Amen.
All right, well, I'd like to begin tonight.
First of all, of course, let me begin
by saying thank you to several people, many people.
First of all, of course, Pastor Thompson and Ms. Sherry.
And thank you for inviting us.
Thank you for your friendship.
And seven years ago, we did with them
what Pastor Thompson started with you guys
a couple of years ago.
And we started them off as a satellite.
And they were the first church plant
we ever started at our church in Sacramento.
And I'm thankful for them.
And I bring that up to say this, that I claim this church.
Because we started them, and they started you.
So we're like your grandparents.
And so grandpa's preaching tonight.
We'll see how that goes.
But of course, thank you, Pastor Thompson and Ms. Sherry,
for your friendship.
And thank you to Pastor Taberna and Ms. Lisa
for your hospitality.
I know it's been said over and over again,
I just want you to know that.
I believe that you can tell a lot about a man
by his work ethic and by his family.
And on both counts, Pastor Taberna has impressed me.
So I met him for the first time on this trip.
But I'm happy to know him.
And I'm excited about what the Lord is doing here.
And so thank you.
Thank you for your hospitality.
Thank you for the gifts.
Thank you for everything.
We've had a wonderful time while we've been here.
And of course, I've got my family with me.
And I brought my whole family, my wife, and all my children.
I'm happy they're with us.
It's our first time in Europe.
I've been in the Middle East.
I've been in Asia.
Of course, I've been all over the US and Canada.
I've been in South America.
But I've never been in the UK.
I've never been in Europe.
So I'm happy to be here.
And I've enjoyed my time.
I want to say thank you, of course, to the Verdi Church
family.
We had several of our church members
that came out to the UK with us.
Thank you, guys.
And I joke around that I bring our orchestra with me
everywhere I go.
But I was thankful that they came.
And they used their talents for the Lord.
They played.
And we're happy for them.
And of course, thank you to all of you.
I know that many of you have driven a long way.
And I appreciate you being here.
I appreciate you coming.
And this is a special weekend.
And we appreciate all of you.
I do want you to know that if you ever make it
to the United States, we'd love for you to visit California.
California is a beautiful place.
We have a big conference every year
called Red Hot Preaching Conference.
And we think you'd enjoy it.
We also have a youth rally.
We call it the Next Generation Youth Rally.
It's like a conference for teenagers.
And it's actually on April 9th and 10th next year.
Pastor Thompson is going to be preaching at it.
So we'd love for you to make it to any of those, of course,
and visit us in Sacramento.
I'm preaching tonight.
And I'll be preaching on Wednesday night.
And I just want to let you know, on Wednesday night,
I'm preaching a sermon.
Tonight, I'm preaching out of Ezekiel 37.
But on Wednesday night, I'm preaching a sermon entitled,
Why the New IFB is Not a Cult. And I'm
going to teach you the seven characteristics of a cult.
And I'm going to show you how the new IFB is not only not
a cult, but is the antithesis of a cult.
So if you're interested in learning about cults,
I encourage you to be here on Wednesday night.
I'm trying to put that out there.
Hopefully, some of you will come back on Wednesday night
for the Wednesday night service.
But tonight, we're going to be here in Ezekiel chapter 37.
All of that was just introductions.
So my 55 minutes start now, although I'm
pretty sure you preached longer than 55 minutes.
But we're in Ezekiel chapter 37.
Of course, there's a very famous passage in the book of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 37, the first part of the passage
is what we'll be dealing with tonight.
And it is the passage of the valley, which was full of bones.
If you notice there in verse number one,
the Bible says, the hand of the Lord
was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord
and sent me down in the midst of the valley, which
was full of bones, 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.
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.
And he said unto me, prophesy unto these bones,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones.
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you,
and ye shall live.
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.
And before I get into the sermon,
and just by way of introduction, I
want to explain that there's a couple of applications
to this passage.
The first, of course, is the immediate application.
And what I mean by that is the application by which
that Ezekiel was applying this, when
he was preaching this sermon, and when this was being done.
And of course, the immediate application
is that God was going to resurrect.
Because what we have is Ezekiel goes down
to a valley which is full of dry bones.
Obviously, there's a place here where
there has been a slaughter of many individuals,
probably a battlefield where a battle has been fought,
and soldiers have died.
And of course, they have not been buried.
They've been left there.
And it's been a long time.
And this valley is full of dry bones.
And the immediate application is that God
was going to resurrect the nation of Israel
during their lifetime.
Of course, this is during the captivity,
while the children of Israel are captive
during the Old Testament.
And that God was going to resurrect the nation
and bring them out of captivity.
That's the immediate application.
And I want you to notice that that is made clear in verse
number 11, when the Bible says, then he said unto me,
son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
Because of course, as we read the chapter,
you notice that Ezekiel begins to prophesy to these bones.
And these bones begin to come together.
And God puts life in the bones.
And they begin to develop muscles.
And these bones are resurrected.
And the application is that this was a picture
of the children of Israel.
The nation of Israel was going to be resurrected and brought
out of captivity.
Notice again there, verse 11, then he said unto me,
son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
Behold, they say our bones are dried and our hope is lost.
We are cut off for our part.
So I want you to notice the immediate application there.
But of course, there's also a future application
and a prophetic application.
And the future application is that of the resurrection
or the rapture of the end times.
And specifically, the resurrection
of Old Testament saints.
Notice verse 12.
It says, therefore prophesy and say unto them,
thus saith the Lord God, behold, O my people,
I will open your graves and cause
you to come up out of your graves
and bring you into the land of Israel.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord when
I have opened your graves, O my people,
and brought you up out of your graves
and shall put my spirit in you.
And ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land.
Then ye shall know that I am the Lord,
that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,
saith the Lord.
