God Can Bring Life Back to What Feels Dead | Pastor Joseph Antley

And if we haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name is Joseph Antley. I am our Noblesville campus pastor. I love being at Northview, and I'm thrilled to get to speak today as we continue our Cloud of Witnesses series. And we're continuing in this, and today we're gonna be talking about the prophet Ezekiel. Now Ezekiel is in the Old Testament. This book is comprised of 48 chapters, and we're gonna read every one of them. I'm totally kidding. We are not gonna do that. We're gonna look at, some of you are like, thank the Lord, that's not what I was expecting. We're gonna look at Ezekiel chapter 37, and we're gonna read about 10 verses, and then we're gonna pray, and that's where we're going to lean into the word today. So here's what the word says, starting in verse one. The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord, and he set me in the middle of a valley, and it was full of bones. 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. He asked me, son of man, can these bones live? And I said, sovereign Lord, you alone know. Then he said to me, prophesy to these bones

and say to them, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones. I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 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. 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. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 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 breath from the four winds and breathe into these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them. They came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast army. Let's pray. God, I thank you that you were here with us. As we're celebrating these second graders, God, we lift up all the children and all the students in this season that are going back to school right now, that you would bless them, that your hand would be upon them. God, we also pray for our Northview School of Ministry and Leadership, that your hand would be upon these students, that you would bless everything

that they put their hands to. And in these next few moments, God, I pray that your word would come alive. I pray that you would speak. I pray that you would do what only you can do. And God, I pray that your spirit would breathe on these words, that we would walk away talking about the God that we serve. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, I don't know about you, but something that I've learned in my life is it is a very risky move to say these words, I will never. Ever been there where you say, I will never do that, but yet you end up doing it, right? I remember that there was a time in my life where I would actually say these words, I will never be a pastor. And now it's one of the great privileges of my life, I'm a pastor. I remember growing up in the state of Texas and we have a lot of pride in our state. And I used to say things like this, I will never live in another state, especially one up North where I have to deal with snow. And I've been in the Midwest for 10 years now, and I still don't know how to plow snow. Right, I used to, I remember whenever we had our, we were pregnant with our twin girls and people would come up and they say,

Joseph, you're gonna be one of those overprotective dads. And I said, I will never be one of those dads. I remember growing up when I would go to a girl's house and the dad would look me up and down, he would judge me, he would let me know his expectations, I will never do that to some poor guy. And it only took five years, guys, five years. We were in Chick-fil-A, my twin daughters were playing, running around, and I was inside the kind of play area supervising. And this little boy walks in, just another kid, another boy, he's playing, they're running around, they're having a good time. And then eventually this boy comes down the slide and he walks up to me and he looks me right in the eye and he has the audacity and the nerve to say these words to me, I think your girls love me. And I gotta tell you, something snapped in my brain. I stood up to exert my physical dominance over this boy. I was like, I can assure you, those girls do not love you. But now I'm mad. I mean, I'm like pacing. I'm just like, oh, who does this kid think he is? Why would he say that to me? My girls do not love him. And they're up and they're playing. I'm like, let this kid make one mistake, one mistake and this game is over. And I'm watching and I'm listening and then it happens. They're up and I can't see them, but I can hear them.

And he walks up to my angels, my princesses, my sweet little girls, and he says, can I have a hug? And I gotta tell you, I couldn't get the words out fast enough. No, no, no, girls, we're leaving. Like, daddy, I didn't ask, we're leaving. We get in the car and I grab my wife. It's like, Joseph, why are you so worked up? And I'm like, can you believe this punk kid thinks that my daughters love him? And he asked them for a hug in my presence. But he's like, don't you think you're overreacting? overreacting, you're underreacting, this is serious. And then it hit me, I have become one of those overprotective dads. Maybe you've had some moments like that. Maybe you're one of those people that you said, I will never go to bed before midnight. But 9 p.m. rolls around and that bed sure looks nice. Maybe you're one of those people that said, I will never drive a minivan. Woo, but man, all them kids, it is convenient, it is comfortable, them sliding doors, I mean, it is nice. We've all had moments like that. We also don't just have small moments, we have big moments that we never thought would happen. Remember 12 years ago, my wife beat me home from work and I walk in and she's got a gift for me. And I open up this gift and inside she's informing me

