Episode 1438: These Bones Will Live

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1, 438 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Dr. Debi Silber: I'm Dr. Debbie Silber. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasure to live out your calling. Having the ability to overcome betrayal in a healthy way is key.

[00:00:23] And one way to be inspired is to And the reason I'm inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:35] Scott Maderer: In the United Methodist Church, it's about reaching people where they are and loving them for who they are. And letting the rest of this stuff sort itself out on the far end. That's the call and the answer to the question, will these bones live? Indeed, they will by the will of God. [00:01:00] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:05] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you

[00:01:32] In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 21, and Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 1 through 14. I talk about what it means to face rebirth as a church, and I talk about why, when the bones live, it may not look like what we think. Acts chapter two verses one through 20.

[00:01:56] One says, when the day of Pentecost had come, they were [00:02:00] all together in one place, and suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting divided tongues, as of fire appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.

[00:02:18] and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished they asked, Are not all of these who are speaking Galileans?

[00:02:40] And how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language? Parthians Medites, Eleumites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews [00:03:00] and Prostylites, Cretans and Arabs, in our own language we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.

[00:03:06] All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others sneered and said, They are filled with new wine. But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them. Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to what I say.

[00:03:26] Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel. In the last days it will be. God declares that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

[00:03:47] Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and smoky [00:04:00] mist. Amen. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.

[00:04:06] Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. In Ezekiel chapter 37 verses 1 through 14 says, The hand of the Lord came upon me and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and sent me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. He led me all around them. There were very many lying in the valley and they were very dry.

[00:04:30] He said to me, mortal, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, you know. Then he said to me, prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.[00:05:00]

[00:05:00] So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked and there were sinews on them and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, prophesied to the breath, mortal, and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God come from the four winds of breath and breathe upon these slain that they may live.

[00:05:27] I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off completely. Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, I'm going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people.

[00:05:55] I will bring you back to the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I [00:06:00] open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.

[00:06:17] This Sunday is known as Pentecost, a date on the calendar for the church that represents one of the most powerful movements of the Holy Spirit in Christian history. That story that I read from Acts tells the story of the early church with some beautiful imagery of Jesus. An analogy and poetry about how during the Christian Pentecost, there was a bold and prophetic message being given.

[00:06:50] And then I contrasted that with the passage from Ezekiel, and I asked to find the connection between the two. [00:07:00] That question in Ezekiel, the will these bones live, that question is true. For me, at least, the entry point to this story from Ezekiel. I think that's a question that we've all asked at some point.

[00:07:15] We've asked that question of, Will this entity, will this thing that I am part of, will it continue to live? Whether that's you personally, your family, a relationship, a business, whether it's the church universal, the denomination that you're in. Contemporary Corporations, Government, the Presidency, whatever it is, all institutions, all systems, all people find themselves at points where it seems like death has come and there's nothing left there but dry bones.

[00:07:51] And the question becomes, will these bones live? I think during that passage [00:08:00] in Acts, that was probably a question that the disciples and the church were asking. There was a ragtag group of folks that had survived. Jesus had passed, had come back, had spoken. And yet, out of that chaos and pandemonium and probably panic, God brought about one of this most powerful and marvelous manifestations of the Spirit in history.

[00:08:29] And yet today, I think sometimes as a church, we stop asking that question, Will these bones live? The truth is that I'm a Methodist, and the Methodists, The United Methodists just went through a period of challenge and disaffiliation and restructuring some of the books that we use that govern ourselves in terms of the Book of Discipline.

[00:08:52] No, despite popular belief, we did not take things out of the Bible. We haven't edited the Bible. We haven't even changed the fundamental [00:09:00] core beliefs that we've always had. Instead, we visited the discipline and took out what we believed was language that was harmful for groups of people because we were called.

[00:09:14] to love all people. And I think that idea of what happens whenever we, as a denomination, become old bones. Sometimes it takes new breath. It takes something new. to bring it together and breathe life into it, and I'm hopeful that this change, this pain that we've been through, will be a moment of liberation to laugh and to love again.

[00:09:46] I think churches going through the pandemic has changed us. I think for the Methodists going through disaffiliation, has changed us. Changing the book of discipline has changed us. Going through periods where the churches have [00:10:00] shrunk and grown and shrunk again has changed us. Churches are facing change all of the time.

[00:10:08] And then if you look at the broader culture and you look at coming out of the pandemic and politically and the divisiveness that goes on, not just here in the United States, but around the world, there's wars, there's anger, there's fighting. And we have to be joined together and become something more like the bones.

[00:10:29] That Ezekiel is talking about. We have to be knitted together anew and reanimated by the mission and the gospel method, coming back to the fundamentals, that question of what is it that allows us to live? What is the breath of God that comes upon us? What could outlive and grow and be the hands and feet of God?[00:11:00]

[00:11:00] of Christ in the world, not just declaring the gospel in many languages, but the idea there is the idea of bringing the gospel to everyone, not just bringing it to them, but bringing it to them in a way that they can receive. That's what I see, the changes that we've made. in the United Methodist Church are about.

[00:11:26] It's about reaching people where they are and loving them for who they are and letting the rest of this stuff sort itself out on the far end. That's the call and the answer to the question, will these bones live? Indeed, they will. By the will of God. Thanks for listening.

[00:11:55] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a [00:12:00] subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook. com slash inspired stewardship.

[00:12:20] And like our Facebook page and mark it that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there. Until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.