So we see that there is a immediate application, which
has to do with the children of Israel being put
in their own land, being resurrected as a nation
and brought back to their own land, of course,
during the Old Testament.
And then there's a future application.
I will open your graves and cause
you to come up out of your graves
when I've opened your graves, O my people,
and brought you up out of your graves.
And that, of course, has to do with the coming
resurrection of Old Testament saints that
will take place during the time when we're all
resurrected at the rapture.
Now, those are the immediate application
and the future application.
And I want to cover that quickly,
because tonight I don't want to focus on those.
What I want to focus on is on the spiritual application.
And there's a spiritual application to this passage.
And I want to look at that tonight and study that out.
I want you to notice that the story can be symbolic.
It can have a spiritual application,
which has to do with renewal and with revival.
Renewal and revival.
And I'd like to give you several thoughts this evening.
In fact, I'd like to give you five thoughts
from the story of the Valley of Dry Bones.
And I want to encourage you to take notes.
Notice that on the back of the bulletin,
there's a place for you to write down some notes.
And maybe you can jot some of these things down.
And we'll go through these as quickly as we can tonight.
And I can notice, first of all, that there is
the problem of the dry bones.
In Ezekiel 37 and verse 1, the Bible
says this, the hand of the Lord was upon me
and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord.
And of course, this was a vision.
This was not physical or literal.
This is something that Ezekiel is being taken out to see.
Notice the last part of verse 1, and set me down
in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones.
And I want you to notice that the subject here,
or the emphasis, is on these bones.
He's brought to this valley, and he sees these bones.
And the first thing that is highlighted for us
in this passage is the problem of the dry bones.
And you say, well, what was the problem with the dry bones?
There's two things that are emphasized.
The first is that there were very many.
Look at verse 2.
And caused me to pass by them round about, and behold,
there were very many.
He says, when I looked at these bones,
Ezekiel says, I noticed the first thing is that there
wasn't just a few bones.
It's not just like there was one or two people
that had died here.
He said, this valley was full of bones.
He says, there were very many.
And then I want you to notice the second characteristic there
at the end of verse 2 is that they were very dry.
Look at the last part of verse 2.
He says, there were very many in the open valley,
and lo, they were very dry.
And again, I want you to notice that these bones represent
death.
They represent the fact that something which was alive
is now no longer alive.
And not only was there something which was alive,
and it's no longer alive, but there's a lot which was alive.
And there's a lot which is no longer alive.
And not only that, but what's no longer alive
has been dead for a long time.
He says, the problem of the dry bones
is that they were very many, and they were very dry.
I want you to notice again, look at verse 11.
What is the point?
What do these bones represent?
Verse 11, then he said unto me, son of man,
these bones are the whole house of Israel.
Behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.
We are cut off.
And what these bones represent is the current state
of individuals, where these bones, literally,
there's these bones there that Ezekiel is seeing,
and there are very many.
They are very dry.
But these bones represent a nation
of people who would describe themselves as saying,
our bones are dried.
Our hope is lost.
We are cut off.
And the reason that I want to preach on this passage tonight,
when I knew and when we began to make plans to come to England,
to come to the United Kingdom, to come to Europe,
I believe the Lord laid this passage on my heart.
Because I think that oftentimes people
have this idea about Europe, when you consider
Europe and its spiritual state.
You consider the fact that the history of Europe
was a very religious history, was a spiritual place.
And of course, not everything that happened here was good,
and not all spirituality was good.
But I mean, we're literally in the country that gave us
the King James Bible.
We're in a country where a lot of evangelism took place.
A lot of missions went out from this place all over the world
and into the world.
And when you look at the history of Europe,
and specifically the history of England,
you consider the fact that this was a place one
time that was thriving, that was full of life spiritually.
There was a lot going on here spiritually.
But today, you would look at a place like this,
and you might say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.
You might say that spiritually, as you look around
at this society and culture, that there are very many bones,
and they are very dry.
Spiritually, you might say that this place is dead.
I did some research and found an article
on the spiritual state of the UK,
and it said this, the relatively large number of individuals
with nominal or no religious affiliations
has led various commentators to describe the United
Kingdom as a multi-faith and secularized society.
Other major surveys which asked differently worded questions
find a majority of people in the UK
do not belong to a religion.
British society is one of the most secularized in the world.
And in many surveys determining religious beliefs
of the population, agnosticism, non-theism, atheism,
secular humanism, and non-affiliation
are views shared by a large percentage of Britons.
And please, don't misunderstand me.
I'm not here trying to cast a shade on the United Kingdom
or trying to be critical of the UK.
I'm not down on the UK.
In fact, my heart, I feel like I can relate with the UK
because where I'm from, the state of California
in the United States has a very similar spiritual condition.
And oftentimes, people are reminding me
about the spiritual state of the state of California
and telling me how liberal it is and telling me how dark it is
and telling me how non-religious it is.
And in many ways, I feel like the same things that
may apply to you here in the United Kingdom
apply to us in the state of California
where you might look around and say spiritually,
there are very many bones.
There are very many, and they are very dry.
And of course, we are applying this to spirituality,
but you can apply it to any sort of spiritual condition.
You might be here tonight, and you
might describe your marriage as our bones are dried
and our hope is lost.
You might describe a relationship
with your children, maybe your adult children,
as our bones are dried and our hope is lost.
You might describe your own spiritual life.
Maybe you knew there was a big event going on this weekend,
and you took the time to come out here,
but you know that in your heart spiritually,
you might say my bones are dry and my hope is lost.
And it often seems like the problems are many.
When we look at the problem of the dry bones,
the problem of the dry bones is that there are very many
and they are very dry.
Doesn't it often seem like the problem
and the issues and the problems that we're dealing with,
they're so large when it comes to soul winning, which
is something that's emphasized by this church,
and I appreciate it.