that we are pregnant with our first child and I am thrilled. This is amazing, I'm gonna be a dad, we're gonna have a baby. We start talking about boy names, girl names, how are we gonna do the nursery? We are so ecstatic about this. And all of a sudden life begins to just be turned up a little bit. You've kind of been in those moments where you feel like you're riding high on life. It's like the vibrancy in life, it's just the color gets turned up. Music is just kind of like there's this upbeat song like kind of playing in your heart all the time, you're just kind of walking around with a little pep in your step. We start telling our family and we are just living the high life. A few weeks go by and we go to the doctor because we're gonna do an ultrasound and I've never seen an ultrasound. Now it's gonna be my baby. So we go to the doctor and the nurse is doing her thing and after a few minutes she says she needs to go get the doctor and she'll be right back. And I've never been in one of these environments, I'm sure that it's nothing. And so the doctor comes in and she does her thing for a few minutes

and then the doctor's demeanor changes completely. And she looks at us and she says, I'm really sorry to tell you this, you guys have had a miscarriage and there's nothing we can do except help you plan your DNC. And I wish I could tell you in that moment what happened next but I actually don't remember. It was as if like it's been blacked out of my mind, I don't know what was said, I don't know what we did, I don't know what papers we signed, I just remember the next moment I remember is us getting into our car and when life had been turned up and it was so vibrant in the color, I remember getting in the car and just feeling like everything was black and white. I remember getting in the car and there was no longer a beat, there was no longer some pep in my heart, it just seemed like the world was silent except for the cries of my wife sitting next to me. And I remember sitting there being so frustrated, being so angry, like how in the world could this possibly happen to me? And then I realized I'm in a situation that I never thought I would be in and I wasn't sure how I was gonna get back out of it. So you live long enough, every single person in this room will have a story of a moment where God,

where something happened in your life, where it hit you and it knocked you over and it was so unexpected. There's a lot of people that say, I know layoffs happen but it'll never happen to me, I've been here a long time. People say, I know that a lot of marriages end in divorce but not us, we love each other. People will say, you know what? I know that kids walk away from the church but I do a good job, I love my kids, I bring them to church, there's no way it'll happen to me. But whenever those unexpected moments come, it just feels like it knocks you over. How am I supposed to get back up? How am I supposed to set an example? How am I supposed to lead and listen to God's word? I hear about people like Peter and Paul and Samson and they did such amazing things that I gotta be honest, I don't even feel like getting out of bed right now because I never ever thought that this would happen to me. So what do I do? I love that the Bible, that it is full of real people. These are not just stories, this is not just make believe, but there's a people who had real struggles, who had real questions, who had real things that happened in their life. And although the particulars of our life may be different from theirs, if we lean in,

there are things in this word that we can learn from them. So take Ezekiel, for example. Ezekiel was alive during the Babylonian exile about the sixth century BC. He's alive with a few of his contemporaries that you've probably heard of, Jeremiah and Daniel. Jeremiah for 20 years prophesied that judgment was coming on the nation and nobody listened to him until Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians showed up and they attacked the city and they took the nobility and they took the royals and they exiled them to Babylon. And that is when Daniel went into Babylon. But there were still people there and they continued to rebel. And so eight years later, Nebuchadnezzar shows up again. And this time the Bible says he takes leaders, he takes workers, he takes craftsmen. Bible says the only people that are left are the poorest in Jerusalem. And in this way, Ezekiel is taken to Babylon. So now he's with the people in Babylon, but they still have a little bit of hope. The city's still standing. The temple is still there. Maybe God will show up like he did for one of our ancestors. Maybe he'll do a miracle. We still believe that something could happen. But about 11 years later, they rebel again and Nebuchadnezzar returns.

And this time he destroys the city. He destroys the temple and he leaves absolutely no doubt. And now the people are left and Ezekiel 33, we find that they find out about what happened and they're distraught. They never thought they would be at a situation like this. They've lost hope. They've lost belief. We're the people of God. How could this happen to us? And it's like they've been knocked over. But God through Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel, he begins to speak to his people and he says, I have plans to restore you. I have plans to put you back into your homeland. I have plans to get your family back together because I am a good God. And one of the ways he shares this is with the vision that he gives to Ezekiel that we read about in Ezekiel chapter 37. And it is quite the picture. And he says that the spirit of God comes on Ezekiel and he takes them into a valley. And in this valley, you would expect streams of water, lush vegetation, animals of all sorts, but that's not what Ezekiel finds. He goes into this valley expecting to see life. And the only thing that he finds is death. There's bones scattered all over this valley. A lot of bones, how many bones?

