice, not skeletons. The bones are unattached.

Bones. Then he came. 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. And he said to me, Son of man, could these bones live? So I answered and said, O Lord God, you know. Again he said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones.

Notice there's power when God speaks it. Surely I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord. 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. This is when they became skeletons. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and skin covered over them.

Now they look like human beings. But there was no breath in them. Also he said to me, Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy said to men and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, come up 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. So here's four points about the breath of God. Number one, the breath of God brings understanding.

Understanding. Verse three, he said, all of them will come out of chapter 37, verse three. He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? So I answered, O Lord God, you know. Here's what I'm saying. If you're going to judge by the Bible whether you can understand it or not, I feel very sorry for you because there are things you're not going to understand, but you believe by faith.

In other words, here's what he said. Is this logically possible? Ezekiel and Ezekiel said, I don't have a clue, but you do. You know. How about this one? What if God said, can a man walk on water? I don't know, but you know.

Or how about this? How can a man walk on water? I don't know that either, but I know if you want him to walk on water, you can walk on water, and you can cause another human being to walk on water. Job 37, verse eight, but there's a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. How many times have you made this statement? You know, if I could just understand what I was going through. If I could just understand what God's trying to teach me right now.

You ever say that? If I could just understand, this is what gives you understanding. This is what gives you understanding.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 3, live with your wives with understanding. Listen to me. You will never be able to understand women until you read this book. And let me just say it back to the ladies, because you're thinking, listen, he's weirder than I am, and it's true.

It's true. You'll never be able to understand the man until you read this book. Let me say it this way.

Read the owner's manual from the manufacturer. That's how you understand. This is what gives understanding. Here's number two, the breath of God brings order. If you need order brought to any part of your life, it's the breath of God.

Remember all scriptures God brings. So what I'm saying is scripture brings order. Scripture brings understanding. Verse seven, so I prophesied that I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise that suddenly rattling, and the bones came together bone to bone. The bones became skeletons from the breath of God, from the prophecy, from the word of God. I spoke God's word, and order came to the chaos. Psalm 33, verse six, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Genesis one, verses two and three, the earth was without form and void. Darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was herbing on the face of the waters. Then God said, let there be light, and there was light. Why did something come into order when God spoke?

Because when you speak, you breathe. The breath of God brought order to the chaos. Here's number three, the breath of God brings strength.

I told you I could go through them quickly. The breath of God brings strength. Ezekiel 37, verse six, I will put sinews on you. Verse eight, indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them.

A sinew is the tendon that connects the muscle to the bone. So let's say God's brought structure and order in your life, but you need something to connect you to the power of God, to the muscle. It's the word of God that connects you. Listen to this verse. The Father is looking for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. When you combine reading this word with receiving the Holy Spirit, you're going to walk in the power of God. That was really good, by the way.

Okay, so let me show you another one about the breath of God, how the breath of God is powerful. In Exodus 15, it's right after they crossed the Red Sea, and they sang this song. By the way, it's called the Song of Moses, even though it was probably written by Miriam.

We don't know for sure. It's called the Song of Moses. Revelation says we're going to sing it in heaven, so you might brush up on it now, because otherwise you're going to have to watch the screens in heaven. Okay, Exodus 15, verse 8. And with the blast of your nostrils, the waters were gathered together. The flood stood upright like a heap. The depths congealed, became like a wall is what that means, became firm. The actual Hebrew definition, became firm in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue.

He always says this. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them.

Watch this. You blew with your wind, and the sea covered them, and they sank like lead in the mighty waters. Okay, so would you like to know how God parted the Red Sea? Look at me.

All right, look at me so you'll know. This is how God parted the Red Sea. That's what we just read in the Bible. A blast from your nostrils and the sea parted. You want to talk about the breath of God's powerful? And then it says he blew again, and it covered them over. Personally, I think he did something like this. My bad, my bad, my bad, my bad, my bad.

Sorry, my bad, my bad. I heard about a professor that was always trying to discredit the Bible, basically, and minimize the miracles, let you know how natural things could have happened that occurred that caused this. And there was one student that just argued with him the whole semester because he believed the Bible. He believed it literally.

If the Bible says God did it, then God did it. So he was going through this stuff. So he said that you need to know when the Israelites cross the Red Sea, there's one part where it's a little shallower. This is actually, part of this is on the Internet, where people say this.

And there had been a drought at that time in Egypt, and so where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea was only about six inches deep. And when he said this, this student just burst out laughing. And the professor said, that's it. I mean, I just can't even believe it.

I'm giving you a scientific logical explanation, and now you burst out laughing. He said, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but he said that makes it even more of a miracle to me because the entire Egyptian army drowned in only six inches of water. And here's number four, the breath of God brings life. The breath of God brings life. Ezekiel 37, 10, so I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived.

They lived. Now, we read all scriptures God breathed. Listen, when you read this book, you get understanding, your life comes into order, you get the power of God in your life, and you get life itself. You're filled with life, you're filled with the breath of God. Job 33, verse four, the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. And we read all scriptures breathed by God. Breath gives me life.

Here's one that everybody knows, Genesis 2, 7, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. All right, so let me finish with this. When I started Gateway Church 18 years ago, I started it differently than I'd ever heard a church started.

Not that we're better, nothing like that. It's just that I decided the main thing that I could do as the senior pastor was feed people the Word of God. And so I spend one day in the office. That one day is leading the leaders, and we have extremely competent leaders here.

I lead the leaders, and the leaders lead the church. I spend four days preparing the message for the weekend, every week. You can't imagine how many scriptures I cut out of my notes, because I don't have time in 32 to 35 minutes. I don't have time to do it. But I just, I go through scripture, after scripture, after scripture, and here's what I'm doing.

This is what you need to know, okay? Because this is the breath of God. Here's what I do, Tuesdays, or the day in the office, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, all morning I did this, I'm getting ready for you to bring you the Word. But here's what I do four days out of five. Four days out of five every week. And then I walk around like this.

I used to do this for a different reason. But then I got saved. Don't clap too long, I can't hold my breath that long. But then I come to church on the weekend, and I share with you what God shared with me, and I breathe out what He breathed in to me, and you receive the life of God. But one breath a week for you is not enough. Last week we talked about water, and I ended by saying for God's sake this week, take a bath, right?

Right? Well, for God's sake and for your sake, this week, eat some bread, take a bath, and breathe. Breathe the Word of God. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today, and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. We hope you've enjoyed this series so far. Next time, Pastor Robert is going to share what the Bible says about Christ's dominion over death. Until then, have a great week.