Even then, when our focus is wrong,
we can maybe emphasize and realize
that there are many problems.
Jesus said it this way.
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few.
And it often seems like when it comes
with the problems of spirituality
and the decay of spirituality and the death of spirituality
that as we look at the dry bones, they are very many
and they are very dry.
But I'd like you to notice, secondly tonight,
not only the problem of the dry bones that did not
come all the way from California just
to tell you about the problems of the dry bones,
I'd like you to notice, secondly tonight,
the possibility of the dry bones.
In verse number three, we have a question that is asked.
And it's a very interesting question, I think.
In verse three, the Bible says, and he, this is, of course,
he there is referring to the Lord God, said unto me,
this is Ezekiel the prophet speaking.
He says, God asked me this question.
Here's the question.
He says, son of man, keep in mind the context,
God through a vision has taken Ezekiel
and brought him to a valley.
He sent him down in a valley where apparently there's
been some sort of a slaughter, probably a battle,
because the valley is full of bones.
They are very many and they are very dry.
And then God asked Ezekiel this question.
He asked him the question, can these bones live?
He says, can these bones live?
And I answered, oh, Lord God.
I want you to notice the answer that comes from Ezekiel.
I think it's an interesting answer
because I think it's probably the right answer.
He says, thou knowest.
You say, what does that mean?
I mean, you say that's some kind of a non-answer.
But I would think if I was Ezekiel,
with all due respect, God, that's kind of an odd question.
You bring me down to a valley where
people are obviously dead.
There are very many, and they've been dead for a long time.
They are very dry.
And now you want to ask me this question, can these bones live?
And I think Ezekiel, maybe out of respect for God,
instead of saying, what kind of question is that?
Can these bones live?
These people are obviously dead, and they've
been dead for a long time.
He says, thou knowest.
Ezekiel must have been British.
He's very polite.
He said, don't ask me.
I don't know.
He says, I mean, what he's saying is this.
I don't know if these bones can live.
I know that I can't make them live.
But the answer that he gives, he says,
well, if anybody knows the answer to the question,
God, thou knowest.
The question is, can these bones live?
And Ezekiel says, only you know, God.
Thou knowest.
See, Ezekiel understood something.
I'd like you to keep your place there in Ezekiel 37.
That's our text for tonight.
But go with me, if you would, to the Gospel of John.
In the New Testament, you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and then the Gospel of John, John chapter 15.
And when you get there, I'd like you to put a ribbon
or a bookmark or something there,
because we're going to leave it, and we're
going to come back to it.
And I'd like you to be able to get to it quickly.
John chapter 15 and verse 5.
I want you to notice what Jesus says in John 15 and verse 5.
He says, I am the vine.
Ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit.
But I want you to notice the last phrase of verse number 5.
He says, for without me ye can do nothing.
And I will submit to you tonight that in the same way
that God looks down at Ezekiel, looking at these bones that
represent the nation of Israel, and he asks them the question,
can these bones live?
I think that God might look down at this newly established
church, at this newly established pastor,
and he might ask you to look at the spiritual condition
of the United Kingdom and the spiritual condition
of the nation of England and the spiritual condition
of the continent of Europe.
And he might be asking you the same question.
Can these bones live?
Can something be done to revive this place that
was once spiritually alive, but now they are very many
and they are very dry?
The question is asked, can these bones live?
I want you to notice, and you should always remember this,
that God does not ask questions that he doesn't already
know the answer to.
You might want to consider now that you have a pastor here
that pastors often don't ask questions that they don't
have the answer to either.
God asks Ezekiel, can these bones live?
Ezekiel says, I don't know, don't ask me, thou knowest.
And then God goes on to answer the question,
look at verse four.
Again, he said unto me, prophesy unto these bones,
and say unto them.
So God says to Ezekiel, here's what I want you to say
to these bones, these dead bones, yeah, I want you to talk
to these dead bones.
What do you want me to say?
Say unto them, all ye dry bones.
Is God telling Ezekiel, I want to talk to these dry bones?
What do you want me to say?
All ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord unto these bones.
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you.
And I want you to notice the last little phrase
of verse five.
Here's the answer to the question.
Ezekiel 37 three, can these bones live?
Ezekiel 37 five, and ye shall live.
The question is asked, can these bones live?
The answer is given, these bones can live.
See, the truth is this, if you kept your place there
in John 15 five, we saw at the last part of verse five,
for without me ye can do nothing.
But then in Philippians chapter four,
if you would just go there quickly,
if you're there in John, keep your place in John,
go to Philippians chapter four, John, Acts, Romans,
1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians.
See, the truth is this, Ezekiel would look at these bones
and say, I can't make these bones live.
And God would say, I know, for without me ye can do nothing.
But in Philippians 4 13, we're told this,
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
The truth is this, that God is in the business
of doing the impossible.
God is in the business of doing the miraculous.
God is in the business of resurrecting
and giving life to that which is dead.
And you might say, but there are very many
and they're very dry.
But the Bible says, with men, you don't have to turn here,
you go back to Ezekiel if you would.
In Matthew chapter 19 and verse number 26,
the Bible says this, but Jesus beheld them
and said unto them, with men, this is impossible,
but with God, all things are possible.
Mark 9 23, Jesus said unto him,
if thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that believeth.
Luke 1 37, for with God, nothing shall be impossible.
Luke 18 27, and he said, the things which are impossible
with men are possible with God.
You might ask the question, can you really have
an independent, fundamental, soul winning,
new IFB, preaching church in a place like Europe,
in a place like England, in a place that by every man
metric, we're told, is spiritually dead.
There are very many and they are very dry.
Can these bones live?
And God says, yes they can.
