CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN

This is an excerpt from a sermon by Reverend Clint Scales, Sr. He is the Pastor of Elkmont CP Church in America, located in Elkmont, AL. The occasion was the 41st Session of the Tennessee Valley Presbytery of the Alabama Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America. The meeting was held in Decatur, AL.

 

(Ezekiel 37:1-6)1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

 

Subject: The Power is Off.

Our national theme is: Restored, Rebuilt, Revived. Restored means to return something to its original form or condition; rebuilt suggests constructed, or to start over again, whereas revived means to be brought back to life, to consciousness. As we look around, there are people who know God, and people who know God and have drifted away. There are people who do not know him as their personal savior. If we looked at some of these in Ezekiel’s time that did not know him, we would say they need to be rebuilt. Sometimes that is why we have revivals.

 

Revivals are for Christian folk. To get revived. These are folk like us that are trying to make it. Now don't get me wrong, we are not perfect, but we serve a perfect God. Sometimes there are people that have drifted away. In our lesson today, we find the valley of dry bones that Ezekiel saw, and God asked Ezekiel if these bones could live. These bones represent the house of Israel. At this time, the Israelites were exiled from Babylon and their own homeland. These people had lost all hope, as if they were dead.

 

You have to watch out for this: Satan will try to make you feel like you are dead. Ezekiel's vision serves as a powerful message of restoration. With the promise, God could bring new life to this hopeless situation. As we go through life, sometimes life makes us feel hopeless. If you look around at the nation and the condition that it is in today. It could make some people feel hopeless with the prices of food, gas, rent, and utilities at an all-time high. It seems like the power is off at the White House.

 

As Christians, we know the power is not off because our power is not from man; it is from God. I want you to understand this valley of dry bones needed restoring and reviving; they needed rebuilding because the power was off down there. These are the dry bones Ezekiel saw. If you allow me a minute, I'm going to give you a valley that we are looking at today. Look down in this valley; they had nice picket fences, they had children that were going to private schools, nice manicured yards, good jobs, a pocket full of money, but they still felt hopeless because something was missing. They didn't have the power of God.

 

Have you ever seen a storm come through and tear up everything? This storm came through the valley and put the power out. He called the engineers from the utility place to come to the valley. The engineer happened to be a preacher. The preacher was asked whether the power could come on. The preacher said The Lord knows. The preacher got down in the midst of the valley, and the preacher started to preach: the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. Then the Preacher said, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Next, the preacher started singing, I Can't Make This Journey all by Myself, and I Will Trust in the Lord. After a moving rendition of Amazing Grace, the Preacher said, I can see the power start to come on. You can’t get revived, rebuilt, or rejuvenated unless you have the power of God. You can't do it by yourself.

 

The engineers said the power is in the transformer, and that is Jesus. Do you know Him? He is Mary’s Baby, The Great I Am, The Lily of the Valley, The Bright and Morning Star. He went to Calvary, and He died so that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Somebody said that we put him in the tomb; we have shut the power off. My power is anchored in our Lord because He saved me. Sometimes on this side I need a little light down here on this earth, but where I am going to that city on the other side, I don’t need any light. He is the light. Amen

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                                                                                                                                                         Rev. Clint Scales, Sr.