We're not sure, hundreds, maybe thousands. All we know is that the spirit of God is leading Ezekiel back and forth among all of these bones. You see bones, bones are significant. Bones signify that there used to be life because that bone used to be connected to a skeleton. A skeleton used to have flesh and skin and that flesh and skin was a person. That person had dreams, they had hopes, they had friends, they had aspirations, but all of that is gone. All that's left are dry, dead bones. Many of us, if we're honest, there are some areas in our life that feel like a valley of dry bones. Areas that we never thought we'd be in, areas that we don't like to talk about, areas we don't even like to think about. Joseph, I never thought that my kids would grow up and stop talking to me. I never thought that I would make a bad financial decision and not be able to get out of it. I never thought that this situation would happen to me and I would be left without hope because it doesn't fit our cookie cutter Western church mindset. That I've got it all together, my life is beautiful, I do all the right things and nothing bad ever happens, but it does. Unexpected moments knock us over and it feels like a valley of dry bones.

And then the spirit of God speaks to Ezekiel and he asked him a question. He says, son of man, can these bones live? And I love that God asked Ezekiel a question, not because he needs the answer. He's God, he already knows the answer. If he wants to bring life, he can bring life. He asked Ezekiel the question because he's curious, does Ezekiel believe that he can bring life back to these bones? In the same way that maybe God is speaking to some of us this morning and you're looking at the areas of your life that feel like dry bones and he's saying, do you believe that I can restore your marriage? Do you believe if I gave you one job, I can give you a second? Do you believe that I can bring your children back to faith? Do you believe that I can take this valley of dry bones and I can bring it back to life? Ezekiel will give such an honest answer. He says, oh, sovereign Lord, you alone know. I love this, I love the honesty there. He's like, I don't know how it's possible. I don't know how you could bring bones back to life. I don't know how you can take all this chaos. I don't know how you can take this disarray. I have no idea how you could do it, but you are sovereign. And I believe that you are God. And if you want to do something, you can do it.

And so in the next verse, we read this in verse four. So then he said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. When verse seven, here's what happens. 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. So he comes to Ezekiel and he says, hey, I want you to speak, I want you to prophesy to these bones. And so Ezekiel full of faith says, all right, I'll do it because you're sovereign. I don't know how it's gonna work, but I'll just start saying what you told me to say. And we're told that as he's prophesying, the bones begin to rattle. He starts to hear a click, a click, click, click, click, click. In a valley that is full of disarray and disorder and chaos, he begins to witness bones begin to start flying all around. Feet bones begin to find their leg bone and then the leg bone finds the hip bone and the hip bone connects to the backbone. They all start coming together and all this chaos starts to come down into order because when the word of God is spoken, it brings the chaos and disarray of our lives back into order. See, when the word of God is lived, when we submit ourselves under his word and his truth

and only his word and his truth, he begins to take the chaos of our life and he pieces it together because he knows the way that it was intended to be. This is what happened in Genesis one, right? The earth was formless and void. It was in disarray, it was chaos, but then the Word of God came. And when the Word of God came, light appeared. And then the Word of God came and the sky began to separate. And the Word of God came and land and water separated and animals and vegetations and humans were put in because whenever God's Word comes, the chaos of our lives are always put back in order. But here's the truth. Many of us, we want the order of God and the peace of God, but we're unwilling to submit to the authority of God's Word. Here's what I mean. We want the order and the peace of God in our finances, but we won't trust God with the tithe. We want the order and the peace of God in our relationships, but we're still holding on to unforgiveness from someone that happened 10 years ago. We want the order and the peace of God in our marriage, but instead of being quick to listen and slow to speak, we are constantly talking over each other because they have to hear me. We want the order and the peace of God in our relationship with Him.

And we wonder why it seems as if He's gone, like He's not there, but His Word says that He will have no other gods before Him. So, well, He's the only God that I serve. Is He? Well, He understands that work's really busy right now, and one day I'm gonna get that promotion, and when I get the promotion, then I'll have time for God. God is not the Lord of your life. You know what? He understands that I'm grinding, I'm working hard, I'm trying to get a better life for my family, and one day when I get a certain level of money in my bank account, then I'll have some time for Him. He's not the Lord of your life. You see, you cannot have the order and the peace of God unless you're willing to submit under the authority of His Word, and allow it to begin to permeate throughout all of your life, and it starts to bring order. And I wish I could tell you that if you said, you know what, I'm gonna do that right now, everything is gonna be different. But that's not what happened. Did you catch it? As I was prophesying, I heard a rattle, a click, click, click, click. You see, if you begin to submit your life under the authority of God's Word, it won't happen overnight. But if you consistently continue to live your life