The question is asked, can these bones live?
And the answer is given, ye shall live.
The question is asked, can these bones live?
And we should always remember that the answer is,
with God, all things are possible.
With God, yes they can live.
So listen to me.
When they told me you can't build a fundamental
Baptist church in California, they told me,
you can't preach like this in California.
You might preach like this, but you're never gonna pastor
more than five or 10 people.
You're never gonna run 100 people in California.
Never have 120 people in California.
You're never gonna praise all glory to God.
Today in California, we have a church with about 220 people.
Just on Saturday, yesterday or whatever day it was,
I'm not exactly sure, I got a text
with a report saying we had 106 soul winners
at our Saturday morning, just regular soul winning time.
106 soul winners, and I give all glory to God for that.
And I say to you that people would tell me,
it can't be done, you can't do it, it won't happen.
Not in California, maybe somewhere else.
And what they were saying was, they were saying,
can these bones live?
And God says, yes they can live.
Without God, we cannot do it.
Without Jesus, we cannot do it.
But with God, all things are possible.
When they tell you the UK is a secular society
and no conservative fundamental church can thrive here,
and you're wondering, can these bones live?
Remember, these bones can live.
When they tell you old time religion is dead
and the only way Christianity can survive
is to be shallow or liberal or to not take a strong stand,
and you're wondering, can these bones live?
Remember, these bones can live.
When they tell you the King James Bible is outdated
and you gotta use the corrupt, modern Bible version
and even in the country of King James himself,
they don't even wanna talk about him or acknowledge him,
and you're wondering, can these bones live?
Let me tell you something, these bones can live.
They tell you the old hymns are antiquated
and people want contemporary Christian music
and you gotta bring in the rock concert.
They're not gonna come in for traditional music.
I'm here to tell you these bones can live.
When they tell you how fire and brimstone preaching
doesn't work and preachers need to not be so loud
and so mean and so specific, and they need to just share
and give talks and never say anything controversial
and don't dare preach the whole counsel of God,
and you're wondering, can these bones live?
I'm here to tell you, these bones can live.
When they tell you soul winning doesn't work in Europe,
when they tell you that's something they do in America,
you can't go out in the highways and hedges
and compel them to come in.
When they tell you soul winning doesn't work anymore
and you need to do something different,
you need to try lifestyle evangelism
or you need to just drop off flyers on doors somewhere,
and you're wondering, can these bones live?
I'm here to tell you, and you gotta remember,
these bones can live.
When they tell you biblical marriage is archaic
and you need to embrace modern marriage philosophies
and you're wondering, can these bones live?
You need to remember, these bones can live.
When they tell you that raising children for God
is impossible and that they're gonna leave Christianity
and that kids don't want to be,
you can't raise children that love their mom and dad,
you can't raise children that love God,
you can't raise children that love Christianity,
you can't raise children that love the old hymns,
you can't raise children that love the word of God.
When they tell you that,
take a look at your pastor's family
and remember that these bones can live.
They tell us it's dead.
They tell us it won't work.
They tell us it can't get done.
But when the question is asked, can these bones live?
God already knows the answers.
These bones can live.
So we see the problem of the dry bones.
And we saw the possibility of the dry bones.
The possibility of the dry bones is this.
And I don't care if it's England,
I don't care if it's Sacramento, California,
it can be Budapest, it can be whatever place
you want to name, you look at a valley full of dry bones
and by God's grace, with God's help and with God's power,
these bones can live.
We saw the problem of the dry bones.
We saw the possibility of the dry bones.
Like you notice thirdly this evening.
The preaching of the dry bones.
I mean, how does this work?
How do you do it?
I mean, how do you do this?
How do you have an event like this?
101 soul winners in London yesterday.
Scores of people saved.
The answer's in the preaching.
Look at verse four, Ezekiel 37, four.
Again, he said unto me,
prophesy upon these bones and say unto them.
Ezekiel was asked to prophesy upon dead bones.
Every time you and I go soul winning,
we prophesy upon dead bones.
A people that are spiritually dead.
You say, how do you take someone who's spiritually dead?
By the way, I'm so impressed with this church.
I mean, it's amazing.
I literally, 10 minutes before the service,
made a joke about this pulpit being too tall for me
and they literally built me a platform or something.
It's an amazing thing.
None of my other satellites ever did something like that.
I'm just kidding.
I'm kidding.
I'm joking.
I'm actually really joking.
Pastor Thompson has a special pulpit just for me.
He never took me to London, but he has a pulpit.
How do you go somewhere?
Plant a church.
Start with a handful of people.
Go knock doors.
Bring converts in.
Help them grow.
Help them be disciples.
Get them baptized.
Help them get married right.
Help them restore their marriages.
Help them raise their children.
Help them reach their children.
How do you do it?
What's the secret?
The secret is the preaching of the word of God.
It's the preaching to the dry bones that is needed.
Why don't you notice that the power of preaching
is the scriptures.
Look at verse four.
Again, he said unto me,
"'Prophesy unto these bones and say unto them,
"'O ye dry bones.'"
Notice what the Bible says.
"'Hear the word of the Lord.
"'Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones.
"'Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you,
"'and ye shall live.'"
Go with me if you would to the book of Jeremiah.
You're there in Ezekiel 37.
If you go backwards,
you'll go past the book of Lamentations
into the book of Jeremiah.
And let me tell you something.
The power is in the word of God.
The power of the preaching is in the scriptures.
It is the scriptures that bring life.
It is the scriptures that can bring life
to that which is dead spiritually.
If we're talking about someone that's not saved,
the Bible says that faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God.
But you know, you might be spiritually alive.
You might be saved, but yet in a state of death.
You might be spiritually alive in the sense
that you're saved, but your spiritual life is dead.
