COMMITMENT TO A LOCAL CHURCH

Ezekiel 37:1-14 The vision of the valley of death
  1. The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
  2. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
  3. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
    I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."
  4. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, "Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!"
  5. This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
  6. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD."
  7. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
  8. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
  9. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breath into these slain, that they may live."
  10. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet?a vast army.
  11. Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off."
  12. Therefore prophesy and say to them: "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
  13. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
  14. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD."

  1. The vision of the valley of the death
    This chapter is the vision of the valley of the death. When you carefully study this chapter, you can see that God is going to restore Israel at the end of day. This is a prophetic word of the great harvest time to raise a vast army for the Kingdom of God.
    1. Dry Bones- symbolizes no life, no hope (total hopelessness), completely at a dead end. Inside bone - produce red bone cell - there is no life at all, also it is impossible to have a life if it is dry - very dry.

      What are the areas of your life that are dry, dead or hopeless? From your natural area to the spiritual area, (e.g. your sickness, pain,¡¦)

      That is why the Lord asked Ezekiel, "Son of man, can these bones live?" From man's viewpoint it would seem hopeless and impossible.

    2. Prophesy? prophecy is God's heart and it should activate the destiny of our life no matter what circumstances that we are in. Prophetic words should bring resurrection power to the people.
      Prophetic words are not fortune telling and should not be misused in this way. For example, people want to know what their future holds (wrong motive) and seek prophetic words. Prophecy should lead people to know the Lord deeply and convict them to change their life/transform for the Lord.

      Prophecy is used as part of the Lord's plan to do mighty things among the hopeless, lost, lifeless people.

      Ezekiel prophesied life into the bones, tendon, flesh, skin and the breath

      1) Prophesy to bones - noise, rattling sound There were very dry bones all over the floor of the valley. The bones were apart and all over the place, maybe some bones were fallen long distances, all mixed up with other bones. When the prophetic word was released to the bones all the scattered bones were searching for their own match and hit each other. That is why there was noise, rattling sound.

      We have heard the testimonies of people who were hopeless because of their sickness but they experienced and witnessed miracles, signs and wonders. In Central America, many people received teeth, the blind started to see, cancer patients were healed, and even dead people were resurrected. Today, we continuously hear similar testimonies from the Florida Revival. However, we also hear the "noise" that these testimonies cause, as well as the noise of criticism. We could hear all different kinds of the noise coming from many directions. When healing happens, it is not silent. Also satan will not sit back quietly.

      God wants to restore you in all areas of your life that is dry, hopeless, and lifeless.

      Our body cannot stand without bones because it is the structure of our bodies. The structure has to be restored.

      2) Prophesy to tendon - Tendons connect the bone and muscle together. The bone itself is not going to have strength it needs the tendons to attach with muscle.
      3) Prophesy to Flesh - The body needs all organs for it to function inside, also to cover the muscle and tendon with flesh.
      4) Prophesy to Skin - The skin protects the flesh it covers the form of a human being, but there was still no life in it.

      2 Timothy 2:21 "Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work."

      Everything is by the works of the Holy Spirit, and He wants us to come into holiness.

      This holiness does not happen immediately or automatically, but is a lifelong process.

      The Holy Spirit wants us to be holy to use us for the Kingdom of God as His Army. God can use us easily when we come into a place of holiness.

      5) Prophesy to breath -
      I shared about the great commandment and the great commission last week. Ezekiel's vision is related to this commandment and the commission.

    "Disciples are made, but not born"

    God has a plan to fulfill this great Commandments and the Great Commission through the Church.

  2. Church
    1. Universal Church
      Church is not a building, but people.

          Church (ejkklhsiva) – Congregation, assembly, group of people gathered together

      Matthew 16:18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

      Church is the group of people who are born again Christians, so with this concept we have only One church in the Lord. Catholic means universal, so Catholic Church is almost one denomination and controlled by one Pope, but the Protestants have so many denominations.

      Among Christians, there is some new type of culture starting to build up and creating confusion in the Christian community. People started to emphasize on the concept of universal church, and they are claiming themselves as church and creating a new concept of church and a new Christian culture. So they do not want to go to church, and claim themselves as a church, hence deny the local church.

      In the USA, there are many people emphasizing the Universal church and creating have some special culture of church right now. According to a survey, large amounts of people do not believe in the local church for various reasons. But one major reason was the universal church concept. They believe that we do not need the local church.

      Some people use Jesus' word, "I will build My Church." They do not believe in having leaders in church. They are moving in the wrong direction with this believe and going too far.

    2. Local Church
      1) First Church (Acts 2:)
      2) Antioch Church (Acts 13:1)
      3) The Churches that Paul sent his letters
      4) 7 Churches in Revelation (Rev 2:-3:) Ephesians is talking about the universal church, but Paul sent this letter to the local church that is in Ephesians.
      5) In church history
      God sent the revival through the local church.
      The First revival - Jerusalem first church
      Azusa Revival - church
      Korea Revival - church
      More examples: Toronto, Pensacola, Pasadena, Florida
      God did not bring revival from outside of the church but through the local church.

      So the local church is very important in our Christian life

    3. The Purpose of Church
      Ephesians 4:11-13
      1. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
      2. for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
      3. until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

      Why it is important to join the local church and commit as members:

      1) The equipping of the saints for the work of service
      2) To the building up of the body of Christ
      3) Spiritual Maturity

      God established the Local Church for you.

  3. One Glory Church

John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples

  1. Lifestyle Evangelism Cell Ministry - encourage people to attend this cell meeting
  2. Disciple Making Training and equipping leaders through this Discipleship School of leadership - 9 months courses
  3. Multiplication Through this multiplication we raise vocational ministers
  4. The World Vision Our vision is to reach out to the world.

    Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth."