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Root 66 – Ezekiel

Jul 23, 2017
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Root 66: Ezekiel
Ezekiel was one of the first to be taken out of Jerusalem during the exile. While in Babylon, he saw a vision from the LORD as God called him (Chapters 1-3) to prophesy to the people of Israel. God told Ezekiel that the people would not listen to him, but Ezekiel obeyed and did a lot of “odd” things to show the people of the judgement of God. He laid on his side for over a year while eating cakes cooked over cow manure. He set up a small city of Israel and then had an army ransack it. In Chapter 10, Ezekiel sees in a vision that the Glory of God leaves the Temple and moves into exile.
In 586, when the Temple was destroyed, Ezekiel’s message turned to hope (Chapters 33-48). Then, in Chapter 37, Ezekiel sees a pile of dry bones that represents Israel. The vision continues with the bones coming together and flesh appears. Then God breathes life into the people and they become a mighty army. God is showing Ezekiel (and us) that he is “recreating” His people (Gen 2), but taking their heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh and preparing them to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It would have been so easy for Ezekiel to give up on giving his message. For 25 years, he prophesied and the people didn’t listen to him. But, he had faith in the the One who is faithful. The Word of God brings life…always!
The exile brought about some good:
1. The people were purged of their idolatry
2. They reclaimed the Word of God
3. The synagogue was established
To Discuss Today:
1. What is the most hopeless situation in your life? How would you answer the question, “Would these bones live”? Do you have faith in The Faithful One?
2. Knowing that we are the most resourced Christians in the history of mankind, how does that affect our faith? In light of that, how do we regain our desperation for God to move in only the way He can?
Pray this prayer every day for the next 7 days:
Holy Spirit fill me up today. I surrender and yield to you. Bear fruit in my life today to make much of you. I choose to obey you in every prompting you give.
Remember, when we are saved by faith in Christ, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. He is always in us, but we can grieve Him with sin. We don’t gain more of the Holy Spirit, but we yield to Him and He gets more of us!
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