The Bible says faith without works is dead.
Now, faith without works doesn't mean
that you don't have faith.
It just means that the faith you have is dead.
It's not active.
It's not working.
And oftentimes in churches like this,
what we do is we bring in people that aren't even saved
and we preach the word of God to them
and spiritual life is given to them.
Or we bring in people that are saved
and maybe they're new Christians
or they're backslidden Christian
and their faith is dead.
How do you spark life in them?
It's the word of God.
The answer is the word of God.
For the word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the desired and the sunder
of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Jeremiah 23, if you would, look at verse 28.
Jeremiah 23, verse 28,
the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream.
And he that hath my words, let him speak my words faithfully.
This is what Pastor Thompson was challenging
Pastor Taberna this morning.
Don't let the words of the Lord fall to the ground.
We as men of God are to speak his word faithfully.
What is the chapter?
The week sayeth the Lord.
Notice verse 29, is not my word like a fire?
Is not my word like as a fire saith the Lord
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
It is the power of the word of God.
It is the preaching of the word of God.
It is the preaching of God's word
that the power is in.
Look, the power is not in our jokes.
The power is not in our stories.
The power is not in our illustrations.
And I'm all for jokes and I'm all for illustrations.
I'm all for all those things.
I don't think that any of that is bad,
but the power of preaching is found in the scriptures
and the preaching of the word of God.
It is the Bible that can speak to the inner hearts of men.
I often think, honestly,
I believe what we're doing right now is a miracle.
I believe that through the preaching of God's word,
the Holy Spirit will speak to some of you tonight
through the preaching of God's word.
This morning and through the vessel of Pastor Thompson,
the Holy Spirit spoke to some of you this morning.
I was thinking it's an amazing thing
that a man can stand up and preach to 100,
I don't know how many people are here tonight,
100 people, 120 people.
And one man who doesn't even know you
can preach the Bible and the Holy Spirit
can take what is being said and apply it to your life
and give you what you need.
That is a miracle.
Because the Bible can do what no human speaker can do
and it can get into the inner heart of a man.
It's a two-edged sword piercing even
to the dividing ascender of soul and spirit
and of the joints and marrow.
And as a discerner of the thought and intent of the heart.
You say, Pastor Jimenez, what would you do
if you started a church in the UK?
I'd do the same thing that I would do
if I started a church in Vancouver, Washington.
I'd do the same thing that I'd do
if I started a church in Sacramento, California.
I'd stand up and preach the word of God.
Because the power is in the word of God.
The power of preaching is in the scriptures.
But I want you to notice as well,
not only is the power in the preaching of the scriptures,
but the power of preaching is in the spirit.
Look at verse nine, Ezekiel 37.
Keep your place in John if you kept your place there.
Go back to Ezekiel 37 and look at verse nine.
Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind.
Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind.
He was prophesying to the bones.
Now he's prophesying to the wind.
Thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds,
O breath, and breathe upon the slain, that they may live.
The Bible often uses wind as an illustration
of the Holy Spirit.
Let me give you one example of that.
Go to John chapter three and verse seven.
If you kept your place in John,
John chapter three and verse seven,
the Bible says, marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again.
You're very familiar with that passage, I'm sure.
Notice the context, verse eight.
The wind bloweth whether it listeth,
and now here is the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whether it goeth, so is every one
that is born of the Spirit.
I want you to notice that the wind bloweth
is a picture of the Holy Spirit.
And if you go back to Ezekiel 37,
we have God telling Ezekiel,
I want you to preach the word of God.
But he said, I want you to prophesy to the wind.
Why?
Because the power of preaching comes
when we preach the scriptures with the Holy Spirit of God.
It is the Holy Spirit of God
that helps us to preach the word of God.
This is why in Ephesians he is called
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And by the way, let me say this.
This is true of preaching behind the pulpit
as it is true of preaching the gospel out on the streets.
When you preach the gospel out on the streets,
make sure that you're using the scriptures
and that the Holy Spirit is working through you.
And I haven't been here very long.
I've enjoyed the time that I've been out soul winning.
Of course, I've been out soul winning
with Pastor Tabernon.
I went out soul winning with Brother Dan.
I went out soul winning this afternoon with Brother Hunor.
And I've been very impressed
with everybody's presentations and soul winning.
And everything has been great.
And I want you to remember
that you need to keep it that way.
Make sure you realize that the power is in the scriptures
and it is in the Holy Spirit.
Since I've been here, I've had,
go to Jeremiah if you would, Jeremiah 23.
I've had several people encourage me and I appreciate it,
about sermons that I've preached,
certain sermon series,
how to help people reach their full potential,
sermons about the family series, soul winning things.
And I've had several people express to me
that these sermons have been a blessing to them.
And to be very honest with you,
when I sit down to write a sermon
and when I sit down to think through a sermon series
and things like that, I'm not thinking about you.
I hope you don't take that offensively.
But I preach sermons.
My philosophy when it comes to social media
is that I preach sermons for our church family.
I preach sermons that I believe our church family needs
and then we post them on social media
and if they can be a blessing to others,
then praise the Lord for that.
I bring that up to say this,
that what's interesting is that what I believe
young couples in Sacramento, California,
a couple years ago we had,
I don't remember what the number was,
I did seven weddings in one year.
I think it ended up being eight weddings in seven months
or something like that.
It made me hate weddings.
And if you're engaged, God bless you.
Don't ask me to do your wedding.
But here's what's interesting.
What young couples need in Sacramento, California,
we post those sermons online,
we put them on Rumble or YouTube or whatever,
and young couples in London, England are saying,
that was a help.
I preached a sermon about reaching your potential
to 200 people in Sacramento, California
and I've got people in the United Kingdom saying,
hey, thank you for posting those sermons.