according to what He has called you to, according to what He says we should do, according to how He says we should live, then your life over time will come into order under the way that He has called us to live. I love that He speaks this word, and I'm someone who, man, I love to talk. I love to get to watch people, how they communicate. I watch preachers, I watch comedians, I watch anybody who will get up in front of people because I wanna learn how to be a better communicator. And so when I read Ezekiel, and I'm like, man, this guy, his words must've been amazing. I mean, I've talked to some humans who just kind of stare at me, but I've never talked to bones who have come to life. He must've said something powerful. Maybe he said it in a certain order. Maybe I need to make sure I say words the right way. Maybe he said it with a certain level of bravado and the bones just had to come back. Or maybe there were some keys playing behind him that made it sound really beautiful and musical. But that's not what happened. All Ezekiel did was speak the word of the Lord. We're told in verse five, that this is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones. And Ezekiel had enough faith that he just said, here's what God says. He didn't say, here's my feelings.

Here's my opinion about what God said. Here's a survey I took about what God says. Here's a self-help book. Here's a really great podcast. He didn't do any of that. He comes to these bones and in faith says, I am going to speak the word of God and the word of God only, because I believe that it is powerful. That on its own, it doesn't need anything from me, that I can speak these words and they will move and they will do something powerful in these bones lives. Because the word of God is an unstoppable force. See, when the word of God is spoken, it splits through time and space. It defies the laws of physics. It is able to do something that no one else understands. Well, think about Jesus. Do you remember moments in his life when he would speak and no one else could give an explanation other than it was the word of God? One time he's in a boat and we're told that this storm comes up and the wind and the waves and everything is blowing. And then Jesus speaks, peace be still. And the wind and the waves have to obey because the word of God is an unstoppable force. Another time we're told that a Roman centurion came to Jesus and said, if you would just speak the word, my servant would be healed.

You don't have to be in the room. You don't have to see him. You don't have to touch him. If you just speak the word, I believe that your words are so powerful that my servant would be healed. And so Jesus did and his servant was healed. Another time, Jesus shows up to a tomb with his buddy Lazarus, who's been dead for four days. And he walks up to this tomb and he says, Lazarus, come out. And a dead man comes back to life. And he walks out of that tomb because the word of God was spoken. I gotta tell you something. You may think that you need some more feelings from somebody. You may think that you need somebody, your ride or dies, just to come alongside and say, it's gonna be okay. What you really need is. Someone who's willing to speak the word of God into your life. I hope you got some friends that when life hits you, they don't just come say it's gonna be okay. I hope they come and they speak God's truth, the unstoppable force. I hope whenever the enemies come in against your marriage, you've got some friends who come in and they say, you know what? The Bible says that what God has formed together, no man will separate.

So we're gonna keep praying. We're gonna keep believing because there's something powerful about his promises. I hope whenever the enemy comes after your kids, that you've got some friends who will come beside you and say, the Bible says that if you train up your child in the ways of the Lord, when they are old, they will not depart. So we're gonna keep showing up to church. We're gonna keep praying. We're gonna keep talking about the things of God because we believe that his promises are true. I hope whenever you've got fear that comes into your life and anxiety, you've got someone who's willing to come beside you, says you don't have to fear because the Bible says that God is with us and he will uphold us with his right hand. I hope whenever financial stress hitches your life, is you don't have people who just come say, keep working harder, keep grinding. I hope you got some people who come to you and say, the Bible says that he will supply all of our needs according to his riches. You may not get the boat, you may not get the car, but he will provide because his promises are true. His word is an unstoppable force that cannot be stopped by a demon. It cannot be stopped by anybody on earth. It cannot be stopped by your doubt.

It cannot be stopped by anything because it is the word of God. So these bones, they begin to come back together. I gotta tell you, there has just got to be a boldness that comes on people when we understand that his word brings order to our life and that it is an unstoppable force. There's a confidence. They don't go to God and pray for things that he hasn't talked about, but I can come to God and say, you said it in your words, I will boldly ask for it. Reminds me of my children who are bold when it comes to things with their dad. They'll ask me for anything. Apparently there's nothing I can't do and apparently I have all the money in the world. There's this thing that whenever I come home, when I open the door, I quickly have to put my bag down because the moment one of my daughters hears that hears me come in, they will yell out, daddy's home. And all three of my older daughters will take off running. And it's like they become little linebackers and I have to like brace myself for impact because they know whoever gets there first is gonna launch off their feet and daddy's gonna catch them every single time. And so I'll catch whoever's first. And then they will ask me for the most audacious thing you could think of.

