Stop Saying 'Only God Knows': Prophesy to Your Dry Bones

Sermon outline

Praying and prophesying are part of a Spirit-filled church: when you face dry bones, God is not asking you to say 'only You know' but to prophesy His word over your situation until it lives.

1. Recap 1: Preaching under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost

   Preaching is not mental assent passed from one mind to another but the Spirit reaching the spirit. Come to church prayed up so you can catch the word with your spirit, because analysing paralyses; the word is to be received in faith, like the centurion who said 'speak the word only'.

   Illustration: The anointed word is like radio signals criss-crossing the crowd: some grab hold of it, some wonder what is going on.

   “Analyzing paralyzes you.”

   • Romans 12:2
   • Matthew 8:8

2. Recaps 2 and 3: Praying in the Holy Ghost and being filled with the Spirit

   Praying in the Holy Ghost builds you up on your most holy faith. Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time event at salvation but a continual filling as you pray, sing, speak in tongues, read and come to church.

   Illustration: A sailing ship keeps moving only while the wind keeps filling its sails; if the filling stops, the ship stops.

   “Being filled with the spirit means a continual filling of the spirit.”

   • Jude 20
   • Ephesians 5:18

3. 4. Individual prayer

   There is a time to pray in the congregation and a time to lift up your own voice to God behind closed doors where no one can interrupt, because the word you need may come in the thirtieth minute. When we pray we join the angels in worship, and the prayers of the saints rise like perfume before God, so do not give up: God watches over His word to perform it, and a dried-up brook only means it is time to move on to where He is preparing something new.

   Illustration: When Elijah's brook dried up he moved on, and a widow baked him a cake: when something dries up, God is busy baking something.

   “The difference between a dry place and a high place is a word.”

   • Acts 4:24
   • Revelation 19:6
   • Revelation 5:8-12
   • Romans 8:31
   • 1 John 4:4
   • Hebrews 13:5
   • Matthew 24:35
   • Jeremiah 1:12
   • Numbers 23:19
   • 1 Kings 17:7-16
   • 2 Corinthians 4:13
   • 2 Timothy 1:7
   • John 8:44
   • Isaiah 53:1

4. 5. Prophesy

   Prophesying is part of worship in a spiritual church: Paul wished that all would prophesy, and told the church not to despise prophecy. Speaking forth under the unction of the Spirit should be normal, and when pressure mounts and you do not know which way to go, you prophesy your future and chart your course.

   “When the pressure is mounting against you, you don't know which way to go, you prophesy your future.”

   • 1 Corinthians 14:5
   • 1 Corinthians 14:31
   • 1 Thessalonians 5:20
   • 1 Corinthians 14:39
   • 1 Corinthians 14:37

5. Can these bones live? God wants your response

   The Spirit carried Ezekiel to a valley of bones that were not just dry but very dry, and God asked him, 'Can these bones live?' Ezekiel put the onus back on God with 'O Lord God, thou knowest', which was the wrong answer. Many say the same about a failing business or a sick relative: 'only You know'.

   Illustration: God asks you: can this dead bank account come to life? Can the car that keeps breaking down be replaced?

   “So when you have something dry around you, take heart. At least it's not very dry.”

   • Ezekiel 37:1-3

6. Prophesy to the bones: you are a prophet of your own life

   God told Ezekiel to prophesy and say to the bones, 'Hear the word of the Lord.' You are a son or daughter of God, not a servant, so speak to your business, your bank account, your sick relative, your new church plant and your wayward children. If all you ever see and say is dry bones, dry bones are all you will have.

   “Some of you have dry bones because that's all you see is dry bones.”

   • Ezekiel 37:4-6
   • 1 John 3:1

7. Keep prophesying until the breath comes

   As Ezekiel prophesied there was a noise and a shaking and the bones came together, then sinews, flesh and skin, but still no breath. Not everything comes together at once, so keep prophesying, and prophesy to the wind, the Spirit of God, until it breathes life. Do not dig a grave for what God says will live.

   Illustration: Some are already digging a grave to bury their dry bones; God says do not bury it.

   “Your prophetic utterance has not ended yet, you keep on prophesying.”

   • Ezekiel 37:7-10

8. See it with the eyes of a prophet, and refuse to settle

   Do not wait to see the money or the business before you say it; see it with the eyes of a prophet and speak it. Jesus did not cry over a shortage of bread and fish; He blessed the boy's lunch and multiplied it, so you can multiply your turnover, your income and your influence instead of settling.

   Illustration: When he told them long ago to prophesy that they were millionaires, some went home and said over lunch that their pastor had gone crazy.

   “You see it with the eyes of a prophet. You prophesy it. You say it. You speak it.”

   • John 6:5-13

9. I will open your graves: no dead thing stays near you

   God promised to open His people's graves and put His Spirit in them. Like the Nazarite who could not touch a dead thing, believers who died, were buried and are seated with Christ bring life to whatever they touch. Poverty and sickness are of the devil; Jesus came to give abundant life and became a curse so we would be free, and God fights for you against those who curse you.

   Illustration: For ten years he and his family prayed, confessed and prophesied over one thing without changing their confession, and the week before this service it came. Some give up after two months.

   “If it's dead, as you touch it, life will come into it.”

   • Ezekiel 37:11-14
   • Numbers 6:6
   • Ephesians 2:6
   • John 10:10
   • John 20:17
   • Galatians 3:13
   • Deuteronomy 28:7
   • John 8:23
   • Matthew 7:7