Those sermons were a help.
And for you young preachers or for those of you
that might be preachers one day,
remember, you don't have to preach to the internet.
You don't have to write sermons to impress the internet.
If you just stand up and faithfully preach the word of God,
if you're a man of God, filled with the Spirit of God,
preaching the word of God, hey, it'll help everyone.
The United States, we have a saying,
I don't know if you have it here,
what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
And you may not like it, thank you, sir, appreciate it.
Maybe you won't like me saying it,
but what's good for the American is good for the European.
And what's good for the European is good for the African.
And what's good for the African is good for the Canadian
because we all need the same thing.
We need the word of God.
And we need Spirit-filled preachers standing up
with the word of God and preaching the word of God,
unashamed and unadulterated, every chapter,
the whole counsel of God and it'll be a help to you.
The secret is in the preaching of God's word.
We saw the problem of the dry bones.
We saw the possibility of the dry bones.
We saw the preaching of the dry bones.
I'd like you to notice, fourthly tonight,
the process of the dry bones.
Notice that there's a process to how this works.
When you bring life to that which was dead,
it doesn't happen instantaneously.
Now I'm not talking about salvation.
Salvation happens instantaneously.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
In Ezekiel 37 and verse five, the Bible says this,
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones.
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you
and ye shall live.
That's the first step.
That's salvation.
For many of you that happened when you came across
a Bible's Way to Heaven video,
probably put out by the new IFB.
Why would it have to be put out by the new IFB?
Because let's face it, we're the only ones
making the Bible's Way to Heaven videos.
Notice verse six, 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.
Look at verse nine,
Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind.
Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind,
Thus saith the Lord God,
Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
The first step, of course, is salvation.
You get saved.
You're watching a video.
You're watching a documentary.
You, for some reason, make it through the credits,
get to the end, and somebody stands up and says,
I'd like to ask you a question.
And for some reason, you listen to it,
and it clicks, and you realize, I'm not saved.
I didn't know that it was a gift.
I thought you had to work for it.
I thought you had to repent of your sins.
I thought it was connected to my church attendance,
and you pray the prayer on the screen,
or you pray the prayer with the soul winner
that knocked on your door, and you got saved.
And that dead spirit is quickened and made alive in you.
That's the first step.
Then I want you to notice the second step, verse seven.
The first step is salvation.
The second step is a stirring.
Ezekiel 37, seven.
So I prophesied as I was commanded,
and as I prophesied, there was a noise,
and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together,
bone to bone.
We see that there's a stirring.
There's a noise and a shaking.
This reminds me of Acts 17, 16, when the Bible says,
now while Paul waited for them in Athens,
his spirit was stirred in him.
And I'm sure this is true of many of you.
You were watching a video,
and you watched some Bible's Way to Heaven video,
or maybe somebody came and knocked on your door
and gave you the gospel, and you got saved.
But then, for some reason, after you watched the documentary,
after you watched the Bible's Way to Heaven video,
you decided, I'm gonna watch this sermon.
I'm gonna watch that sermon,
and let me watch this documentary.
And all of a sudden, there started to be a noise,
and a shaking, and a stirring in you,
that said, I wanna do something for God.
How did that come?
It came through the preaching of God's word,
but why did it come?
Why do you have this stirring to go preach the gospel
now that you didn't have before?
Well, number one, you weren't saved before,
but number two, the Holy Spirit living inside of you,
working with the preaching of the word of God
that you're listening to, begins to stir in you.
Begins to tell you that there's more to life than this,
that there's other things that I want to do and accomplish.
I wanna preach the gospel.
I don't just wanna be saved.
I wanna get my family saved,
and I wanna get this community saved,
and I wanna help them grow and learn.
So we notice that first, there's life in them.
There's breath that enters into you, and ye shall live.
And then there's a noise, and behold,
a shaking and a stirring.
But then I want you to notice,
thirdly, then there's a structuring.
Look at verse seven again.
So I prophesied as I was commanded,
and as I prophesied, there was a noise,
and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together,
bone to his bone.
I mean, this is an interesting story in the Bible.
Ezekiel is dropped off at a valley of dry bones.
There's a valley full of dry bones.
There are very many.
They are very dry.
God says, can these bones live?
He said, I don't know.
Then God says, they can live.
Prophesy.
He begins to prophesy to the bones.
He begins to prophesy to the wind,
and then they're made alive.
But it's not just that they're made alive.
They're made to stir.
There's a shaking.
I mean, put this in your mind.
You're Ezekiel, looking at these bones.
You start preaching.
You know, he starts preaching dry bones.
They become alive.
I don't even know what that means.
How did he know that they were alive?
I'm not sure.
Maybe there was some coloring to the bones.
Then he keeps preaching, and now they start shaking.
There's a noise, and they start shaking.
There's a stirring.
Then he keeps preaching, and now there's a structuring.
Last part of verse seven, the bones came together,
bone to his bone.
These bones start assembling into skeletons.
I don't know if you have this here,
but in the United States, we have a little song
that children sing.
It's actually a spiritual song taken from this passage,
but, you know, the children will sing,
your toe bone's connected to your foot bone.
Your foot bone's connected to your heel bone.
Your heel bone's connected to your ankle bone,
and they'll go on and on.
You guys have that song here?
No?
Yeah, some of you.
Only the Americans are like, yeah.
Americans are like, yeah,
as they're eating with their hands.
I've noticed Americans eat with their hands.
British eat with fork and knives.
I don't know what that means, just an observation.
I think it means we're brutes.
But these bones begin to come together.
There's a structuring, and this is what happened
to some of you.
Some of you got saved, and you got a little stirring in you.
You got a little seal in you.
You even maybe tried to preach the gospel to your family,
but you weren't right ready.