They say, daddy, can we do rocket ship? The rocket ship in our house is where one of the girls, they will put on a pretend seatbelt. They will activate the rocket ship by pressing daddy's nose. And then my job is to run around the house like a madman. I'm twisting, I'm turning up and down as fast as I can. And then it always ends with a big finish and it's just me spinning and spinning and spinning until they're dizzy. And I throw them on the couch and they start laughing. And then they say, daddy, do it again. They're so bold. They know they can ask me for things. And I love this season of my life, but I'm also mature and old enough to understand that these moments won't last forever. I also understand that there will be moments in their life where I won't be there. There's gonna be moments at school, moments with their friends, moments at work, moments when they leave my home that I am not there to guide them. And unless the Lord comes back before, there's gonna come a moment where I'm gonna be in heaven and they're still gonna be here on earth. And I hope that I leave them with more than just a little bit of money. I hope I leave them with more than just some fun memories of doing rocket ship.

I hope I leave them with something that endures. And the Bible tells us in Isaiah 40, the thing that does endure. It says this, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. See, we don't do Bible presentation because it looks good. We don't do Bible presentation because it makes us feel good. We do Bible presentation to remind ourselves that there is one thing that endures forever and it is the word of God. If the enemy has tried to snuff it out, they've tried to make it illegal, they've tried to keep it away from us. Some atheist came around 20 years ago and said it is outdated, it is dumb, it makes no sense. But then in 2025, America set an all time record high of Bible sales because the word of God endures forever. And this is something that we pass along to our children. But I have this fear that if we're not careful, we will raise up kids who can throw a baseball really well, but they won't know the word of God. I'm afraid that if we're not careful, we will raise children who know the way that we vote, who know our political leanings, who know who we vote against, but they do not know the word of God. We'll raise up kids that are really popular. They like to have fun, they have tons of friends. Everybody loves them.

They're great on social media, but they will not know the word of God. See, those of us who are believers who submit under its authority, and if we truly believe that it is unstoppable force, the greatest. gift you can give your children and your grandchildren is the word of God and help them learn it and apply it to their life, because it'll exist long after you and I are gone. So Ezekiel, he does what God says. He speaks to these bones and they begin to come together. But there's a problem. God said that these bones would live all that we have are bones that have come back together. Ezekiel 37, eight, we're told this. I looked and tendons in the flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Apparently it's possible to have order, but not to have life. Apparently you can do everything this thing says and still not have life. You can go to church. You can know the scriptures. You can be in a small group. You can even serve on a team and it's possible to not have life. This was the Pharisees and Sadducees. You remember they knew the word. They had to memorize it.

They followed every rule, every regulation to the letter, but they didn't have life. He says, there's something else that you've got to do. Ezekiel, I want you to prophesy again. And this time I want you to prophesy to the breath. Ask the breath to come and breathe life into these bones. Not word breath there. If you translate it from the Hebrew, it's a word you've probably heard. It's ruach. Ruach is translated as wind. It's translated as breath. And it's also translated as spirit. Another way that you could translate this is God tells Ezekiel, speak to the spirit of God and ask the spirit to come and breathe life into these bones. But the moment I say spirit of God, everybody starts to feel a little uneasy. Some of you, when I say spirit, you're like, listen, Joseph, I avoid that as much as I can. I've seen some weird things. Some people have made it awkward. I just, I don't get it. I'm good with God, the father, I'm good with Jesus, but I don't get the spirit guy. I'll just avoid him at all costs. But if you submit to the authority of God, you cannot get past it in his word. The spirit was there in Genesis one, before life was formed,

hovering over the face of the deep was the spirit of God. When King David was anointed by Samuel, it says that the spirit of God came upon him. When Jesus was baptized, we're told that the spirit of God was there. When the early church was born, the spirit of God showed up and they began to proclaim boldly the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you turn to the very last page in your book, the last section of the last chapter in Revelation, you will find the spirit of God calling out to anyone who is thirsty to come and drink. See, the spirit of God is all throughout this word. Well, Joseph, I just don't understand it. Maybe if I understood it better, maybe if I had a better explanation, then I would be more open to the spirit in my life. And I wanna be clear, you should seek understanding. You should study. You should have sound doctrine when it comes to the Holy Spirit. But not having a full understanding of the spirit is not an excuse to not experience the spirit in your life. See, the early church, man, they did something amazing. All they knew is they were told the spirit of God is going to come on us and they went and changed the world. We have more information, we have more understanding, we have a better theology than they ever did, but yet God used them to change the world. I love the way A.W. Tozer says it.

