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May 3, 20205/3/2020 Raindrops of Rejection can Scripture(s):
Ezekiel 37:1-6 Points: 1. God wanted them to see that they were not alone. 2. God wanted them to see that they could speak to their situation. 3. God wanted them to see that spiritual restoration was coming. As we continue to journey through these unchartered days, our storms, our tests, our trials and our tribulations can sometimes feel like raindrops of rejection from God in the form of a fine mist hitting us softly, lightly, jolting us but yet not pushing us to the point of giving up, not hurting us enough to make us crumble. Each day as we try to keep ourselves updated via the news, every report can feel like raindrops of rejection from God in the form of a steady downpour of people losing their lives to this coronavirus constantly hitting us hard with what seems to be no breakthrough, no light at the end of the tunnel! As we wake up each day feeling like this will be a better day, the constant nagging reminder that we are still limited can crash down on us like raindrops of rejection from God hitting us like a thunderstorm shattering our lives, crushing our dreams and breaking any inkling of hope we may have for a brighter day! I want to encourage you on today that these raindrops of rejection may fall in our lives in all forms but we who are in Jesus Christ can rest assure that God has a plan and a purpose so don’t get distracted. These raindrops come to increase our faith and to let us know that even though we may feel like we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t need to fear but to look upward for our help! God will give us the help we need. He will give us the victory in thevalley! In the scripture lesson, we find the major prophet Ezekiel (whose name means “God strengthens”) was called by God to urge the people to hear him and to confront the issues at hand. He had to compel the people to grapple with the truth which was their current situation of being in the midst of their 70 years of Babylonian Captivity. He understood his ministry which was to keep warning the Jews of their impending danger if they did not repent; but more so he understood that God was the authority who was in control then and is in control now and that He is the only God who will allow “Raindrops of Rejection that can Bring Victory in The Valley!” 1. God wanted them to see that they were not alone. In this vision, God took Ezekiel and sat him down in the middle of a valley, a dry desolate place where there were dry bones. At first thought, you would think this to be a scary thing, a horrifying place for Ezekiel to be sitting in this valley with what would appear to be a wasteland but this was all part of God’s master plan to show him that he wasn’t alone. Have you ever felt like that, do you feel like that right now that this thing we are all experiencing right now has brought us into a desolate place, a dark place. I want you to take heart in knowing that this valley we are in won’t last always and you are not alone. (Hebrews 13:5) God is just stripping us of those things and activities we hold so near and dear, that block our view and cloud our vision so that he might purify us and bring us back from a spiritually dead state of being like those dry bones in the valley. I believe that God already knows the place that we are in. Sometimes God has to bring devastation our way as an opportunity to draw us closer to Him. But don’t be dismayed for God will take care of you Psalm 9:9-10 says so. The Israelites were in captivity but God had not forgotten them! They were emotionally lost and scattered, disappointed and devastated but yet God had not forgotten them. He had provided them with a prophet whom God would use to speak a word to his people to bring new life. 2. God wanted them to see that they could speak to their situation. As Ezekiel sat there, the Lord God told Ezekiel what to prophesy to that valley of dry bones and the Lord God began to perform a miracle right before the prophet’s eyes. Ezekiel spoke the Word of the Lord. We need to speak the Word of God into our present situation, we have to make a crucial decision as to whether we are going to let the devil win and stay spiritually crippled or are we going to band together and seek God’s face! As a church we need to be seeking God’s face on a daily. Don’t be discouraged, we aren’t in as great a captivity as the Israelites were so count that as a blessing! Amen! The word of God says in Romans 4:17: “(as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations”) He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” We who are in Christ Jesus have to take heed, gird ourselves up and out of faith believe that we can speak to situations in our lives, in this world, in this nation, in this country as if they were, not as they are. The power lies in our tongue. Out of faith we have to believe that this valley of dry bones that we are experiencing that this too shall pass. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus’s disciples lacked the faith to cast demons out of a demon possessed boy. When they approached Jesus about it 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Have faith, trust God for that unemployment, trust God for that next meal, trust God for that stimulus check, trust God to provide all your needs take Him at His Word! Even when the disappointments come, have faith and trust that God hears your prayer and will personally respond to your needs! 3. God wanted them to see that spiritual restoration was coming. Romans 5:1-2: 5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. God demonstrated that the whole house of Israel would come together and stand again through the valley of the dry bones. Even though it appeared that hope was gone and they were cut off as scripture described them from the land of the living, God showed them different! We were cut off at one time from God, dead in our sins needing a touch, a healing, a deliverance. God sent His son, Jesus Christ to restore us into a right standing! I don’t know about you but when we come through these perilous times, these dark days filled with raindrops of rejection, I want to see the victory in the valley! I want to be spiritually brand new filled with a new hope, walking with the master on higher heights, filled with a stronger faith, ready to receive every blessing that God has in store for me! God will restore us according to Lamentations 5:21-22 and 1 Peter 5:10.
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