You started taking some stands
and maybe making some comments,
but you weren't really ready.
And then this church got organized,
and you came here, and you know what Pastor Thompson
began to do, and what then-Brother Ian,
now Pastor Taberna, began to do,
is they began to take those bones that walked in,
and they began to structure them.
And say, no, do it this way.
This is what it's supposed to look like.
This is what a biblical marriage looks like.
This is what raising children looks like.
This is what tithing looks like.
This is what soul-willing looks like.
They began to add some structure.
Bones came together, bone to his bone.
You say, what happens now?
What happens now that it is an independent church?
Then there's some strengthening.
Look at verse eight.
And when I beheld and lo, the sinews, those are tendons,
and the flesh came up upon them,
and the skin covered them above,
but there was no breath in them.
There's a strengthening, and let me tell you something.
We were talking about this soul-willing today,
and you need to understand this,
that getting saved and being,
look, if you're in an area where there's no good church,
I'm not attacking you, okay?
But you need to understand this,
that getting saved and even being stirred
is not enough, you need the strengthening
that is brought by a local church.
It's what Pastor Thompson was talking about this morning.
Our job is to make you normal.
It's to take those bones that walked in
and say, let's do something with this.
Let's add some strength to this.
And that comes through the preaching of God's word.
It comes through being part of a congregation.
You come to a place like this, and maybe you thought,
we were just talking about this during soul-willing,
but you might have thought, oh, I'm pretty mature,
and then you start actually being part of a congregation,
and you realize, I wasn't as mature as I thought I was.
The weekly preaching, the weekly fellowship,
the weekly soul-willing begins to strengthen you.
And let me tell you something.
A growing church needs growing Christians.
And a growing church needs to be growing Christians.
You understand what I just said?
A growing church needs growing Christians.
We need you growing and maturing.
I'm impressed with Pastor Tavernier and his work ethic.
I was watching him last night as he was driving us
back from London for no apparent reason.
We just asked him to drive us to London.
No, I'm just kidding.
And it's an inside joke we have.
You're driving us to London tomorrow, right?
Just one, just one more, maybe two more times.
But I'm watching him as he's driving.
You know, he's driving, he's having a conversation with us
while talking to the person on his Bluetooth
about the fish and chips, and I'm thinking to myself,
yeah, this guy, he's got it.
Welcome to the ministry.
You know, you've got like 100 things going on
all at the same time.
But let me tell you something.
There's only so much one man can do.
There's only so much one man and his wife can do.
There's only so much one man and his wife
and his children can do.
A growing church needs growing Christians.
You need to be growing.
You say, why do I need a church?
So we can take these skeletons and structure them
and put some sinews on them and put some muscles on them
and put some skin on them and strengthen you
because a growing church needs growing Christians.
But let me say this as well.
A growing church needs to be growing Christians.
The preaching, and listen to me.
Please understand this.
You say, I'm excited for this church,
a new IFB church in Europe.
I mean, every sermon's gonna be about the reprobates
and about the Jews, right?
I mean, Sunday morning, it's homos.
Sunday night, it's the Jews.
Wednesday, it'll be dispensational.
And look, those are all good sermons
and they need to be preached.
But you know, what I realized at our church
is that everybody likes it when I preach against the homos
because we don't have any as far as I know.
But you know what I realized?
I gotta preach sermons about patience and about forgiveness
and about love and about discipline and about work ethic.
Because we all like the sermons against the Jews
and the sermons about this
and the sermons about the post-trip, pre-rapture.
And I'm not mocking that.
Those are all good sermons.
But your position on the pre-tribulation rapture
is not gonna help your marriage.
You understand what I just said?
Your position on Zionism
is not gonna help you raise godly children.
Our job is to strengthen you.
Our job is to grow you.
Our job, that's why.
And by the way, let me say this.
That's often why you need a church
because what you like to do online
is scroll through the sermons
and pick out the ones you like.
And it's all the Jews and the homos.
But you need every once in a while just to show up
and have a pastor teach you about Christian growth.
Our job is to strengthen you.
And let me just say this as well.
Because the battle has came, it will continue to come.
Like Pastor Thompson said,
you will fight battles in the ministry.
We're always fighting battles in the ministry.
We're always fighting issues in the ministry.
I mean, just even while we've been here,
my wife's getting texts and she's like,
you're gonna have to read this.
And I'm like, now or later?
She's like, probably now.
There's always battles, there's always fights.
There's always, you say, how do you deal with it?
You know, here's what I've learned.
Outgrow your battles.
You outgrow your battles.
Say, what do you mean?
I mean, look, the more this church grows,
I'm not talking about just physically,
I'm talking about spiritually,
but of course physically as well.
The more you grow, the smaller the naysayers look.
The more you accomplish, the smaller the enemies look.
And the best way to get past all of that
is just to keep doing what God has called you to do
and make these bones live.
Go to Isaiah 28.
If you would, Isaiah 28 and verse 10.
Isaiah 28 and verse 10, the Bible says,
if you're there in Ezekiel, you'll go backwards,
past lamentations, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Isaiah 28, verse 10,
for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little and there a little.
That is the method of Christian growth.
You need Sunday morning, you need Sunday night,
you need Wednesday night, you need precept upon precept,
you need line upon line, you need here a little
and there a little.
You're not gonna go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference
and sit under great preaching for a few days
and just grow to where you're supposed to be.
No, you need every week here a little, there a little,
here a little, there a little,
precept upon precept, line upon line.
Look at verse 13, but the word of the Lord was unto them,
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little and there a little.
A growing church needs growing Christians
and a growing church needs to be growing Christians.
Go back to Ezekiel 37 if you would.
We saw number one, the problem of the dry bones.
What's the problem?
There are very many and they are very dry.