He says, if the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. Let that sink in. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95% of what they did would stop and everybody would know the difference. This is the tragedy and woe of the hour that we neglect the most important one who could possibly be in our midst, the Holy Spirit of God. Then in order to make up for his absence, we have to do something to keep up our own spirits. Joseph, you're saying that I need the spirit of God to breathe life into me? I'm in the Western American church. When we talk about needing some life, some juice into things, we just talk about having a better sermon. You know what? If they preach better sermons, we'd have some life. You know what? If the music was a little more powerful, then we'd have some life. I got it. Let's build an amazing building that everybody wants to come see. Then we'll have life. No, maybe we'll do a cutting edge ministry

that nobody's ever heard of. We'll be on the front lines. Then we'll have life in our church. The word of God does not say that. Word of God says, call on the spirit of God and it will breathe life into our bodies because you can have order, but you cannot have life apart from the spirit, period. You will never experience life apart from the spirit. You will just have order if you only live under the word. I think we got it on the screen. You can have order, but you cannot have life apart from the spirit. I wanna be very honest with you. I want order in my marriage, but if the spirit of God is not breathing on my marriage, I am missing out. I worked hard on this sermon. I put it in order. I tried to make sure that it would be understandable. But if I am up here just speaking without the Spirit of God breathing on these words, and I'm just up here like a clinging gong, just speaking a bunch of things that make no sense. I gotta tell you, I want a church with great staff and well-run ministries. But if the Spirit of God is not breathing on everything Northview Church does, we are missing out on what God has called us to do. We need the Spirit of God to breathe

on everything that we do. And so He calls on the Spirit of God and it breathes life into these bodies. But did you catch how these bodies were described? I love the way that it describes these bodies in verse 10. At the end it says, these bodies now are a vast army. God has taken chaos and He's put it into order and He's breathed life into them. But it doesn't say that now it's a vast group of spectators. It doesn't say it's a bunch of bystanders. It doesn't say it's a group of grateful participants. It describes them as an army. Army has purpose. Army has calling. An army is supposed to get up and do something. When the Spirit comes on us, we're not just called to be comfortable, we're called to go out and do something. Say, well, Joseph, Jesus describes the Spirit as a comforter. And I like the comforting Spirit. I like that it gives me hope, that it gives me peace, that it gives me joy. But Jesus also described the Spirit in Acts 1, verse 8 as the one that whenever it comes upon us, we will receive power. And when we receive that power, we are called to go and preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. That sounds to me like we're more of an army

than a group of bystanders. What we do so many times is we just sit here and we say it like this, the Spirit comforts, but also the Spirit commissions. See, the Spirit of God, when it comes on you, it comes on you so that you can go out and do His work. Many of us, we sit here and we say, ah, Joseph, that's where I draw the line. I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. I've made too many mistakes. There's no way God will ever use somebody like me. I'll be honest, I feel the same way. I'm constantly asking God, why would you ever use somebody like me? So you don't know, but I grew up with a speech impediment. I took speech therapy for years. And eventually it was no longer a problem, but the damage had been done. My friends made fun of me. My family to this day still makes fun of the way that I used to say things. I never wanted to get in front of people and speak. That was the last thing on my life. But I began to give my life to Jesus and He called me into ministry at 16 years old and I'm serving anywhere the church will let me. I'm just saying yes and yes and yes. And then they asked me,

would you preach a sermon on Sunday night? And I said, yes. And I was so excited. I went and started telling all of my friends, my teachers, my family, anyone who would listen, I'm preaching and you should come and listen. It's gonna be amazing. But I forgot. I hate talking in front of people. I was just so excited. There was just so much like, oh, this is gonna be great. I should go and do this. And I forgot that this is the great terror of my life. What if I say something wrong? What if I embarrass myself? What if I just make an absolutely horrible mistake? How would I ever come back from that? Because my friends said yes. My teacher said yes. And this fear and this anxiety began to sit on me. And I just, at 16 years old, I remember sitting in this room and I was so terrified. I was shaking. I was like, how in the world am I ever gonna get up and do this? And I don't recommend this because I don't really think that this is the way that God typically works. But at 16 years old, I didn't know what else to do. So I closed my eyes and I grabbed the Bible

and I opened it like this. I grabbed my finger and I put it down on a verse and said, God, please speak something because I don't know how I'm gonna do this. And honest to God, these are the verses that my finger landed on. And so it was with me, brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness, with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. I gotta tell you at 16 years old, said if it's good enough for Paul, it's good enough for me. I don't have to be eloquent. I don't have to be wise and persuasive. I just got to get up and allow the Spirit to be demonstrated. I had a comfort in that moment, but also felt a commissioning that God was saying, I am with you. Get up there and do what I've called you to do. So that Sunday night, my friends, my family, our church were there

and I preached the worst sermon you can imagine on David. It was so bad. 25 minutes and I got done. And in the church I grew up in, you gave an altar call at the end of every sermon. Like, this is gonna be horrible. Nobody got anything out of this. And now I have to do an altar. Well, so I get back on the stage and I tell everybody to close their eyes and bow their heads and typically when a preacher does that, they continue to look out at everybody, not Joseph. I put my head down and I closed my eyes because I was so embarrassed. There's no way God is gonna use this. And I invited people if they wanted to give their life to the Lord, if they needed prayer for anything, if there was something going on in their life, you could just come forward. And I kept my head down and I kept my eyes closed. I waited a few moments and figured that enough time had elapsed that I could stand up and reasonably say, okay, we tried. Thank you so much for being here. Have a great rest of your week. You know, whenever I looked up, the altar was full of my friends and my family. I had a friend who's literally, he doesn't believe in Jesus at the time.

He's sitting there with his hands up and tears running down his face. I go to another friend who has things going on in his life that I didn't know about and begins to share it with me. And I'm praying over my friends, I'm leading them to Jesus. And I walk away saying, how in the world could that have ever happened? That was a horrible 16-year-old sermon. How could God use that? Because he doesn't need eloquence and wise and persuasive words. He just wants someone who's willing to say, I am here as a demonstration of his power. I gotta be honest with you. I still tremble whenever I get ready to speak. I still get so worried that I'm gonna say something that makes no sense. And you're gonna walk away saying, what a loser. But when you walk away this morning, I hope you're not talking about Joseph. I hope you're not talking about the way I spoke or the story that I shared. I hope when you walk away, you're talking about the spirit of God and how when the spirit of God is demonstrated, it commissions us to go out and do his work because we are an army. If you don't have to have it all figured out, you don't have to have all the answers. You just gotta be willing to say yes

when the spirit calls you. My favorite part of the whole 10 verses that we read, most of you will find incredibly insignificant and minor and probably unnecessary. But to me, it was vital. Because these bones come together and flesh and skin begin to get on them. And the spirit of God breathes life into these bodies and they are a vast army. But what is the first thing that army did? We're told in verse 10. They came to life and they stood up on their feet. And I spent a lot of time praying this week saying, spirit of God, just breathe on this message. And I felt like over and over God was telling me, you need to tell people that it's time they stand back up. You've been knocked down by some unexpected moments that are hard, they are heavy, they are difficult, but God is coming to you and saying, it's time to stand back up. St. Joseph, you don't understand how difficult it's been. You don't understand how much time has gone by. There's no way that I can stand back up. There's no way that I can do this. How would I ever stand back up on my feet? Well, I think we do the same thing that these bones did. We stand on the promises of God's word and in the power of God's spirit. That whenever I stand, I am standing, believing that his word is true,

that his promises are true, that it is an unstoppable force. And I'm gonna stand on that and believe that as long as the word of God is proclaimed in my life, I can stand. And as I'm standing, I believe that the spirit of God is with me, that he has commissioned me, that I'm not just meant to live this life as a bystander. I'm not meant to just watch life go by. I'm not meant to just watch my children go to hell. I'm not here just to watch my wife not need me. I have been called with a purpose and I'm gonna stand on the promises of God and in the power of his spirit because he is with me. So maybe, maybe you need to stand back up. As I was praying, I felt like God was saying, there's some women that are so tired and you have been trying so hard to keep it all together. You try to run a great home. You try to have the job. You try to take care of your family. You try to be involved at your kid's school. You try to be involved at church. You're trying to do all the things and you are absolutely exhausted. Can I just be really honest with you? Your family does not need you to be perfect. They need you to stand on the promises of God