Look, whatever problem you're facing tonight,
you might describe it that way.
It's big and it's dead.
Getting my family saved is probably not gonna happen.
It's something you may be thinking.
Salvaging my marriage is just not gonna happen.
Getting my husband here, getting my wife here,
getting them saved, getting them on board.
You might be looking at whatever problem is in front of you
and you might describe it as our hope is lost.
It is very dry, it is very dead, and it is very many.
Often the problems seem like so many
and there seems to be so little hope.
We talked about the possibility of the dry bones.
Can these bones live?
And the answer is given by God, these bones can live.
I'm here to tell you that what's happening here right now
in this building can happen in France,
can happen in Germany, can happen in Switzerland,
can happen in every nation under this earth,
every human being.
I understand that some places
are more receptive than others, I understand that.
And I understand that we do common sense missions
and I agree with that.
And I think we should do common sense missions.
From the United States, we should go to places,
if we don't speak the language, where they speak English,
we should go to places where the people are receptive.
I understand that, but I'm here to tell you,
if you are from somewhere, then you can go there
and you can see those bones live.
And look, you say, is the UK receptive?
You know, one of the reasons I think the UK is receptive
is because of the fact that all these places
we do mission trips at where the people are receptive
in the Caribbean and in Africa, they're all here.
We go to all these places that are receptive,
those receptive people are here.
When the question is asked, can these bones live,
the answer is, these bones can live.
Don't ever let anybody tell you otherwise.
You say, without Christ, I can do nothing, that's true,
but with Christ, I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me.
You say, how's it gonna happen?
The only way that it ever happens,
the only way it happens is God's way
and it is through the preaching of the word of God.
It is the preaching of the Scriptures
working alongside the Holy Spirit of God.
We saw the process of the dry bones.
It is the process of making you normal,
if I can say it that way.
Salvation and stirring and structuring and strengthening
and helping you.
Not to just have one hobby horse in Christianity
but to live a complete, to live a perfect.
The Bible, the Bible word perfect means whole or complete.
Pastor Thompson preached about it this morning,
that God has given you a pastor
for the perfecting of the saints,
to make you perfect, not sinless,
but complete, whole, mature.
That's our goal, for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ.
We saw the process of the dry bones.
I'd like to end tonight
because I just crossed the 55-minute mark.
I'd like to end with the purpose of the dry bone.
Notice Ezekiel 37 and verse nine.
Then said he unto me,
prophesy unto the wind,
prophesy son of man and say to the wind,
thus saith the Lord God,
come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain that they may live.
Verse 10, so I prophesied as he commanded me
and the breath came into them
and they lived and stood up upon their feet.
Don't miss it.
Last part of verse 10, an exceeding great army.
So what is the purpose of the dry bone?
Why would you go preach to a bunch of dry bones?
Why would you start a church in England,
a place that is secular,
a place that is being overtaken by Muslims,
a place that is spiritually dead,
that we would look at the spirituality of this nation,
maybe like the state of California and say,
there are very many and they are very dry.
Why would you come here?
I'll tell you why.
To raise a great soul-winning army,
that it might be said of this place,
an exceeding great army is risen.
The purpose of preaching to the dry bones
is to raise a great army.
And to echo Pastor Thompson,
we're talking spiritually, okay?
Don't arrest me for hate speech.
To raise a great army.
But let me say this,
for the glory of God.
Why would you build a great church?
Why would Pastor Taverner and Miss Lisa
give up their lives for a ministry like this?
Why would, like many of you have done,
move your families, change your jobs,
across England and some of you
across different nations?
Why would a church try to reach an entire city,
an entire nation with the gospel of Christ?
Why would you go to London like you did yesterday
and spend hours knocking doors
while it was raining and thundering?
Why would we try to salvage families and raise children
and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
Why would we do it?
We would do it to raise,
last part of verse 10, an exceeding great army,
but we would do it for the glory of God.
Ezekiel 37 and verse six,
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, notice it,
and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
People will say, this church won't make it.
People will say, this church is a failure.
People will say, why are you even trying?
You can't make a dent in Europe.
We don't even know that this church will survive in England
and you're definitely not gonna start other churches
in England or any other European country.
They'll tell you the bones are dead.
But I'm here to tell you that we can raise
an exceeding great army.
Why?
And ye shall know that I am the Lord.
And I'm here to tell you that in Sacramento, California,
in Vancouver, Washington, and in the United Kingdom,
when people begin to get saved like they already have,
begin to come to church,
begin to have their lives transformed,
when in great army of strong solar,
people are gonna ask, Brother Ian,
Pastor Tavener, excuse me.
I can call him Brother Ian.
You call him Pastor Tavener.
Where do you find all these people?
People often ask me that in Sacramento.
They come to our church like,
where do you find all these people?
I say, we didn't find them.
We preach them into existence.
We preach the gospel to them.
We got them saved.
We got them baptized.
We taught them the word of God.
We pray a great army is risen.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord.
And word to God, that's what is said of this church,
in this place, an exceeding great army has been revived.
And Europe shall know that I am the Lord.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Lord, I thank you for this church.
I thank you for this pastor,
and his wife, and his children.
I thank you for the men and women
that have joined this church.
Lord, I pray you'd help them.
Can these bones live?
Yeah, I think they can.
If we preach the scriptures with the power
of the Holy Spirit, we can bring them salvation.
We can give them a stirring.
We can structure them.
We can strengthen them.
We can raise a great army
that Europe would know that I am the Lord.
Lord, I pray a blessing upon this congregation.
I pray a blessing upon these people.
I pray a blessing upon this young pastor and his wife,
young in ministry, just ordained today,
that you would bless them and strengthen them,
help them to raise up a great spiritual army
for the glory of God.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray, amen.