and say his grace is sufficient for me. That I have been crafted as a workman. I've been crafted as a masterpiece in his army. God, I have a purpose and I have a plan. And no matter what comes against me, I'm gonna stand here firm, believing that God is with me. There's some men that you have abdicated your role as a spiritual leader in your home for too long. Joseph, nobody ever showed me how to do it. What if I say the wrong thing? What if I pray a prayer that's weird? What if my kids laugh at me? What if instead of trying to be eloquent and wise and persuasive, you just stand on the promises of God and say, I am here as a demonstration of his power, that my kids, my wife, my coworkers, my family, when they look at me, they will see a man of God who was standing on his promises and on his spirit because I don't have the strength in myself, but I can stand. I think that God's speaking to some teenagers. He said, hey teens, you live in a world where life is changing all the time and it is constantly evolving and there's something new every day and every week and every month and there's all these different ideologies out there. And maybe instead of being swayed by the winds of culture, What your friends need is they need a teenager

who is willing to stand in the promises of God's word. This is, I know that I have been called. I know that I have a purpose. I know that God wants to use me. And I know that I've been commissioned by his spirit. So I'm gonna stand no matter what culture says, no matter what people come against me, no matter what somebody posts about me on social media, I believe that his word is true and his spirit is with me and I will stand. And man, Northview Church, let's just be real. In a season that kind of feels like a valley of dry bones, we're in a senior pastor change. There's disorder, there's chaos. What are we gonna do? Where are we gonna go? What's next for us? Can I be honest with you? Our community still needs the hope of Jesus. Our community is still hurting and is still in need and they need a church that is willing to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and is willing to stand on his promises. It says his church, the gates of hell could not prevail against it. So no demon's gonna come against my church. No person's gonna come against my church. No person on this planet is gonna come against us. I am going to stand on his promises because we have been called.

We have been spirit-filled. The breath of God is breathing on this church and the community needs to see people who are standing, believing that God is with us even in a season of chaos and disorder. I shared with you at the beginning that my wife and I had that miscarriage. And I would love to tell you that at 24 years old, I understood everything that I've been teaching this morning but I didn't. Man, I was mad. God, how could you let this happen? I'm in ministry. I moved to a new state. I'm doing everything you've asked me to do. I stopped praying. I was a student pastor, but I was just phoning it in. And every day, my wife needed her husband to stand up. I couldn't do it. And I remember one day we're sitting in church, a few weeks had gone by and I'm just exhausted. Genuinely asking God, like, am I even fit for this? How can I lead these students if I can't even lead myself? And everybody's standing in worship and they're singing and my wife and I are just sitting there and we're both just in tears. I'm mad. I'm crying out to God. I'll never forget. I felt like he spoke to my heart and he said, look up.

My wife wasn't sitting anymore. My wife was standing with her hands raised and tears running down her face. She wasn't standing in the strength of her husband because I didn't have any to give her. She wasn't standing because of a podcast or because of the self-help book. She wasn't standing because some friend had told her it'd be okay. She was standing because she believed the promises of God are true, that God's plans for her were for her to prosper and not to harm her, that the spirit was with her and this was not the end of her story. And so she stood boldly believing that. You know what I did? I stood. Not because I was strong, not because I had it all figured out, but because the woman in my life was willing to stand when I couldn't. Church, the world does not need better sermons. They don't need more creative music. They don't need a fancy building. They don't need a brand new ministry. Know what the world needs? An army of men and women that are willing to stand in the middle of everything that life throws at them. I believe that His promises are true and I believe that His spirit is with me.

And come what may, I will stand for the kingdom of God and let Him lead my life. It's not about me. I'm just here to demonstrate the power of the spirit in someone who says, yes, let's be that church. As we close, I wanna pray for you. I'm gonna ask at all of our campuses that you would stand with us as we pray. And I commission you to head back out into the world. So let's pray. God, I thank you that you are with us. I thank you that your word is true and God, that if we live our life under your word, that it brings order. And God, I pray that we would believe that your word is an unstoppable force. God, your promises are true and we can stand on that. And God, I pray that even if we don't fully understand, God, we would be open to the movement of your spirit in our lives. So God, I pray right now at every campus, at every person that you would breathe on our men. God, breathe on our men and let them know that you have called them, that they have purpose, that they can stand firmly in who you've called them to be. God, right now, breathe on the women of our church so they don't have to be perfect. They don't have to have everything together. They just have to be someone who is pointing people to you. God, breathe on our teenagers.

God, in a world that is changing all the time, breathe life into them. Let them be people who stand firm on your truth and on your word. And God, be with Northview Church. God, I am proud to be a part of your Big C Church. Let us be people who are standing in the face of adversity, who are in the face of unexpected life situations. Let our community see an army of people who believe in your word and believe in your spirit. And God, allow that to be what you use to change our world.